Preferred source port for multiplayer?

[Doom Marine]

I remember trying PrBoom's co-op online several years ago, and it was awful. The non-host player cannot even move correctly due to the massive latency.

I'm tilting towards whatever has the best netcode. If you can't move and shoot right, under normal internet latency like 100ms ping, then it's not worth playing. As long as the netcode is good, everything else is a distant second priority.

[RestlessRodent]

Doom Marine said:

I remember trying PrBoom's co-op online several years ago, and it was awful. The non-host player cannot even move correctly due to the massive latency.

After awhile you could get used to ice skating though. However, both server and client should be affected by the delay.

[BilboHicks]

ScoreDoomST is based on Skulltag, and is worth checking out if you want to play some competitive co-op with Doom, with arcade-style points scoring.
Points system description: http://scoredoom.com/gameplay-concept.html

[ReFracture]

Heh ice skating.. remembers me of Doom Legacy.. way back in the day.

Skulltag plays alright, I haven't tried ZDaemon for coop in years.

[TIHan]

Does anyone have any suggestions that can make Zandronum's coop experience better?

I've been working on a few branches that will address bandwidth and lag compensation. We are also working on a few sync issues. Is there anything gameplay related that could be improved?

[Prologue-9]

So, what source port do you use for multiplayer, and why? For me, I prefer ZDaemon for how easy it is to just set up a server and play with your friends, old-fashioned.

[scifista42]

Zandronum, because it supports and hosts ZDoomWars. I almost never play ZDoomWars anymore, though.

[Avoozl]

I would prefer Zandronum if it wasn't dead as far as Australian servers are concerned.

[Memfis]

Odamex has just slightly above 0 players, in Zandronum almost noone plays classic Doom, so ZDaemon is the obvious choice for me.

[Hekksy]

For deathmatch and CTF, Odamex. For co-op, Zandronum

[Marcaek]

Memfis said:

Odamex has just slightly above 0 players, in Zandronum almost noone plays classic Doom, so ZDaemon is the obvious choice for me.

There's still plenty of "oldschool" PvP but I feel like you're talking about coop or survival here and yeah that's pretty rare compared to the million complex doom servers.

[snapshot]

I like Zandronum just because it supports most of my fav mods, but because no one is playing them online, i use ZDaemon instead to play some duels, and sometimes on LA Worlds servers.

[Marcaek]

Really? Duel is one of the easier modes to get a game going on, although maybe not at your local time of day for some reason?

[Pencil of Doom]

Marcaek said:

Pretty rare compared to the million complex doom servers.

Yep, that's another reason to hate Complex Doom, it steals players from other mods, not to mention it's boring, i'm proud i'll never touch that thing again.

[Doomkid]

My preferred source port is Zandrodamexdaemon.

[snapshot]

Doomkid said:

My preferred source port is Zandrodamexdaemon.

Aka ZandroMexEmon

[scifista42]

Aka ZanDaeMex. The shorter, the better.

[wallabra]

Zadamex?

[snapshot]

Marcaek said:

Really? Duel is one of the easier modes to get a game going on, although maybe not at your local time of day for some reason?

GMT +1 ...

[schmerr]

As far as I understand, skulltag is (and has been for a very long time) dead. I just recently got a semi-reliable internet connection in which to play doom online, so i hopped on zandronum to do so, and there's a couple servers with people playing, but other than that, dead. Basically, which port has the best online presence?

[scifista42]

Zandronum, ZDaemon, Odamex.

Zandronum is not dead at all (I can see hundreds of active servers right now, 24 of them with people), it's up to par with ZDaemon on player counts, maybe you just don't have the right version of the port. Odamex is the one with comparatively low activity for most of the time. Anyway, these three ports cover pretty much the entire multiplayer Dooming nowadays.

[snapshot]

Doomsday saw some Multiplayer activity recently, Though it's netcode isn't as good as i thought, i recommand Zandronum since ZDaemon still has the crushers,lifts (and any moving Sector) bug and Odamex's Servers are barely active .

[doomguy (bald)]

I've been getting into doom's multiplayer alot lately, I've moslty using ZDaemon and Zandronum since those are the only active ports i know, just wanted to know if there's any other ports i should be using since i really love it's multiplayer, thanks in advanced 

[snapshot]

There's Odamex, but it's not as active as the other two (ZDaemon and Zandronum)

Edited October 26, 2020 by sluggard

[Hatred]

Currently this is how I’d describe it:

 

zdaemon has the longest history in terms of stability of the three major ports: zdaemon, Zandronum/Skulltag, and odamex. However, this is the least active ZD has ever been. It’s still in pretty good shape, and it’s got some pretty good game modes going for it. Of the three main ports, it’s a perfect medium between the vanilla leaning odamex and the gzdoom leaning Zandronum. 
 

