How do you personally play doom?

[snapshot]

- GZDoom with Smooth Doom, Sound Bulb and NashGore for casual play and mods, sometimes without them for mapsets, TCs...etc that use custom weapons, monsters...etc

- Zandronum and ZDaemon for multiplayer with Doom Explorer

[Weird Sandwich]

I open up Ultimate Doom Builder and click Test map on whatever I'm working on.

 

Spoiler

I really need to start playing more maps again

 

[TuomasGaming]

I use PRBoom+. (GZDOOM/LZDOOM on some cases)

I save often on source ports without autosave support.

I never pistol start.

Mouse+Keyboard. (Only keyboard too, if I have no mouse)

If I'm testing a mod, I go with Hey, Not Too Rough.

If I'm playing an IWAD fully through, I use Hurt Me Plenty. (UV if I want to torture myself) (Don't report this, it's not rudeness)

[Maribo]

As a pacifist :)

[UnclePhil]

I play the classic official episodes: Ultimate Doom, Doom 2, Evilution and Plutonia Experiment, all using Brutal Doom. I go with UV with fast monsters and projectiles, although I sometimes play Plutonia on HMP due to all the shotgunner/chaingunner flank ambushes. Their target acquisition and attack timing is so fast on these settings it's often near-impossible to avoid taking a stack of damage even when you know what's coming.

 

I believe I am in the minority in preferring Brutal to vanilla, but there are some features I would miss terribly if I switched back. The rifle and hand grenades alone make a huge difference in so many situations.

 

I always play continuous playthrough, and I have no saving-related rules but my frequency of saves depends on what I'm playing and what my state of mind is; if I'm fresh, confident and playing well then I might only save at the end of each level but if I'm off my game, or on a tough level, or otherwise got myself into a tight spot I might savescum a bit.

 

My main self-imposed rule is that while I will use Brutal Doom's jump and crouch for tactical/combat purposes and for general convenience, I never use them to break puzzles or skip part of a level. All obstacles, jumping puzzles, secrets and hard-to-reach items are to be solved with classic Doom style movement only.

[QuaketallicA]

DOSBox, almost exclusively. GZDoom for custom wads, but if it's a vanilla-styled wad I may intentionally set it to lowest resolution of 320x200 and turn linear scaling on. Advantage of GZDoom is custom soundfonts (e.g. Roland SC-55, Arachno, etc.), and of course higher resolutions and OpenGL if I feel like using them.

 

Gameplay-wise, sometimes I do it "properly" using saves the way it's meant to be, but if I don't really care I'll be lazy and not save. Kind of a game really, how far I can get into the game without ever dying, then once I die I may pistol start if I feel like it, or more likely I'm tired by that point anyway and just quit, usually around 8-12 maps into Doom II. Highly unlikely that I would die in Doom 1, if it's episodes 1-3. Certainly for episode 4 saving is a must for any level after the first. (On UV, obviously).

[QuaketallicA]

9 hours ago, Weird Sandwich said:

I open up Ultimate Doom Builder and click Test map on whatever I'm working on.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

I really need to start playing more maps again

 

 

Yes, absolutely, this ^ (well Doom Builder 2 in my case). I honestly use Doom Builder more to just play my 85-90% done level over and over than I ever actually edit the map with it anymore.

[hurtchow]

I don't really get the point of pistol starting. Do you guys not feel that megawads are designed to be played through continuously? Watching MtPain27's videos is proof of that, when he complains about how in... level 26 let's say the level doesn't offer a super shotgun or something. Yes, because you should already have it by then..

 

Sometimes it feels like levels are designed with a pistol starter in mind, Wormhole from TNT works great that way. No Rest For The Living also. But definitely not the originals. What do you guys think?

[HAK3180]

2 hours ago, hurtchow said:

I don't really get the point of pistol starting. Do you guys not feel that megawads are designed to be played through continuously? Watching MtPain27's videos is proof of that, when he complains about how in... level 26 let's say the level doesn't offer a super shotgun or something. Yes, because you should already have it by then..

