How you play DOOM

[Borax Man]

PRBOOM+

 

Authentic visuals, I don't like smoothing sprites and textures either.  Similar to Vanilla in terms of menu.

 

But best of all, it supports native MIDI through portmidi.  Portmidi uses the hardware MIDI capabilities of my SB Audigy.  All other ports will use a software MIDI synthesizer.

[zen4040]

I see quite a few people here using zdoom, which is stupid.

the source port is abandoned either move to gzdoom which can look exactly like zdoom with the right settings and you will be able to play the newest mods (older zdoom mods are supposed to be compatible too) or go to a more vanilla friendly source port like choclate doom or prboom.

 

Too OPs quiestion when it comes to gzdoom i really only need to use it for mods, msince the whole game unmodded in gzdoom allready plays a lot differently. the standard brightness settings are even too high for older doom maps, so you have to tinker arround with the settings if you really want a vanilla experience in gzdoom which I don't recommend. just use pr boom instead if that's what you want.

 

I will never really understand why people like texture filtering so much, most of the time it seems like it's removing more detail than adding any and it takes more performance, so yeah stupid...

[Andromeda]

On 7/2/2019 at 12:50 PM, ([zen3001]) said:

I see quite a few people here using zdoom, which is stupid.

Not really stupid, it's like the old adage: "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"

[seed]

1 hour ago, Andromeda said:

Not really stupid, it's like the old adage: "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"

 

Also people can play Doom however the fuck they want.

 

(Pro-tip: This post is actually not hostile, salty, or anything, don't let that "however the fuck they want" fool ya folks :p).

[DuckReconMajor]

On 7/2/2019 at 7:50 AM, ([zen3001]) said:

I will never really understand why people like texture filtering so much, most of the time it seems like it's removing more detail than adding any and it takes more performance, so yeah stupid...

The texture filtering question gets asked all the time and like 80-90% of the people on this forum prefer without. Even then, few seem fanatical about filtering. I personally go back and forth between having it on and off. Giant pixels become as tiresome to me as the blur does.

 

I don't think texture filtering really impacts performance that much. I think anisotropic filtering is much worse. I would like to see a rundown of which options in GZDoom/GLBoom+ are best to tweak if you're having performance issues.

 

Anyway, I go between GLBoom+ and GZDoom about 50/50. I would play software but I'm on a laptop and I hate anytime the fans speed up, so I make the graphics card pull its weight.

[seed]

16 minutes ago, DuckReconMajor said:

I think anisotropic filtering is much worse.

 

I recall someone saying anisotropic filtering is basically inexpensive for most modern cards (post-2010 or so).

 

I could be talking out of my ass, but I doubt either setting impacts performance in any meaningful way, especially on modern hardware.

[DuckReconMajor]

That's probably true and honestly I hadn't looked into it since around that timeframe. I'm just thinking say you have some issues playing a big Sunder map, what should your first go-to be in eking out a few more FPS

[seed]

11 minutes ago, DuckReconMajor said:

That's probably true and honestly I hadn't looked into it since around that timeframe. I'm just thinking say you have some issues playing a big Sunder map, what should your first go-to be in eking out a few more FPS

 

Resolution and using the GL render of the port of choice.

 

Then again some Sunder maps simply don't run well, so you're pretty much out of luck in these scenarios where the map is at fault.

[zen4040]

2 hours ago, Andromeda said:

Not really stupid, it's like the old adage: "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"

again, the only reason you would use any of these zdoom ports is for the mods, which these days are only made for gzdoom.

if you're going for "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" then go for prboom or something because in a way zdoom is broke since there's no support for it anymore.

[unpleasantmarine]

On 6/24/2019 at 9:33 PM, geo said:

In all seriousness, I play with Brutal Doom only now.

You have been banned from zdoom.org

[Graf Zahl]

22 hours ago, DuckReconMajor said:

That's probably true and honestly I hadn't looked into it since around that timeframe. I'm just thinking say you have some issues playing a big Sunder map, what should your first go-to be in eking out a few more FPS

 

With a map like this: Get a faster CPU.

