Adventures At The Gates Of Hell...

This is a bit off-topic, but, as a fan of the video game Doom, I felt compelled to share. After my previous experiences getting the classic DOS-era first-person shooter, Doom to run on a Windows 10 PC using DOSBox and installing Doomsday to experience classic Doom with a technological makeover, I decided to try my hand at installing GZDoom 3.1.0 - Windows 64-bit.

According to the ZDoom web site:

ZDoom is a family of enhanced port of the Doom engine to modern operating systems. It runs on Windows, Linux, and OS X, and adds new features not found in the games as originally published by id Software.

Older ZDoom ports may be used and distributed free of charge. No profit may be made from the sale of it. GZDoom and its descendants from version 3.0.0 on are licensed GPL and are subject to the terms and restrictions of the new license.

ZDoom was originally created by Randi Heit using id Software's and various others' sources. Its successor ports GZDoom and QZDoom are now maintained by Christoph Oelckers, Braden Obrzut, Rachael Alexanderson, and Magnus Norddahl.

First, I downloaded the ZIP file from the ZDoom site and unpacked the GZDoom executable files to a temporary folder. Then, in the Program Files folder, I created a directory for GZDoom. Then, I copied the GZDoom executable files from the temporary folder to GZDoom folder. Then, from my DOS archive, I copied the Doom and Doom 2 wad files to the GZDoom folder. Finally, I created a desktop shortcuts to the GZDoom executable.

In the desktop shortcut, I hard-coded the screen size and set the iwad parameter to point to the original wad file. In addition, I have GZDoom's auto-loading feature turned off, so, I can control which wads to load and in what order using a desktop shortcut. Note that the executable name does not change even though I'm loading different wad files. Then, I created a sub-folder within the GZDoom folder for additional wad files called Wads.

Original Doom:
"C:\Program Files\GZDoom\gzdoom.exe" -width 1280 -height 1024 -iwad doom.wad

Original Doom Nightmare Mode:
"C:\Program Files\GZDoom\gzdoom.exe" -width 1280 -height 1024 -iwad doom.wad -fast -respawn

Doom 2:
"C:\Program Files\GZDoom\gzdoom.exe" -width 1280 -height 1024 -iwad doom2.wad

Doom 2 Nightmare Mode:
"C:\Program Files\GZDoom\gzdoom.exe" -width 1280 -height 1024 -iwad doom2.wad -fast -respawn

After getting GZDoom up and running, the next step was to install Brutal Doom (originally created by Sergeant_Mark_IV). For Brutal Doom, you'll need two files from the MODDB site: The Brutal Doom wad (Brutal Doom v20b_R designed specifically for GZDoom 3 by Arrowood) (not to be confused with version 20b without the _R by Sergeant_Mark_IV) and the unofficial patch for GZDoom version 3 (Brutal Doom v20c Unofficial Patch By diabolo666).

After downloading the two ZIP files, I unpacked them and copied the respective pk3 files to the GZDoom\Wads sub-folder. Finally, I created a desktop shortcut to the GZDoom executable. In the shortcut, I hard-coded the screen size and set the iwad parameter to point to the original Doom 2 wad file. In addition, I have GZDoom's auto-loading feature turned off, so, I can control which wads to load and in what order using a shortcut. The Brutal Doom wad files are loaded using the files parameter with 20b_R being loaded before 20c_UP.

Brutal Doom:
"C:\Program Files\GZBrutalDoom\gzdoom.exe" -width 1280 -height 1024 -iwad doom2.wad -file Wads\brutalv20b_R.pk3 Wads\brutalv20c_UP.pk3

For those of you who are curious about Brutal Doom...

Doom 2 in GZDoom Doom 2 with the Brutal Doom Mod in GZDoom Doom 2 with the Brutal Hellfest Mod in GZDoom

In development since 2010, the 18th Cacoward winner and MODDB 2012 MOTY Editors Choice of Creativity Award. Brutal Doom takes Doom into a whole new level. It makes the game much more violent than before. There's much more blood, plus it adds unique death animations, dismemberments, headshots, executions, fire and explosion particles, flares, shadows over all objects, and much more.

