Do you prefer mouselook or freelook for Doom?

[leodoom85]

Freelook for the win...

[R1ck]

Both. But I only "freelook" (basically both are the same but whatever floats your boat bud) when playing gameplay mod occasionally. 

[Maes]

Freelook AND mouselook are one of those things that once you have used them, you'll never willingly go back. What we mean by "plain mouselook" is linked to the dominant WASD control scheme anyway, so no going back there. And the ability to be better aware of your environment and seeing things that you'd otherwise miss, distortion or no distortion...well, that's priceless.

 

A kind of gray area are those Doom engine games (including Heretic, Hexen, Doom64 etc.) which did have full view/pitch controls, but no decent built-in way to actually use them in-game. With Heretic at least, the view/pitch controls felt like an awkward kludge that you had to use in a couple of spots to make your life easier, but they just felt too stiff/rigid for continuous use.

[Da Werecat]

Doom 64 didn't have pitch controls.

[Maes]

I may be thinking of the Doom 64: Absolution TC then -I was still playing as a pure keyboarder when I first completed it, and the controls reminisced me of Heretic. I don't know if the Nintendo 64 original actually had a view pitch.

[Avoozl]

I don't generally use free look unless a wad is specially designed for it.

[jazzmaster9]

I usually test my Maps with Mouselook only 

But playing, Free look all the way.

Doom's autoaim is super janky and I have no patience with it 

[Voros]

Mouselook is the default way to go when Dooming. Freelook is unnecessary in most WADs out there, but I turn it on when a map requires it.

 

Freelook with DM is a terrible idea though.

[Maes]

36 minutes ago, Voros said:

Freelook with DM is a terrible idea though.

Except when railgunning, but that's not exactly "Doom canon".

Edited May 29, 2017 by Maes

[Woolie Wool]

Freelook for sure. The feeling of control is something you'll never want to do without once you've tried freelook. Aiming with vanilla mouse controls feels like you're doing it through a middleman--Doom will consider your request to shoot up at the sniper above you and may or may not grant it depending on distance, precision, the constellation Mercury is rising in, etc. With freelook, you just look up and swat that chaingunner like a fly. You can even lead targets that are above you, which helps immensely with revenant and archvile snipers.

[Ru5tK1ng]

2 hours ago, Voros said:

Mouselook is the default way to go when Dooming. Freelook is unnecessary in most WADs out there, but I turn it on when a map requires it.

 

Freelook with DM is a terrible idea though.

That depends on the mapset. If you're playing older, flat as a pancake maps, then freelook won't make much sense and as someone said before, it'll probably handicap you (aiming on 1 axis is easier than aiming on 2).

 

Freelook is definitely helpful on DM maps that have decent height variation. Plus you can't always rely on autoaim to work online because it will screw you over at the worst possible times!

[[McD] James]

2 hours ago, Voros said:

Freelook with DM is a terrible idea though.

 

That's a good point. I don't play a lot of Doom multiplayer, but if you're going the vanilla deathmatch route, then I can see where vanilla look (is that the term I should be using now?) would be practically mandatory. 

[Kontra Kommando]

Every Doom-fan should beat the classic games at least once with using the mouse-look IMO. That way, they can experience the original maps the way they were intended, by their design.

 

Personally, I use free-look all the time.

[Graf Zahl]

If there wasn't the option of freelook I wouldn't play Doom anymore. As more modern games lifted this restriction it became increasingly more awkward switching back to Doom without it. That only changed when I started using ports that could do it.

 

[Pirx]

On 5/28/2017 at 3:42 PM, Linguica said:

In Quake (and ever since) the option to turn on looking up and down by moving your mouse up and down has been called "mouselook." Looking left and right with your mouse has never had a name, it's just "playing a game with your mouse." You don't get to retroactively change "mouselook" to something else and then invent the new term "freelook" to mean what mouselook means.

tbh that poll confused me. mouselook = freelook afaik, but whatever, i see what he meant.

 

On 5/28/2017 at 6:38 PM, Bauul said:

Ever since I could +mlook 1 in Quake I've played with unrestricted mouse look.

 

Also, just an FYI for those unaware, the latest version of GZDoom's software renderer has a full, non-distorted mouselook mode.

this. i find not being able to look up and down awkward, even if this is how doom was originally meant to be played.

[Pirx]

On 5/28/2017 at 6:44 PM, KVELLER said:

Witchery!

 

your cultist avatar or whatever that is makes this even funnier.

[Owly]

I don't use a mouse while playing Doom ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[KVELLER]

12 hours ago, Pirx said:

 

your cultist avatar or whatever that is makes this even funnier.

Hehe, its interesting to see the different interpretations that people give to my avatar.

