Getting into multiplayer?

[Brewtal_Legend]

When it comes to Doom and just about any other fps, I've always been a single player.

When I first started playing, I didn't have a computer and internet connection good enough to even really think about trying multiplayer and didn't really know how to go about it back in the mid 90's. So I always just stuck to single player. I did play with bots and skulltag single player a bit though and a little Quake III Arena.

Anyways, I've been curious about trying to get into multiplayer recently. I was wondering the best way to go about it. Like how to hook up and which programs to use. How to find servers, etc. Is there a good site or tutorial or anything like that around?

Also, would there be any particular good servers to check out that are more friendly towards newer players? And for co-op?

Thanks.

[40oz]

Odamex, Zdaemon, and Zandronum are what you're looking for.

Playing against players is a lot different than fighting monsters though. In fact I've found that quite a few people are awesome at slaying thousands of monsters in a slaughter map but get creamed in a duel, and on the other hand, people who are complete player hunting machines won't play doom on higher than HMP.

This isn't true for all players but you'd think that being good at doom just means being good at doom.

[Acid]

Odamex and ZDaemon to my experience are more oriented towards traditional DM/Duel/Ctf/Coop games whereas Zandronum features more gameplay mods such as All Out War, WhoDunIt, MM8BDM and other addons (not to say that they don't have the standard fare, it's just not as popular).

For server seeking, there are the popular choices of usually either Doomseeker or Ide. Both disolay crossplatform servers, so it just wittles down to personal preference and preffered usage (I use IDE).

All 3 ports are welcoming to players depending on the people you meet. It's also a general rule of thumb to not be an asshole :)

Happy fragging, and maybe hope to catch you on Zandronum sometime.

[Brewtal_Legend]

What is the difference between Odamex, Zdaemon, and Zandronum? Zandronum is what Skulltag used to be isn't it?

Are these programs actually source ports or more like frontends with built in connection functions and server finders?

Would I need one of these and Doomseeker or ide with it?

Which uses the least amount of system resources including hd space?

[40oz]

I think all three are based on different versions of ZDoom. Zandronum keeps up with all the new features, ZDaemon is somewhere in the middle, and Odamex uses a really old version I think. Odamex is probably the least resource intensive. I'm able to run Odamex directly from a USB flash drive, and it only takes up a few megabytes I think.

[Acid]

Brewtal_Legend said:

What is the difference between Odamex, Zdaemon, and Zandronum? Zandronum is what Skulltag used to be isn't it?

Are these programs actually source ports or more like frontends with built in connection functions and server finders?

Would I need one of these and Doomseeker or ide with it?

Which uses the least amount of system resources including hd space?

All three ports are variants of ZDoom, with Zandronum succeeding Skulltag due to administration issues.

These are actually source ports with separate server launchers, and yes, Ide/Doomseeker is required for finding a server. Zandronum is probably the most resource intensive (as in, some stress on a 6 year old marchine) due to fancier OpenGL effects and lots of server data being sent back and forth.

[Brewtal_Legend]

Thanks for the advise guys.

I gave zdeamon a try and it was pretty fun.

Anywhere I can find a rundown of the different game modes?

I was playing survival in Doom 1, but wasn't totally sure what was going on. I think it was just who ever could get the most kills and do the most amount of damage?

[Acid]

Brewtal_Legend said:

Thanks for the advise guys.

I gave zdeamon a try and it was pretty fun.

Anywhere I can find a rundown of the different game modes?

I was playing survival in Doom 1, but wasn't totally sure what was going on. I think it was just who ever could get the most kills and do the most amount of damage?

Coop - Infinite lives, a friendly game on completing the level
Survival - Same as coop, but with a limited amount of lives

The 2 above gamemodes show kills per level at the end, and usually enforce rules like no jumping/crouching.

Team/Deathmatch - Free for all fragging race to a certain amount or to a time limit.
Duel - One on one, best one wins, to a frag limit.
Team/Last Man Standing - One life deathmatch, last person alive wins, to certain win amount.

Capture the flag (1-4 flags) - (usually) two teams duke it out by attempting to grab the opposing team's flag and bring it back to home base. This is one of the more competitive game modes.

Invasion - Play with friends against waves of monsters, with each wave granting access to new areas while increasing in difficulty.

Skulltag - Only on Zandronum, teams attempt to grab the opposing
team's skull and reach the skull pillar.

Terminator - A sphere is given to a random player at the start, and is buffed with 200% HP/Armor while dealing 4x damage. Upon death, the terminator drops said sphere for other players to scramble over.

