I have been wanting to play the original DOOM 1 and 2 but I am not sure what’s a good way to experience it proper.
I know about UZdoom but I hear it changes things that affect the original gameplay. There’s also just playing the re-release version but not sure how optimal it is. I am also open for QoL mods like visibility/eye-strain stuff.
Get yourself one of these.
If only :( Would love a CRT monitor too…
Garage sales. Oh, or even buy nothing groups. Putting out a call for one in a group like that might remind someone of one sitting in a closet somewhere. I’m sure there are many. My parents didn’t finally dump a bunch of their 90’s PCs until a few years ago.
Chocolate-doom for “pure” vanilla experience, including all limits and bugs (a bit rough, but a very well maintained port. Beautiful clean C codebase, especially compared to some other source ports, but even compared to the original id Software LinuxDoom source).
DSDA-Doom for true vanilla gameplay (as deemed by the speedrunning community) with lots of modern accoutrements. Broadest demo playback compatibility and mod support sans ZDoom (highly recommended, my first choice for anything).
UZDoom for mods which require it (there are many good ones, despite it playing a bit differently).
Thanks for the examples and thoughts on them, I see one called BOOM which is apparently a pretty old source port too and is still maintained. What are your thoughts on that one?
The original Boom was (only ever) published for DOS. Active development ended in 1999. The thing which makes it notable is that it was the first 3rd-party source port to add new map design features (quite a number of them, too). You almost certainly don’t want to use Boom today unless you are in a true retro-computing mood and are prepared to bust out DosBox or a PC emulator (the requirements are essentially identical to running the vanilla Doom binaries).
The good news is that Boom came out and stabilized so early that it effectively became a defacto standard. Many, many custom levels are developed with Boom-compatibility as a target (even today), and nearly all modern source ports support these maps (with the deliberate exception of Chocolate Doom).
There is also a lineage of ports which descend from Boom, like DSDA-Doom by way of PrBoom+, or even the official engine which ships with “Doom + Doom II.” Even modern ports which can’t trace their heritage back to Boom will typically include snippets of code from it for one reason or another.
As the apparent only user of the official ports, I can weigh in on those.
When in 2019 Bethesda
released what’s now known as Doom Unity, developed by Nerve, it was kind of a travesty but a lot of work was put into it over the course of its life and by 2023 Doom Unity was a pretty good way to play Doom. Notable mainly for its excellent controller support with weapon carousel, Doom Unity was itself a big improvement over the prior official Doom Classic Complete (for PS360, released alongside Doom 3 BFG) but miles behind community source ports.The important thing is that despite being rebuilt in a different engine, Doom I + II, which is the currently available official port, contains basically all of the perks of Doom Unity (exemplary controller support, easy installation of WADs and stuff) whilst fixing the few remaining issues with Unity. (Correct aspect ratio and integer scaling, native res, probably better mouse support)
To be real though, unless you’re a sicko freak who takes tick damage from keyboard gaming, (or playing on a console idk) there’s no reason not to use DSDA, Woof, UZDoom or something instead. Doom I + II is nice for casual use and the pad support is much appreciated, but on PC it is outclassed.
Also nice rabbit!!!
This is a great summary. The recent official port is great for convenience, especially on the steam deck etc. It’s not a bad port by any means, but there are much better options out there that take just a bit more setup.
Oh and it should go without saying, but don’t give Bethesda money for these. I got em for free because I bought DOS Doom on Steam almost 20 years ago, but really just
Oh 100%, same boat here. Wouldn’t buy it either, just got it for free since I’ve had the old versions for ages
I play doom in doom 3 bfg to cause myself and everyone else pain. I also am a sicko freak who takes tick damage from keyboard gaming.
The fuckin pitch shifting though
You are the world’s strongest Doom player.I am a machine that turns the worst version of any particular game into a weird sense of enjoyment, doubly so if its the worst version of a bad game.
Goldeneye rogue agent Nintendo DS. Absolutely baller. Medal of honor underground on the gba. 11/10. Resident evil gameboy colour. Literally the definitive edition. PS3 skyrim. Absolutely brickable, best water ever put in a game thanks Todd.
I’m a sick freak
Goldeneye rogue agent Nintendo DS
Hey you can’t talk shit about the n-Space DS shooters, those are peak skung
gotta love a jank version of a big game with huge ambition tho, agree.
The rerelease is good, but some of the wads were changed iirc.
I think Chocolate Doom is what youre looking for in terms of an authentic experience with some modern QOL. It also has a mod friendly fork called Crispy Doom.
However if you want the most features and widest mod compatability UZDoom is the correct choice. If you do use it this is a guide to make it look like the OG: https://youtu.be/9JC8fnz_L3k
Chocolate Doom? I’ll look into that. What was changed with the wads? Like some of the censoring or something else?
I believe it is minor custodial things like adding a couple UI sprites and maybe updating copyright notices. Won’t change gameplay at all, but it will be rejected by most servers in multiplayer ports due to the checksum mismatch.
I see, not looking to play multiplayer so that won’t be a problem.
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
I use DSDA doom (also Doom Speed Demos Archive - Doom) you can read about it HERE It features:
Heretic, Hexen, MBF21 and UDMF support In-game console and scripting Full controller support Palette-based opengl renderer Debugging features for testing Various quality of life improvements Strict mode for speedrunning Advanced tools for TASing Rewind`The other which I use is WOOF!. If you turn the Doom logo upside down it reads “Wood” - which would be a pretty stupid name for a source port. “Woof” is just as stupid a name for a source port.
You can read about it HERE It features:
Arbitrary resolutions up to native display resolution with dynamic resolution scaling (DRS) to automatically change the internal resolution to maintain a target framerate.Widescreen rendering with proper support for widescreen assets.Rendering with uncapped frame rate and frame interpolation.Adjustable field of view (FOV).Support for voxels in KVX format.3D audio, supporting stereo and up to 7.1 surround sound with an optional HRTF mode, as well as PC speaker emulation.Several music backends: native MIDI, FluidSynth with a bundled soundfont, built-in OPL3 emulator. Digital music and sound formats supported by libsndfile, module music supported by libxmp.Modern gamepad support featuring rumble, gyro, flick stick, custom weapon slots, and full control of sensitivities, response curves, and deadzones.Mouselook.Autoload directories.Savegame backward compatibility up to MBF.EXE.Integration of the Chocolate Doom network code.Compatibility levels: "Vanilla", "Boom", "MBF" and "MBF21" (default).DWars’ rundown on most source ports is HERE it’s a decent primer. I recommend watching it.
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
after you do those, grab thatcher’s techbase
Sigil and Sunder are good too
Thanks for the suggestions everyone! I am gonna try Chocolate Doom, DSDA and possibly UZDOOM
Bun bun