Zandronum has the most activity but it’s probably the furthest away from vanilla dooms playstyle. It’s not inexistent in zandro, but it’s not the norm either. You’ll find a variety of different things in zandro as it supports more of the modern doom features (most modern of the three ports - it’s outdated by current overall standards). 
 

odamex doesn’t have a huge active public scene, so you’ll have some trouble finding many games there. However, odamex does currently host the most long-standing ctf league, the world doom league. They also have been hosting the QCon events since 2013. This is the closest port to vanilla doom that you’re  going to get. 
 

all three of the ports are pretty stable. If you’re interested in odamex related leagues/events, join the multiplayer doom federation discord, the odamex discord, and the world doom league discord (you’ll need approval for this one) for more info: 

 

MDF: https://discord.gg/HNNQr9U

Oda discord: https://discord.gg/TVFTK3w

wdl discord: https://discord.gg/M2tvgjr

 

good luck! 

[Endless]

1 hour ago, Hatred said:

Currently this is how I’d describe it:

 

zdaemon has the longest history in terms of stability of the three major ports: zdaemon, Zandronum/Skulltag, and odamex. However, this is the least active ZD has ever been. It’s still in pretty good shape, and it’s got some pretty good game modes going for it. Of the three main ports, it’s a perfect medium between the vanilla leaning odamex and the gzdoom leaning Zandronum. 
 

Zandronum has the most activity but it’s probably the furthest away from vanilla dooms playstyle. It’s not inexistent in zandro, but it’s not the norm either. You’ll find a variety of different things in zandro as it supports more of the modern doom features (most modern of the three ports - it’s outdated by current overall standards). 

One thing that I found interesting about ZDaemon is that it tracks stats, like XP on your played matches (Tho, I'm not exactly sure as to what matches count for this)

Does Zandronum has something like that?

[doomguy (bald)]

2 hours ago, Hatred said:

Currently this is how I’d describe it:

 

zdaemon has the longest history in terms of stability of the three major ports: zdaemon, Zandronum/Skulltag, and odamex. However, this is the least active ZD has ever been. It’s still in pretty good shape, and it’s got some pretty good game modes going for it. Of the three main ports, it’s a perfect medium between the vanilla leaning odamex and the gzdoom leaning Zandronum. 
 

Zandronum has the most activity but it’s probably the furthest away from vanilla dooms playstyle. It’s not inexistent in zandro, but it’s not the norm either. You’ll find a variety of different things in zandro as it supports more of the modern doom features (most modern of the three ports - it’s outdated by current overall standards). 
 

odamex doesn’t have a huge active public scene, so you’ll have some trouble finding many games there. However, odamex does currently host the most long-standing ctf league, the world doom league. They also have been hosting the QCon events since 2013. This is the closest port to vanilla doom that you’re  going to get. 
 

all three of the ports are pretty stable. If you’re interested in odamex related leagues/events, join the multiplayer doom federation discord, the odamex discord, and the world doom league discord (you’ll need approval for this one) for more info: 

 

MDF: https://discord.gg/HNNQr9U

Oda discord: https://discord.gg/TVFTK3w

wdl discord: https://discord.gg/M2tvgjr

 

good luck! 

Thanks alot man!

[snapshot]

57 minutes ago, Endless said:

One thing that I found interesting about ZDaemon is that it tracks stats, like XP on your played matches (Tho, I'm not exactly sure as to what matches count for this)

Does Zandronum has something like that?

It's for competitive rounds like dms and duels, Zandronum has database features.

[Matty_V]

I love zandronum because it makes doom look thousand times better with the OpenGL rendering features. And there is still a fair bit of vanilla play going on. But zdaemon is where you find the most hardcore crowd. Also the number of OS servers in Europe is bigger at ZD, so good news if you’re from there.

[DOEL]

I like Zandronum since it has a variety of gamepla. Every once in a while there will be some Idiotic LMS games going and it's absolutely hilarious. I also like Shotgun Frenzy - a sort of team tower defence mod with an RTS-esque commander position, Master of Puppets which is outright carnage [SOVIET POWER SUPREME], and Stronghold - another team defense game.

 

I also uae Zandronum since TSPG hosts up to 3 servers for free. I usually have 3 co-op servers running with custom WADs and vanilla gameplay. I have the flags set so it should pretty much be an accurate vanilla experience outside of respawning items, no friendly fire, and no telefragging. But everything else, horizontal mouse look only, infinitely tall actors, no crosshair, vanilla RNG, vanilla hit detection, etc. are all pretty much accurate. Come check it out, search for 'DOEL's Vanilla Gameplay' in Doomseeker.

Edited November 6, 2020 by DOEL