Loading a wad from a desktop icon

[ChicagoTrash]

I was wondering if there was a way to load a wad by clicking a desktop icon. So you could go from on your desktop screen to the game without going through the menus or settings that some source ports have.

[Vermil]

Some Doom engine games (such as Doom1 and Heretic) have the same lump structure, making it impossible to tell what game a wad is for.

 

That said, some source ports like GZDoom and Doomsday have some limited auto detection routines/methods, but they may require the wad maker to include special lumps or similar in the wad.

[ChicagoTrash]

4 hours ago, Vermil said:

Some Doom engine games (such as Doom1 and Heretic) have the same lump structure, making it impossible to tell what game a wad is for.

 

That said, some source ports like GZDoom and Doomsday have some limited auto detection routines/methods, but they may require the wad maker to include special lumps or similar in the wad.

Thanks for the info.

[Arbys550]

Do you know how to make a batch file? You could create a batch file like this:

 

(source port you are using).exe -iwad (path to iwad you want to use) -complevel (compatability level you want to use) -file (path to wad you want to use)

 

example:

glboom-plus.exe -iwad doom2.WAD -complevel 9 -file ../wads/downloaded/sunder/sunder

 

If you want to skip to a certain level, you can add to it: "-warp (map you want to go to)"

You can also specify a difficulty by adding: "-skill (skill level you want to use)"

 

so for example "glboom-plus.exe -iwad doom2.wad -complevel 3 -warp 04 -skill 5" would put you in doom2 map04 on nightmare difficulty

 

Then, after typing everything, save the file in the same folder as your source port, right click, click "send to," then click "desktop." Then you can just double-click the batch file on your desktop and it will run automatically. This works with most modern source ports I believe.

 

If you don't know how to create a batch file, just simply create a new text file, write everything, and save it with the extension .bat

[Simomarchi]

I think you can open a wad placed everywhere simply right-clicking on it and using the "open with" function. 

So you can place your wad in the desktop and use it as an icon to play the wad itself. As far as I know this method works with ZDoom that, after you click on the wad, sends you to the "select IWAD windows" avoiding the problem of the base file selection.

[BoxY]

If you like to use multiple source ports then an unambiguous way to do it is by making a normal windows shortcut to your chosen source port .exe and adding wad parameters to it. For me this is easier than using a batch script.

 

Just make a shortcut, then edit properties and in the Target box use the -file argument to load the wad and any mods you want, and -deh for dehacked patches if necessary. Wrap the shortcut target in speech marks so Windows can read it properly.

 

For example on my PC the shortcut

"C:\Users\User\Desktop\doom source ports\prboom-plus-2.5.1.4\glboom-plus.exe" -iwad DOOM.WAD -file HADRONF.WAD

automatically loads the wad HADRONF.WAD in GLBoom with Ultimate Doom (DOOM.WAD) as the iwad.

 

This assumes that HADRONF.WAD is in the same folder as my source port exe. If it was in a subfolder like "wads" then I would point to the subfolder:

"C:\Users\User\Desktop\doom source ports\prboom-plus-2.5.1.4\glboom-plus.exe" -iwad DOOM.WAD -file wads\HADRONF.WAD

ZDoom is even simpler because it has an iwad selection screen so one can just use -file:

"C:\Users\User\Desktop\gzdoom-bin-4-1-3-x64\gzdoom.exe" -file HADRONF.WAD 

and select DOOM.WAD in the menu.

 

Then you can just leave the shortcut on the desktop or wherever is convenient.