Favorite Source Port? (Multiple Choice Poll)

[Kabal9955]

None, I play Doom with my computer from the late 80s.

[Zahid]

prboom plus 

[The Found Soul]

2 minutes ago, Kabal9955 said:

None, I play Doom with my computer from the late 80s.

Interesting.

You really seem to be a purist, and that's great :).

[baja blast rd.]

Food for the megathread :>

[Chookum]

I have a three-fer:

DSDA Doom for Classic Doom and Map Testing

GZDoom for Casual Play and Modded Doom

Zandronum for Multiplayer

 

Simple as!

[Li'l devil]

I wish Doom Legacy was still a meme, but apparently it got revival not long ago. Otherwise I'd vote for it.

 

Edit: how the hell do you consistently continue one thread for 23 years anyway?

[A Handsome Fridge]

And so little votes in 23 years as well, lol

 

Anyway, I'm freaking lazy and only use GZDoom.

[Gez]

5 hours ago, Li'l devil said:

Edit: how the hell do you consistently continue one thread for 23 years anyway?

Simply by the magic act of merging new threads into it.

8 hours ago, baja blast rd. said:

Food for the megathread :>

 

3 minutes ago, A Handsome Fridge said:

And so little votes in 23 years as well, lol

The poll itself is much more recent than that. This thread inherited it when the poll thread was merged in. And I think if a new poll thread was merged in, it'd override this poll with the newer one, too, because I'm pretty sure there were older poll threads merged in and their polls didn't survive.

[TasAcri]

GZDoom for the fancy stuff.

 

Woof for accuracy.

[DRON12261]

Woof! (or Nugget Doom), Doom Retro, ZDoom 2.8.1 (or RZDoom), Skulltag, Eternity Engine and maybe Crispy Doom.

[A Handsome Fridge]

4 hours ago, Gez said:

Simply by the magic act of merging new threads into it.

 

The poll itself is much more recent than that. This thread inherited it when the poll thread was merged in. And I think if a new poll thread was merged in, it'd override this poll with the newer one, too, because I'm pretty sure there were older poll threads merged in and their polls didn't survive.

Figured it could be something like that, makes sense!

[Li'l devil]

I use GZDoom with everything for rather unusual reasons:

 

1) I need dynamic lights. It's something I realized I can't play Doom without. I really need glowing imp fireballs and glowing items. They make the game look much better to me.

 

2) It has the MIDI support that I need. I like VirtualMIDISynth and I began using it some time ago to convert MIDIs I like to FLACs to listen to them. I didn't expect GZDoom to support it, but I was very surprised when I launched it and VirtualMIDISynth was available, and I didn't even need to configure anything.

 

However, since I play in OpenGL and not software, I miss out on that comfy software lighting mode, but it's not a big deal.

[orffen]

On 9/12/2022 at 7:49 PM, Graf Zahl said:

You can drag this discussion out endlessly, but the sad truth here is that developing a GUI frontend not only requires work to get done and maintained but is also obstructed by the sad state of cross-platform GUI development. Integrating this into the engines directly is simply not going to work (i.e separation of concerns.) so the only solution would be to bundle a launcher with it.

 

I know this is a pretty old post, but this is nonsense. You already have a cross-platform GUI - the DOOM menu - that every single port includes.

 

GZDoom already has custom menu code and a massive, filterable settings menu. It could be expanded to add in-game selectable IWADs and PWADs, DEHs and load orders, and even /idgames search and download integration. If the pre-start popup is a problem, bundle a menu_assets.pk3 file (or include in gzdoom.pk3) which will automatically load to be able to display the menu, change the "New Game" option to say "Which WADS?", and present an interface with filterable/selectable IWADs and PWADs on the left and TXT file display on the right (in case someone's forgotten to check the TXT before trying to run a WAD). You can even parse TXT files to autoload IWADs and DEH files etc. - the format is pretty standard.

 

There shouldn't be a separate front-end launcher like ZDL or DSDA-Launcher; it should be integrated into the menu the same way the Unity port does. This allows for full controller usage, for example on PCs connected to TVs where a mouse/keyboard may be undesirable.

[Yousuf Anik]

PrBoom-plus/Glboom-plus - Mainly for speedrunning, that also includes TAS runs. And also use it when testing my maps because almost all of the maps I created so far are Boom and Doom 2 format.

DSDA-Doom - Currently using it only for my UV-Tank runs because I started the Tank runs with it and now I'm just used to the controls I set. I don't use it for TAS runs though. Also use it when testing my maps.

