RUDE: another Chocolate Doom fork (3.1.0pre11)

[drfrag]

RUDE 3.1.0 pre-release 10
------------------------------
RUDE is a fork of Chocolate Doom 3.0.0 with some stuff from Crispy Doom.
The name is some kind of play on words and stands for Romero's Ultimate Doom Engine and
it's another tribute to John Romero. Easy to understand if you know my Romero's Heresy II
project for Heretic.

It's a strong limit removing port aiming to fix game breaking bugs and prevent crashes while
remaining faithful to the original executables. There are a few new gameplay features too.
It's somewhere in the middle between Chocolate Doom and Crispy.
Please refer to the Chocolate Doom documentation.

New features:
---------------
* Widescreen support both zoomed view and real wide (bits from Russian Doom and Crispy).
* UI centering for widescreen (mostly taken from Crispy).
* Support for Unity IWADs with widescreen assets (SmileTheory).
* Enable loading 16 bit RIFF wavs in .wads (SmileTheory).
* Doom 1.0 and 1.1 emulation (SmileTheory).
* Draw the player mugshot with max view.
* Supports SIGIL (even multiplayer), E1M4b and E1M8b (Crispy).
* Extended setup to support SIGIL and new features. Can warp to title.
* There's a new 'Unholy massacre' skill level (-skill 6). Double monsters, lesser health pickups,
zombiemen got a point blank attack, pistol with increased accuracy and damage, bumped minimum damage
dealt for punch and you can eat gore when very low on health.
* Replaced the Unholy Massacre title graphic. Thanks JNechaevsky!
* Doom: remove SPECHIT limit (Crispy).
* Doom: entirely remove INTERCEPTS limit (fixes all-ghosts bug).
* Heretic: entirely remove INTERCEPTS and SPECHIT limits (Crispy).
* Got rid of supersized PNGs (Crispy).
* Fixed backpacks from Marshmallow (idea and bits of code):
* Players now can exchange supplies (default backpack key is 'x', default stimpack key is 'c').
* Players drop backpacks with their inventory upon death, you can't drop another one until the
previous one has been picked up tough. They work even in SP.
* Players can only pick up their own backpacks in coop.
* Single player respawn.
* Keep keys and no DM items in Coop options (Marshmallow).
* Spawn double the monsters and take double damage options.
* Classic mode with only Doom 1 monsters for slaughterfest maps and lame players, regular shotgun
takes precedence. Now Wolf SS is not replaced.
* Slow ISA VGA simulation (Trident 9000i).
* New command line parameters for the above: backpack, nodmweapons, keepkeys, sprespawn, 2xmonsters,
xpain, nod2monsters, isa, halfammo.
* Extended demo format while keeping vanilla compatibility, use the -extended parameter to force it.
* Doom 1.2 demo support (SmileTheory).
* Alternative fix for the demo desync accessing menus bug: disable some menus while recording demos
instead of pausing the game at record and playback time.
* Drag and Drop support (Crispy).
* Resurrect cheat with IDDQD (Crispy, works differently here).
* Support for extended nodes (Crispy).
* Autorun key (Crispy).
* The startup console is back and with colored title, works from the Windows command line
(thanks JNechaevsky for hint on colors).
* Fake splitscreen.
* Added LCD gamma fix from Russian Doom using a darker palette by JNechaevsky.
* New 'One thousand deaths await thee' skill level for Heretic. You take double damage, monsters
got half hit points and half ammo for a more dynamic gameplay.
* Removed limits for Heretic (Crispy).
* Fixed boss level ending not triggered if every player is dead in multiplayer.
* Fixed Doom II monster exclusion bug.
* Fixed configuration not being saved for Heretic.
* Support for Ogg, FLAC and MP3 music lumps (Crispy).
* Don't load Boom maps by default, only with the -boom parameter.
* Fixed crash with invalid blockmap (DWHEEL.WAD).
* Add FPS counter (AlexMax).
* Always precache sounds (fabian, guarded with -noprecachesounds).
* Display tally screen after ExM8 (Crispy).
* Allow skipping the Doom finales.
* Add the -noumskill parameter to prevent showing UM in the menu.
* Many bugfixes from Crispy.

Have fun!

https://github.com/drfrag666/chocolate-doom/releases

The source is here: https://github.com/drfrag666/chocolate- ... its/master

Original old post follows:
But wait, do we really need another 'shitty' source port by I.R. (aka drfrag)? You may ask.
Of course you do, the more the better. Just keep them coming!
And no this is not the new legacy port based on a recent GZDoom version i mentioned earlier.
This is some kind of going back to the roots, it's something very close to vanilla for doom "purists", due to nostalgia reasons i guess. This is "da real thing" baby!
I expected this to be a success among "real doomers" @ doomworld but guess what the "Can intelligent animals play Doom?" thread took all the focus (many postcount++ threads there BTW).
Of course you should play this since you know ZDoom is heresy and it's not Doom anymore and all that shit.
And it's made by yours truly I.R. so you know it will work well 'cos I.R very smart so no need for testing.
I made it only in a few days since.. did i already told you that I.R clever?

https://github.com/drfrag666/chocolate-doom/releases

It's a chocolate doom 2.3 fork this time. A strong limit removing port preserving most vanilla bugs but preventing the crashes at the same time. It's some kind of Crispy doom Git re-engineering.
AFAIK runs planisf2.wad without crashes.
Note that besides limits Chocolate crashes due to bugs such as medusa not being fixed nor emulated, due to windows memory protection chocolate crashes where DOS Doom did not. Most times you won't get the visual effect BTW. I also had to fix overflows (well fabian did).
Of course as always you can expect some silly new features this time such as a new real skill level to bring back old memories (it's challenging and cool you know).