 

Sometimes it feels like levels are designed with a pistol starter in mind, Wormhole from TNT works great that way. No Rest For The Living also. But definitely not the originals. What do you guys think?

 

Nowadays, wads often say how they are designed. If the text file, for example, says "designed for pistol start," then no, I don't feel it's designed to be played through continuously. Now, why would they do that?

• Mappers often like to have a reasonable expectation of how prepared you will be for a certain situation. That is much easier on a pistol start wad.
• Thorough continuous testing is simply not practical. It's hard enough to determine the average amount of supplies spent five minutes into a single map. Now you have to figure out the high and low extremes of how a player might enter Map 19 and balance it for both of those simultaneously. The only reliable way around this conundrum is to make every level like Icon of Sin, where you immediately give up everything hitherto obtainable, especially if it's a room you can't get back to.
• Exploratory maps often become kind of pointless played continuously. Map 13 Downtown, for example, has that classic rocket launcher trap in a totally optional area. Well, that's dumb if you've already had the rocket launcher since 40 seconds into Entryway.
• Secrets with weapons in them are frequently pointless and/or disappointing. A secret that is a BFG becomes a secret that is two cell charges. That is a monumental difference, both in gameplay balance and in perception of reward.
• Pistol start megawads often intentionally withhold a weapon from a specific map because it's designed around combat for the other guns. It can be a good way to create variety. Again, the BFG is a significant point of no return in the context of a continuous megawad with no death exits. The backpack can also be similarly game-changing.
• The originals seem to be some sort of hybrid. There are moments when continuous seems implied (e.g. health near exit) but definitely also moments where pistol start seems obvious. Notice how not one of the original M9s EDIT: M8s has its episode's best weapon in it. It turns out Dis does not actually suck that badly. And when you play Tower of Babel, you are clearly supposed to have a rocket showdown, not blast him with all your hoarded plasma. The "can't decide"/hybrid approach doesn't work very well, in my opinion, especially a 32-map campaign with no forced death exits. Doom 1 gets away with it to some degree since it's only 9 maps and each episode adds a new weapon. It's also crucial to remember that people weren't as good at Doom in 94. I think the idea was wise, just not implemented all that well. I think a much better easier experience is to play on a lower difficulty than to play continuously.    
• I think wads should be designed either continuous only or pistol start only. I think trying to design around both results in compromise. 

Edited December 15, 2021 by HAK3180 : Military Base does have a rocket launcher, silly.

[Quill]

I juggle between Crispy Doom and Woof. (and occasionally FDWL if I feel like it)
GZ's only there for gameplay mods that make the game a bit spicy.

Quicksave at the start of levels, unless you're critically low on health or it's a hard map, then you shall savescum.

[Mr. Alexander]

1 hour ago, hurtchow said:

I don't really get the point of pistol starting. Do you guys not feel that megawads are designed to be played through continuously? Watching MtPain27's videos is proof of that, when he complains about how in... level 26 let's say the level doesn't offer a super shotgun or something. Yes, because you should already have it by then..

 

Sometimes it feels like levels are designed with a pistol starter in mind, Wormhole from TNT works great that way. No Rest For The Living also. But definitely not the originals. What do you guys think?

It's funny you say the original games don't feel like the levels were designed with a pistol start in mind. According to Sandy Petersen, the level designers tested their maps separately, starting each one from scratch. That's different from knowing what a "pistol start" is and designing for that experience across 32 levels, but I like to think it gives a sense of fair play to the game. If you die, you still have a shot at victory, and you don't need to reload a save.

 

I like pistol starting because it drastically changes the pace of the early part of the map, before you collect good enough weapons to kill the tougher enemies in your path. For instance, in Map09 of Back to Saturn X Episode 1, "Some Drilling Implied," the level begins with a mancubus standing on a walkway above a small room containing nothing but a shotgun and a few imps and zombies. If I were playing continuously, I could probably kill that mancubus before moving on, but pistol-starting imposes a more aggressive style of play, forcing me to dive forward, grab the shotgun, and move on to the next area in search of a super shotgun or a rocket launcher. The "early dive" is one of my favorite mapping tropes, but continuous play obscures it.

