Quickstart Guide To Playing Doom on PC

Casey

This guide is intended for people interested in checking out the classic Doom games and get you playing comfortable as quick as possible on PC. You can always check out the recent console ports of Doom if you want to just relax and play with a gamepad in your hands. The Xbox 360 port of Doom and Doom 2 are great and easy to play and are compatible on Xbox One.

Step 1: Buy Doom

You need to purchase Doom if you want the perfect experience of playing on PC. There is a free alternative to Doom called FreeDoom which replaces all the graphics, sounds, and levels. Buying Doom will grant you access to the game .WAD files.

Ultimately, you’ll want to at least have Doom and Doom II purchased (to gain DOOM.WAD and DOOM2.WAD), but if you want the full experience and purchase all of the officially released classic Doom content, you’ll want to also purchase Final Doom (PLUTONIA.WAD and TNT.WAD), The Master Levels for Doom II (various .WADs), and Doom 3 BFG Edition (NERVE.WAD).

Here are some digital options to purchase Doom:

NOTE: The sprites for Medikit and Stimpack health items in the BFG Edition .WADS were replaced with a different sprite due to some issues with it being similar to the Red Cross logo. Here are some links for more reading: Reddit Link, Doomworld Link

Step 2: Create a Doom Folder on your PC

Creating a place to put all of your Doom .WADs and other files is important and recommended. I personally put everything in a folder called “Doom” inside my Dropbox folder so I can sync it across my computers and automatically have it backup in case I lose my files. Make a folder in a convenient spot for you and make a shortcut to it on your Desktop for easy access.

Step 3: Copy your .WAD files to your new Doom folder

The .WAD files we purchased will need to go into your Doom folder. These IWADS contain all the data from the game that isn’t part of the game’s engine itself. If you purchased from GOG.com, it should be easy to find the .WAD files in the installation path you chose. If you purchased from Steam, navigate to your Steam installation path (under Program Files by default) and go to Steam > steamapps > common > (The version of Doom you purchased) and you should find the files there. Copy and paste them into your Doom folder.

Step 4: Download a source port

Doom’s source code was released in 1997 which led to the game becoming massively ported to different systems. To run it on modern systems. There are many source ports available for PC but the one we are going to work with is GZDoom due to its popularity and modability.

Go to GZDoom’s download page and get the appropriate download for your system. You most likely want the 64-bit download for Windows. It comes as a .zip file. Extract the contents to the Doom folder we created in Step 2. **Do not separate your IWAD files from gzdoom.exe. They need to be in the same directory for GZDoom to see them.** You can also make a shortcut to gzdoom.exe on your Desktop for convenience.

Step 5: Test running GZDoom

It’s time to see if you set up your folder correctly! Go ahead and run gzdoom.exe and you should see all the IWADs you have purchased.

You’ll notice that GZDoom supports other games like Herertic, Hexen, and Chex Quest that all run on the Doom engine/similar engines.

Go ahead and select an IWAD and click “Play GZDoom”. The settings are okay to leave default. The game will load to the title screen. Press any key to open the game’s menu that you can access by pressing the Escape key at any time while playing. Navigate the game’s menu with your arrow keys and the Enter key.

Step 6: Configure your settings

GZDoom’s default settings out of the box need a little work depending on your desired play style. In the games main menu there is an Options menu. Here are some good settings to modify:

  • Customize Controls
    • Action
      • Set “Fire” to Mouse1 (left mouse button)
      • Set “Secondary Fire” to E (this control is useful for custom weapon mods you may play in the future)
      • Set “Weapon Reload” to R
      • Set “Weapon Zoom” to Z
      • Set “Use / Open” to Mouse3 (mouse wheel click)
      • Set “Move forward” to W
      • Set “Move backward” to S
      • Set “Strafe left” to A
      • Set “Strafe right” to D
      • Set “Jump” to Mouse2 (right mouse button) (this is for mods that encourage jumping but it is considered “cheating” if you want to play classic Doom the right way :P)
      • Set “Crouch” to C
    • Weapons
      • Set “Next weapon” to MWheelUp (mouse scroll up)
      • Set “Previous weapon” to MWheelDown (mouse scroll down)
  • Mouse Options
    • Set “Always Mouselook” to On
  • Display Options
    • Texture Options
      • Set Texture Filter Mode to None to get that classic pixelated look
  • Set Video Mode
    • Change these settings to your liking.

Step 7: Rip and Tear!

Now you’re ready to jump into playing Doom. The controls are as follows:

  • Move using WASD keys
  • Look/Aim using your mouse
  • Shoot using Left-click
  • Interact with doors and switches with Space or Middle-click
  • Run by holding down Shift
  • Toggle auto-running with Caps-lock
  • Check the map with Tab
Source: Doomworld | Read the Doom Comic