How to play custom wad with custom mods?

[Homer_hardware]

So currently I wanted to play some custom maps with gameplay mods for example brutalDoom but I dont know how to do it. Can anyone help?

 

My source ports: Gzdoom, prboom, dsda doom, crispy, eternity and zandronum.

[Shepardus]

Drag both the WAD and the mod together onto the exe. Or use a launcher.

[Homer_hardware]

39 minutes ago, Shepardus said:

Drag both the WAD and the mod together onto the exe. Or use a launcher.

Ok thanks!

[Toxisploder]

Seconding Shepardus here. Also, if you don't want to bother with dragging and dropping too much, you can write a .bat file.

You just have to open Notepad, type something along those lines:

start "" doomsourceport.exe -iwad doom2.wad -file kool_map_pack.WAD BestGameplayModEva.pk3

Then, in the upper right corner, choose File -> Save As...

and in the window that pops up, change the file type to "All Files" at the bottom. Name it something like "osummodcombo.bat" - the ".bat" at the end determines the file type and is thus necessary!

Put the resulting file in your Doom source port's folder and click on it. If you did everything right, the game will instantly launch with your mods!

Also note that mod names can't have spaces in them, otherwise this metod won't work. If a mod you want to include in the .bat file is named "idk lol.wad", you should rename it "idk_lol.wad", for example.

[Shepardus]

10 hours ago, Toxisploder said:

Also note that mod names can't have spaces in them, otherwise this metod won't work. If a mod you want to include in the .bat file is named "idk lol.wad", you should rename it "idk_lol.wad", for example.

You can also wrap the name in quotes, e.g. -file "idk lol.wad" instead of -file idk lol.wad. Without the quotes, the command parser can't tell that the stuff after the space is supposed to be part of the same argument.

 

This also assumes that all the files named in the script, i.e. doomsourceport.exe, doom2.wad, kool_map_pack.WAD, and BestGameplayModEva.pk3, are in the same folder from where the script is being run. You can use full or relative paths for any of these components (e.g. C:\Games\Doom\doom2.wad or subfolder\mods\wow.wad), but if you just specify the name it's going to look in its current folder.

 

If that's too much to think about, a launcher program with a GUI should let you select files with a selection window or drag-and-drop. That's basically what a launcher is, a tool to launch the programs with the right parameters.

Edited June 17 by Shepardus

[Toxisploder]

17 hours ago, Shepardus said:

You can also wrap the name in quotes, e.g. -file "idk lol.wad" instead of -file idk lol.wad. Without the quotes, the command parser can't tell that the stuff after the space is supposed to be part of the same argument.

Ooh, neat! Thanks for the tip!

17 hours ago, Shepardus said:

This also assumes that all the files named in the script, i.e. doomsourceport.exe, doom2.wad, kool_map_pack.WAD, and BestGameplayModEva.pk3, are in the same folder from where the script is being run. You can use full or relative paths for any of these components (e.g. C:\Games\Doom\doom2.wad or subfolder\mods\wow.wad), but if you just specify the name it's going to look in its current folder.

Yeah, exactly. I keep most of my wads and pk3s in the same folder, and the type of simple batch file I described works fine. But there are exceptions. I have separate subfolders for shovelware disc wads - there's hundreds of them in there, and keeping all that in the main folder would make the drag-and-drop metod inconvenient. So I do write the subfolder paths before the file name for these. Thanks for mentioning that part for me, because I rused my previous reply.

Now that you mention it, maybe I should organize my Doom game directory better - there's thousands of untried mods waiting for me on the webz, and my main folders already look pretty bloated.

17 hours ago, Shepardus said:

If that's too much to think about, a launcher program with a GUI should let you select files with a selection window or drag-and-drop.

It definitely isn't for me! On the contrary, it feels strange downloading extra software to do tasks that I can easily do with what I already have. But if one doesn't feel like writing batch files or keeping everything in the same folder, it's the most convenient way to stack a bunch of mods on top of Doom.