[Kontra Kommando]

12 hours ago, OwlMan said:

I don't use a mouse while playing Doom ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I was just playing the shareware version of the first episode with the default key-layout:

 

Spoiler

 

w: forward

s: backward

d: left strafe

a: right strafe

left arrow: turn left

right arrow: turn right

spacebar: shoot

r: use

Shift: Run (always run is off)

 

 

[Maes]

1 hour ago, Kontra Kommando said:

I was just playing the shareware version of the first episode with the default key-layout:

 

  Hide contents

 

w: forward

s: backward

d: left strafe

a: right strafe

left arrow: turn left

right arrow: turn right

spacebar: shoot

r: use

Shift: Run (always run is off)

 

 

That's hardly the "official" default, though. It feels quite similar to the WASD+mouse controls for what regards navigation only, but the fire/use/run actions are nowhere nearly as convenient to use.

[RUSH]

I'll never understand why some people choose to play keyboard only...

 

Ya'll folks are crazy!

[Maes]

49 minutes ago, RUSH said:

I'll never understand why some people choose to play keyboard only...

Back then, it wasn't much of a choice: unless you were aware of the NOVERT utility and knew about the WASD layout back in 1994, using the mouse with the default settings (or worse, a mouse-only scheme) was often a total trainwreck. I remember the 1st (and only) time I tried the default mouse controls in Doom back in the DOS days, only to spin uncontrollably in-place and jerk back & forth when I least wanted it. So I said nope, and went back to good old keyboard controls, which at least were predictable. I only switched to WASD when I started playing other FPS games, and that was quite late, in 2003 or so.

[cacomonkey]

I like being able to look anywhere I want - unless it's older doom wads where the author didn't consider anything beyond the normal page up/page down viewing angles of software-based source ports when composing their skyboxes.  Then I'll just use whatever source port the author recommends or conceived of when making his work.  However, I can not tolerate ANY first person shooter where there's NO ability to at least look up or down, if not exactly mouselook.  It feels completely unnatural, and what are FPS games if not about immersion?

[Cynical]

On ‎5‎/‎29‎/‎2017 at 3:41 AM, Maes said:

Freelook AND mouselook are one of those things that once you have used them, you'll never willingly go back.

Nonsense.  I got my "modern Dooming" start in ZDoom with freelook; I stopped using it when I realized it screwed up the intended combat dynamics in a bunch of classic maps.

[pavera]

1 hour ago, RUSH said:

 

I'll never understand why some people choose to play keyboard only...

 

I did it for a long time when most of my Doom time was spent in public places with my laptop. Since it was impractical to carry a mouse everywhere with me, I learned to play well with only the keyboard. It's not really so hard, and you can still complete most mapsets on UV while doing so. You still use WASD, and instead you just use the arrow keys to turn. It's a little awkward at first, but you adapt to it and you eventually get really good at it. I like to set the fire button to "up arrow" so my trigger doesn't have to be on my right thumb or my left pinky.

[Sallan]

We must save the art of keyboard play, it's scary to see old players incapacited of this.

 

Freelook just don't fit with DOOM for me, (but still better than vanilla mouselook lol).

[Zulk RS]

On 5/29/2017 at 8:32 AM, Spectre01 said:

I'll refrain from voting since those options have me bamboozled.

This. I enjoy playing doom with the ability to look everywhere. I actually like to set auto-aim to high and then use my mouse and a cross-hair for easier aiming. I'm a really bad shot normally.

[Sparktimus]

Freelook. I feel sort of spoiled by it, but it's an evolution in my eyes. I can and have played with mouselook and keyboard only before, but it feels weird to now that I've used freelook for so long. 

 

You haven't experienced jank until you've beaten Doom 2 on your PSP :v

[MrGlide]

I like both? I'm even starting to mess with keyboard playing. as for Boom compatible maps I like normal dooms non-free look. Often when I play with freelook in Boom compatible maps I feel like I'm cheating.

[Fonze]

Quote

MrGlide said:

I like both? I'm even starting to mess with keyboard playing. as for Boom compatible maps I like normal dooms non-free look. Often when I play with freelook in Boom compatible maps I feel like I'm cheating.

 

^ Agreed; I'll sometimes use freelook for Boom depending on how casual I'm playing a map, including FDAs for newer mappers where I'm mostly playing for feedback purposes, but for stuff like a "real" run or FDAs for maps from challenge mappers where my main goal is just fun, I turn it off. Not just for the fact that it maybe shouldn't be used, but also because ultimately I prefer to play without it. Honestly freelook is mostly just nice to be able to see nice architecture; using it actually makes it more difficult to tell vertical autoaim's threshold for high mobs, though I will note that using it can help players who have difficulty sniping or with their accuracy; look above the monster's head so the center of the gun is directly on them.

Edited June 8, 2017 by Fonze