If you could pick one thing that source ports have added to Doom, what would it be?

[DynamiteKaitorn]

Removal of visplanes.

[Danfun64]

Am I allowed to settle for two? -iwad and a -file that merges everything. Pretty much every community source port that matters has these two features. Even Chocolate Doom has the first and is able to simulate the second with "-merge". Without these features, we'd need separate directories for every iwad, maybe even every merged iwad for those too lazy to reverse deusf merging.

[markanini]

Ambient Occlusion. Used to be a software renderer purist until I discovered this feature that makes the textured boxes that make up Doom come alive.

Edited February 3, 2020 by markanini

[famicommander]

Splitscreen.

 

Most source ports don't support it, but some do as well as many of the console ports.

 

Playing split screen co-op or deathmatch with my brother with wireless gamepads on a 60 inch 4K TV is so much better than faceless internet play or pain-in-the-ass local network play.

[jazzmaster9]

I have to agree with MAPINFO or even just a simplified version of it.

 

Another would be colored lights

[Wagi]

The blockmap collision detection fix. Y'all can have your fancy high resolution and MAPINFO lumps, I just want to stop shooting clear through enemies without hitting them.

[Solmyr]

Universal MAPINFO.

[Boaby Kenobi]

On 2/2/2020 at 11:22 AM, Vermil said:

If you could pick one thing that source ports have added to Doom, what would it be?

 

PSX Doom TC.

[Doomkid]

On 2/3/2020 at 1:45 AM, Loud Silence said:

I mean autorun and ability to bind any key to any action.

 

On 2/3/2020 at 3:36 AM, galileo31dos01 said:

Autorun

You both may know this, but just in case no one has ever been kind enough to tell you, setting joyb_speed to 29 or 31 in DEFAULT.CFG is a super easy way to enable autorun in vanilla.

 

On 2/3/2020 at 4:41 AM, Graf Zahl said:

May I remind you of that disaster called Doom 95?

Everything you said in this post is totally accurate, but I just want to defend Doom95 as the port that introduced me to higher resolutions. To my ignorant child self, it made The Ultimate Doom feel like a true expansion - a new episode and a higher resolution made the whole thing seem “new” again.

 

On 2/3/2020 at 2:18 PM, famicommander said:

Splitscreen.

 

Most source ports don't support it, but some do as well as many of the console ports.

 

Playing split screen co-op or deathmatch with my brother with wireless gamepads on a 60 inch 4K TV is so much better than faceless internet play or pain-in-the-ass local network play.

I don’t know if I’d caller it better than internet play, but splitscreen is an excellent feature. In bygone years my friends and I used to have big 4-man deathmatches on Doom Legacy using just two old junker PCs. It was fun as hell.

 

 

EDIT: Oh yeah, I’m supposed to pick a thing that source ports did.. Definitely gonna go with good Client/Server support.

 

International Dooming would be way, way less common without it. As tempting as things like freelook, high resolutions, no visplane limits, mapinfo and splitscreen are, I value the ability to play Doom online with a playable/smooth game feel more highly than the others!

[Loud Silence]

14 minutes ago, Doomkid said:

You both may know this, but just in case no one has ever been kind enough to tell you, setting joyb_speed to 29 or 31 in DEFAULT.CFG is a super easy way to enable autorun in vanilla.

I knew this. I just thought that manipulation of useful bug wasn't game's feature.

[Tartlman]

On 2/2/2020 at 4:09 PM, DynamiteKaitorn said:

Removal of visplanes.

Absolutely this.

[DiamondDude11]

Removal of autoaim. Nice Challenge there.

[TheNoob_Gamer]

12 hours ago, DiamondDude11 said:

Removal of autoaim. Nice Challenge there.

If autoaim is removed, then freelook should be added :)

[DuckReconMajor]

On 2/2/2020 at 11:23 AM, -TDRR- said:

As a player though, i'd easily pick truecolor/hardware rendering if high resolutions are involved. I'm probably the odd one out here, but i really dislike the banding and color loss in the darkness present in the carmack renderer.

 

I was thinking about this recently and I agree from the opposite perspective. I don't mind the banding/darkness but the limited palette really puts a damper on trying to add graphics to the game. I think just doubling/quadrupling the number of colors in the palette would allow for so much more interesting visuals in software and to me it's one of the most annoying limitations.