New user trying to get enjoy DOOM to the max...

[cleve]

Hi. Long time lurker. Read tons of posts from lots of sites, read up on ZDoom, doom wikis and such.

Decided to register here. I like it the most. I have lots of questions. I read the FAQ's and all the 'Read this first you 'tard" stuff.

Basically, I want to be able to play Doom with my friend on our lap tops. We have Dell inspiron 3800 and 8100. I want to be able play all the awesome PWAD's and fan made material I have read and read about. Especially Memento Mori and Community Chests.

I have a basic understanding of most of the terminology used on Doom forums involving software.

Here is where you come in DoomWorld:

I scoured the web trying to find a 'step by step' process for playing doom and playing fan made content. I found a lot of "how to's" and stuff like that, but it skips a lot of steps because almost all assume the reader has a compete understanding of the text. Well, I do not. I would like it if the DoomWorld community could come together and help organize a ground up "how to" involving getting the most out of the doom experience, while keeping in mind that I (and other readers) need to have their hand held... probably the whole way.

Mods, please do not delete this or refer me to FAQ or something similar. I am just doing my homework. Both lap tops have XP. I am well aware of the deficiencies of that OS in terms of Doom. I am not asking how to run Doom on XP.

So... Did I ask too many questions? Did I ask too little? The wrong ones? Point me in the right direction starting at Step Number 0. Ask me questions if you want.

I guess to start, a list of things I need to get the most out of doom would be nice...
What OS should I use? Programs I need? (MS DOS, WIN9x...? Help me!), A mouse? Cables to link two laptops? Where should I start? Where to get all this?

Sorry about the book I wrote. Just trying to cover all bases.

[Mr. Freeze]

-ZDooM (Best Source Port availiable)
-Hell Revealed (Hard, but extremely fun)
-SpaceDM5 (THE ONLY DM FROM ESSELFORTIUM WHERE YOU DM IN SPACE)
-Skulltag (The best multiplayer for DooM)

That covers all the basics.

You may wish to check out ZDaemon, but don't.

[EarthQuake]

Yeah, definitely stay away from ZDaemon. The hundreds of regular players attest to how shitty it is.

[Nemark]

You can also use ZDL (http://twicerisen.ath.cx/zdl/) to make loading WADs easier in ZDoom. It also has a feature that allows you to connect directly to someone or allow people to connect to you through IP address for DM/co-op.

[Super Mighty G]

Some stuff I can think of off the top of my head:

The Chocolate Doom sourceport can almost perfectly mimic vanilla Doom on modern OS's.

Zdoom is by far the most advanced sourceport with a ton ways to add features to maps. It can also do a pretty good job of mimicking vanilla Doom by changing the right settings. Admittedly it's somewhat temperamental when it comes to recording demos though. Its sister port GZDoom handles fancy OpenGL stuff.

The Boom engine and it's offshoots (PrBoom and PrBoom+) are good for recording demos I've heard. It's also not a bad sourceport in and of itself.

[myk]

cleve said:
Programs I need?

If you use Windows, I'd recommend IDE and the three source ports it supports. This would allow you to easily connect with your friend, and in addition you could both get onto public servers to play alongside more people or to try new WADs running on them, especially on ZDaemon and Skulltag, that have a good amount of servers and users.

It's also possible to connect with practically any engine that is not "multiplayer specific" like the above. So if you have a favorite, let us know and we can help.

[eargosedown]

Oblige too!

[GreyGhost]

With XP on both laptops most currently maintained source ports should run OK. Having only ATI Rage and GeForce2 graphics means you probably won't be able to use the latest OpenGL renderers - or will need to disable most of the features, though that's a non-issue if you prefer the classic software rendered look. ;-)

For 2-player games a peer-to-peer network via a null modem or Cat5 crossover lead is the way to go. Found a couple of threads that might help.

[kristus]

U.O.D. said:

Zdoom is by far the most advanced sourceport

That's a popular misconception. It is however the most popular of the advanced source ports.

GreyGhost: I doubt any modern laptops even got any Com ports. And even if they did, I wouldn't recommend anyone to use Null Modems in this day and age.

Cleve: If you just wanna play the two of you, the best way is to set up a LAN connection using a Cat5 crossover lead (as GreyGhost suggested) then simply find the port that runs best on the systems you got (Skulltag is to my recollection, rather rough on older systems. Chocolate doom is a good bet, but I don't know how you feel about 320x200 graphics) and connect.