There are a couple of known minor problems (it's a windows or SDL bug?). Since i restored the console running Doom to test controls from setup when you close the game it enters an infinite restart loop, you can only close it when it doesn't have the focus in Windows.
Also on Win7 running from an existing console the console is closed when quitting the game (it's both a GUI and console application at the same time).
Chocolate also had problems on win98, for instance you cannot launch the game from setup. Should run with 8 MB of ram, so some food for invictius.
More detailed info:
https://www.doomworld.com/forum/topic/1 ... doom-fork/

[drfrag]

Ooops! I've found a serious problem, the long wall wobble fix introduced a lot of slime trails and i missed that one. No one reported it, it's fixed and savegames are compatible.
Also i've added the new skill level to the menu in the last position for compatibility with demos, it was pretty easy. But don't even try to play SIGIL on Unholy Massacre.
I forgot to mention i also added DM 3.0 from Crispy.

I've uploaded 2.4.0a with the slime trails fix among other things.
* - Load DEHACKED lumps by default, but allow overriding. (use -nodehlump)
- Allow DEH long strings and cheats, allow errors.
- Allow BEX extended strings.
* - Managed to update the other 8 bit icon. (this was a mess)
* - Added new Doom skill level to menu. (UM)
* Fix rendering glitches caused by segs that had their vertices moved (slime trails)
* Heretic: Fix P_FindNextHighestFloor's behavior

https://github.com/drfrag666/chocolate-doom/releases

Edit: i've just reuploaded the release, i forgot the heretic executable. Oops!

[drfrag]

I've done a 2.5.0 pre-release and it's a major overhaul. There are some new cool gameplay features and many fixes. Read first post (i've copied the RUDE.TXT readme).
SIGIL is supported (from Crispy) but you need to load it manually. You can run the port from the command line or from setup to select the iwad or use drag and drop.
The setup tool is named config to prevent modern windows from requiring admin privileges since this is a MinGW build, i've fixed compilation with VS 2017 tough.
In theory it should still run with win98 but it's been a long time since last time i tried.
I haven't done much testing but seems everything is working. Before starting recording new exciting demos consider this is is a pre-release. I haven't tried connecting to the Chocolate Doom master server, no idea if it still works.
Thanks to the other source port authors, specially fraggle and fabian for their great work.
Edit: the default video driver is GDI, DirectX is smoother but doesn't always work.

https://github.com/drfrag666/chocolate- ... -win32.zip

[drfrag]

I've reuploaded the pre-release. I've extended the backpack system to support incremental drops, that means now you can share plasma and you don't need rockets to drop a backpack. I've updated the documentation with more changes i forgot to mention.
Now there are 7 extra backpacks. Marshmallow had only one, that could never work. Also he used chat events for multiplayer and not button events i wonder why.
Apparently there's no interest in the port tough.

[Rachael]

Apparently there's no interest in the port tough.

Doesn't matter.

Keep doing it, as long as it makes you happy. If you're doing it for adoration and approval you're doing it for the wrong reasons.

Make no mistake though - LZDoom will always be far more popular than this ever will be, mostly because LZDoom has a lot more features and it's a lot more usable than this is.

If you're doing this to please other people, all it's ever going to do to you in the long term is make you feel stressed and unappreciated. If you're doing it because you get actual joy out of it though, then it will show for whoever this kind of project will appeal to and make it that much better.

[Graf Zahl]

Apparently there's no interest in the port tough.

Are you actually surprised? I think the ongoing discussion about the retro segment lays out quite nicely why this segment is the way it is, why it tends to spawn lot of side projects and why most of these do not survive.
New users are hard to come by, the only chance you have is those who are already part of it. And even here, most have already made up their mind - there are those who like retro but are not interested in using a time machine to 1993. Those stick to the somewhat advanced ports.

And then there's those who are fundamentalist retro and want the original 1993 experience with no compromises. Those use Chocolate Doom and anything you do will be the antithesis of why they use Chocolate Doom.

And between these two groups you are left with - uh ... - not really anybody who might be interested?
If you want to maintain such a project, you'll have to do it for your own interest and for gaining knowledge, but don't ever expect it to become popular.

[JPL]

Slow ISA VGA simulation (Trident 9000i).

Ok this is maybe the most obscure source port feature I've ever heard of, what's it mean?

