PhoxFyre007

If you mean the default doom hud, press minus to get it.

This is actually very helpful to understand the separation of features and impact of said features in a brief overview! Thanks!

Mild tangent: What about Doom Retro to you makes it better than say Woof! or DSDA-Doom or Eternity or etc.?

DavidXNewton created a new series of map creation for his RAMP2023 compilation wad. I would check that out.

It appears that the only reason for learning DECORATE syntax and such nowadays is for DoomTools's DECOhack because it is either utilize state-based modification with WhackEd4, or DECOhack. But seeing as it is GZDOOM-based, swap over to ZScript for its extension of DECORATE features.

You do not launch the doom64.wad, that patched wad is a resource wad the actual launch area DOOM64.CE.ipk3, which is an internal pk3 file that works as a more advanced iwad file. Replace the DOOM64.WAD area in your ZDL with DOOM64.CE.ipk3.

So it is right to say PrBoom+ is in maintenance and will not receive any feature updates?

PrBoom+ is not really too updated in terms of features so much as it is maintained as-is. Think feature freeze. DSDA-Doom has dramatically more features in terms of mapping capability and dehacked along with mbf2, doom-in-hexen, and udmf, but has stripped down some of the "bloat" and "unnecessary features" seen in PrBoom+, so there are much more features in DSDA-Doom with some features removed too.

Try Eternity Engine on its development branch.

Just release idtech 5-7 codes under gpl tbh

Yes. Phase I can run Doom 1 wads. Phase II can run Doom II wads.

A .wad is usually for maps and can be made utilizing a doom map builder, which tends to be mostly Ultimate Doom Builder or Doom Builder X. Some tutorials on YouTube can help make this more bearable to learn and there are some tutorials on this forum that can help too.

Doom music can be utilized in the standard mp3 or ogg or somesuch (generally opus now due to its compression algorithm enabling better wad sizes) but it also utilizes midis with an internal midi player built into the Doom source port. A general tool that is usually suggested is Sekaiju from the OpenMIDIProject.

Your best bet is FreeDoom which is the equivalent of Doom I and II, and as a result you can play through its levels and also mods in the community. It is not entirely Doom and wads that rely inherently on its inbuilt textures will show some oddities. However it will wade you over until you are able to afford Doom. There are thousands of wads to try if you don't like the levels of FreeDoom, check the Cacowards and if you want some randomly generated levels try Obsidian.

Welcome to Doom and enjoy the uh... obsession we all enjoy.