Where to find maxdemos?

Hey guys,

I need to find some maxdemos so I can play doom again and know what the hell I'm doing :P

I'm using Doom Legacy version 1.42. Current searches around the net have been fruitless for me; if anyone could help me, I would really appreciate it.

Hello!

There aren't that many demos recorded for Legacy. I know Grazza made some a few years ago, though, and his demos are always worth checking out! (And Vincent Catalaá did a few for the Fragport demo pack, those were really good). The best place to start looking is the Speed Demos Archive (SDA), which can be found at ->

http://www.doomworld.com/sda

This site contains maxdemos of many PWADs (i.e. not Doom, Doom2, Plutonia or TNT), recorded with many different engines, such as doom(2).exe, Legacy, ZDoom, Boom etc.

Another source for good maxdemos (though recorded with doom(2).exe only) is the COMPET-N, the "premier" doom demo site, found at ->

http://www.doom2.net/~compet-n

I wouldn't really recommend Legacy for watching Doom demos. I believe a lot of the demos recorded with the original game engines will de-sync. I find that the best engine to watch (and record) demos in, is PrBoom, found at ->

http://prboom.sourceforge.net/

PrBoom will play back (almost) all demos recorded with the original game engines, as well as demos recorded for newer boom-specific maps (boom format).

I hope this helps!

EDIT: Fixed link.

Thanks for the help! You're right, the demos desync within a few seconds of play.

I unzipped PRBoom, but it appears that it is far from idiot-proof for installation compared to the other clients. Doh! Oh well, long night ahead of me.

SOLVED! I just downloaded eternity and the eternity front-end.

eternity
http://www.doomworld.com/eternity/etcengine.html

front-end
http://www.doomworld.com/eternity/frontend.html

It's easy as pie to use, just put both eternity and the front end in the game's main directory, run the front end, configure the iwad and executables, play the demo and hit launch.

May want to sticky this for future nooblets looking for demos and how to run them :P

I think it should be noted that Eternity is unable to record demos. If you want to record demos, you should learn to use PrBoom. It may not have a grapical interface, but it is good for recording demos. There's a page with some information about it here.

Even though that post exists, I'll give some starting tips, since that post requires at least some prerequisite knowledge of PrBoom.

You must use the DOS Command Prompt if you want to specify parameters. If you want to use a specific WAD, record a demo, playback a demo, set the screen resolution, etc., this is where to tell PrBoom to do those things.

First you must make sure PrBoom is in the same folder as your IWADs. If the PrBoom executable and the IWADs are in "C:\PrBoom", for example, you have to make sure that directory is selected when typing in the parameters.

Here's how to do that:

1. Make sure the right drive is selected. In this case, it's "C". If the C drive is not selected, type in, without the quotes, "C:". This will select the C drive.

2. Then you will have to make sure the right directory is selected (directory is just the DOS term for "folder"). You do this by typing in, without the quotes, "cd\PrBoom". The text to the left of the ">" should say "C:\PrBoom" now.

Now you start typing in parameters. Here are some common ones:

prboom -width xxx -height xxx - This sets the screen resolution. 640 x 480 is a good one.

prboom wadname - This selects the wad you want to use. You will have to put the wad before any parameters if you don't want to have to include "-file" (if you're familiar with the original executable's syntax).

prboom -playdemo - This plays back a certain demo. You will need to make sure the correct WAD is being used for it to playback correctly.

prboom -record - This starts a recording session.

prboom -warp xx - This will let you start in a certain level. The value always has to be a double-digit, so if you want to warp to a single-digit level, put a "0" before it.

prboom -skill x - This sets the skill. "1" is "I'm Too Young To Die"; "2" is "Hey, Not Too Rough"; "3" is "Hurt Me Plenty"; "4" is "Ultra-Violence" and "5" is Nightmare.

prboom -nomonsters - This makes the level devoid of monsters.

prboom -fast - This makes the monsters move three times as fast and attack three times as often.

prboom -respawn - This causes the enemies to come back to life after 8 seconds.

prboom -complevel x - This tells PrBoom what format to record in.

A lot of these can be used together. The only ones that can't are "-record" and "-playdemo".

I have some (minor) comments and corrections.

ultdoomer said:
First you must make sure PrBoom is in the same folder as your IWADs. If the PrBoom executable and the IWADs are in "C:\PrBoom", for example, you have to make sure that directory is selected when typing in the parameters.

Not neccessarily, the "-iwad" command lets one specify a relative or absolute directory to any IWADs you might have, even if they're located in a different directory altogether. Of course, keeping them all in the same directory and the same directory as PrBoom may simplify things slightly.

1. Make sure the right drive is selected. In this case, it's "C". [etc etc about directories]

This is very different for different people, and the reason why Grazza (intentionally) left it out. It depends on his system. His HDD may be partitioned, he may have several HDDs, etc. On an old computer I had the HDD partitioned so the OS and system files went into C: and all the user files went into D:, for example. Likewise, PrBoom can be run from virtually any folder.

Now you start typing in parameters. Here are some common ones:
[...]
prboom wadname - This selects the wad you want to use.

I don't believe this works as intended if the PWAD isn't in the same directory.

prboom -record - This starts a recording session.

You also need to specify a name of the demo recorded, e.g. "mydemo".

prboom -warp xx - This will let you start in a certain level. The value always has to be a double-digit, so if you want to warp to a single-digit level, put a "0" before it.

Incorrect. A single digit is enough for maps 1-9.

prboom -respawn - This causes the enemies to come back to life after 8 seconds.

The respawning interval varies, it's random to a degree.

ultdoomer said:
I think it should be noted that Eternity is unable to record demos.

Not true. You can record demos in Eternity. It just lacks the ability to record in other formats than its own.

There's a page with some information about it here. Even though that post exists, I'll give some starting tips, since that post requires at least some prerequisite knowledge of PrBoom.

I assumed only a general knowledge of using command lines and ports. I deliberately kept it unclutterred so it would be of maximum relevance to experienced recorders who weren't familiar with using Prboom with -complevel or with some of the hidden pitfalls to be avoided.

You must use the DOS Command Prompt if you want to specify parameters.

No, absolutely not, and I doubt that many regular recorders do so. You can use Start->Run... or a batch file, and this makes it far simpler, as it's just a click or two for each new attempt - no need to type all the stuff in again or change directories.

If you want to ... playback a demo, set the screen resolution

Setting the screen resolution only needs to be done once unless you want to change it from whatever you used last time. It can also be set by editing the cfg file. Playing a demo can be done in a wide variety of ways, including drag/drop or a suitably defined right click - both very quick and simple.

prboom -fast - This makes the monsters move three times as fast and attack three times as often.

No, the demons and spectres move twice as fast, and the other monsters react more quickly and their projectiles travel faster (by varying factors).

prboom wadname - This selects the wad you want to use. You will have to put the wad before any parameters if you don't want to have to include "-file" (if you're familiar with the original executable's syntax).

Several of the switches and file extensions can be omitted (a feature introduced in Boom 2.02). The possibilities and restrictions upon this are explained in detail in the documentation (see boom.txt) and a comprehensive guide to the command line options can be found in the file README.command-line.txt.