Depending on what port you use. The command line can vary.

[GreyGhost]

Those laptops are 8-10 years old, I'd be suprised if they both have ethernet ports.

[Gez]

kristus said:

That's a popular misconception.

It's mostly a bit meaningless. Define "advanced". Given not all ports have the same design goals, they don't all "advance" in the same direction. For example, PrBoom+ is the most advanced port for demo playing and recording purposes. Doomsday and Risen3D are probably the most advanced graphically. Vavoom I think is the most advanced with regards to scripting, given VavoomC; but I'm not really familiar with the possibilities of that language, all I know is that it's woefully underused even in the Vavoom community. I'd say ZDoom and its close offshoots are the most advanced in the "all-around modder-friendliness" department.

[Jodwin]

First things first, to play together with a friend you need to have the two computers connected to each other either through a lan, a wlan or the internet. If you have a broadband router/modem where you can connect multiple computers, you might be able to use that as a normal lan router as well.

Then, as for Doom...if all you want to do is play together with a friend, I'd recommend ZDaemon or Skulltag. Doesn't really matter which one you choose. A lot of other ports have some multiplayer capabilities as well, but those two are probably the safest bets for you. They also come with their own server finding tools to (hopefully) make playing easier for beginners.

One thing to keep in mind, amongst all the port zealotry, is that there's no reason to not have multiple source ports installed. You can get as many as you want and try them all out if you want to. With that in mind, if you're also interested in single player I'd recommend both ZDoom and prboom+. Other people have already covered why ZDoom, and prboom+ is a good choice because it lets you play Doom either with vanilla compatibility or as a pure Boom port, and you can choose what extra features to use or not use (such as unlimited framerate, opengl graphics, and so on).

You might end up with quite a few different ports downloaded, not to mention a lot of different wads. You can either try to manage everything by hand and with shortcuts and command line, or you can use a launcher. One popular launcher that was already mentioned is ZDL (short for ZDoom Launcher). An other launcher to try out is CDL. With CDL playing multiplayer in, for example, ZDoom is just a matter of picking the port, the wads and then typing "-host 2" (for the host) or "-join HOST IP" (for the joinee) to the command line argument field.


edit: Unless you get some more specific questions, the answers that can be given aren't going to be very specific either, since a lot matters on what you really are looking forward to know.

[Mithral_Demon]

Jodwin said:

First things first, to play together with a friend you need to have the two computers connected to each other either through a lan, a wlan or the internet. If you have a broadband router/modem where you can connect multiple computers, you might be able to use that as a normal lan router as well.

Yes, there are many ways to connect, but imo, using a Router is best bet, works well when I run Doom with friends.

Then, as for Doom...if all you want to do is play together with a friend, I'd recommend ZDaemon or Skulltag. Doesn't really matter which one you choose. A lot of other ports have some multiplayer capabilities as well, but those two are probably the safest bets for you. They also come with their own server finding tools to (hopefully) make playing easier for beginners.

ZDaemon or SkullTag, both have very distinct features, these are best for DM, Coop and Invasion (Wave) maps.

One thing to keep in mind, amongst all the port zealotry, is that there's no reason to not have multiple source ports installed. You can get as many as you want and try them all out if you want to. With that in mind, if you're also interested in single player I'd recommend both ZDoom and prboom+. Other people have already covered why ZDoom, and prboom+ is a good choice because it lets you play Doom either with vanilla compatibility or as a pure Boom port, and you can choose what extra features to use or not use (such as unlimited framerate, opengl graphics, and so on).

ZDoom and Pr-Boom+ are the BEST (uh oh, opinions... Oh well) for Single Player based play, and mainly for testing PWADS to make sure they are in order.

You might end up with quite a few different ports downloaded, not to mention a lot of different wads. You can either try to manage everything by hand and with shortcuts and command line, or you can use a launcher. One popular launcher that was already mentioned is ZDL (short for ZDoom Launcher). An other launcher to try out is CDL. With CDL playing multiplayer in, for example, ZDoom is just a matter of picking the port, the wads and then typing "-host 2" (for the host) or "-join HOST IP" (for the joinee) to the command line argument field.

I've made it where with ZDL I can use most sourceports, and that I can play SkullTag online (or mainly LAN) through the launcher. But having two launchers won't hurt, gives people variety on their specifications.

[cleve]

Ok. I read it all and reread it. I am gonna go out and work on it. When I hit a snag or something else I will post a bunch of questions as they come to mind. Thanks for all the help!