If that's not an option: lower the screen resolution if using a software renderer or an older, weaker GPU. If you are using a software renderer but have a good graphics card, switch to hardware rendering.

If you are already on a system that can handle the graphics load: switch off dynamic lights, they can be quite costly with this type of map.

 

22 hours ago, ([zen3001]) said:

again, the only reason you would use any of these zdoom ports is for the mods, which these days are only made for gzdoom.

if you're going for "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" then go for prboom or something because in a way zdoom is broke since there's no support for it anymore.

 

Fun fact: The software renderer has seen quite a bit of improvements in recent years that never made it into ZDoom. That aside, being supported or not, the engine still works. And the support for PrBoom over the last few years has also been extremely lacking, so they are mainly on par here.

 

Regarding the thread: I stick to GZDoom at the native monitor resolution of 1920x1080. The main reason that I rarely use other engines outside of testing is that uncapped frame rate doesn't work that well on most non-ZDoom-based ports and that's a huge turn-off for me.

 

[seed]

5 minutes ago, Graf Zahl said:

Regarding the thread: I stick to GZDoom at the native monitor resolution of 1920x1080. The main reason that I rarely use other engines outside of testing is that uncapped frame rate doesn't work that well on most non-ZDoom-based ports and that's a huge turn-off for me.

 

I think you mean VSync as after turning it off they all become smooth with uncapped framerate ON :p.

 

Hopefully you'll fix whatever is broken in your PrBoom fork.

[Robo_Cola]

1.  Smooth Doom with smooth textures on GZdoom for whenever I play other wads.  I keep it fairly vanilla with the added options but keep the added gore and dynamic lighting effects.  This is the option I use the most and I too turn off texture filtering and clipping.

 

2. Chocolate Doom when I want to play the original Iwads

 

3. Brutal Doom on Zandronum when I feel like I need a change of pace.

Edited August 15, 2019 by STILES

[snapshot]

I set texture filtering to nearest every time I reconfigure gzdoom. It makes the textures and sprites look sharper and more clear. Linear texture filtering makes everything look like it was smeared in grease IMO.

[S0UL FLAME]

Crispy Doom on low detail, bite sized level collections with only saving at the beginning of each level.

 

PRBoom+ for giant campaigns with high levels of monster count, save after every halt of combat.

 

GZDoom for Final Doomer+ combined with seven to ten level episodes, save with a keycard/key door in sight.

[3saster]

GZDoom, 2560x1440, Vulkan renderer is how I play 99% of Doom mods (I mostly play vanilla/boom mapsets). I have a GTX 1070, and the Vulkan renderer allows me to play almost anything at 60+ frames, for the most part (even Sunder). I play with HQX 4x filtering on sprites/fonts to smooth out the edges, but leave everything else unfiltered. I also play with a custom HUD I wrote that splits the status bar down the middle, so I can keep the classic doom status bar (sort of) while getting the benefits of the fullscreen view. For music, I use fluidsynth with the default soundfont, I actually really like it.

 

IMO, all this makes Doom look good without sacrificing the look too much.

 

I use GLBoom+ mostly just for playing back demos, and for maps that don't work in GZDoom (currently, the only vanilla map I've found that won't work in GZDoom is CyberDreams). My biggest issue with PrBoom+/GLBoom+ is the mouse turning. I don't know what it is, but the mouse turning feels way smoother in GZDoom. On top of that, the sound engine sounds a lot better to me (more up-to-date sound engine?). The ability to write my own mini-mods for self-usage (mainly the custom HUD and an auto pistol-starter) is a nice bonus too.

Edited August 16, 2019 by 3saster

[Unitron]

I used to mainly use Skulltag, but now I always use GZdoom.

[DoomSpud]

On 6/23/2019 at 10:11 AM, Super Mighty G said:

So GZDoom is probably the most used source port right now. Something I notice very often which I personally find extremely annoying is how the game looks in screenshots or videos people make using GZDoom. It almost always looks like this:

Sprites looks like garbage due to being scaled up and smoothed. They also clip through the floor. Lighting is wrong. Textures look like mud.

