Doom Launcher - Doom frontend & database v3.7.4 (12/2023)

[Dmyt]

Hi everyone! I think Doom Launcher is an great, useful app. Thus I want to contribute a bit to its development and share the method of customizing Doom Launcher's tile in Windows 10 Start menu. It should also work in Windows 8.1. You can see the result below...

 

 

If you want such looking Doom Launcher's tile in your Start menu you have to:

1. Download the attached DoomLauncherWin10Tiles.zip.
2. Extract it to Doom Launcher app folder (the one, in which DoomLauncher.exe exists).
3. If you don't have Doom Launcher shortcut in Start menu, right-click on DoomLauncher.exe and pin it to Start.
4. If you have Doom Launcher shortcut in Start menu, refresh the shortcut file (see step 7 in this article) to clear the cache.
5. Done!

You can find more info about custom tiles in this article. I used the Doom vector logo from Wikimedia Commons, which is claimed to be in the public domain. I increased spacing between letters, so the logo looks more sharp. I also used this image as the background, but couldn't find any copyright info.

DoomLauncherWin10Tiles.zip

[hobomaster22]

12 hours ago, Dmyt said:

Hi everyone! I think Doom Launcher is an great, useful app. Thus I want to contribute a bit to its development and share the method of customizing Doom Launcher's tile in Windows 10 Start menu. It should also work in Windows 8.1. You can see the result below...

 

 

If you want such looking Doom Launcher's tile in your Start menu you have to:

1. Download the attached DoomLauncherWin10Tiles.zip.
2. Extract it to Doom Launcher app folder (the one, in which DoomLauncher.exe exists).
3. If you don't have Doom Launcher shortcut in Start menu, right-click on DoomLauncher.exe and pin it to Start.
4. If you have Doom Launcher shortcut in Start menu, refresh the shortcut file (see step 7 in this article) to clear the cache.
5. Done!

You can find more info about custom tiles in this article. I used the Doom vector logo from Wikimedia Commons, which is claimed to be in the public domain. I increased spacing between letters, so the logo looks more sharp. I also used this image as the background, but couldn't find any copyright info.

DoomLauncherWin10Tiles.zip

 

That's pretty cool, thanks for sharing! I can include this in the next update. The icon for Doom Launcher actually contains all sizes up to 256x256, so I will resize those to match the 150x150 and 70x70 sizes. I'm surprised Windows 10 doesn't check for a larger icon and use that if it exists.

[Dmyt]

14 hours ago, hobomaster22 said:

 

That's pretty cool, thanks for sharing! I can include this in the next update. The icon for Doom Launcher actually contains all sizes up to 256x256, so I will resize those to match the 150x150 and 70x70 sizes. I'm surprised Windows 10 doesn't check for a larger icon and use that if it exists.

Tile image is not a scaled up icon. In case, when there is only an icon available, it is placed in the center of the tile:

Tile image fills the whole tile and it should contain margins, so the main element (logo) stays in the center:

There is a Microsoft guide to creating customized tiles.

[Erick]

When I attempted to update TNT: Revilution's metadata, I get greeted with this popup error. If I can recall, TNTR.wad had an update a month since it's initial release to fix some bugs, yet other files that had updates on the idgames archive such as Community Chest 4 and 300 Minutes of /vr/ didn't received any trouble on updating metadata. I have tried other mirrors but the error still occurs. Any idea why this error has occurred? So far I only know that TNT: Revilution has this issue, though I still find it odd.

Edited February 5, 2018 by GuyNamedErick
Image changed, though still showing the error.

[hobomaster22]

1 hour ago, GuyNamedErick said:

When I attempted to update TNT: Revilution's metadata, I get greeted with this popup error. If I can recall, TNTR.wad had an update a month since it's initial release to fix some bugs, yet other files that had updates on the idgames archive such as Community Chest 4 and 300 Minutes of /vr/ didn't received any trouble on updating metadata. I have tried other mirrors but the error still occurs. Any idea why this error has occurred? So far I only know that TNT: Revilution has this issue, though I still find it odd.

Yep, that's a bug. Thanks for posing the problem!

[hobomaster22]

Finally releasing Doom Launcher 2.6.1! It took a lot of time but I've finished a help document that encompasses all the features of Doom Launcher. I highly suggest checking it out. Even if you've been using Doom Launcher for a long time, you might learn something new!