Team/Possession - Teams must cooperate to hold a soulstone for 15 seconds by one member without dying.

Domination - In each map there are several Domination points. The object of the game is for your team to control these points. Your team gains 1 point for every 5 seconds for every domination point that is controlled. Frags do not matter whatsoever. The team that reaches the server pointlimit first is the winner.

Instagib - Every player is given a one-shot kill railgun. This is usually played with deathmatch.

Buckshot - SSG's only.

There are other gameplay modifier mods seperate from these.

[Brewtal_Legend]

How does one go about setting up a game? Kinda interested in playing Eternal as coop.

[Acid]

I use IDE, so this is how I do it:

1. In the top tabs, click "Start Server"
2. Edit hostname/email/motd to liking
3. Link desired wads in "Wad URL"
4. Choose port and gametype in top
5. Choose max clients/players (people allowed to connect/people allowed to join.)
6. Add PWADS/Iwad
7. Choose Skill and maps
(if needed) 8. Tick LAN Server
9. Press START SERVER

[abyrvalg]

I believe you also need to forward port(s) in your router settings for people to be able to join your server on top of what BloodyAcid said. You can also use Doomseeker instead of IDE for the same thing, it's as easy to set up a server with it.
If you ever decide to use Zandronum, you can either do the same, or have an alternative of using best-ever.org, which offers a service of hosting servers for anyone. You just need to basically register in 2 places and then you'll be able to easily start servers with any wads or settings (servers are located in US btw). There are instructions, and people are helpful in IRC too. Someone can maybe even start server for you.

[Evolution]

Welcome to the multi-player Mars, marine!

[Brewtal_Legend]

Anybody actually plat skulltag mod? Doesn't look like anyone does on the servers.

[Snik]

I believe it's because "Zdoom" is played using skulltag but over zdaemon, it's doom (although it's based on zdoom but doesn't have all the features)
Thus if you ask me, i recommend you zdaemon.
And if you want to launch a server of your own, it's much easier to do it on zdaemon than skulltag.

[Brewtal_Legend]

I didn't mean Skulltag as in using the skulltag source port. I meant like the game mode where you score points by putting the skulls on altars.

I'm under the impression that zandronum has the mode, but every time I look at the servers, it doesn't look like anyone is playing it.

[Acid]

Brewtal_Legend said:

I didn't mean Skulltag as in using the skulltag source port. I meant like the game mode where you score points by putting the skulls on altars.

I'm under the impression that zandronum has the mode, but every time I look at the servers, it doesn't look like anyone is playing it.

Extremely rarely. The lack of new levelsets and general interest results in low player counts. If by some chance FNF (Friday-Night-Fragfest) plays Skulltag, you'll get around 30 people at peak times in a game usually.

[Evolution]

Shame, cause the mode ST was hella fun.

[Brewtal_Legend]

That is a shame cause it seems like a pretty fun twist on the CTF concept. Unfortunately it seems like the bots aren't setup to play it at all very effectively either.

[Springy]

Pub CTF isn't played on Zandronum like it was on ST it's mostly priv now. I would suggest getting Internet Doom Explorer, choose the source port you want, linking the source port to it and going on the IRC. That might be able to help you communicate with the community and keep up to date with what games are going around. EDIT: You could always attend a few Saturday Night Survival events in Zandronum if you like survival and TNS events in Zdaemon. I attended a few in my time and they were great to play in.

[Hekksy]

The best option is to get Internet Doom Explorer, as well as Odamex, Zandronum, and ZDaemon. That way you have thrice the fun!

[bloodfalls]

I tried to play offline coop with bots but they won't shoot at enemies, they are just running around and get killed. Is this mode ever finished or am I doing something wrong?

[Snik]

Bots have been programmed for small maps(mostly deathmatch). indeed they will wander all around if the map is too big through deathmatch. Bots work fine if you use them in small maps. Ive used them in "invasion" games and it was ok. You can program them yourself through acs scripts for certain maps, but they'll turn into "unstoppable-killing-machines" and it won't be fun anymore.

[Manc]

Odamex has upnp support built in for servers, so it will automatically attempt to open a port on your router for your server if your router supports upnp (and many do).

[bloodfalls]

Snik said:

Bots have been programmed for small maps(mostly deathmatch). indeed they will wander all around if the map is too big through deathmatch. Bots work fine if you use them in small maps. Ive used them in "invasion" games and it was ok. You can program them yourself through acs scripts for certain maps, but they'll turn into "unstoppable-killing-machines" and it won't be fun anymore.

ah thank you:)