GZDoom - Mainly for playing mods like my most favorite Brutal Doom or Lasting Light and so on. Also for playing the maps that are meant to be played on this port. I love its cool lighting features. Also use it when testing my maps sometime.

ZDoom - I just like it idk why maybe because I started with this port!

 

DOSBox - Just for playing the 4 main official IWADs! I love to play them in old style, I just want to see them in low resolution old looks, just like Doom2.exe. I actually played the Doom 2 in Doom2.exe the very first time but for some reason some problem occurred on my PC and when recovered I then discovered DOSBox and it was then the only port I could use to play just Doom 2 and Doom 1, I didn't have any other thing on my PC. And over time I started loving it!

[Shepardus]

11 hours ago, orffen said:

 

I know this is a pretty old post, but this is nonsense. You already have a cross-platform GUI - the DOOM menu - that every single port includes.

 

GZDoom already has custom menu code and a massive, filterable settings menu. It could be expanded to add in-game selectable IWADs and PWADs, DEHs and load orders, and even /idgames search and download integration. If the pre-start popup is a problem, bundle a menu_assets.pk3 file (or include in gzdoom.pk3) which will automatically load to be able to display the menu, change the "New Game" option to say "Which WADS?", and present an interface with filterable/selectable IWADs and PWADs on the left and TXT file display on the right (in case someone's forgotten to check the TXT before trying to run a WAD). You can even parse TXT files to autoload IWADs and DEH files etc. - the format is pretty standard.

 

There shouldn't be a separate front-end launcher like ZDL or DSDA-Launcher; it should be integrated into the menu the same way the Unity port does. This allows for full controller usage, for example on PCs connected to TVs where a mouse/keyboard may be undesirable.

The Doom menu is loaded after parsing the configs, IWAD, etc. and doesn't include stuff you need for a launcher like a file browser. Sure you could add those features and hack around the issues like loading a separate PK3 as you mentioned for the assets and a separate config to determine the window resolution and then give it the ability to launch itself with the determined parameters, but at that point you're just writing a launcher with custom GUI code, and using the Doom menu code would hardly save anything there because all the hard platform-specific stuff would need to be implemented anyway, bringing us back to "separation of concerns." And in the end I wouldn't use it anyway because I switch between multiple source ports, not just GZDoom.

[orffen]

51 minutes ago, Shepardus said:

The Doom menu is loaded after parsing the configs, IWAD, etc. and doesn't include stuff you need for a launcher like a file browser. Sure you could add those features and hack around the issues like loading a separate PK3 as you mentioned for the assets and a separate config to determine the window resolution and then give it the ability to launch itself with the determined parameters, but at that point you're just writing a launcher with custom GUI code, and using the Doom menu code would hardly save anything there because all the hard platform-specific stuff would need to be implemented anyway, bringing us back to "separation of concerns." And in the end I wouldn't use it anyway because I switch between multiple source ports, not just GZDoom.

 

This doesn't replace front-end launchers or command-line options for users using those - it adds functionality for people not already using front-end launchers or unfamiliar with command-line (or on console-style setups without mouse and keyboard input). It's not a launcher that runs before the port starts; it's built into the port and menu to avoid needing a launcher.

 

You don't need a file browser for this implementation, it would just list assets found in the source port folder and in $DOOMWADDIR and $DOOMWADPATH locations. Code already exists to load resources; you'd need an unload function to allow switching between IWADs and unloading PWADs/DEHs/etc. before calling the load functions again after the user has selected the resources to load. For a similar implementation, take a look at OpenTTD's NewGRF loader.

I'd load config and parse command line options first; if an IWAD is already specified, you load and use that. If none is specified, instead of displaying GZDoom's popup to select one (for example), you load the base resources for the menu and have people select an IWAD in the in-game menu before they can New Game or Load Game.

 

But, this isn't about GZDoom specifically - all source ports display the Doom menu on all platforms. Many extend the menu with custom settings pages etc. so this is nothing new from that perspective - just the code to load and unload assets while the port is in the menu.

 

I'd love to see some portable code that does this that ports can adopt and adapt for their use-cases (and if I can find time to brush up on my C I may have a go at implementing it). GZDoom has the broadest compatibility and is the recommended port for newbies usually, so if you were implementing /idgames downloads from within the port, GZDoom makes the most sense since it should play pretty much anything on there.

[Shepardus]

Oh, it makes more sense to me when you mention OpenTTD. There's also the example of Sonic Robo Blast 2, which is even based on a modified Doom engine and has a menu to load add-ons (though you have to restart the game to unload them).

