Doom community happenings

deadwolves2 said:

Can I please have the undivided attention of all mods, admins, and the whole Doomworld community. But this post is really for the people who watched a video of someone completing levels on Nightmare! difficulty when in truth they are playing ZDoom. Warning: they are NOT playing real Doom.

Although I got banned here ages ago because of fired-up mods, the real reason I posted on my original account was to challenge (and discover if I was wrong) if these playthroughs were practically doable. Just from watching these "world class records" the play is really impressive. However the truth is that they are not playing the original Doom. They are playing a version called ZDoom which significantly decreases the difficulty.

I have played NM difficulty extensively and up to now I never even bothered to try ZDoom, assuming that it was a fair representation of the original released version. Let me tell you this: the original version is extremely difficult. ZDoom is easier. There are few, if any convincing playthroughs of Nightmare! difficulty available, and there are too many videos of people claiming to perform speedruns in NM when the truth is, they are playing ZDoom: not the real Doom.

So let me go into detail about how ZDoom is easier from the original. I've just played it for the first time for like 10 minutes. The difference between original and ZDoom. So here it is.

Sprites: objects are significantly smaller. This means that the probability of you being hit by enemies is decreased I guess by approximately 50%. And not just hitscanners, but anything - you can strafe and sidestep enemies much more easily. This makes rybacksda's videos possible, which are impossible in the original version.

Speed: ZDoom is much slower than original Doom and this was the first thing I noticed. The player has poorer acceleration, and a reduced maximum speed, but the enemies are also less capable. Not only do their melee and/or their ranged attacks seem to be more sluggish, and their fireballs practically halved in speed, but they are programmed to delay the decision to attack you. In the original, they are more likely to instigate an attack whatever your proximity. This is one of the most enjoyable parts of NM play - enemies are so aggressive that they can end up tearing themselves apart before you.

Weight: objects in ZDoom are extremely light compared to the original. They seem to exist more towards the center or upwards, and their tie to gravity is poor. This includes items, the enemies, the player, even switches. It means you can access things you would not be able to do otherwise. One of the obvious examples is in E1M8 when the player can run down the stairs and halfway through they are floating.

Behavior: this is a huge difference. In the original, enemies are extremely hostile and will attempt to fight or seek you if you make yourself aware. In ZDoom, enemies are much less attentive or aware of their surroundings. Again they are delayed, but they seem to wander around more freely. A few times they weren't not only walking away from the player, but they didn't seem to see the player despite it being right in front of them.

Demons: this deserves a whole section on its own. These guys are wimps compared to the original. They're slower, weaker, inferior in every aspect. Their ghost counterpart is clearly visible too. Their bites are slower. You can walk around them if they're attacking you. In the 2 times that I played E1M5, I was twice confronted with a demon which could not initiate an attack itself. It couldn't "see" me.

So these videos with "World Speed Nightmare Record"? Most, if not all, are bullshit. Real Doom is incredibly hard - almost impossible by E2M6. These playthroughs that everyone is amazed about on Youtube? I know for a fact: they are an easy imitation, they are NOT REAL DOOM.