As you can see, Brutal Doom is quite a bit more bloody than the original. And, Brutal Hellfest, a competing mod by Gni circa 2015, is quite a bit more bloody than Brutal Doom. I've tried quite a few mods for Doom over the years and Brutal Doom is certainly infamous and deservedly so. Brutal Hellfest cranks up the blood quite a few notches, but, is notable for automatically respawning monsters and introducing the occasional random monster. In my humble opinion, it's well worth a peek, but, Brutal Doom, seems to be, in my humble opinion, a bit more balanced overall compared to Brutal Hellfest.

Other mods that I've tried and enjoyed include a very nicely done Star Wars mod with four large and detailed levels by Matt Falk and other co-authors circa 1995 and a somewhat cheesy, but, still workable Klingon mod circa 1998 by Ku'vac and K'boch. Another notable work-in-progress featuring some impressive character art and maps is Hunter's Moon circa 2011 by Zanieon.

Beautiful Doom:
"C:\Program Files\GZDoom\gzdoom.exe" -width 1280 -height 1024 -iwad doom.wad -file Wads\BDoom614.pk3

Brutal Doom 64:
"C:\Program Files\GZDoom\gzdoom.exe" -width 1280 -height 1024 -iwad doom.wad -file Wads\bd64gamev2.pk3 Wads\bd64mapsV2.pk3 Wads\ZD64MUSIC.PK3

Brutal Hellfest:
"C:\Program Files\GZDoom\gzdoom.exe" -width 1280 -height 1024 -iwad doom.wad -file Wads\BrutalDoom-HellfestRespawns.pk3

Hunter's Moon:
"C:\Program Files\GZDoom\gzdoom.exe" -width 1280 -height 1024 -iwad doom2.wad -file  Wads\HuntersMoonV2.9.5.pk3 Wads\HMMapPackV0.3.pk3

October 21, 2025

Update

There were some issues behind the scenes at GZDoom which made headlines in the gaming industry news. Boondorl, a member of the team commented regarding the concerns on a ZDoom Forum Post:

So, you’ve no doubt picked up on a lot of the buzz that swept the internet for the past week. In case you haven’t, after a scuffle between Graf Zahl, the project lead of GZDoom, and its maintainers, the ZDoom organization has decided to step away from him spearheading its leading port. While there are many reports on the nature of what caused it, we’d like to outline the issues that led to this decision to clear the air of any speculation.

Graf has been an incredibly consistent developer, and has helped craft some of ZDoom’s most defining features including the OpenGL renderer, DECORATE, and ZScript. His contributions cannot be overstated and his work is a core part of ZDoom’s modern appeal. The extensions he helped add to the engine have evolved and helped shape an entire new world of content, from incredibly impressive mods to even full-blown games. Genuinely, we could not be where we are without his passion for this project.

But Graf has also not been a stranger to getting into conflicts with the community and other developers. He has often acted antagonistically towards those wishing to be involved and has said some reprehensible things of the works of others, even going as far as to call for outright harassment. His leadership has pushed many prospective coders away as he often shuts down discussions, refuses to cooperate with his peers, and has generally created an unproductive work environment. This has always been unacceptable, but it is even less so as ZDoom’s leading port creator. ZDoom is built around its community and those wanting to create for it, so the lead of its direction cannot be someone so hostile towards them.

The latest incident was not just caused by Graf pushing code to GZDoom generated by an LLM (Large Language Model), but also highlighted his treatment of others. While ZDoom takes a strong stance against LLM code for multiple reasons (ethical and legal alike), the attitude he showed towards our newest maintainer was completely out of line, especially after all he asked was for Graf to respect his peers more. In response, we were informed that we should create our own port if we do not like this treatment, so we will be doing so.

Going forward, Graf will no longer be leading ZDoom’s main port, with a new team of maintainers taking over this role. This port will be UZDoom (Ultimate ZDoom), a continuation of GZDoom as it is at the time of posting this. Unlike before, UZDoom will not have a singular person as its project lead but instead the organization itself will determine its direction, with a new collaborative approach that seeks to level the playing field among all maintainers and give everyone a chance to speak, the community included. Graf will continue to run GZDoom and is still free to contribute directly and collaborate with ZDoom, but his port will no longer be considered our main one...

So, I've been making the transition to the newly rebranded UZDoom.