I am new to here, and I need a few answers on wads and source ports.

I am extremely confused. You see, I bought Doom Collector's Edition for $15 at Best Buy on Saturday. It has been a few years since I had the games. Anyways, my question concerns Wads and source ports.

I am so confounded I had to come here. Do I need a source a port to play custom Wads? Also, what is the best source port? I've seen a few pics, but they seem to be misssing the normal face on the bottom of the screen, which I would miss. Oh and, I was looking for Wads, but I got confused there too. I see mods with graphics that are seemingly more advanced though.

If anyone can help me out of this confusion, thank you.

P.S. Can anyone tell me where to download mods anyways? I checked out a database, but that confused me too. ;(

Some wads/mods will require certain (sometimes specific) source ports, but the vast majority do not. It's still a good idea to take a look at the source port section of doomworld to see if one or more of them appeals to you. Also, if you're using windows xp, you'll definitely need a port as the original executables will not work properly on XP.

You can see a variety of maps and mods in the archive. And every sunday, doomworld forum staff do reviews of the latest mods submitted to the archives for that week. They are called "The /Newstuff Chronicles" and can be found in the Doomworld News forum.

I have Windows ME. I wanted XP, but when we made our new computer, it was cheaper to keep the old Operating System.

Anyways, I heard of Jdoom and Zdoom. What do they do specifically? Should I get both? Are they for all of the 3 dooms (ultimate, 2, and final?) and do they do anything for the gameplay? I am going to et the confusion out of the way as soon as possible. Oh and, is there a chance of getting a virus from certain mods?

1: Do I need a source a port to play custom Wads?
Some mods require a source port, others do not. Some even require a specific one. If a mod needs a (specific) port it is stated in the text file that goes with the mod/ wad.

2: Also, what is the best source port?
There are many source ports and many discussions on which is best. It's best to avoid starting new ones :-)
The most commonly used (if I'm not mistaken) is Zdoom though.

I was looking for Wads, but I got confused there too.
You can get levels for doom 1 and 2 at the archives.

I see mods with graphics that are seemingly more advanced though.That's because the use the source ports. Source ports make Doom look better (higher resolution, more effects, etc)

You can get source ports here.

[edit]I knew someone would beat me to it... [/edit]

Master Cilander said:

Anyways, I heard of Jdoom and Zdoom. What do they do specifically? Should I get both? Are they for all of the 3 dooms (ultimate, 2, and final?) and do they do anything for the gameplay? I am going to et the confusion out of the way as soon as possible. Oh and, is there a chance of getting a virus from certain mods?

Zdoom and Jdoom are two very popular ports. They both offer different features according to the programmers vision for his pet project. All source ports should run doom, doom2, and final doom without any problems. Some of them also support other doom-engine-based games such as heretic and hexen. I dont know the theoretical possibility of getting a virus from a mod, but realistically speaking it shouldnt happen.

Thanks for the quick responses. I couldn't get any answers anywher else on the internet.

Which source port do you suggest I get as of right now though? Do Z and J run the same mods unless otherwise specified?

Oh wow, I check out the source port link you gave me. There is only one version of Jdoom, but there are 3 of Zdoom. If I want to get Zdoom which version is best?

Zdoom and Jdoom are very different from each other. Mods designed specifically for one of them will not work for the other. Like m0l0t0v said, if a particular mod absolutely requires a particular port, it will be stated in the mod's text file.

My port of choice is zdoom, but that's just me. I also keep copies of just about every other port on my hard drive just in case a certain mod requires it. My suggestion is to try a few of the available ports and see what you like best.

edit: Those other two "versions" of zdoom were sort of like splinter projects based on the original zdoom. Again, they each have a few extra features, but generally speaking any one of them will run a zdoom specific mod.

Master Cilander said:

Anyways, I heard of Jdoom and Zdoom. What do they do specifically? Should I get both?

They are both ports that can be used to play the original games or user-created add-ons. Zdoom offers many new editing (and other) features, and there have been a lot of add-ons created specifically for it. You should certainly get hold of a copy, if only to play the wads that require it. jDoom offers OpenGL graphics and wealth of visual effects that make it look far more like more recent games. If you like the way jDoom looks, then it is definitely worth getting. It also adds a number of new editing possibilities, but there isn't such a large amount of content created specifically for jDoom. There is some though.

Both Zdoom and jDoom (or rather the Doomsday engine) also support Heretic and Hexen. Obviously, you need to have the original games in order to make use of that.

Are they for all of the 3 dooms (ultimate, 2, and final?) and do they do anything for the gameplay?

