- Joined
- Oct 2, 2016
So, I'm new to all the DOOM mod shenanigans. I know there's a DOOM thread in the Games subforum, but it seems to be more focused on the more modern DOOM games and isn't very active.
I got into this because a streamer I watch (Vinesauce) did a segment on DOOM mods and some of them looked amazing.
In particular, this one (which does appear to be a Doomworld exclusive):
I'm honestly thankful UZDoom is now a thing after reading up on how GZDoom's default settings turn the game's textures into a vaseline-smeared mess, particularly because I like putting together portable game packs for my friends to play. The less I have to actively fiddle with, the better.
I certainly don't like the project's inclusion of pride shit, but at least it seems to be contained to an optional parameter (for now). Plus, the person who committed it seems to be someone who has put in a ton of work in the project as a whole. So, whatever, I guess I can look past it until it becomes more egregious (and it no doubt will eventually).
On a brighter note, that same user also did this PR which adds a full list launch parameters, which has been incredibly useful to me already. It isn't in a release version yet though.
Just in case someone finds it useful, here's the output of
The help message for
Anyway, I do have a couple gripes about the combat in these DOOM engine games/mods, and I'm hoping that someone here can provide some useful advice on that.
I feel a disconnect from the in-game environment because the positional audio feels like it's only barely there, and there don't seem to be any options to tweak how strong it is. I also don't feel like the game does a good job of communicating where you're taking damage from.
A lot of the time, I'll be taking damage or die while looking around in confusion trying to figure out what's hitting me, which is not a problem I usually have with FPS games.
If anyone knows of any tweaks or mods I can incorporate to make that more obvious (preferably ones compatible with "megamods" like the DIAMOND DRAGON mod posted above), I'd love to know.
Something that makes monster sprites more visually distinct from the surroundings (without direct edits to the sprites themselves) might help too.
Hell, even general recommendations of widely-compatible QoL mods would be nice to have.
I got into this because a streamer I watch (Vinesauce) did a segment on DOOM mods and some of them looked amazing.
In particular, this one (which does appear to be a Doomworld exclusive):
I'm honestly thankful UZDoom is now a thing after reading up on how GZDoom's default settings turn the game's textures into a vaseline-smeared mess, particularly because I like putting together portable game packs for my friends to play. The less I have to actively fiddle with, the better.
I certainly don't like the project's inclusion of pride shit, but at least it seems to be contained to an optional parameter (for now). Plus, the person who committed it seems to be someone who has put in a ton of work in the project as a whole. So, whatever, I guess I can look past it until it becomes more egregious (and it no doubt will eventually).
On a brighter note, that same user also did this PR which adds a full list launch parameters, which has been incredibly useful to me already. It isn't in a release version yet though.
Just in case someone finds it useful, here's the output of
-help-all from the latest preview:
Code:
Multiplayer options:
-altdeath Informs UZDoom that you will be playing a
deathmatch game and sets the dmflags CVAR so that
items other than invulnerability and invisibilty
respawn after being picked up. Only player 1 needs
to specify this.
-deathmatch Informs UZDoom that you will be playing a
deathmatch game and sets the dmflags CVAR so that
weapons stay behind when a player picks them up.
Only player 1 needs to specify this.
-dup x
Causes UZDoom to transmit fewer player movement
commands across the network. Valid values range
from 1–9. For example, -dup 2 would cause UZDoom
to send half as many movements as normal.
-extratic Causes UZDoom to send a backup copy of every
movement command across the network.
-host x
This machine will function as a host for a
multiplayer game with x players (including this
machine). It will wait for other machines to
connect using the -join. parameter and then start
the game when everyone is connected.
-join host's IP address[:host's port]
Connect to a host for a multiplayer game.
-port x
Specifies an alternate IP port for this machine to
use during a network game. By default, port 5029
is used.
