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hardcore_gamer

Is vanilla doom only dos compatable?

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I am working on a megawad for the ultimate doom. It has vanilla doom level of detail (on purpose) and is not designed with any engine in mind. So i would like to make it work on vanilla. I don't know how to make a doom2.exe since i have always used a plane doom format or a engine. Is it enough just to use plane doom format? (ultimate doom format in doom builder) to get it to work in vanilla doom?

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You can never bee sure of that.
Your best bet would be to test it under Chocolate Doom, but you'd probably have to enable some compatibility flags. That however goes to testing if the detail amount can be handled with vanilla; as for the line/sector specials - yeah, I think it's enough just to stick with what Doom Builder gives for pure Doom format.

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Yeah, to test a plain Doom map you want to make sure works on plain engines, use Chocolate Doom (which is a straight port), or, if you want the basic format without limits (to make a larger or more detailed level, or just to feel comfortable mapping), use PrBoom (or PrBoom+) at complevel 2 (for DOOM II), or 3 (for The Ultimate DOOM).

If you map with Doom Builder using the standard format but only test with more advanced engines the level could have some problems on plain engines, which are usually less forgiving in regard to some oversights or bugs.

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If you want to map for plain Doom or Doom 2, keep low unnecessary detail and sectors-in-sectors. The latter causes "No more visplanes" or "Visplane overflow" the most. Look at some Episode 4, Romero, and Final Doom maps, for working map layouts not too plain or flat.

You can try Doom95 with -emulate, but check if it has sounds.

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ellmo said:

You can never bee sure of that.
Your best bet would be to test it under Chocolate Doom, but you'd probably have to enable some compatibility flags.

Chocolate Doom behaves like Vanilla by default, there is no need to set any compatibility flags :-)

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fraggle said:

Chocolate Doom behaves like Vanilla by default, there is no need to set any compatibility flags :-)

Does it also crash like vanilla Doom? With VPO's and such?

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I just downloaded Chocolate Doom and when i start it the screen is out of bound (i can't see my hud) other than that seem to work ok. But to i have to move around with the arrow keys? How do i use costom wads with it? I drag and drop my wad into the launch icon and nothing happens.

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TheDarkArchon said:

Use the command line, Luke. (-file <nameofwad>)


More details! If i use the <> signs i just get a error.

Say i want to play a wad called: outpost. Then what would the FULL name
of the command line by?

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It depends on what game this WAD required. DOOM, DOOM 2, Final DOOM?

In example for DOOM 2

chocolate-doom.exe -iwad doom2.wad -file outpost.wad

p.s. DOOM 2 is default game for chocolate-doom. If you have copied all doom games main WAD files in directory with chocolate-doom together -iwad parameter can be skipped.

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c.imp said:

It depends on what game this WAD required. DOOM, DOOM 2, Final DOOM?

In example for DOOM 2

chocolate-doom.exe -iwad doom2.wad -file outpost.wad

p.s. DOOM 2 is default game for chocolate-doom. If you have copied all doom games main WAD files in directory with chocolate-doom together -iwad parameter can be skipped.


i am using ultimate doom, and i have all of the wad files in the folder.
So....what would the parameter by i can't seem to get this to work no matter what i write.

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command line would be:
chocolate-doom.exe -iwad doom.wad -file outpost.wad

...it's that simple.

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ellmo said:
Does it also crash like vanilla Doom? With VPO's and such?

It aims to port the engine as it is (limits included). That said, a VPO is an internal engine termination, not a crash. When Doom crashes it's due to other issues (such as a huge blockmap giving a venetian blinds crash). But while in such cases Doom freezes DOS (which you have to terminate manually in Windows, or restart if using plain DOS), Chocolate Doom on the other hand closes and takes you back to Windows (or whatever OS). I'm assuming that's because fraggle coded it so that it will terminate in instances where the original engine would be known to crash.

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hardcore_gamer, what environment do you use when run doom ports? All of them require often using of command line parameters and some sort of filemanagers is prefered.
Some early chocolate-doom builds won't run from fullscreen text mode based file managers like FAR.

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ellmo said:

command line would be:
chocloate-doom.exe -iwad doom.wad -file outpost.wad

...it's that simple.


nope, still does not work! I could use eternity i guess, it is very similar to vanilla doom right?

EDIT: Just saw on doom wiki that eternity is pretty unsimilar from vanilla doom, i think.

EDIT: Can eternity only handle about the same amount of detail as vanilla doom.

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hardcore_gamer said:
Can eternity only handle about the same amount of detail as vanilla doom.

No, it's limits are removed or raised.

Make a new text file, write the commands c.imp and ellmo indicated in it, save it, and then rename its extension from TXT to BAT. Put that batch (BAT) file in the folder where you have Chocolate Doom and all the wads, and double click it to start the game. Each time you need to change the command line info, you edit that batch file.

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now my computer crashes when i try to run the game! Thank you for your help but looks like i won't make goes with this port. I am now trying to run my wads with doom 95. I can play other costom wads with it (wads from 1994 granted) but if i try to start up my own wad, i just get a error and doom 95 exits.

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1. What Operating System are you using?
2. Did you copy/&/paste the command line I gave you, or did you just use it as a refference? Because it had a typo.

It's simply not possible for any of the source ports not to work with -iwad and -file params, these are standard.

3. If anything else fails try PrBoom or PrBoom plus, like Myk Suggested. If Chocolate fails, I guess this is the closest you can get to original doom (with better stability and compatibility than Doom95).

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ellmo said:

1. What Operating System are you using?
2. Did you copy/&/paste the command line I gave you, or did you just use it as a refference? Because it had a typo.

It's simply not possible for any of the source ports not to work with -iwad and -file params, these are standard.

3. If anything else fails try PrBoom or PrBoom plus, like Myk Suggested. If Chocolate fails, I guess this is the closest you can get to original doom (with better stability and compatibility than Doom95).


I am using xp. Even without the extra parameter the game crashes so i doubt it is becouse of that.

EDIT: I am now using prdoom works great! It really does give you that old school feeling :)

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Glad it's sorted out then :)
Oh, and btw - my Chocolate Doom also crashes, when custom maps are being read.

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ellmo said:
my Chocolate Doom also crashes, when custom maps are being read.

Any wad? Is that the latest release? (The official one, v1.4, is rather old).

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