Why do people still use XWE?

[Sodaholic]

Especially new people, why do they always default to XWE, when there's already SlumpEd, and even Slade3 available? Is that what they're being recommended to use by others, when asked what editors are out there? Seriously, it's development stopped in 2007! That was 4 years ago, nearly half a decade!

I mean, I still use it SOMETIMES, and that's only when I absolutely need to, like if there's a feature that's on there that other utilities may not have. As soon as I'm done, I forget about it and keep using Slade.

[Tragos]

Hey it does the job. I'm one of those people who are always reluctant to upgrade, I guess I'm picky about learning a new interface. Most of us started with XWE so we are used to it, in a way it's like a friend you don't want to let go. BTW I still use XWE.

[wildweasel]

Well the thing is, SLADE has an almost identical interface. I think the only thing I really had to re-learn was the layout of the menus, for stuff like importing new entries. It's a very smooth transition.

[LilWhiteMouse]

Slumped kept eating my wads, why I've stuck to XWE.

[cq75]

XWE is horrible for editing chex wads... There was a particular bug that put garbage after some of the patches' names in the PNAMES lump when you opened chex3.wad, the only way to fix it was to manually go through and remove the nonsense characters.

[Xim]

I've always used XWE (and sometimes SlumpED) but I actually haven't done Doom modding in a while, but I recently tried out this SLADE program and it seems like it might be better.

[NeuralStunner]

Quick, somebody post how they are happily using XWE on Vista!

[Sodaholic]

... Really? That's kind of immature, even if you're just kidding.
I actually looked into it, and I've changed my opinion of Vista. I'm an open minded person. I still hate XWE though.

Don't let SlumpEd keep you away from Slade, it's a lot more stable, and SlumpEd was more of a stepping stone.

To all using XWE, Slade3 is very, very similar to XWE. It feels just like it, only fixed. I used to use XWE, but when I switched, I never wanted to go back. Practically the same UI, but so much cleaner, faster, and better. If you switch, it'll be like you've never switched, minus all the problems that XWE is a tangled mess of.

XWE is a broken down, barely functioning Model-T that you can barely turn and keep crashing. Slade is a sports car with steel armor.

(just to stop NeuralStunner from being a fail troll again, no I don't actually feel that strongly about XWE, I just wish people would do themselves a favor and stop torturing themselves. Did you seriously think I think it's that big a deal?)

[NeuralStunner]

XWE is a broken down, barely functioning Model-T that you can barely turn and keep crashing. Slade is a sports car with steel armor.

Actually, sir, I have had more crashes in total with Slade 3 than with XWE.

Also thanks for helping me pad my resumé.

[Amuscaria]

I use Wintex 4.3. What now?

[Zippy]

Actually, sir, I have had more crashes in total with Slade 3 than with XWE.

This. SLumpEd and Slade have crashed on me far, far more than XWE has. The total XWE crash count in all years of use still stands at one. And the wad it ate was regularly backed up anyway so no work was lost anyhow.

Not to say XWE is a well built program; it isn't. But it is functional and relatively safe if you know how to use it (this is a big aspect of the poorly designed part; you shouldn't have to "know" how to prevent it from crashing.)

Given that and also that the need for wad editing tools has greatly decreased with the advent of compressed archive recognition, I don't personally consider it cost-effective for me to get into a different wad editor until XWE either falls out of compatibility with modern systems or Slade et al produce sufficiently, frequently useful features to merit making a switch.

When it comes to recommending things to other people, of course that means I can only say XWE, because I simply don't have sufficient experience doing regular work with the other applications. I would expect people who do regularly use the others to recommend those programs because they work for them and not because of some flawed, "XWE is unusable" argument.

[DBThanatos]

... Really? That's kind of immature, even if you're just kidding.

Why is that immature? I wonder. Cant take a joke based on two threads that share the exact same type of question made by the same author with extremely similar thread titles? I guess once again, internet, serious business. Really serious ones.

Since I got my hands in Slade, I've been using it without going back to either xwe or slumped. Im not saying either is bad (though I found myself getting all angered because of the crashes in xwe), but I tried slade and I found it good. The features like the ability to play OGGs and other small stuff was enough for me to give it a chance to learn it's interface (changed button positions vs slumped). Now, I did use XWE for quite a while, but at the end, I moved to slumped and later to Slade.

Now, the reason why they use xwe, is most likely because they're used to it. People wont change their habits unless a really really convincing (for them) reason arrives. To me, it was the sole idea of playing OGGs, since it was kind of an unknown format at the time. I guess people havent found a single reason to be convinced they should change to Slade. That's why "people still use XWE". People will avoid the changes for as long as they can, or want.

Slade has it's faults too, and has some things that irk me badly, but at the end, is just a matter of opinion and personal taste.

[DOOMERO-21]

xwe is one of those things......always for any project!

[Salad Viking]

I quit using XWE the instant I found out about SLumpEd. I think somehow new modders inevitably get directed to the same place which leads them to use XWE before finding out about better tools. Probably because most of them don't expect an active community or available modern tools, so when they find XWE, they figure it's probably as up-to-date as Doom editing tools get.

[JustinC]

I use XWE and wintex. But only because I am superstitious.