FuzzySpaceRaptor

Yeah, I would say it's primarily a matter of convenience or familiarity when people prefer to use the software renderer. One peculiarity I have noticed between the two is with certain skins; my own custom player skin, for example, displays differently between the two. It also initially wasn't bobbing up and down properly (changing z height) in hardware renderer until I edited some obscure settings, whereas it was doing it properly to begin with in software. Overall, if you know how to navigate GZDoom's settings well, I would say hardware renderer is almost completely better.

Is this just vanilla or source ports too? I don't think I've ever noticed this in GZDoom or Zandro.

You must also account for the splash damage danger, though. Doom's action takes place at a number of ranges, and close range encounters tend to be more common than longer-range encounters. This depends on how you play, of course, but in the classic IWADs that's generally how it goes down. The rocket launcher might as well be unselectable at close range because few people would be stupid enough to use it there, while conversely the SSG excels at this range. So there's that.

Well, technically I didn't, but we've spiralled into a discussion about playing Doom legally when the thread is supposed to be about how you got into Doom. Forum etiquette, really.

Done, and will tell friends. I always told myself it was just abandonware and that pirating it's okay, but now it's pretty clear to me that id still wants to monetize this; rightly so with how popular it still is. I ended up spending $25 because of the Serpent Rider Trilogy. At least I got the Master Levels, which I don't yet have on my PC. And a clearer conscience. Can I be a genuine community member now? Oh and also sorry for derailing thread.

No, I still have not, unfortunately. I have enough Steam money to do it right now, I think. They're each only 5 dollars, right? I mean, I wouldn't actually play the Steam versions because I hear about issuses with Dosbox, I would just be buying them so I could claim "I'm good in the eyes of the law! ish" Thing is, they could probably still claim foul even if I were to buy it now, because I've played it illegally at all.

My story is kind of strange. I first learned about Doom from some Wikipedia searching, namely how it was referenced on the I. M. Meen Wikipedia page. I had already known about Meen from a few YouTube videos, including the older YTP's using that game as a source, as well as an extremely low-quality YouTube series that I followed very closely called Greeny Phatom, made by a probably autistic manchild. Yeah, I had already found the weird side of YouTube by like age 11. Probably part of why I'm so queer today. Anyway, the first '90s shooter I actively watched gameplay of was the aforementioned I.M. Meen. Though it was pretty dumbed down due to ultimately being a kids' game, it still interested me enough to want to check out that other shooter they mentioned on its Wikipedia page. I didn't actually touch Doom gameplay vids until about a year after I found out about it, though, which was a couple years after I first saw Meen gameplay. It kind of fell out of my mind for a while. My guess is that I was just too scared to watch gameplay after hearing its premise. By the time I came around to it, I must have been 13, because this was in early 2015. Now, Meen's engine was more analogous to Wolf3D's, so when I did actually finally touch Doom (or rather watch it, because I still didn't have the game myself) I was immersed. I didn't know old games could be this atmospheric; I found it legitimately scary at times. That's not even mentioning the adrenaline rushes I didn't think I'd find in a pixelated game. The only thing that rivaled how much Doom drew me in was my prime nostalgia draw, the MechWarrior series. So I guess I already had experience with games older than me (from when I was 4 or 5 and playing MechWarrior 3 for the first time), but it wasn't as old. Interestingly, I remember listening to the soundtrack before watching the gameplay videos. Maybe I did them in tandem somewhat. I was hooked. It took me several months after that to actually play the game myself (by this time I had turned 14). I downloaded all my IWads from MyAbandonware or other free sources rather than paying for them, using ZDoom as my source port then switching to GZDoom. I thought it would be okay, since the game is so old and it was being offered for free on a pretty high-profile site such as that. Of course, now even that site has started making you pay for it, because they now acknowledge it's not abandonware since Steam is selling it. Nevertheless, by the time that change happened I had already sunk at least dozens of hours into the game. Add on another year for beginning to play Zandronum multiplayer and interacting with the Doom community. In short, when it comes to Classic Doom, by the time I actually personally sunk my teeth into it I was already well past the age where I could claim it as a nostalgia trip. This makes it all the more impressive that it remains equally as captivating to me as the two sci-fi series that I do have nostalgia for: BattleTech and Mass Effect.

It only now clicked in my head that I should probably stop calling the untitled track in Ultimate Doom "Hell Keep," because today I remembered Hell Keep is actually not the first map to use that track: Fortress of Mystery is. Also, Fortress of Mystery is the only secret level in UD to not use "Hiding the Secrets" as its track.

