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hardcore_gamer

How many people use Zdoom based ports?

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One important thing to consider when starting a new map is deciding what port to map for since not everybody uses the same port. However, I was wandering how many people use Zdoom based ports (Zdoom, Gzdoom, Skulltag etc) since I personally like making maps for Zdoom in Hexen format since I often find it too limited to only map for Boom.

However, how many people actually use zboom based ports? Sometimes I hear people complain when somebody releases a map for Zdoom based ports only even though the map only has like 1 or 2 Zdoom features, but I was wandering if it really mattered if 90% of people use Zdoom based ports anyways?

How many people use Zdoom based ports compared to other ports?

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Mod for whatever port you personally like. At the end of the day I'd imagine that 99.9% of mod makers mod because they enjoy it, rather than for the recognition.

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Vermil said:

Mod for whatever port you personally like. At the end of the day I'd imagine that 99.9% of mod makers mod because they enjoy it, rather than for the recognition.


I'd imagine you're very wrong about that! Even though most of us do create things in the Doom engine because we just straight up like to, even pretending as if we all do it for our own personal fulfillment is a total farce!

Almost everyone that works on projects, especially established mappers, are totally in it to see if what they can release will get praised or trashed!

Oh and to answer the original question, there are a wide variety of users who play with Doomsday, PRboom, Eternity, and maybe even Legacy. Almost everybody that has tested Double Impact for example has used something other than ZDoom (which surprised and helped us!)

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In the last few "what ports do you use" threads, the people who didn't list ZDoom or derivative as their primary port did generally mention they used it for mods that needed it.

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I don't see the problem with installing multiple ports. I have Chocodoom, Zdoom, GZDoom, Skulltag, EDGE, and Doom95. I use whatever the textfile calls for, mostly Skulltag because I play online a lot.

Doom95 doesn't really get used, but I got it when I bought Final Doom from the Id store way back.

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I use ZDoom, GZDoom and Skulltag, though I specifically won't use them if the mod I'm playing has no ZDoom-specific features.

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Ralphis said:

I'd imagine you're very wrong about that!

Well, I can't speak for anyone else, but he is 100% correct for me. I mod because I enjoy it and that's where most of my fun comes from. If/when I release something, most of my enjoyment from the mod has already happened but I am releasing it because I hope someone else might get a kick out of playing it. However, I don't get bent out of shape if people don't enjoy it (it's all a matter of taste after all) and I certainly don't do it for adulation or prizes (though getting either is nice).

When working on a collaborative effort, my attitude is much the same, but skewed slightly differently. I am still involved because I am enjoying doing it and because I have made a commitment to the team to do the best job that I can. Often the goals of a team will be to get something that people will enjoy and success may be measured by using that as a criterion. However, my fun has come from doing my best to contribute to a product that will be well received and the actual reception (for me) is less important than working towards that goal was.

Basically, my fun comes from the bit that I am most involved in: the making process. Once the mod is made, it has passed out of my hands and I am less involved so there is less for me to enjoy. I like it when people enjoy something that I have made but that was never the main reason for me making it.

As for the original question: I think most Doomers at least have Zdoom (or a derivative) installed and Zdoom has been shown in a number of polls to be the most played port. There are, of course, plenty of people who prefer ports other than Zdoom and who usually play their favourite but who are happy to use Zdoom when a Zdoom specific mod that they want to play comes out. I'd suggest that most people have a number of ports installed and normally use their favourite but are prepared to use different ports as and when required. The number of people who point blank refuse to install or play using Zdoom will be relatively small.

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Enjay said:

The number of people who point blank refuse to install or play using Zdoom will be relatively small.



Unfortunately they are often also very loud which may give a false impression here.

I concur that the vast majority of users is flexible enough to use different ports if a mod needs it.

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hardcore_gamer said:

Justince said:

Exactly 17 people use zoom based ports.

And you know this how? [/B]

he went to #zdoom, did a head count and subtracted all bloodshedder's bots.

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Map for whatever engine you want. If someone doesn't want to play it 'cause they don't have the port, it's their loss.

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Justince said:

Exactly 17 people use zoom based ports.

That's too bad -- if it was more popular, perhaps Zoom wouldn't have been canceled. :P

hardcore_gamer said:

And you know this how?

You have the sense of humor of a dead brick.

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Every port which exists, I probably have. Prboom, zdoom, gzdoom, skulltag, and the rest, mainly just these 4. Prboom for recording nm runs, zdoom for general wad playing and as my wad editor tester, gzdoom to run 'phycophobia', and skulltag for online play ( username is botking). Stuff like doomsday engine I do not really like.

