How do you play demos with PrBoom?

[Angst929]

The ReadMe that came with it mentioned something with the command line, but what is that and how do I access it?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[iori]

I think it's -playdemo demoname.lmp

[Angst929]

Yeah, but where do I type that?

[chungy]

depending on your operating system, it might have an icon named "Terminal" or "Command Prompt" somewhere in your applications menu.

[myk]

http://www.doomworld.com/vb/doom-speed-demos/38859-easier-way-to-watch-demos/

[Angst929]

"Note for Vista users: MS have made it harder to manage file types, so it is necessary to edit the Registry. This method seems to work:
1) Associate the lmp file-type with either prboom-plus.exe or glboom-plus.exe, whichever you prefer. This can be done via the launcher.
2) Start RegEdit - BE CAREFUL AS ERRORS USING REGEDIT CAN SCREW THINGS UP!
3) Search (Ctrl-F) for prboom-plus.exe or glboom-plus.exe
4) Once you have found the place where the command-line for playing lmps is stored, edit it by adding " -auto" at the end.
5) Exit RegEdit."

A few questions here. First of all, how do you do step 1?

Also, when I did step 3, I could find the place where the command-line for playing lmps was stored.

[Grazza]

Angst929 said:

A few questions here. First of all, how do you do step 1?

Allow the built-in launcher to run. In the "Commands" drop-down box, choose "Associate the current EXE with Doom demos".

Angst929 said:

Also, when I did step 3, I could find the place where the command-line for playing lmps was stored.

Do exactly as stated. Search (press Ctrl-F) for the text "prboom-plus.exe" or "glboom-plus.exe" (whichever you have chosen to play demos with).

Of course, this would all be a lot easier if there were an option to have "-auto" the default behaviour when a lmp but no wad was loaded.

[gggmork]

I just click on the wad, then ctrl-click on the lmp, then drag both simultaneously into prboom-plus.exe if that helps... only after dragging the entire prboom folder to the left of the screen because for some reason that stupid folder, and only that folder, is magnetized toward the far right of the screen; I'm so computer savy.

[Angst929]

Grazza said:

Allow the built-in launcher to run. In the "Commands" drop-down box, choose "Associate the current EXE with Doom demos".
Do exactly as stated. Search (press Ctrl-F) for the text "prboom-plus.exe" or "glboom-plus.exe" (whichever you have chosen to play demos with).

Of course, this would all be a lot easier if there were an option to have "-auto" the default behaviour when a lmp but no wad was loaded.

Alright, I used the built-in launcher to associate it to "prboom-plus.exe"

Now, when I go to RegEdit and search for prboom-plus.exe, when I click on it it just asks me to a pop-up called "Edit String" which asks me to edit the value data.

What do I do now?

[Grazza]

You edit what is there by adding " -auto" to the end of the line.

Probably it says something like:

"C:\Doom2\glboom-plus.exe" "%1"

(your path may be different; that doesn't matter).

You need to change that to:

"C:\Doom2\glboom-plus.exe" "%1" -auto

(but with your path unchanged - all you need to do is add " -auto")

(Basically, you just follow the instructions as given earlier, which you quoted.)

[Angst929]

Grazza said:

You edit what is there by adding " -auto" to the end of the line.

Probably it says something like:

"C:\Doom2\glboom-plus.exe" "%1"

(your path may be different; that doesn't matter).

You need to change that to:

"C:\Doom2\glboom-plus.exe" "%1" -auto

(but with your path unchanged - all you need to do is add " -auto")

(Basically, you just follow the instructions as given earlier, which you quoted.)

Is this what it should do?

"C:\Users\jeffy\Desktop\Files\Games\Old School Games\Doom\PrBoom\prboom-plus.exe" "%1"

So, after this, I add -auto to the end?

I already tried this if so, and nothing happened.

[Grazza]

OK, so that value is now:

"C:\Users\jeffy\Desktop\Files\Games\Old School Games\Doom\PrBoom\prboom-plus.exe" "%1" -auto

Right?

So what happens now when you click on a demo (lmp)?

BTW, I don't know if the spaces in the path are a problem. I never allow spaces in them myself.

[Angst929]

They don't work when I double clip, but for some reason they work when I drag and drop then into the PrBoom application.

Oh well, it works if I do that so I guess I'll just do that.

Thanks to all.

[Pirx]

Grazza said:

OK, so that value is now:

"C:\Users\jeffy\Desktop\Files\Games\Old School Games\Doom\PrBoom\prboom-plus.exe" "%1" -auto

Right?

So what happens now when you click on a demo (lmp)?

BTW, I don't know if the spaces in the path are a problem. I never allow spaces in them myself.

ah, interesting. haven't watched lmps in a while and saw those demo packs on my hard drive. do i have to specify the pwad the demo was recorded with and how can i do this?

[Grazza]

Using the -auto feature, there is no need to specify pwads or iwads. That's the whole point of it.

You just need the wads to be somewhere the program will find them (same folder as the exe, or as the lmp, or in the "doomwaddir"), and it will automatically load the right wads based on pattern-matching of the demo name. For information, read this thread and the text-file included with the patterns.

The latest release of prboom-plus already includes the current version of the patterns in the cfg files that come with it.

[entryway]

I think Angst929 does not have predefined patterns in his cfg or his demos are not supported by the patterns

[Pirx]

Grazza said:

Using the -auto feature, there is no need to specify pwads or iwads. That's the whole point of it.

You just need the wads to be somewhere the program will find them (same folder as the exe, or as the lmp, or in the "doomwaddir"), and it will automatically load the right wads based on pattern-matching of the demo name. For information, read this thread and the text-file included with the patterns.

The latest release of prboom-plus already includes the current version of the patterns in the cfg files that come with it.

ok, i had found that thread meanwhile and was reading it while you answered. prboom coming complete with the patterns is great. thank you.

[entryway]

For me, there is no necessity for -auto param at all. If launcher is used and demo is supported by patterns, then you only should press "Ok" in lancher for viewing. If launcher is used and demo is NOT supported, then you should select iwad/pwads/dehs from lancher before playing. With permanent "-auto" you will not have an opportunity to choose or change pwads, because the latest pattern is "Default (Doom2)/.+\.lmp/doom2.wad"

[Grazza]

But if the launcher finds a lot of wads, the delay is *huge*. For that reason I pretty much never use the launcher. And anyway, one unnecessary key press is still one too many.

[Kelissias]

For me, I just drag the lmp on top of my source port, and it plays.