zdoom on windows

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zdoom on windows

Post by Guest »

A question from a Windows user. For some reason I get a lot of hostility from folks who use other platforms, but this is an honest question.

Is there a standard windows installation for doom? If not, why not?

Everything I read expects you to learn about "ports" to make doom run on a modern Windows 10 system. Everything expects you to unzip a file, set up a directory, move wad files around. A standard windows installation knows the directory to put the installation in, in its own directory under Program Files. There's no need to open a line command function and know DOS commands. There's no need to move files around. There's no need to edit config files. I've tried several different "ports" of doom, and finally got one to run, but it took forever, and I don't understand why no one has packaged everything up into a standard windows installation file, where you click install then you click run.

I ran doom back in DOS days, but that's long gone, and my skills with it. And now I want to play it again. Is there some technical reason why this can't be done with a standard Windows install?

Thanks.
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wildweasel
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Re: zdoom on windows

Post by wildweasel »

The main reason is that we can't do a "full" package that contains everything for legal reasons. We're not legally allowed to distribute the game data along with the port - that's still the property of id Software.

If you own Doom via Steam or GOG, though, most ports that are still actively developed can automatically detect that the game is installed there and not require you to move things around.
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Rachael
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Re: zdoom on windows

Post by Rachael »

We could legally do GZDoom and FreeDoom together. Or bundle it with a more finished project like HACX, Harmony, Chex Quest 3, the Wool Ball games, Daytime Drama, or Adventures of Square (if the respective authors are okay with it). All of those are freely available, small, and make GZDoom usable without retail copies of any games (Like Doom, Heretic, etc).

The thing that's really keeping us from putting it in an installer is laziness and lack of interest. There's no technical reason that it can't be done; it's just not something that's ever occurred to us as something that'd be popular or very much desired.
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