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GreyGhost said:

I currently have 18 ports installed - which is probably overkill. Some obviously are ZDoom based, most of them take up little space and not much hits /newstuff that I can't play.



I got 14, not counting a large number of different versions of ZDoom and GZDoom. I believe with the exception of ZDaemon I have anything remotely current so out of curiosity, what's your 18?

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Graf Zahl said:

I got 14, not counting a large number of different versions of ZDoom and GZDoom. I believe with the exception of ZDaemon I have anything remotely current so out of curiosity, what's your 18?

Chocolate, Delphi, Doom64, Doom95, Doomsday, EDGE, Eternity, GZDoom, Legacy, Odamex, PrBoom, PrBoom-plus, ReMood, Risen3D, Skulltag, Vavoom, WinMBF and ZDoom.

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John Smith said:

Threads like these are the most predictable dw flamebait ever.

And yet, so far, the answers have been largely civil, reasonable and most have been on topic.

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I mostly use a ZDoom derivative, but I'm an online player, rarely playing singleplayer. When I play single player I use chocolate doom or prboom+

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hardcore_gamer said:

And you know this how?

The worldwide Doom source port monitoring station (located at McMurdo base, Antarctica) tracks how many users there are of each source port. For example, Chocolate Doom currently has 5,975 users. "Zoom" clearly doesn't have very many, so it can't be a very popular port. I've certainly never heard of it myself.

On a side note, I'm only 25 users away from the 6,000 users I need in order to get a royal funding grant from the Queen. So if you could tell as many of your friends as possible to install Chocolate Doom, it would be really useful.

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fraggle said:

The worldwide Doom source port monitoring station (located at McMurdo base, Antarctica) tracks how many users there are of each source port. For example, Chocolate Doom currently has 5,975 users. "Zoom" clearly doesn't have very many, so it can't be a very popular port. I've certainly never heard of it myself.


There must be some Ancient technology there.

fraggle said:

On a side note, I'm only 25 users away from the 6,000 users I need in order to get a royal funding grant from the Queen. So if you could tell as many of your friends as possible to install Chocolate Doom, it would be really useful.


They raise the minimum requirement to 7,000 in March.

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fraggle said:

The worldwide Doom source port monitoring station (located at McMurdo base, Antarctica) tracks how many users there are of each source port.

I have been to McMurdo Station, and took pictures of literally every single building and appliance, and saw no such thing.

fraggle said:

"Zoom" clearly doesn't have very many, so it can't be a very popular port. I've certainly never heard of it myself.

How can you have forgotten Zoom? It was less than eight years ago.

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The Source Port Monitoring Station is, as you might imagine, some pretty essential global infrastructure. That's part of the reason why it's located in Antarctica (the low temperature also helps with the tracking, for obvious reasons). As I understand, it's usually contained within a protective metal security surround and defended by armed guards. I doubt they would have let you anywhere near it.

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I use ZDoom when I want to play the rare PWAD that need ZDoom, or to play Heretic and Hexen.

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The only ZDoom port I tend to play nowadays is Scoredoom. (or GZScoredoom rather) I've been a rather extensive tester of it myself, though I'm a little slow when it came to bug reporting.

Edit: Then again, you could say I pretty much came for the chance at killing more varieties of monsters than just the standard vanilla monsters when I tried Scoredoom, but I certainly stayed for the chance at beating those ultra-hard megawads without cheats.

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Enjay said:

Well, I can't speak for anyone else, but he is 100% correct for me. I mod because I enjoy it and that's where most of my fun comes from. If/when I release something, most of my enjoyment from the mod has already happened but I am releasing it because I hope someone else might get a kick out of playing it.


While designing a map is fun, the real fun for me is playing the finished product, that's what makes everything worth it at the end for me.

With response to the topic, I play zdoom wads sometimes, but the wad better be good (just like with any wad though) and the features and scripting need to enhance the atmosphere rather than coming off as features for the sake of features. I don't really like fighting Heretic and Hexen monsters in DooM, unless I'm playing something like Herian where they fit nicely into the art direction and not just "lol custom monsters". :P

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There's nothing wrong with using ZDoom for vanilla/Boom maps except for the casual map-breaking change introduced during it's development cycle, but that's actually quite rare, at least in my personal experience.

The first port I ever used was Boom, then switched to Legacy, then to ZDoom and finally to Chocolate. Whenever I feel a port is not living up to my expectations, I simply forget about it and start using something else, but I generally stick to my "favourite" for years, and during this time, I may sporadically experiment with other ports just for the sake of curiosity.

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what needs to be said is use the port that best lets you do what you want with your project. Different ports are better at different things and it's already been said that lots of us have a wide range installed.

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