 

Latest Version 2.6.1:
DoomLauncher_2.6.1.zip

 

Help Document:

Help.zip

[Erick]

V2.6.1 of Doom Launcher is great, fixed various bugs and added new features that really come in handy, I really love using this launcher! That aside, looks like I ran into two minor bugs. The first one is the Sync Status page, the page will pop up again if you click the continue or exit button, though the second time you do either, then it closes. Would be good if you only need to click on continue or exit once and not have the page pop up again after doing so. The second bug is with tags, I have deleted some .zip files with their tags still on, so I assume that deleting all associated data would include the tags. However, when adding/downloading the file again, the .zip file still has the same tag prior to deleting despite that other associated data such as save game and statistics were deleted completely. I can still remove the tag manually no problem, though it would be more convenient to have tags be removed when deleting a  .zip file much like the associated data I have mentioned.

 

Not sure if this is an oversight or intentional, but when adding HACX.wad as an IWAD, it appears as HACX.zip on the IWAD selection, while the other IWADs have .wad as their extension. I have added the other IWADs in Doom Launcher V2.5.1, with HACX.wad I just added it recently, so I'm guessing the .zip extension came around in V2.6.0? It doesn't really cause any others, in fact I can still launch HACX.wad as an IWAD no problem (I have tested with Chocolate Doom and ZDoom, it launches fine), though I wanted to point this out for a bit of clarification.

Edited February 15, 2018 by GuyNamedErick

[hobomaster22]

On 2/15/2018 at 5:51 PM, GuyNamedErick said:

V2.6.1 of Doom Launcher is great, fixed various bugs and added new features that really come in handy, I really love using this launcher! That aside, looks like I ran into two minor bugs. The first one is the Sync Status page, the page will pop up again if you click the continue or exit button, though the second time you do either, then it closes. Would be good if you only need to click on continue or exit once and not have the page pop up again after doing so. The second bug is with tags, I have deleted some .zip files with their tags still on, so I assume that deleting all associated data would include the tags. However, when adding/downloading the file again, the .zip file still has the same tag prior to deleting despite that other associated data such as save game and statistics were deleted completely. I can still remove the tag manually no problem, though it would be more convenient to have tags be removed when deleting a  .zip file much like the associated data I have mentioned.

 

Not sure if this is an oversight or intentional, but when adding HACX.wad as an IWAD, it appears as HACX.zip on the IWAD selection, while the other IWADs have .wad as their extension. I have added the other IWADs in Doom Launcher V2.5.1, with HACX.wad I just added it recently, so I'm guessing the .zip extension came around in V2.6.0? It doesn't really cause any others, in fact I can still launch HACX.wad as an IWAD no problem (I have tested with Chocolate Doom and ZDoom, it launches fine), though I wanted to point this out for a bit of clarification.

 

 

Thanks for the report. I will work on the two bugs in the next release. There was a change in Doom Launcher where it didn't zip IWADs and they were stored in a separate folder. I think I will remove the extension in the list entirely so it would just display like DOOM, DOOM2, HACX, etc.

[Erick]

10 hours ago, hobomaster22 said:

 

Thanks for the report. I will work on the two bugs in the next release. There was a change in Doom Launcher where it didn't zip IWADs and they were stored in a separate folder. I think I will remove the extension in the list entirely so it would just display like DOOM, DOOM2, HACX, etc.

That separate folder would be the GameWads folder, right? I have checked that the IWADs are stored in individual .zip files in the GameFiles directory, but there are no IWADs stored in the GameWads subfolder. In fact, I don't think the GameWads folder ever gets used unless I am missing something. The other folders have no issues (Backup, Demos, SaveGames, Screenshots, Temp), just the GameWads folder doesn't seem to be used here. I suppose that would be another bug?

[hobomaster22]

1 hour ago, GuyNamedErick said:

That separate folder would be the GameWads folder, right? I have checked that the IWADs are stored in individual .zip files in the GameFiles directory, but there are no IWADs stored in the GameWads subfolder. In fact, I don't think the GameWads folder ever gets used unless I am missing something. The other folders have no issues (Backup, Demos, SaveGames, Screenshots, Temp), just the GameWads folder doesn't seem to be used here. I suppose that would be another bug?

It's left over from when they were separate. Everything is in the GameFiles folder now.

[Erick]

Alright, thank you for clarifying, I was wondering about that, there goes another bit of confusion out of the way.