All ports support all three games. You just need to have the iwad from the original game (doom.wad, doom2, tnt.wad, plutonia.wad). Most ports make some gameplay changes. The ones that are closest to the original game (with all its bugs, quirks, features - call them what you like) are Eternity and Prboom. Obviously they don't emulate fatal bugs, such as VPO crashes. BTW, GLBoom (the OpenGL version of Prboom) is my default port, which I use for all wads that require no specific port, or only use Boom features. That's because for me the most important thing is its ability to emulate the behaviour of the original game. Different people have different priorities, of course.

Oh and, is there a chance of getting a virus from certain mods?

I'm not aware of any such risks. The scripting possibilities in Zdoom are extensive, but I don't recall anyone putting anything malicious in a wad, or any suggestions that this might be possible.

Thanks Grazza. That post has made more question for me though. You named a lot of source ports. I will get Zdoom. Okay thanks, I'll try and firgure my way from here. Which Zdoom version should I download though? This is my last question about this. Thanks! :)

The latest version is here.

What file do I put it in?

Must I do this 3 times for each Doom game?

Master Cilander said:

I've seen a few pics, but they seem to be misssing the normal face on the bottom of the screen, which I would miss.

That's probably because people often remove the status bar (i.e. maximum screen size) before taking a screenshot. All ports retain the option of having a standard status bar, and it is generally the default option too.

As for how to use a port... There are various ways you can set this up. I'd suggest just making a Doom folder (e.g. c:\doom) and putting a copy of all your iwads there (doom.wad, doom2.wad, tnt.wad, plutonia.wad). Then copy all the files from 63a.cab into that folder. Then click on zdoom.exe and you are started.

Alternatively, you can make a new folder for each port, and copy all your iwads to each of those. That is perhaps a bit safer, since some ports can clash with each other by using different versions of support files (such as fmod.dll).

One little point, which you can certainly ignore for now, but might be important in the future: if you need to use a program called deusf.exe, then you can't have doom.wad and doom2.wad in the same folder (temporarily renaming doom.wad solves this problem).

Grazza said:

That's probably because people often remove the status bar (i.e. maximum screen size) before taking a screenshot. All ports retain the option of having a standard status bar, and it is generally the default option too.

As for how to use a port... There are various ways you can set this up. I'd suggest just making a Doom folder (e.g. c:\doom) and putting a copy of all your iwads there (doom.wad, doom2, tnt.wad, plutonia.wad). Then copy all the files from 63a.cab into that folder. Then click on zdoom.exe and you are started.

Alternatively, you can make a new folder for each port, and copy all your iwads to each of those. That is perhaps a bit safer, since some ports can clash with each other by using different versions of support files (such as fmod.dll).

Wow, how do I do that? All I know to do is to click on the doom icon on my desktop, pick a level, and start playing. ;(

I've never seen these files you're talking about, and I wouldn't know where to find them.

Use Windows Explorer. It has a Search function in case you don't remember where you installed the Doom games. The default location is probably something like C:\Program Files\Doom II for Windows 95. I don't know; I very rarely accept the default locations for these things.

Well, in the case of zdoom you extract the contents of the cab file (any decompression program should work, such as winzip or ultimatezip), and make a directory for them. Some other ports have their own installers though.

Sweet, I got Zdoom to work. Now I only have one issue, and 1 question.

First the question. When I get mods, do I put there wads in the Doom file, or the Zdoom file?

And the issue I noticed is that in ultimate doom, far away things are distorte slightly. They look blockier.

Aww, I just had to fix the resolution.

BTW, how come I can not choose which levels to start on like I can normally?

Oh, and I have it all figured out. I would assume that any custom wads that need Zdoom will be put in the Zdoom folder on my desktop. Any wad not requiring it will go into my normal doom file, where I will activate it by changing the wad.

Thanks to you all for helping me so well! ;) You got me through the hard part. :)

I also had a bit of help from a friend over AIM! :)

Doom mods almost never come with an executable, so the chance of picking up a virus or worm is pretty damn remote. Plus, all files on the community idgames archive are scanned for malicious stuff upon submission.

Download source ports only from the official sites. I'm not aware of any cases where someone altered a source port and put it up on his own private site, but you can't be too cautious. Scan stuff like this yourself after downloading, and you're pretty safe.

Hey, I heard you made a mod that was pretty good. I was looking at some stuff about the topp 100 or something, but I got lost and was confused. Heh, I feel dumb.

Oh and about the virus. I wasn't talking about stuff from here. I was talking about stuff I might find just floating around the internet.

Wow, I got your mod to work, even though I don't use DOS. Heh, I am in the 3rd level. The one called the house of shadows or something. Anyways, thanks for all the help. I am finished with this topic at least. Whew...

Cool :) Enjoy!

Hmm, after I beat a few levels, I ended up in a black box.

Great mod though. I like the glasses.

Does the name mordeth, mean more death? I just thought of that.

Master Cilander said:

Hmm, after I beat a few levels, I ended up in a black box.

That means you reached the end of it. The name of that map and the message that preceded it kind of explains that. ;)

I must have missed the message.