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Voros

Should PrBoom+ be a recommended port?

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While it is a great port and all, it's menu is a mess. PrBoom+ also comes with features ordinary players wouldn't need, such as complevels. It's a port more suited to speedrunners rather than casual playthroughs.

Crispy Doom is already a good alternative, so would it make sense to remove the PrBoom+ link in the downloads page?

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But it's so popular... I mean, you either play a ZDoom derivative or a Boom derivative. Except for the chocolate nerds...

 

Why not just include it in the list and say "this source port offers features X, Y, and Z, recommended for speedrunners"?

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I'm talking about whether including it as recommendation on Freedoom's download page is a good idea.

IMO, it doesn't make sense to include a port that has a messy options menu and is something primarily used for a specific task. In this case, a port that is used mostly for demo-related stuff.

Currently, Freedoom is limit removing, hence a Boom-derivative port isn't necessary. Crispy Doom offers good features, while PrBoom+ can be overwhelming to a newbie.

Add the fact that Freedoom isn't related to speedrunning in general too. It's probably best to remove it from the downloads page.

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PrBoom's menu may be a mess, but unlike Crispy Doom it can handle modern screen resolutions. native 16:9 display and hardware rendering - and overall feels like a modern engine.

 

Crispy Doom is the opposite - it feels like straight out of the 90's with a small number of 'cool' features being added. And having an external setup EXE is utterly retro and will certainly puzzle modern audiences.

 

Sorry, but in my opinion it is a bit *too* simplistic when it comes to casual Doomers. A recommended port these days should offer a bit more than doubling the display resolution from 320x200 to 640x400.

 

 

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3 hours ago, Voros said:

would it make sense to remove the PrBoom+ link in the downloads page?

Worst possible course of action.

 

If we ignore the menu (which you usually only access once to set things up, so how much of a factor could it possibly be?), the demo compatibility is invaluable to provide feedback for mappers, or helping others to get past a difficult spot in a map. Yes, you can also demo in other source ports, but having PrBoom+ setup just to watch the demos of other players without having to worry about copying wads into the right folder, adding the demo etc is awesome in and off itself.

 

On the subject of menus: Zandronum or GZDoom certainly look a lot more structured, but when you look at it from the perspective of a "new player", all these menus have one thing in common: They say "don't touch most of these things unless you're familiar with what's what."

 

That aside, some of the best map sets in existence are created on the basis of boom compatibility, which includes Valiant, Ancient Aliens, and SunLust, to name just a few.

 

On top of that, there's GLBoom+ and proper aspect ratios for modern screens.

 

2 hours ago, Voros said:

Add the fact that Freedoom isn't related to speedrunning in general too. It's probably best to remove it from the downloads page.

And it won't be ever, if you indirectly take PrBoom+ out of the equation from the get-go.

 

All those considerations aside: I'd use EE over crispy any day, if it's possible. So why not recommend EE instead of crispy, in case it works just fine?

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I much personally prefer zdoom and gzdoom, but thats only because i really enjoy the advanced features. Honestly, I'd suggest a boom derivative, not just prboom+

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Looking over at EE's license, apparently it's "free" to use. This might work alongside Freedoom, which is a "free" project after all. It does seem like a good idea to include EE as a recommended port. And I've heard good things about the port.

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These days there are no more ports that do not use the GPL so they are all *free* as needed here.

 

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I remember reading about Doomsday being in a bit of a gray area legally, but that was way back when it was JDoom, JHeretic, and JHexen, so that information could be way out of date.

 

Also, I thought that Freedoom was Boom format. Is that out-of-date information, or just simply incorrect?

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The goal is vanilla-compatible now and most of the real Boom maps have already been removed or changed.

 

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Version 0.11 marked the first release of Freedoom that didn't require a Boom-port. 

 

Anywho, players have to access the options menu to configure the controls to their needs, such as mouse sensitivity. This varies among different devices, such as laptops and desktop PCs. 

 

Doom's current controls are a bit dated, even if the default way to play. 

 

PrBoom+'s options menu should be cleaned up at some point. Is EE's any better?

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3 hours ago, Graf Zahl said:

These days there are no more ports that do not use the GPL so they are all *free* as needed here.

ZDaemon still exists.

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Ideally, whatever port you pick should work for Freedoom, but the first timer expects multiplayer. Odamex servers are very cheap on resources and its network play is outstanding if it is not a cooperative game mode, produces vanilla compatible demos, but it does not include bots and has shit defaults (although that is an easy fix), modifications limited to vanilla; Doom Legacy includes decent bots but I have no idea how good it is for network play in comparison and does not appear to have a server list, does not produce vanilla compatible demos; Zandronum includes average bots, but its servers are expensive on resources and most populated servers runs modifications that requires more than a toaster to run, shit defaults but a fix should not be difficult with a custom build, does not produce vanilla compatible demos but its format is consistent, fmodex dependency is a bummer for non-windows users, decent network play; GZDoom includes shit bots, does not produce vanilla compatible demos, network play is not as straight forward as double clicking on a list of servers (requires typing IPs), and does not appear to be smooth for online play, but has outstanding support for modifications and average graphics. ZDaemon has everything a first timer need for multiplayer, but nothing for single player, includes shit bots and expect you to use wine (so they don't have to deal with mismatching glibc versions) for non windows platforms and keep their source closed, competition in classic modes are lively when compared to Odamex and Zandronum (where most people only play modifications). Chocolate-doom did not have a functioning network code when I tried, but I heard it feels the same as playing DOS Doom, which felt like my keystrokes and aim commands were delayed, lacks bots, shit resolution (but understandable in a competitive setting).

Edited by duh

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I think we should keep it simple. Just link everyone to this wiki page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Doom_source_ports

It covers all aspects of different Doom source ports. For example:

Quote

ZDoom is a source port targeted at Microsoft Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X. The first version, version 1.11, was released on March 6, 1998. ZDoom is one of the most advanced and feature-filled Doom source ports from an editing perspective, supporting Boom editing extensions, plus all of the extensions made in the version of the Doom engine used in Hexen: Beyond Heretic, as well as several other new features. In addition to Doom, it supports Chex Quest, Heretic, Hexen: Beyond Heretic, and Strife: Quest for the Sigil. Unlike many other source ports, ZDoom cannot play demos recorded with Vanilla Doom, including the intro demos found in the IWAD. The most recent version of ZDoom, version 2.8.1, was released on February 22, 2016.

And also, you can find a source port for any OS needed.

After that, anyone can choose his own source port to play on.

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6 hours ago, NeverMine17 said:

I think we should keep it simple. Just link everyone to this wiki page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Doom_source_ports

There is nothing simple about that. https://github.com/freedoom/freedoom.github.io/issues/1

 

Edit: oh wow. GZDoom replaced PrBoom+ and Odamex on the downloads page. When did that happen? This thread was pointless :P

Edited by Voros

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