 

I think it's fair to say that MtPain27 sometimes dings maps for not perfectly catering to UV-Max pistol-starts, which is making the game harder on yourself in three different ways. C'est la vie.

[Astronomical]

I generally use whatever port is recommended, or DSDA doom on the prefered comp level. 

[QuaketallicA]

2 hours ago, hurtchow said:

I don't really get the point of pistol starting. Do you guys not feel that megawads are designed to be played through continuously? Watching MtPain27's videos is proof of that, when he complains about how in... level 26 let's say the level doesn't offer a super shotgun or something. Yes, because you should already have it by then..

 

Sometimes it feels like levels are designed with a pistol starter in mind, Wormhole from TNT works great that way. No Rest For The Living also. But definitely not the originals. What do you guys think?

 

Well if a level is not able to be completed from pistol start, then it has not been designed well. Sure, levels should be more grueling if you're on Map 26 than it would be on Map 04, but every level ought to be beatable from pistol start, in case you die. Also helps add a bit of challenge if you want to shake things up or if you want to play just a specific map not the whole wad.

[QuaketallicA]

1 hour ago, Mr. Alexander said:

It's funny you say the original games don't feel like the levels were designed with a pistol start in mind. According to Sandy Petersen, the level designers tested their maps separately, starting each one from scratch. That's different from knowing what a "pistol start" is and designing for that experience across 32 levels, but I like to think it gives a sense of fair play to the game. If you die, you still have a shot at victory, and you don't need to reload a save.

 

I like pistol starting because it drastically changes the pace of the early part of the map, before you collect good enough weapons to kill the tougher enemies in your path. For instance, in Map09 of Back to Saturn X Episode 1, "Some Drilling Implied," the level begins with a mancubus standing on a walkway above a small room containing nothing but a shotgun and a few imps and zombies. If I were playing continuously, I could probably kill that mancubus before moving on, but pistol-starting imposes a more aggressive style of play, forcing me to dive forward, grab the shotgun, and move on to the next area in search of a super shotgun or a rocket launcher. The "early dive" is one of my favorite mapping tropes, but continuous play obscures it.

 

I think it's fair to say that MtPain27 sometimes dings maps for not perfectly catering to UV-Max pistol-starts, which is making the game harder on yourself in three different ways. C'est la vie.

 

 Yeah I thought it's pretty well known that vanilla Doom is entirely designed to be pistol-started, it's literally a part of the game to start over from pistol if you die, so it has to be doable. And obviously for sake of time, different mappers are going to create/test their own levels independently of the other.

[DoomPlayer00]

Past few years I used GZDoom as my primary source port but recently switched to prboom+ due to performance issues with GZ.

 

Used to play Doom very casually (Save scumming, continuous play etc.) though I started doing pistol starts and saveless runs more often this year to challenge myself. I do still use saves if the map's super long though.

Edited December 24, 2021 by DoomPlayer00 : fixed typos

[SharkyChip]

I always play pistol start and saveless, making exceptions sometimes depending on the level difficulty, length and/or monster count. I only allow myself to save every 100 kills, if I feel uncapable of completing the level in question in one go, or if I've died too much. Also, I absolutely forbid myself to save during combat or if there are enemies around.

 

As for ports, I use GZDoom for casual playthoughs, with no vertical mouse movement and infinitely tall actors. However, when I'm interested on speedrunning a WAD, I switch to DSDA-Doom

[Steveb1000]

• GZ Doom
• HMP or UV
• Mouse
• Pistol start
• Saves
• No mods
• 10-60 mins at a time

[DarkIceCyclone]

Run 'n' gun. I personally like close quarters combat, or combat where running into the enemy for maximum damage is actually encouraged. However since I'm quite bad, I rather not try killing 15 cyber demons in 2 shots lol.

 

GZDoom

HMP
Start really doesn't matter to me
Saves

Depending on the time I have, between few minutes and few hours at a time. Most my computer time goes to other games

[HavoX]

On 12/12/2021 at 10:03 AM, HavoX said:

GZDoom is set up in a way in order to retain the vanilla feel.

