GZDoom Flying Enemies vs PrBoom

Hello,

I am pretty new to the Doom WAD world and I have been playing classic Doom WADs nonstop for the past month or so. I have been playing on GZDoom with Smooth Doom and have been loving it except for one issue, the flying enemies (mainly Cacos/Pain Elementals) take extremely weird paths and sometimes fly miles up vertically. Sometimes they fly up super high to path over a corner and will surprise me and attack from above. It is really annoying, especially playing without freelook and with Boom compatibility.

I've been getting into harder WADs and this flying enemy behavior was really annoying me, so I decided to download PrBoom and give it a try as I heard flying enemies behave more classically in this port. After trying it for a little while, I'm not sure if my settings are wrong or what but the edges of the screen seemed somewhat curved almost like a fisheye lens or clown mirror and it was making me a little nauseous. 

So I guess my question is, is there a way to make GZDoom flying enemies behave more vanilla-like? And if not, is there a way to make PrBoom look more normal without the warped sides of the screen? I can live without Smooth Doom but the warped edges of PRBoom were too much for me

Also is there a difference between PRBoom and GlBoom?

Thanks!

1 hour ago, bregtally21 said:

the flying enemies (mainly Cacos/Pain Elementals) take extremely weird paths and sometimes fly miles up vertically.

Maybe it's Smooth Doom? See if this still an issue without the mod.

1 hour ago, bregtally21 said:

the edges of the screen seemed somewhat curved almost like a fisheye lens or clown mirror and it was making me a little nauseous. 

What's your POV? Try 90°.

1 hour ago, bregtally21 said:

Also is there a difference between PRBoom and GlBoom?

It's the same engine. The only, difference is that PrBoom uses software renderer, GlBoom uses OpenGL. You can also check this video.

1 hour ago, dmslr said:

Maybe it's Smooth Doom? See if this still an issue without the mod

Smooth Doom isn't the problem, the problem is with GZDoom's compability flags.

Set this:

Full Options -> Options -> Compatibility Options -> Physics Behaviour -> No vertical thrust from explosions: Yes

4 hours ago, bregtally21 said:

Also is there a difference between PRBoom and GlBoom?

Elaborating on what dmslr said, GlBoom+ only uses the OpenGL renderer if you set the renderer to OpenGL in the options, otherwise it'll use the same software renderer as PrBoom+. The software renderer's implementation of looking up/down produces distorted images like what you're describing.

4 hours ago, Shepardus said:

Elaborating on what dmslr said, GlBoom+ only uses the OpenGL renderer if you set the renderer to OpenGL in the options, otherwise it'll use the same software renderer as PrBoom+. The software renderer's implementation of looking up/down produces distorted images like what you're describing.

It's not really the same, as it has bugs the PrBoom exe does not, and vice versa, like the infamous broken transparent projectiles in GlBoom.

There is a wad that fixes this partially but creates another problem.

10 hours ago, bregtally21 said:

So I guess my question is, is there a way to make GZDoom flying enemies behave more vanilla-like? And if not, is there a way to make PrBoom look more normal without the warped sides of the screen? I can live without Smooth Doom but the warped edges of PRBoom were too much for me.

Hello bregtally21.

For GZDoom:

I think I know what issue you are taking about when it comes to flying enemies in GZDoom. In GZDoom, there are various compatibility modes, each having an impact on gameplay. Up until before GZDoom 4.2-ish, there was no way to revert the flying behaviour of monsters back to vanilla. However, now the more "vanilla/strict" compatibility modes support the original vanilla Doom kind of flying.

To change compatibility mode, go to Full Options -> Compatibilty Options -> Compatibilty Mode and change it from Default to either Doom(strict), Boom(strict) or MBF(strict) depending if the levelset is a Vanilla, Boom or MBF wad respectively. OR do what Plums stated 3 comments above me.

For PrBoom+/GLBoom+:

I am hearing this issue for the first time. Try seeing whether the FOV is set to 90 or not. Too High FOV can make the view look like a fish-eye view.

10 hours ago, bregtally21 said:

I have been playing on GZDoom with Smooth Doom and have been loving it except for one issue, the flying enemies (mainly Cacos/Pain Elementals) take extremely weird paths and sometimes fly miles up vertically.

Monsters think their movement in 2D, and when they hit a height difference that blocks their movement, if they can fly, they will climb up or down until they can pass.

So you may end up finding that changing port or compatibility mode or whatever will not change this behavior.

Try Eternity Engine. It's faithful to Doom and uses unique software renderer you would not find in any other port.

I think GZDoom also has Infinite height actors disabled by default. Doesn't that allow them to move more freely and randomly flank the player? Prboom has infinite height actors and I guess they get stuck more.

Bottom line is ... this is all about the default compatibility mode of GZDoom being different from vanilla.

The main issue for me is monsters flying long distances backwards when you shoot them and it was already present in vanilla.