Deprecated options:
-allowdecoratecrossincludes This disables the check that normally prevents
external DECORATE lumps from overriding those with
the same name in the main .pk3
-devparm Prints a message telling you that you "useless
mode is activated". With the original Doom, using
-devparm was the only way to take screenshots.
With UZDoom, screenshot is just another command,
so -devparm serves no real purpose.
-noidle No longer has any effect. Used to reduce priority
class when window was in background.
Debug options:
+logfile log.txt
Copies output of console to file specified. File
saving is relative to working directory
-0 Resets the window position to the top-left corner
of the screen.
-dumpast Writes ZScript AST in a LISP-like format to a file
-dumpdisasm Dissembles compiled VM code and dumps output to
disasm.txt
-dumpjit Outputs a result of the ZScript JIT-compilation to
Assembler to the external file "dumpjit.txt".
-noblit Causes ZDoom not to update the display on the
screen, but it still draws everything to an
internal buffer. Only useful with -timedemo.
-nodraw Causes ZDoom not to draw anything at all. Only
useful with -timedemo.
-norun Quits the game just before video initialization.
To be used to check for errors in scripts without
actually running the game.
-stdout (Win32 only)
Sends all output to a system console. Unix and
MacOS builds of ZDoom will always do that.
-tracefile Invokes Lemon's debug tracer output to print
messages for every change of the parser state. See
https://sqlite.org/src/doc/trunk/doc/lemon.html
Play options:
-avg Stands for “Austin Virtual Gaming”.
Automatically advances to the next level after 20
minutes. This is equivalent to +set timelimit 20
or -timer 20.
-coop A convenient settings preset (not accurate to
vanilla Doom's Co-op). Enabling this ensures
deathmatch is off, doesn't spawn
multiplayer-tagged weapons, disables player
collisions and friendly fire, allows for key
sharing, disables item theft, and rememnbers your
last weapon upon death.
-fast Sets the dmflags CVAR to make the monsters as fast
as in Nightmare mode even if you are not playing
Nightmare.
-nomonsters Sets the dmflags CVAR so that monsters are not
spawned on levels.
-respawn Sets the dmflags CVAR so that monsters respawn
even if you are not playing at Nightmare
difficulty.
-timer x
Causes UZDoom to automatically advance to the next
level after x minutes. This is equivalent to +set
timelimit x.
-turbo x
Causes player movement to be x% as fast as normal.
Valid values are 10–255, with 100 being normal.
Values larger than 100 are considered cheating.
This is equivalent to +set turbo x.
Configuration options:
-blockmap Causes UZDoom to ignore all the BLOCKMAP
information a map provides and generate it
instead. This is equivalent to +set genblockmap 1.
-config configfile
Causes UZDoom to use an alternative configuration
file. If configfile does not exist, it will be
created.
-height y
Specifies the desired resolution of the screen. If
only one of -width or -height is specified, UZDoom
will try to guess the other one based on a
standard aspect ratio. If the specified resolution
is not supported by your SDL/DirectDraw drivers,
UZDoom will try various resolutions until it
either finds one that works, or it will finally
give up. To determine which resolutions UZDoom can
use, use the vid_describemodes command from the
console once you have started the game.
-iwad iwadfile[.wad]
The IWAD file specified after this parameter will
be used as the game IWAD file.
UZDoom will look for the IWAD in the current
directory, in the same directory as uzdoom.exe, in
the directory set in the DOOMWADDIR environment
variable, and in the directory set in the HOME
environment variable. (Verification needed)
-nojoy Disables joystick support. If you have an
old-fashioned gameport (non-USB) device attached,
it can slow down the game even if you do not
intend to use it. Use -nojoy to avoid the slowdown
that comes from polling it for input. Only the
Windows version supports a joystick.
-nomusic Prevents the playback of music.
-nosfx Prevents the playback of sound effects.
-nosound Disables both music and sound effects.
-nostartup Disables the startup screens used by Heretic,
Hexen and Strife, and use the Doom text-mode
startup instead.