...Occasionally though, I have to change some settings to make the game look prettier, such as when playing The Golden Souls. (Obviously, playing it with vanilla settings is doable, but NOT recommended, as I learned. Ever try reading the onscreen text at 320x200? Doesn't look very good.)

[whybmonotacrab]

• Generally, I play on Crispy or PRBoom. GZDoom if I'm feeling a gameplay mod or the wad requires it.
• Mouse and Keyboard, always uncapped framerate.
• I pistol start, but I do save in the middle of levels - but not in the middle of fights. I generally try to space out my saves to around 5 minutes, but if the level is really kicking my butt I'll lower that.
• I play on UV, but I turn the difficulty down if I'm struggling too much.

 

[i_like_cheeese]

i play via a dos emulator that supports controller so can bind the the keyboard to the controller.

[Sena]

Crispy or LZDoom, no mouselook, and if I'm playing casually I'll use the resurrect cheat like it's going out of fashion

[Senor Cacodemon]

 A good'ol SC Roland 55 Soundtrack while playing Episode 1 Of The Ultimate Doom, nothing really specials going on

[ApprihensivSoul]

I prefer single segment, pistol on death, but I'm also perfectly comfortable quicksaving in particularly vicious maps. In fact, I rather enjoy treating encounters as one-off puzzles, trying a bunch of strategies until I figure out something that makes sense. When I'm mapping I prefer to make thing that can be pistol started, so I test them there, but I'm not a big fan of pistol starting on principal, as it defeats the purpose of having more than one map in a set (in my perspective.) 

Stuff like Heretic I'm more likely to Pistol (wand?) start, because the absence of hitscan makes predictability significantly more reasonable (even if I would suggest that Heretic overall is far more difficult than anything in a commercial Doom wad,) and obviously HeXen and Strife are built from the ground up for keeping weapons. 

Oh, and UV Fast is my preferred settings. Doom's always been a little lethargic in pacing with the advent of ASWD+M controls, mouselook or none (though I prefer if it's on just for comfort of movement.) 

[NuMetalManiak]

3 hours ago, whybmonotacrab said:

• always uncapped framerate.

How do you do this in GZdoom? Just curious, I wanna know more options for speeding it up.

[CherubCorps]

On top of a pile of money with many beautiful ladies.

 

Seriously, I go GZdoom, freelook on, autoaim turned off, pistol starts. I tend to mod the hell out of doom, but I do play vanilla on occasion, especially if the map has custom weapons built into it. I've been trying to save less, but I will save if a level is too long/hard.

Big thing with GZdoom is to turn off texture filtering so that everything doesn't look like it's covered in a layer of Vaseline.  I also disable smart filtering so dead enemies don't sink into the floor. Really wish these features were disabled by default. 

Edited December 24, 2021 by RomDump

[whybmonotacrab]

9 hours ago, NuMetalManiak said:

How do you do this in GZdoom? Just curious, I wanna know more options for speeding it up.

Turn Simple options menu off, go to Set Video mode, and change max framerate to unlimited. Hope that helps.

[matador]

Keyboard only, usually continuous with start and end level saves but it varies depending on the mapset. I'm getting more into idcleving to random levels and fooling around rather than playing through megawads front to back.

[ducon]

PrBoom+ with no mouse: arrows (right hand, thumb on Left, little finger on right), Alt (strafe, right index), space (open, right index), left Ctrl (shoot, left thumb).

GZDoom with mouse: arrows (left hand, with strafe, three middle fingers), left Ctrl (crouch, left little finger), KP_0 (jump, left thumb), mouse (shoot, open, change weapons).

I play continuously from MAP01/E1M1 to MAP30/E4M9 with saves and no pistol start. I also use iddt to track monsters and bonuses.

[Summer Deep]

ZDoom or GLBoom+, UV continuous, occasionally HMP for very tough wads, freelook. I usually make at least one attempt to get through the map without saves, but once I've died a couple of times, I tend to use them.