[drfrag]

That's not a really serious feature, just a curiosity else it'd be an option in setup. It makes the game run like on early 90's hardware. One thing to consider is that the default display driver is GDI, DirectX is smoother when it works.
I've re-released 2.5.0 as you could cheat and heal giving yourself backpacks. It's not worth trying to keep track of who dropped the last backpack and send that through the network.

I usually don't care about download numbers and i did not expect a great success but less than 50 downloads is an epic failure.
The port had everything to satisfy both puritans and heretics but seems it got stuck in middle ground and nobody cared. The fact that it's still on SDL1 doesn't help.
Looks like it's too hardcore and the world was not prepared for it and speaking of false metal (Manowar band) those guys at Doomworld are not true doomers, they're false.
I wanted to do this and i've found it pretty easy, i wanted do do it with the source close to the metal. A port very close to vanilla (tutti frutti, slime trails...) but without game breaking bugs and extended gameplay based on that to still get a retro experience but making the game challenging again (Unholy Massacre and more things). The startup console is part of the experience and i added command line parameters and options to setup. By challenge i don't meant those absurd demo "challenges" such as pacifist and besides Nightmare is not a really serious skill setting.

I don't think many people actually play Chocolate and take the risk of meeting a crash or one of those game breaking bugs, people use it to create vanilla maps but then they are played on GZDoom. Crispy still contains game breaking bugs (they need to keep 100% demo compatibility) and now it's adding some MBF and Boom features, clearly PrBoom+ is the best of all those "faithful" ports by far and others are doing again what already was done long ago. Doom retro is more popular but it doesn't even have working multiplayer.
This reminds me of my Romero's Heresy project, that was also an epic failure and was really ill received in this same comunity. I admit the prealpha had serious issues and it was a patch for DOS. I did a re-release in 2015 and i wonder if it would be legal to release the preinstalled wad now after seeing all those projects with official modified levels. In the end it was appreciated by some.

I haven't spend much time into this and it's been interesting, it's been easy (it's C) but sometimes you have to think. There's a Chocolate Doom server but i doubt there are people actually playing there, i don't know if RUDE can actually connect to the server but i could fix it.
For me this is the only way to play without Brutal Doom, i need to avoid the temptation of using mods and higher resolutions to play like back in the day for nostalgia reasons i guess.

[Graf Zahl]

I don't think many people actually play Chocolate and take the risk of meeting a crash or one of those game breaking bugs

I think here lies your error in thinking. Those who use Chocolate Doom use it to get the pure unadulterated experience (as far as that is possible on a modern OS, that is) and what you did already compromises that. And TBH, there's really nothing a new port can add here that PrBoom+ with a low complevel does not offer.
I also don't think that the actual number of active PLAYERS is that high, like you said yourself, the primary use for this engine is as a baseline for vanilla mapping not for actual playing.

[drfrag]

Yeah sure i just fixed the crashes and a few critical bugs like all ghosts and that's not pure. The new gameplay features are optional and i extended the demo format, i think RUDE must play 99% demos. I don't think Doom was perfect, Romero (i'm not a fanboy despite of what it seems BTW) said in a recent interview what the pistol is not obsolete once you get the chaingun and i disagree, i've changed that but only for the new skill level.

[drfrag]

Oops, i really should have made more testing.
UM was not meant to be that hard, i missed something and monsters were more aggresive so it was unplayable. I've also fixed the stuck monsters with double spawn, i didn't take into account previously double spawned monsters. Ouch!
I've reuploaded the build. Hey. this way the download number won't increase.

[SanyaWaffles]

Apparently there's no interest in the port tough.

Doesn't matter.

Keep doing it, as long as it makes you happy. If you're doing it for adoration and approval you're doing it for the wrong reasons.

I want to stress to you drfrag that Rachael and I might have our disagreements, but I do agree with her 150% here.

I've never done my projects for fame or approval. I've always done it to make my kind of game with a bunch of friends. If you really wanna tinker with a lower level source port I'm not against it. I actually wish I had knowledge on how to code using C/C++ to program new AI, but ZScript fills that void.

I do find it to be an interesting port that tries to combine retro stuff with some neat new ideas. That's cool.

[drfrag]

Thanks, it's been good to refresh my rusty C programming. Also if i manage to play it online someday with a friend of mine it's been worth the effort...

[drfrag]

I've uploaded 2.5.0. Mainly fixes monsters stuck inside closed doors and doubled spidermasterminds with double spawn, now it's okay it seems.
https://github.com/drfrag666/chocolate- ... -win32.zip

[drfrag]

I've released 2.5.0a to fix UM multiplayer games not working (i still don't know how i could miss that). I've also included SmileTheory's 0.99/1.1 support Chocolate Doom PR (WIP) for this build to be used as a test bench for old demos so you guys can help with that PR, iwad demos work.
Released another build with the demo desync accesing menus fix (fabian) and SmileTheory's P_FindNextHighestFloor() change.
https://github.com/drfrag666/chocolate- ... -win32.zip