Android Doom

Does anyone know of a good source port that runs on Android? I used to play a free one, but it was taken off of the store recently.

I have PrBoom For Android v1.3.1-beta installed.

scorpion said:

I have PrBoom For Android v1.3.1-beta installed.

Same here. If you can deal with how crappy the controls are it's acceptable. My patience lasted until Tricks & Traps, then I gave up.

Belial said:

If you can deal with how crappy the controls are it's acceptable.

Yup. I mainly use it when bored in a bus/metro - watching demos...

I hate composing texts on my android, let alone playing Doom on it.

I really dislike touch screens in general, so I bought the Droid 4 which has a physical keyboard. It's excellent. But Doom still is awkward on it.

My biggest gripe with the onscreen controls is that turning and strafing actions 'stick', forcing you to make a noticable pause between going from one to the other, otherwise you'll strafe instead of turning or vice-versa.

I've tried using Android Dosbox + Doom2.exe on my Kindle Fire for watching demos. It works, but is so slow that it is kind of like a slideshow. Presumably some Android devices are faster, but they'd need to be much faster for it to be very usable.

I have an Xperia Play, which is an Android and has a gamepad instead of a keyboard. Neither the PRBOOM port or DOOM GLES work on there for me, so I just use a GBA emulator and play DOOM 1 & 2 on there that way.

Meh, it's not the only way I can play DOOM portable. I also have DOOM Legacy for PSP...

Grazza said:

I've tried using Android Dosbox + Doom2.exe on my Kindle Fire for watching demos. It works, but is so slow that it is kind of like a slideshow. Presumably some Android devices are faster, but they'd need to be much faster for it to be very usable.

Aren't the Kindle one of the slowest pads out there?

Anyway, The Asus Transformer line is probably what you want to use if you plan to play Doom on the pad. But the next Transformer is going to have Windows 8 anyway.

kristus said:

Anyway, The Asus Transformer line is probably what you want to use if you plan to play Doom on the pad. But the next Transformer is going to have Windows 8 anyway.

You're better off just getting a laptop instead. I never really saw any convenience in tablets.

as if laptops are convenient.

Since I got my Transformer last year, my laptop has been left to collect dust in a corner most of the time. Next generation of the line will have bridged the gap by using Win8 and Intel Core processors instead of Android and ARM processors.

http://www.asus.com/vivo/en/transformerBook.htm

I realize I sound like a mouthpiece for Asus here, but I really do love their work.

What I don't understand is the Kindle's name. "Kindle" means to start a fire, wasn't this thing meant for reading information, not destroying it, as in book-burning? Oh, right, DRM and time limits and all that bullshit, I forgot.

It's supposed to kindle a fire in your mind.

Re: tablets

Most computer people (like probably 99% of Doomworlders) don't realize that people hate keyboards and mice. The interface (Android, iOS) and battery technology finally caught up to the form factor. There's a slow march away from those antiquated input methods, you see it in predictive text input, voice search (and other voice-based interfaces) and pervasive computing (DVR boxes, car stereos), and basically big shiny capacitive glass buttons. It's only a matter of time before computers are in your bathroom mirror, your refrigerator, your kitchen table, coffee table, kitchen counters, etc. etc. Workstations like desktops and notebooks are gonna solely be for things that require huge computing power or a keyboard (programming, modeling, etc.).

I love keyboard and mouse. It's a great, logical method of controlling what you want to do with a computer. I mean, don't get me wrong, voice and touch screens are very innovative, and other people may enjoy those things. But nothing will ever replace my keyboard and mouse.

Ladna said:

Most computer people (like probably 99% of Doomworlders) don't realize that people hate keyboards and mice.

I've never met one of these people, evidently. On the other hand, I've heard plenty of complaints about lousy touchscreen panels. I like touchscreens and I can't stand using most of the ones I'm forced to. The ATM at my bank is particularly bad, but thankfully it still uses normal buttons for most functions.

I hope voice interfaces never catch on. I can't imagine a more irritating way of controlling a computer. Keep that shit in Star Trek.

Voice is kind of nice. This morning I needed to take a nap so I just spoke out to my phone "Google: Set alarm in 45 minutes" and it did just that. Though I really wish I could direct it by prefixing "Computer:" instead... oh well.

I'd much rather have gesture commands (detected with a camera) than voice commands. Either way, I appear stupid doing it, but I'd rather be seen dancing, than heard in the next room talking to my computer.

I have an android with a physical keyboard, and I take a different approach. Buy an app called DosBox Turbo - it is by far the fastest Dosbox emulator on the market, and constantly updated and cleaned up (developer is friendly and supports it 100%). DOOM runs like a charm and you can even use the (gasp!) original BOOM exe (or anything else, like the old DOS zdoom/legacy/edge exes), which is a lot of fun and ten times less hassle than trying to get one of the many lame Android ports working well.

Protip: Don't buy from jack niu - whether it be Wolf or Doom - he doesn't support his releases and doesn't refund worth shit. Terrible developer, and he usually includes [things that he shouldn't include] with his "work".

Why do Android ports of open-source software always cost money?

@Chu:
I might actually try that, looks VERY promising.

WildWeasel said:

Why do Android ports of open-source software always cost money?

Because they can? Someone should just release one for free (if there's no constraint) and end the competition.

Speaking of Android, do Doom editors for it exist?

WildWeasel said:

Why do Android ports of open-source software always cost money?

Because some people have no problem with profiting off the hard work of others, while doing comparatively little themselves. It's pathetic.

Just so it's clear, I was referring to the lazy Doom ports, not particularly the DOSBox port (although I do think the dev should be sharing the wealth via that nice donate button on dosbox.com).

Edit: Where'd the other posts go?

Dragonsbrethren said:

Just so it's clear, I was referring to the lazy Doom ports, not particularly the DOSBox port (although I do think the dev should be sharing the wealth via that nice donate button on dosbox.com).

Edit: Where'd the other posts go?

Hell.

It just pisses me off that people do that kind of shit [warez] - it's like, read the damn reviews if you're not convinced of its quality. Ugh.

Anyways, I was looking into, not too long ago, on porting a certain source port to the platform. Just as quickly as I thought of it though, I scrapped it.

epsxe for Android with my own legal rips of PSX Doom/Final Doom works well, runs fine on a Samsung Galaxy phone/tablet, the controls aren't amazing but still playable, and the games arent too much off ebay if you don't own them already

We have had some small success getting odamex to compile for webos and arm-based linux platforms, and we are working on getting a workflow set up for android. Currently beyond PCs odamex runs on xbox natively and we have gotten it to be playable on wii via homebrew (tho not complete).

Any help in these endeavors is always appreciated!