-oldsprites Disables sprite renaming. Unless you are playing a
mod for Heretic, Hexen or Strife that replaced a
few select sprites, you do not need this.
-savedir path
Specifies an alternate directory to use for saved
files. If this is not specified, UZDoom stores
them in the directory indicated by the save_dir
CVAR.
-shotdir path
Specifies an alternate directory to use for
screenshots. If this is not specified, UZDoom
stores them in the directory indicated by the
screenshot_dir CVAR.
-width x
Specifies the desired resolution of the screen. If
only one of -width or -height is specified, UZDoom
will try to guess the other one based on a
standard aspect ratio. If the specified resolution
is not supported by your SDL/DirectDraw drivers,
UZDoom will try various resolutions until it
either finds one that works, or it will finally
give up. To determine which resolutions UZDoom can
use, use the vid_describemodes command from the
console once you have started the game.
Loading options:
+map MAP01
Similarly to -warp, this starts the game in a
certain map. However, it takes the map's lump
string, instead of a level number. Level number is
automatically set based on a combination of the
game and the map name, or it's manually set in
MAPINFO.
-allowduplicates (Verification needed)
When loading files with -file, files with the same
name are discarded from the load list to prevent
potential errors as a result. This command allows
such files to be loaded regardless.
-bex bexfile[.bex]
This is the same as -deh, except the default file
extension is .bex.
-deh dehfile[.deh]
Causes UZDoom to apply a DeHackEd or .bex patch to
the game. This must be a text patch; binary
patches are not supported. (As far as I know, most
patches are text patches, so this should not be
too much of a problem.) Also, only patch format 6
is known to be supported. Other formats may or may
not work properly. If the .deh extension is
omitted, UZDoom will automatically add it.
-episode 1
Like -warp, bu starts the game on the first map of
the specified episode
-file file1[.wad] file2[.wad] ...
Used to load one or more PWAD files which
generally contain user-created levels. Files
listed further right take precedence to files
listed before them, so as an example, if both
file1.wad and file2.wad contain have a MAP01, the
MAP01 in file2.wad will be used instead of the one
in file1.wad. If the .wad extension is omitted,
UZDoom will automatically add it.
Using this parameter is no longer needed, uzdoom
file1.wad file2.wad file3.wad will work just as
well as uzdoom -file file1.wad file2.wad file3.wad.
-loadgame saveXX.[zds]
Automatically loads the specified savegame. To
find out a save's file name, press F1 while it is
highlighted in the save or load menu. If you do
not include the .zds extension, UZDoom will
automatically add it for you.
-noautoexec Disables the execution of the autoexec.cfg files.
-noautoload Prevents files from being autoloaded based on the
"AutoLoad" sections in the user's configuration
file. This flag also disables autoloading of
zvox.wad and the skins directory. This can be
useful if you use files which are autoloaded when
playing normally, but want to load without them
for debugging purposes or to play a mod which
might be incompatible with them.
-nobrightmaps Forcefully disables loading of brightmaps.pk3,
which contains brightmaps and their definitions
for default graphics
-noextras Forcefully disables loading of lights.pk3,
brightmaps.pk3, and widescreen_gfx.pk3. These
contain definitions for adding dynamic lights to
default Actors, brightmaps and their definitions
for default graphics, and widescreen extensions
for default graphics that were designed for 4:3
-nointro If an intro video is defined, then it will play
before showing the title screen. Setting this
skips that behavior and always goes to the title
screen immediately.
-nolights Forcefully disables loading of lights.pk3, which
contains definitions for adding dynamic lights to
default Actors
-nowidescreen Forcefully disables loading of widescreen_gfx.pk3,
which contains widescreen extensions for default
graphics that were designed for 4:3
-optfile file1[.wad] file2[.wad] ...