[Adamantium]

Crispy DOOM, GZDOOM And K8vavoom are some of my favorites

[Captain Muskrat]

I don't really understand why prBoom+, DSDA-Doom, Woof! and Nugget are separate projects. I believe they all do the same thing and are compatible with the same complevels. It always seemed like their differences are very minor, and it'd be nice if some of them merged just to focus resources better and confuse newcomers less. Because I was confused, for sure. I'd wager some of the younger gamers who are interested in trying Doom may be put-off by how many forks there are.

[TasAcri]

2 hours ago, Captain Muskrat said:

I don't really understand why prBoom+, DSDA-Doom, Woof! and Nugget are separate projects. I believe they all do the same thing and are compatible with the same complevels. It always seemed like their differences are very minor, and it'd be nice if some of them merged just to focus resources better and confuse newcomers less. Because I was confused, for sure. I'd wager some of the younger gamers who are interested in trying Doom may be put-off by how many forks there are.

 

One of the differences is gamepad support. prBoom is pretty bad at this (i couldn't make the analog sticks work) while Woof and DSDA-Doom are great, though DSDA-DOOM doesn't let you exit without pressing "y" on the keyboard. I play with the gamepad a lot so i ended up using Woof.

[Professor Hastig]

3 hours ago, Captain Muskrat said:

I don't really understand why prBoom+, DSDA-Doom, Woof! and Nugget are separate projects. I believe they all do the same thing and are compatible with the same complevels.

 

That happens when people have different interests that do not perfectly align.

 

Woof, wants to be a baseline port for MBF and MBF21 support, which limits its scope somewhat.

PrBoom has been retired, consider DSDA its successor. It also focuses more on demos/speedrunning and adds dedicated features for it which would be a problem for a baseline port like Woof.

Nugget is the perfect example of a 'fork with things the developer themselves wants but didn't get into the port they forked'.

 

3 hours ago, Captain Muskrat said:

It always seemed like their differences are very minor, and it'd be nice if some of them merged just to focus resources better and confuse newcomers less. Because I was confused, for sure. I'd wager some of the younger gamers who are interested in trying Doom may be put-off by how many forks there are.

 

That's the curse of open source development. Everybody has access to the code and they can try to play around with it and eventually release their own forked project. Sometimes things get merged back, sometimes not. Some forks die quickly or get ignored, others will live on. Just look at how many Linux distros exist - it's the same principle on a much larger scale!

 

[prfunky]

On 7/19/2023 at 2:26 AM, Professor Hastig said:

That's the curse of open source development. Everybody has access to the code and they can try to play around with it and eventually release their own forked project. Sometimes things get merged back, sometimes not. Some forks die quickly or get ignored, others will live on. Just look at how many Linux distros exist - it's the same principle on a much larger scale!

 

 

I love this ^^

 

So, I'm looking at the latest poll results here and have a question for you 0.71%ers

(and possibly others) who chose DoomLegacy. Personally, I fell off of DoomLegacy

two decades ago when I started acquiring wad files that were deploying slopes which,

at least at that time, didn't support that construct. Last nite, I finally got the version I

don't remember when I acquired running on my Linux box. (1.48.8). Heading over to

https://doomlegacy.sourceforge.net/ I see that this version is already 2.5 years old.

I'm hesitant to immediately upgrade to the version from just this last December

because I don't have everything setup totally correct yet and don't want to introduce

another variable into the mix until I've fixed.

 

Anyhow, my question for you Legacy Doomers is this:

What makes DoomLegacy your go-to Doom favorite? How long have you used it?

My last uses of DoomLegacy were back from the 1.32 to 1.42 era of 2003/2004ish

when I was still living in the world of Windows 98.

 

All hail the mighty megathread!

 

[Async Unicorn]

Earlier it was Crispy Doom, Woof (and Nugget), nowadays it's DSDA Doom for 99.9% of wads and GZDoom for advanced stuff.
Oh, guys, you should know how I'm missing that oldschool crispy aesthetic, but these days my eyes hurts when I play with it and I can't concentrate well, so it's time to move on, sadly...

[Admen]

Mine is GZDoom. I like DSDA too.

[Async Unicorn]

DSDA Doom, Nugget Doom, GZDoom

[Cutman 999]

Woof

[Gmg]

Crispy, DSDA and Chocolate.

[Zahid]

prboom

 

 

[Denzel20]

Lzdoom

[Noiser]