[mogwaimon]

I just want to report a potential bug, there are certain wads and pk3 mods that are being detected as IWADs when they really shouldn't be, such as the Doom 2 Master Levels PWads, Brutal Doom's Ketchup mod (but not the core v20b), Aeons of Death, and the version of Pillowblaster's Guncaster over on the ZDoom forums that has Project Brutality built in.

 

Is there a way to get the launcher to downgrade them from IWAD? As it is now, I can't use the launcher to load those particular mods. Technically as a workaround I can package all of them into a zip file that's already been recognized as a regular file, like for example if I package the ketchup.pk3 with Brutal Doom and choose it as an individual file when I play a game while loading another mod, i.e. Russian Overkill, and disable Brutal Doom's pk3, the game works fine.

[hobomaster22]

2 hours ago, mogwaimon said:

I just want to report a potential bug, there are certain wads and pk3 mods that are being detected as IWADs when they really shouldn't be, such as the Doom 2 Master Levels PWads, Brutal Doom's Ketchup mod (but not the core v20b), Aeons of Death, and the version of Pillowblaster's Guncaster over on the ZDoom forums that has Project Brutality built in.

 

Is there a way to get the launcher to downgrade them from IWAD? As it is now, I can't use the launcher to load those particular mods. Technically as a workaround I can package all of them into a zip file that's already been recognized as a regular file, like for example if I package the ketchup.pk3 with Brutal Doom and choose it as an individual file when I play a game while loading another mod, i.e. Russian Overkill, and disable Brutal Doom's pk3, the game works fine.

 

That's strange. There's no way to fix it in the launcher. Can you send me your DoomLauncher.sqlite file? I can fix it for you manually and sent it back. The file will also help me figure out what's going on.

[mogwaimon]

13 hours ago, hobomaster22 said:

 

That's strange. There's no way to fix it in the launcher. Can you send me your DoomLauncher.sqlite file? I can fix it for you manually and sent it back. The file will also help me figure out what's going on.

 

Certainly, I'll attach it here for you. I'd tried looking in the file myself, but I don't have anything that can view database files to my knowledge and I'm not up on my SQL, unfortunately.

DoomLauncherSQLiteMogwaimon.zip

[hobomaster22]

59 minutes ago, mogwaimon said:

 

Certainly, I'll attach it here for you. I'd tried looking in the file myself, but I don't have anything that can view database files to my knowledge and I'm not up on my SQL, unfortunately.

DoomLauncherSQLiteMogwaimon.zip

 

I fixed the database for you. I believe the only way you could have fixed it was to delete them from the iwads tab and re-add them. I forgot how my launcher worked for a moment but I remembered it doesn't automaticaly detect iwads. (Other then automatically filing the title for files like DOOM2). If you drag and drop a file in the iwads tab, it will be added as an iwad, all other tabs will add as pwad. I'm think you may have accidentally added them as iwads.

 

 

DoomLauncher_db.zip

[mogwaimon]

Ah crap you're right. I'd deleted them and re-added them a few times but incidentally every time I readded them (I use drag and drop) I must have happened to be on the IWAD page, because I did what you just suggested before replacing the database file with the fixed version and it actually worked. Sorry for the trouble man, I'll keep it in mind in the future. I only just set up a new DOOM folder with your launcher so I haven't entirely gotten used to the program yet

 

EDIT: Oh, and thank you for the assist. Poor manners, forgetting to say thank you, sorry about that.

Edited March 3, 2018 by mogwaimon

[hobomaster22]

3 minutes ago, mogwaimon said:

Ah crap you're right. I'd deleted them and re-added them a few times but incidentally every time I readded them (I use drag and drop) I must have happened to be on the IWAD page, because I did what you just suggested before replacing the database file with the fixed version and it actually worked. Sorry for the trouble man, I'll keep it in mind in the future. I only just set up a new DOOM folder with your launcher so I haven't entirely gotten used to the program yet

 

No problem, it happens. I may add a feature so you can remove it from the iwads without having to delete it.

[Erick]

Previewing the launch parameters, added files are launched before the IWAD, which can cause problems for ports such as Chocolate Doom since all the resources in a given file will be overrided by the contents of the IWAD. The selected .zip file will launch after the IWAD like normal, but additional files don't do that and while ports like ZDoom can automatically launch the IWAD first before the other files, classic ports won't do the same, making it impractical to play with multiple files for those ports. It should also be noted that the selected files (not additional) don't appear on the launch parameter page. Another bug, while minor, involves past selected files said to be selected, even though I am not launching the mod Doomzone in this session.