[GibblyJones]

On 6/17/2024 at 7:30 AM, Toxisploder said:

Seconding Shepardus here. Also, if you don't want to bother with dragging and dropping too much, you can write a .bat file.

You just have to open Notepad, type something along those lines:

start "" doomsourceport.exe -iwad doom2.wad -file kool_map_pack.WAD BestGameplayModEva.pk3

Then, in the upper right corner, choose File -> Save As...

and in the window that pops up, change the file type to "All Files" at the bottom. Name it something like "osummodcombo.bat" - the ".bat" at the end determines the file type and is thus necessary!

Put the resulting file in your Doom source port's folder and click on it. If you did everything right, the game will instantly launch with your mods!

Also note that mod names can't have spaces in them, otherwise this metod won't work. If a mod you want to include in the .bat file is named "idk lol.wad", you should rename it "idk_lol.wad", for example.

 

 

Why bother with all that? Just use Rocket Launcher, it will save all your configurations and load orders. I have a million different maps and gameplay mods, so I save a configuration with a clue as to what the combination is, for example, "Roguelike Arsenal Ad-Mortem  with (monsterpack)", "metal slug doom", or "8Bit - Doom - Super Mayhem with Combined Arms and Colorful Hell" etc . Sometimes the load order isn't intuitive and requires you to experiment to get things working, I couldn't play doom mods without rocket launcher, or I couldn't go back after not using it rather. Not to mention you can have a template to use as a default, if there are some mods that you always use, you can keep them in the common resources section in the middle and you don't have to mess with it anymore, you just enable or disable it as needed. I always play with a healthbar/flashlight mod no matter what. Some maps are just too dark and stopping to mess with brightness and gamma breaks immersion, having the flashlight doesn't take away from anything in my opinion and i've gotten used to the atmosphere it adds so it stays permaloaded. Health Bars improves gameplay, rather than a guessing game, I can decide what to do strategically instead of just hoping for the best. 

 

Another reason is if you ever share your doom folder with some lucky human friend or family member, you can have all the mod combos ready to go for them, they can figure out how to use it in a few minutes. It just means you spend more time playing the game than trying to type out load orders, and if you have bad memory like me, it keeps it all neat and tidy for later use. Unless you're a masochist using a GUI is a must. 

Edited June 21 by GibblyJones

[Toxisploder]

1 hour ago, GibblyJones said:

Why bother with all that? Just use Rocket Launcher, it will save all your configurations and load orders. I have a million different maps and gameplay mods, so I save a configuration with a clue as to what the combination is, for example, "Roguelike Arsenal Ad-Mortem  with (monsterpack)", "metal slug doom", or "8Bit - Doom - Super Mayhem with Combined Arms and Colorful Hell" etc . Sometimes the load order isn't intuitive and requires you to experiment to get things working, I couldn't play doom mods without rocket launcher, or I couldn't go back after not using it rather. Not to mention you can have a template to use as a default, if there are some mods that you always use, you can keep them in the common resources section in the middle and you don't have to mess with it anymore, you just enable or disable it as needed. I always play with a healthbar/flashlight mod no matter what. Some maps are just too dark and stopping to mess with brightness and gamma breaks immersion, having the flashlight doesn't take away from anything in my opinion and i've gotten used to the atmosphere it adds so it stays permaloaded. Health Bars improves gameplay, rather than a guessing game, I can decide what to do strategically instead of just hoping for the best. 

 

Another reason is if you ever share your doom folder with some lucky human friend or family member, you can have all the mod combos ready to go for them, they can figure out how to use it in a few minutes. It just means you spend more time playing the game than trying to type out load orders, and if you have bad memory like me, it keeps it all neat and tidy for later use. Unless you're a masochist using a GUI is a must. 

 Batch files ain't rocket science. You just type/copy some lines into WordPad and save as .bat. Nowhere near as arcane as you make it sound lol. I'm not a l33t h4xx0r or a programmer, but I figured out how these files worked in a minute from a functional example.