 

It should look like this:

 

This is probably all just me, but I prefer to have my game look as unfiltered as possible but still have all the nice options GZDoom offers. So that got me thinking, does this kind of thing bother anyone else? How do you prefer to play Doom?

I prefer the smoothed out sprites. The blockiness of unmodded vanilla Doom definitely looks it's age these days.
I play with GZDoom + Brutal as standard and have now for years. I can even remember the last time I played vanilla or unmodded Doom... would be literally a decade or so...

[DoomSpud]

On 6/24/2019 at 6:39 AM, LowGcifer said:

I'm very glad to see I am not the only person who moves their head in real life to (try to) dodge projectiles. 

 

Doom's the ONLY game that's ever made me flinch or dodge in my seat. No other game has ever had that effect on me.

I nearly fell out of my computer chair once...

[harleyv]

GZDoom, but I have to turn texture filtering off. Just personal preference.

[kaosu]

I'm glad to see I'm not the only person using Zandronum. I was starting to think I was an idiot. 

 

Reason why is because I'm lazy and it opens up my wads by just double clicking it. Now I have way too many saves on there from a tons of wads and I can't transfer them over to another source port. I'm curious though, I can't tell if I'm getting the real and "authentic" Doom experience with it. Everything seems to be as I remember. Anyone care to clue me in on this? 

[Shanoa]

Used to play primarily on ZDoom. In recent times I switched to QZDoom/GZDoom.

[vanilla_d00m]

ZDOOM 2.6.1 on vanilla setting as much as you can or go home.

 

- 320x240 or sometimes 640x480 It looks sooo vanilla in these settings.

 

- When you destroy a monster on 2.6.1, the sound they make isn't overly loud like the later versions of zdoom or gzdoom, 2.6.1 is exactly like dosbox 0.70 and the way I remember it a long time ago.  The gameplay sounds/music are perfectly balanced on 2.6.1 and I tried somany versions already.

 

- ZDOOM 2.6.1 Looks more vanilla to me since it's running on software mode for video,  also with R_DRAWTRANS 0 on the console menu the fireballs are not see through, but solid like vanilla balls.

 

- Gamma 2.0 because I wan't to see how wonderful the maps look like when you can see them very clear and nice.

 

- Sound interpolation: CUBIC... cubic because when the rocket hits... there is more bass. (Althrough it isn't like dosbox... if u shoot a rocket and it explodes far from u... the bang is lower.  So I guess dosbox is better)

 

- Crosshair bright green/scale crosshair/Cross 2.  Using a crosshair helped with the dizzyness i get with this game.

 

- OPL.... 3!  I can't stress this enough, I need to have it this way because its a game from the 90s and well it just makes doom sound more authentic to me.  MS-DOS days.

 

 

Keyboard only...  lots of still objects around monitor to help with dizzyness i get in game.

 

 

This setup was used when I beat SIGIL on ITYTD, I just recently beat it on HMP so now I know I found the best settings in existence for me. 

Edited August 16, 2019 by vanilla_d00m

[dr_st]

@vanilla_d00m

Vanilla settings, low-res, keyboard only, OPL3... why ZDOOM then and not Chocolate/Crispy/PrBoom+/any DOS engine in DOSBox? :)

[vanilla_d00m]

It was the first port I used when I was in college.

 

It's so blurry.... the memories.  All I know is that it sounds good to me and it helped with sigil completion. 

 

I don't even know what the "Z" stands for either but It's my favorite port right now (2.6.1)

[LadyVader1138]

While Chocolate Doom is still my go to, I've really enjoyed having the Switch ports for when I'm on the go, laying down, or I'm watching something on my computer. I mean, I did manage to beat Doom and Doom II on it and had a lot of fun. And I even got the sensitivity to be the same as when I'm playing keyboard only, so it feels right.

Edited August 16, 2019 by LadyVader1138