 

[hobomaster22]

2 hours ago, GuyNamedErick said:

Previewing the launch parameters, added files are launched before the IWAD, which can cause problems for ports such as Chocolate Doom since all the resources in a given file will be overrided by the contents of the IWAD. The selected .zip file will launch after the IWAD like normal, but additional files don't do that and while ports like ZDoom can automatically launch the IWAD first before the other files, classic ports won't do the same, making it impractical to play with multiple files for those ports. It should also be noted that the selected files (not additional) don't appear on the launch parameter page. Another bug, while minor, involves past selected files said to be selected, even though I am not launching the mod Doomzone in this session.

 

Thanks for the report. I wasn't aware some ports cared about the order of the iwad parameter, so that's interesting. Do you think there is any reason to control the order or should I just move it first?

 

I see the issues with the additional files and the preview launch parameters. I'm working on an update now.

[Erick]

5 hours ago, hobomaster22 said:

 

Thanks for the report. I wasn't aware some ports cared about the order of the iwad parameter, so that's interesting. Do you think there is any reason to control the order or should I just move it first?

 

I see the issues with the additional files and the preview launch parameters. I'm working on an update now.

Source ports normally launch their .wad or .pk3 files before the IWAD (at least with ZDoom as far as I know), just that additional files are always added after the IWAD which ports like ZDoom and Eternity can do automatically, while classic ports like PrBoom+ and Chocolate Doom cannot. I think just having the IWADs launching before any or all additional files should help fix the problem, although being able to control the order of the launch files of each individual .zip might come in handy, since some .zips can contain multiple files like say Hell Revealed with its main WAD file and music WAD file. Regardless, having the IWADs launch first should fix the main problem for classic ports.

[geo]

I like Doom Launcher, but I am noticing that when I open a .zip via Doom Launcher, sometimes its missing files such as help.zip is missing the .wad file in it, but its not missing it on idgames/ nin02.zip is missing the 3 .lmps that come with it.

 

Am I doing something wrong?

 

Searching for nindoom.zip Doom Launcher can't seem to find it when its on idgames.

 

I hate to have complaints when I love this thing so much.

 

** EDIT ** Ah I found the solution to both problems. I'm searching "recent" and not searching "idgames" Sorry. My bad. Anyway, if anyone else has this problem... ta da! And the program can always use a bump on the thread.

Edited March 10, 2018 by geo

[geo]

What about being able to read the .txt file with play random? That way I know if I should load Doom 1 or Doom 2 or what sauce port.

Edited March 12, 2018 by geo

[geo]

Another bump, another idea. What about linking not only the /idgames page, but the Doomworld/downloads page as its quite a chore to find the .wad here to review it. Search / find seems imperfect, so I end up having to go category to category, then N - P and sort by title. Its a long process made longer if I went to doom2 > levels rather than doom2 > megawads.

[hobomaster22]

On 3/10/2018 at 10:51 AM, geo said:

What about being able to read the .txt file with play random?

 

I could make it scroll to the file and highlight it. Then you could exit the play prompt and do whatever you want without having to go find it.

 

21 hours ago, geo said:

Another bump, another idea. What about linking not only the /idgames page, but the Doomworld/downloads page as its quite a chore to find the .wad here to review it. Search / find seems imperfect, so I end up having to go category to category, then N - P and sort by title. Its a long process made longer if I went to doom2 > levels rather than doom2 > megawads.

 

This would be cool. Is there any documentation on the downloads page? Looking at the urls and comparing to idgames they seem to be using different databases. Looks like the downloads is using 'fileid-title' for the page but the fileid doesn't match the idgames fileid. Unless there is some api for me to use for the new downloads page I don't think there is anything I can do.

 

[geo]

@hobomaster22 You're right they do seem to be using different databases, but the folder structure seems to be the same. Could be something you have to ask @Linguica about. I have gotten better at searching for files over the past week.

 

Here's a new idea... random unrated or unplayed.

 

Another suggestion... open folder to get to the screenshots so I can click + drag them to upload to Doomworld easier. I can open the screenshot that defaults to the default Windows image viewer, but not the directory.

 

Perhaps having a folder per .wad would organize things better when looking in the folder view, because at the moment its a jumble of screenshots... Then again I can argue that a jumble of screenshots is easier to flip through than folders.  Its an issue because the screenshots have random names dsfjlsdfjkl.png or is that a source port issue? To be fair once I'm in the folder I can just arrange them by most recently taken.

