What format do you play Doom? [which exe/port]

[Alphawolf]

Zdoom? Boom? Vanilla? Chocolate?

[Vermil]

Depends on the wad I'm playing.

Also "format" is misleading, as one would think your refering to say PC, Mac, SNES, Jaguar etc rather than what source port you use.

This is also a topic that often descends into a flame war.

[Maes]

I think I heard this one before...

[Alphawolf]

Vermil said:

Depends on the wad I'm playing.

Also "format" is misleading, as one would think your refering to say PC, Mac, SNES, Jaguar etc rather than what source port you use.

This is also a topic that often descends into a flame war.

A flame war over a game format? Seriously? Wow.

[xvertigox]

I prefer prboom+ for my bread and butter Dooming but I use GZdoom for all Zdoom mods. For so long I used Zdoom/Gzdoom but once I used PrBoom+ I was like OH SHIT. It just feels so solid, clean and classic. Really good hud too. It's like the promod for Doom SP.

[Maes]

For the sake of testing, I finished Episode 1 multiple times recently. In Mocha Doom ;-)

[GreyGhost]

Alphawolf said:

A flame war over a game format? Seriously? Wow.

Yep, threads like these have been known to degenerate into cat-fights between rival clans of source port fanboys.

As Vermil said, it depends on the wad. GZDoom, prBoom-plus and Chocolate Doom tend to see the most use on my PC.

[D_GARG]

GZDoom , find it really handy

[hex11]

Lately I've been using SDL Doom. It's fairly close to linuxdoom, and has no support for music or internal DeHackEd patching. It does however run all the IWADs (shareware, Doom E1-3, Ultimate Doom, Doom II, Final Doom) and runs vanilla PWADs as expected.

The downside is it has a few minor bugs:
- animated switches in Doom E4 don't animate (they still activate though)
- IWAD demos don't work properly, but this was also the case in linuxdoom. I can however record my own demos and play them back.
- ??? probably some other minor stuff I haven't notice yet

[Mithran Denizen]

All of them.

[Average]

In rough order; Eternity, PrBoom+, ZDoom/GZDoom. I also have a special place in my cyber-heart for ChocoDoom which I use for pretty much all my Vanilla play.

I've also been messing around with Odamex lately... I'm trying to pluck up the courage to go online for the first time in years! :P

[elic]

I use Zdoom for vanilla/Boom/Zdoom WADs and GZdoom for GZdoom stuff. When I use doom for vanilla/Boom WADs I use strict compatibility settings and unstretch the skies. I've been thinking about switching to Prboom+, but there are some things that bug me about it.

[dannebubinga]

pr/glboom+ I like everything about that port. It's got a nice classic feel and it's not more high-tech than it has to be.

[kmxexii]

ZDoom and PrBoom-Plus, sometimes DOSBox. I anticipate needing other ports down the road.

[PRIMEVAL]

I prefer GZDoom (or sometimes Skulltag) as it's easier on the eyes for me.

[esselfortium]

Eternity, pretty much always.

Other than that, I use Chocorenderlimits if I'm developing for vanilla, or ZDoom if I'm developing or playing something for ZDoom.

[Coopersville]

Usually through Skulltag.

[_bruce_]

ChocolateDoom.
Though I watch demos in PrBoom+.

[Grazza]

Processingcontrol said:

I've been thinking about switching to Prboom+, but there are some things that bug me about it.

Mention them in the appropriate place, and maybe something can be done. Or maybe an option already exists that solves your problems.

[Seeker_of_Truth]

I normally use GZDoom and Chocolate Doom, but I've been messing around with PrBoom-Plus too.

[elic]

Grazza said:

Mention them in the appropriate place, and maybe something can be done. Or maybe an option already exists that solves your problems.

The main thing is that the compatibility options are annoying. In Zdoom changing compatibility is easy because you can just choose which one you want (Doom, Boom, etc.) In Prboom+ you have to scroll down a long menu changing each option manually.

[natt]

Processingcontrol said:

The main thing is that the compatibility options are annoying. In Zdoom changing compatibility is easy because you can just choose which one you want (Doom, Boom, etc.) In Prboom+ you have to scroll down a long menu changing each option manually.

If your aim is to choose a particular compatibility "package" that emulates a specific past port (like the Zdoom option), use complevel.

Config file parameter default_compatibility_level chooses a default setting; running the application with command line parameter -complevel n forces a particular complevel for that run.

The complevels are:

0	doom_12_compatibility		 Partial (improved) emulation of Doom.exe v1.2
1	doom_1666_compatibility		 Partial emulation of Doom.exe/Doom2.exe v1.666
2	doom2_19_compatibility		 Emulates the original Doom.exe v1.9 & Doom2's doom2.exe v1.9
3	ultdoom_compatibility		 Emulates Ultimate Doom v1.9 and Doom95
4	finaldoom_compatibility		 Emulates Final Doom's doom2.exe
5	dosdoom_compatibility		 Emulates Dosdoom .47
6	tasdoom_compatibility		 Emulates Tasdoom.exe
7	boom_compatibility_compatibility Emulates Boom's compatibility mode
8	boom_201_compatibility		 Emulates Boom v2.01
9	boom_202_compatibility		 Emulates Boom v2.02
10	lxdoom_1_compatibility		 Emulates LxDoom v1.4.x
11	mbf_compatibility		 Emulates MBF
12	prboom_1_compatibility		 Emulates PrBoom v2.03beta
13	prboom_2_compatibility		 Emulates PrBoom v2.1.0
14	prboom_3_compatibility		 Emulates PrBoom v2.1.1-2.2.6
15	prboom_4_compatibility		 Emulates PrBoom v2.3.x
16	prboom_5_compatibility		 Emulates PrBoom v2.4.0
17	prboom_6_compatibility		 Latest PrBoom-plus
-1	default_compatibility_level	 Current Prboom-plus

In general, if you want something to be boom compatible or to record a boom demo, use 9; if you want something to be vanilla compatible or to record a vanilla demo, use 2, 3, or 4 depending on EXE. The other complevels aren't as useful or as reliable.

For demo playback, only use a complevel if the default autodetect doesn't work, which will only typically happen in complevels 2,3,4.

[elic]

What if I don't feel like learning how to use command line parameters in Windows Vista?

[chungy]

Press start, type "cmd", hit enter. There you go. :P

[elic]

What if don't feel like typing a bunch of stuff before I play a WAD?

[Memfis]

Use TNTCOMP cheat.

[DuckReconMajor]

Processingcontrol said:

What if don't feel like typing a bunch of stuff before I play a WAD?

It isn't that hard. If you're using Vista/7 you can shift+right click in your prboom folder and click "open command window here", then type 'pr' then tab until you get the .exe, then add your -complevel after that. Or you could make a shortcut to prboom and add the parameters after the target. Or write a .bat or .cmd file with the commands.

[Avoozl]

Mostly skulltag but also gzdoom when I want to play the psxdoomtc.

[Grazza]

Processingcontrol said:

What if I don't feel like learning how to use command line parameters in Windows Vista?

Edit the cfg (using, e.g., Notepad). As natt mentions, the relevant line is default_compatibility_level. Make it 2 to behave like Doom2.exe, or 9 to behave like Boom.

Though note that some things can only be done via command-line options, whatever the port. It's worth learning this basic and easy "skill".

[elic]

Thanks for the help,TNTCOMP seems easy enough.