Same as -file, but it will ignore missing files
and not check them over the net for multiplayer
games
-playdemo demofile[.lmp]
UZDoom will automatically play the specified demo
when it starts. If the .lmp extension is omitted,
it will automatically be added.
-record demofile[.lmp]
Records a demo. The -warp parameter or +map
command should also be used if you do not want to
record the demo on MAP01 or E1M1. You may only
record from the start of a map. Loading a savegame
and recording from there is unsupported.
To stop the demo recording, use the "stop" console
command. If the .lmp extension is omitted, it will
automatically be added. Unlike vanilla Doom, only
one person in a multiplayer game needs to specify
the -record parameter if they want to record a
demo. However, if someone quits before the person
recording the demo does, the person recording will
automatically quit, too, because demos do not have
a way to record when a player leaves the game.
-skill x
Sets the initial skill level. This is overridden
if you start a new game from the New Game menu.
Note that this is different from the skill CVAR,
which ranges from 0-4.
-timedemo demofile[.lmp]
Plays back a demo faster than -playdemo and
displays a framerate when the demo is over. If the
.lmp extension is omitted, it will automatically
be added.
-warp [e] m
For Doom II, Final Doom, Hexen and Strife, starts
the game on map m. For Chex Quest, Doom and
Heretic, starts the game on episode e, map m. The
+map command can also be used to perform this
action, but it expects the actual name of the map
(e.g. MAP01, E1M1).
-warpwipe Forces a screen wipe to happen after loading a map
immediately at startup. Useless unless used in
conjunction with -warp or +map.
-xlat file
Specify a different default map translator to use
if one isn't specified in MAPINFO. The default
translators are xlat/doom.txt for Doom, Chex
Quest, Urban Brawl and Harmony; xlat/heretic.txt
for Heretic and Hexen (though Hexen maps normally
need no translator since only Doom-format maps are
translated) and xlat/strife.txt for Strife. For
playing an Eternity Engine mod, the
xlat/eternity.txt file can be used, though keep in
mind that many Eternity features are not
implemented in UZDoom and will not work even after
translation. You can specify your own custom
translator.
Launcher options:
-pride Show pride colors in launcher.
-showlauncher Forces the startup launcher to show, even if
disabled through other means.
Other options:
-h Print help message and exit.
-help Print help message and exit.
-help-all Print full help message and exit.
-v Print version and exit.
-version Print version and exit.
/? Print help message and exit.
Zandronum specific options:
-exec Directory
Executes a script file that houses configurations
such as settings that can be used within the
virtual world and generalized game server specific
settings, such as how votes are managed. For
example of usage: -exec "..\..\My
Configurations\SpecialServer.cfg"
Unknown options:
-bots
-compatmode
-debug
-dumpjitmod
-errorlog
-glversion
-nocustommenu
-password
-rngseed
Performance options:
-numparticles Sets r_maxparticles on a per-run basis,
controlling the maximum number of particles that
are allowed to spawn at one time
Experimental options:
-enablelightmapsThe help message for
-exec isn't phrased very well, though. It runs cfg files)which essentially auto-input console commands in the same manner that autoexec.cfg will.Anyway, I do have a couple gripes about the combat in these DOOM engine games/mods, and I'm hoping that someone here can provide some useful advice on that.
I feel a disconnect from the in-game environment because the positional audio feels like it's only barely there, and there don't seem to be any options to tweak how strong it is. I also don't feel like the game does a good job of communicating where you're taking damage from.
A lot of the time, I'll be taking damage or die while looking around in confusion trying to figure out what's hitting me, which is not a problem I usually have with FPS games.
If anyone knows of any tweaks or mods I can incorporate to make that more obvious (preferably ones compatible with "megamods" like the DIAMOND DRAGON mod posted above), I'd love to know.
Something that makes monster sprites more visually distinct from the surroundings (without direct edits to the sprites themselves) might help too.
Hell, even general recommendations of widely-compatible QoL mods would be nice to have.
