Tell me, O Talkhaus: What's the best engine to run DOOM in?

[AlchemistHohenheim]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Doom_source_ports

So I bought Doom Classic Complete since it was 75% off on Steam (and still is for the next 12 hours as of the time of this post), but my main laptop is Windows 8.1, which apparently doesn't play well with the version of DOSBox packaged with the Steam release.

So what source-port should I use? Online multi-player and easy mod support would be nice bonuses in case I ever decide to mess around with that stuff, but I care mainly about stability and performance, along with basic "modern" amenities like mouse-look. I'm pretty much looking for the Doom equivalent of eDuke32, if such a thing exists. I tried GZDoom once already but something about it felt...less than ideal? That might just have been me not giving it enough of a chance though. So yeah.

Also general Doom series/classic FPS discussion thread I guess. Go nuts.

[Alice]

ZDoom/GZDoom are generally the preferred source ports for singleplayer. Zandronum tends to be the preferred sourceport for multiplayer. If you're looking for something with fewer changes though I'd recommend something like Chocolate Doom which tries to stay as close to the originals as possible.

[Doctor Shemp]

Pretty much what Alice said. Doomsday has some things, and Odamex even less, but most things can be done in ZDoom or Zandronum. Many mods are only compatible with one or the other though so you may as well get both.

And just because a mod has extra features doesn't mean you have to use them. ZDoom has jumping and crouching, and I do my playing in ZDoom, but I never jump or crouch because that feels like cheating to me. It's an advantage the map designers didn't account for and the temptation to sequence break would be too high for me, so I have them unbound. Similarly I have mouse functions on but I only bind it to turning and not free looking up and down unless the mod is designed for that (like Brutal Doom) because again, it feels like cheating to me.

It's all your preference though. It's useful anyway for including things that Doom really should have included like autosaving at the start of each level.

[Zha Hong Lang]

What about Doom Legacy?

[AlchemistHohenheim]

I guess I'll give GZDoom another shot, then.

Not sure how much difference it actually makes, but I was actually using an old version before because the front page of the website hasn't been updated in almost a year and I didn't think of checking the forums before.

[Eila]

I used Zandronum for everything. Playing the regular game, testing levels, though those are basically the same thing.

I thought everything Zdoom did was supported by Zandronum, but Zandronum also has the better multiplayer too. Seems a win win unless I am missing something?

Also because I have to ask, isn't the engine the same thing on all of these and rather the question is for what source port to use? I am not asking to say "The question is wrong, nitpick nitpick" but is the engine different in each source port?

[Alice]

I thought everything Zdoom did was supported by Zandronum, but Zandronum also has the better multiplayer too. Seems a win win unless I am missing something?

The difference is that Zandronum is based on GZDoom which is based on ZDoom. So when ZDoom updates it takes awhile to incorporate the update into GZDoom's codebase which in turn takes awhile to be incorporated into Zandronum's codebase. This has taken up to around a year in the case of Skulltag before Zandronum split from it. And that means anything new supported by ZDoom or GZDoom won't be supported in Zandronum for awhile.

[AlchemistHohenheim]

Also because I have to ask, isn't the engine the same thing on all of these and rather the question is for what source port to use? I am not asking to say "The question is wrong, nitpick nitpick" but is the engine different in each source port?

My understanding is limited (obviously, or I wouldn't have made this thread in the first place), but as far as I know ZDoom and its derivatives actually incorporate (parts of) Ken Silverman's BUILD Engine in addition to (or in place of?) the original Id Tech 1 engine that Doom was originally created in. So there's that.

Yeah, I should've said source port, but there's a character limit on titles and engine seemed close enough for descriptive purposes.

[Icelink256]

I play Doom quite frequently-- with a 90's copy of Doom, I still own, in fact! O_o
(Also, Heretic, Hexen, and Strife. But that's not the question presented, here. )

I've found that (G)Zdoom is EASILY the best source port for running Doom, without too much extra junk. If it feels off, you may want to go into the settings, and mess around with the controls, and the modern/retro compatibility options, as well. The defaults are pretty screwy!

Zandronum is amazing for multiplayer games! Made more-so with such large communities.

[Eila]

The difference is that Zandronum is based on GZDoom which is based on ZDoom. So when ZDoom updates it takes awhile to incorporate the update into GZDoom's codebase which in turn takes awhile to be incorporated into Zandronum's codebase. This has taken up to around a year in the case of Skulltag before Zandronum split from it. And that means anything new supported by ZDoom or GZDoom won't be supported in Zandronum for awhile.

Fair enough. I have an install of Zdoom around here somewhere.

Yeah, I should've said source port, but there's a character limit on titles and engine seemed close enough for descriptive purposes.

I wasn't picking on it or anything, it just made me wonder if the source ports actually used variations on the Doom engine. It's not something I had thought of before.