 

Right mouse clicking a screen shot image and clicking delete leads to the deletion of the file and all screenshots with no warning when I assumed it would delete the screenshot.

[hobomaster22]

10 hours ago, geo said:

Here's a new idea... random unrated or unplayed.

 

Another suggestion... open folder to get to the screenshots so I can click + drag them to upload to Doomworld easier. I can open the screenshot that defaults to the default Windows image viewer, but not the directory.

 

Perhaps having a folder per .wad would organize things better when looking in the folder view, because at the moment its a jumble of screenshots... Then again I can argue that a jumble of screenshots is easier to flip through than folders.  Its an issue because the screenshots have random names dsfjlsdfjkl.png or is that a source port issue? To be fair once I'm in the folder I can just arrange them by most recently taken.

 

Right mouse clicking a screen shot image and clicking delete leads to the deletion of the file and all screenshots with no warning when I assumed it would delete the screenshot.

 

I can add random unrated and unplayed, easy enough.

 

As for the screenshots I can see if I can add drag + drop. You can right click the image in Doom Launcher and copy and paste. You can also right click and select 'Copy All' which would copy all images for that wad and paste them somewhere like your desktop.

 

How did you do the delete? The only way to delete an image is right click the image and select 'Delete'. Eeither way you should have seen a confirmation dialog, even if you accidentally did a delete on the wad file. I couldn't replicate any problems with deleting screenshots. Let me know if you find a way to replicate the problem.

[geo]

6 minutes ago, hobomaster22 said:

 

I can add random unrated and unplayed, easy enough.

 

As for the screenshots I can see if I can add drag + drop. You can right click the image in Doom Launcher and copy and paste. You can also right click and select 'Copy All' which would copy all images for that wad and paste them somewhere like your desktop.

 

How did you do the delete? The only way to delete an image is right click the image and select 'Delete'. Eeither way you should have seen a confirmation dialog, even if you accidentally did a delete on the wad file. I couldn't replicate any problems with deleting screenshots. Let me know if you find a way to replicate the problem.

Right clicked an image, drop down menu happened, I clicked delete. It deleted the file and all screenshots. I'll give it another test right now.

Alright. Now it worked as it should. Gave a confirmation and deleted only the screenshot. So I will assume what happened earlier was an issue on my part.

 

Thanks for explaining the copy all.

 

What about a no rating on /idgames? I'm trying to find things with no ratings to review them. As it is now I have to visit /idgames, click random file and keep going until I stumble upon one with no ratings.

[hobomaster22]

New version 2.6.2.

 

Bug Fixes:

-Columns changed in Additional Files will reflect back to the main tabs
-Increased size of Additional Files dialog
-Fixed crash that can happen when an IWAD is deleted and files linked that IWAD are launched
-Fixed issue for map marker finding

 

New Features:
-Added Play Random Unrated and Play Random Unplayed
-Added quick link to view launch parameters
-Launch parameters are now merged together (e.g. single -file parameter)

Edited September 15, 2018 by hobomaster22

[hobomaster22]

Doom Launcher is finally on GitHub! Hope to see you there!

 

https://github.com/hobomaster22/DoomLauncher

 

New version 2.6.3.0:

https://github.com/hobomaster22/DoomLauncher/releases/tag/2.6.3.0

 

Features/Enhancements
Added parameter text box to source ports. This will automatically add the parameter to the launch parameters when the source port is selected for launch.
Read item counts from GZDoom 3.5 save games for statistics.
Upgraded description/comment text boxes to rich text boxes.

 

Bug Fixes
Fixed warning and data issues when deleting utilities.
Removed play button on source port form.
Fixed additional file handling when changing iwad/source port after the file has been saved.
Updated description for files when editing to match the summary view on the right.
Fixed issue that would cause a deleted file with tags to be assigned to the next file that is added.
Fixed crash when Doom Launcher starts and cannot kill another Doom Launcher process because of permissions.

 

[Abroane]

Hobomaster22,

 

This is awesome and i've been playing with it.  Is there a way to parse the Doomworld.com/files?

 

I just get a "No Results Found" on the id games tab. Changing it to /idgames it pulls up files just fine.

 

Is this something that is being worked on?

or is this something wrong on my end?

 

Also as a side note.
Since everything gets put in a zip file.

How do i use addons that need to be placed in between the map and the mod files?

I don't see a way for the load order to see the files inside the zip separately.

 

I don't know how big of an issue that is but it is an issue for ashes 2063.

Edited October 13, 2018 by Abroane
Added side note