I didn't realize that the soulsphere was originally conceived as an extra life sphere in earlier stages of Doom's development, when they were still tossing around the idea of extra lives. When you think about it, the name fits perfectly for that use.

Hexen is my personal favorite game of all time. This is mainly because of its atmosphere and how the game is just vague enough to unleash one's imagination. When you're a fan of dark fantasy in the older video game style, it's like a dream come true with immersion. For me, the backtracking is actually an experience enhancer in a way because it allows me to take multiple looks at the game's environment. I love the way the hub opens up more and more as you progress through it, and everything starts to come together by the end of each hub, making it look like an actually comprehensive complex. For some this might mean environment oversaturation, and I do experience this downside as well; by the time I'm out of a hub, I find myself feeling like I'm very much done with it and eager to move on the next. But I think that, in a way, this is what the game is trying to achieve. It's letting you revel completely in its atmospheric splendor by forcing you to backtrack, adding something new every time. Your mind feels very much satisfied and complete with each area by the time you are done because you have seen it all, and the game allows you to do so through its puzzles without feeling like you're wasting time hanging around in a level, as I feel with Doom and Heretic.

Oh, you don't know how much I love playable demon WADS. Complex MoP was popular on Doomseeker servers a couple years back, but it's completely absent now. I think there was another DM WAD with playable monsters but I forget what that was, and I'm pretty sure it wasn't ZDoomWars. I would love to have an experience like that again.

@Gaia74 What WAD is that? It isn't ZDoomWars, is it?

Mass Effect and BattleTech here. My two favorite sci-fi series along with Doom.

Hillary is a demon confirmed

@Jimmy Is that the "Everything Explodes" I think it is? Is good old Jimmy giving GothicDM some love and attention in this WAD? I'm a big fan of the soundtracks of both GothicDM's (not counting 99); regularly listen to them even when playing other games, so they've certainly grown on me. I'm baffled by how little I see them used in the community; guess it's just a little more obscure than something like MM or Requiem soundtrack?

A floating corpse in Complex Doom Invasion. Somebody died on a jumppad.

I know I'm late to the party here, but thanks to those shotties of Red, I think I've found a WAD that I'm simply not worthy enough to play. Something like that should stay forever clean without a Complex Doomer painting blood all over it.

Ariel? Asriel? Funnily enough I go by the name "Asriel Dreemur" in MechWarrior Online. Yeah, I forgot the last r in Dreemurr, but at least the name isn't an anagram of Serial Murderer anymore.

Hello (Doom)world! I'm FuzzySpaceRaptor, a 17-year-old gamer, history buff, obvious furry, and hipster of sorts; I tend to shy away from the popular titles and am more likely to gravitate towards old games that'd have to be dusted off quite thoroughly were they in physical form. My heritage starts with MechWarrior 3, so I'm a huge BattleTech fan, but it's subsequently opened me up to other older action and customization-centered titles. I find that, with mods, classic Doom has plenty of gameplay "customization" to offer; as such, I always found it more attractive than the Doom reboot. I've been following Doom and other idTech1 games since I was 14 or 15, and started playing in 2016 when I was 15. I started vanilla with Ultimate Doom, Doom II, Heretic, and even a little Hexen, but I soon moved on to the Doomseeker/Zandronum scene, and you might even recognize my name from there. I've now gone back and finished vanilla Ultimate Doom and Doom II; I'm starting TNT: Evilution with Complex Clusterfuck, but I'm unsure if that's the best replacer mod to run it with and am seeking suggestion from here on that. Hopefully I'll have enough time to frequent here and expose myself to more of what makes the Doom community so special and great. Take care, everyone! ^w^

I think my 2 favorite MIDIs by Jimmy would have to be Run 'Em, Gun 'Em, Kill 'Em from the Plutonia MIDI Pack and Sanctified from Plutonia 2. Those were probably the first 2 soundtracks I came across with tracks by him, and those two in particular were the highlights of the ones he did in each ST. I really like Silicone Dust from Plutonia 2 as well. I've only been able to come across Plutonia 2 soundtrack in the Arachno soundfont though, so I might be a bit biased.

Oh, it's nearly time, isn't it? I'm watching the calendar. Well, that one certainly looks complex. Will it be available to play?

What WAD is that? It looks like an absolute joy to play.