Do you play with classic status bar?

[Memfis]

Sometimes, when watching demos, I notice how the player is shooting at monsters on top that I can't even see. This is because I always play with classic status bar (the one with the animated face), so I see a bit less than some people. To me the game just seems incomplete without that bar on bottom. It is so iconic and it just gives me comfort. Is it an unpopular position? I guess hiding the bar can make an important difference in very vertical maps.

[Da Werecat]

Depends on the port. In ZDoom I typically don't, but in some other popular ports it's the only way to see all ammo types at the same time.

I also use the double status bar in Quake for the same reason.

[Maes]

I'm really divided on this one. On the one hand, full-screen gives you a better view of the world, but at least in vanilla, I could not stand playing without knowing my current health, armor and ammo status.

Even with modern ports that do provide at least a minimized full-screen HUD...I don't know, I really need to see Doomguy's face to acknowledge taking damage and make sure that I'm not actually roaming around the level near-death.

Perhaps the ideal would be a status bar minus the background overlaid in full-screen, who knows.

[scifista42]

Yes, I play with classic status bar. I like the fact that the actual game screen is a perfectly rectangular area and that no numbers or icons or anything other than the player's weapon overlays this area, as they're all on the status bar that is entirely below the game screen. I find it unnatural when the game screen is overlayed in such a way that it's either not rectangular (like the Doom alpha HUD, or the default HUD in Adventures of Square) or there are numbers or icons in the screen's rectangle (like the typical fullscreen HUDs).

[joe-ilya]

If I'm recording demos then I use the PRboom HUD to see how much time has passed and other stats, otherwise I play with the classic HUD.

[antares031]

I always use classic status bar, except two cases. One is capturing scenic screenshots with advanced source port, the other is playing competitive deathmatch.

[printz]

Yes. Some reasons:

1. I mostly use vanilla Doom or Doom+ to play any wad that doesn't require ports. I need the status bar to see my current situation.

2. If I play Boom, MBF or Eternity, I avoid seeing the HUD because it reveals how many monsters, items and secrets are left in the map. It's a major spoiler.

3. The Doomguy face is perfectly centred, which is very useful when aiming, as I never use a crosshair (when playing a port).

[ZaBigBoss]

ZDoom really made it difficult for me to ever go back to having a status bar. I enjoy the extra space. Feels like I'm IN the game. woo

[Doomkid]

Yes. Other HUDs just aren't as easy to read. As Maes said, one where the grey background was see-through would be nice. I'm sure someone has made that by now.

[HorrorMovieRei]

I always play with the classic status bar unless it's a mod that doesn't support/breaks it, or has an ugly status bar.

[Flesh420]

I always use the status bar because Doomguy's face. If more ports updated status bars had Doomguy's face I'd use them. Until then, stickin' with the classic.

[Chow Yun Thin]

I prefer the fullscreen HUD for ZDoom, but I do miss Doomguy's mug. A great compromise would be a damage compass mod where Doomguy's transparent face pops up temporarily to let you know where he's being hit from. His face condition would be dependent on health, maybe have ouchface appear for attacks behind him.

[40oz]

Considering so many wads have custom status bars these days, I would assume a majority of people do.

[Spectre01]

Nope. I use either the Alternative HUD feature in GZDoom when I'm not loading any addons, but usually play with the HXRTC-HUD which gives me all the info I want without obstructing anything.

Spoiler

I find the monster counter to be essential to know if there are any PE's or AV's loose that are pumping the monster numbers up.

If I'm playing in GLBoom+, I also use the advanced HUD with the timer and map stats.

[SaladBadger]

I am far, far too used to the zdoom fullscreen hud (to the point where my preferred the hud when using Eternity is the "graphical" fullscreen HUD, which is pretty nice), though I do occasionally pop up the status bar to check overall ammo numbers. While the GZDoom alternative hud has all that information, I find it to be a bit too cluttered for my preference.

I can play with a status bar though, and based on my recent pistol start run of Plutonia, I'm starting to wonder if maybe I should. I ran into too many cases where I didn't actually realize I had a RL or plasma gun when they'd be useful. I've gotten into the habit of occasionally popping up the status bar to check that, but having it at a glance would be useful.

[Technician]

Yes.

InsanityBringer said:

I am far, far too used to the zdoom fullscreen

This, too.

[Demon of the Well]

I usually only see the status bar when I flick to the automap. Otherwise, I use one of the condensed Boom-style HUDs or, in a map I already know, often no moment-to-moment HUD at all.

From spectating others outside of .lmp recordings, however, it's been my experience that most players do in fact use the status bar, or perhaps one of the ZDoom-style icon-based HUDs.

[ABRACADABRA]

I tried to use non-classic huds so many times, but every time I just returned to original. it alone makes for me like half of the game. seeing doomguy grin or bloody face is awesome! things different in quake thogh. it's static and it's ugly and boring, compared to doom's. and god, it takes so much space with second layer enabled especially when hud is aspect ratio corrected. the QW hud was much better

[Blastfrog]

I actually dislike the status bar, I prefer the Doom 64 HUD myself.

[Deleted_Account]

I usually play with th classic status bar on.

[Lila Feuer]

I like them both, the STATBAR is usually modified in most cases and some can look really nice and I typically use the alternative HUD option in GZDoom that displays more information (unless the default HUD is modified via a mod).

[Voros]

I don't play with the status bar anymore, because I like seeing the whole weapon onscreen.

[Swine & Roses]

Wait, what? There are people who play Doom without classic status bar? What is this heresy?

[Azuruish]

I'm using classic status bar only for recording videos... Usually I use advanced (Tas) hud which shows me How fast the game is and how many has health the monsters which I'm tracing.

[raymoohawk]

i went back to the classic status bar so i can easely keep track of my ammo without switching weapons

[Jello]

I usually use Zdoom or GZdoom, and I have the alternate HUD which shows ammunition along the right side of the screen. So yeah, I haven't used the status bar in years. If I went back to playing vanilla Doom I would use it so I could see my ammunition counts, but I don't see that happening. I love my little Doomguy face, and maybe it could be added at the bottom center of the screen on top of the weapon, so it doesn't obscure the screen. That might be a neat little addition, so you could still see his friendly face while still seeing the whole screen.

[lil'devil]

I usually play without any HUD and instead bring up the automap screen to look at the stats.

[Guest]

[Avoozl]

I have only really been using SmoothDoom's modified BTSX HUD lately.

[Blue Shadow]

I'm a ZDoom user. I use a custom-made fullscreen HUD. It has everything the status bar has (and more), but without it obscuring part of the screen.