PrBoom compatibility options ============================ Some of this is a bit dry. You might want to skip to the bottom and read the examples. Internally, PrBoom maintains a "compatibility level" which it uses to determine how to behave in various circumstances. The supported levels are currently: Number Name Description 0 doom_12_compatibility Emulate Doom v1.2 game details where possible 1 doom_1666_compatibility Behave like Doom v1.666 as far as possible 2 doom2_19_compatibility As compatible as possible for playing original Doom demos 3 ultdoom_compatibility Ultimate Doom made a few changes 4 finaldoom_compatibility Compatible with Final Doom & Doom95 - needed for some demos recorded with Final Doom doom2.exe 5 dosdoom_compatibility Emulate early dosdoom versions (some TASdoom demos work with this) 6 tasdoom_compatibility unused 7 boom_compatibility_compatibility Emulates Boom's compatibility mode 8 boom_201_compatibility Emulates Boom v2.01 9 boom_202_compatibility Emulates Boom v2.02 10 lxdoom_1_compatibility Emulates LxDoom v1.4.x 11 mbf_compatibility Emulates MBF 12 prboom_1_compatibility Emulates PrBoom v2.03beta 13 prboom_2_compatibility PrBoom v2.1.0 14 prboom_3_compatibility PrBoom v2.1.1-2.2.6 15 prboom_4_compatibility PrBoom v2.3.x 16 prboom_5_compatibility PrBoom v2.4.0 17 prboom_6_compatibility Current PrBoom You can cycle through the compatibility levels in the game using the TNTCOMP cheat. There's also the default_compatibility_level config file option, and the -complevel command line parameter. The numbers are subject to change between versions, so if you're doing elaborate stuff with these things you're advised to check this file each time you upgrade. Most people should just leave default_compatibility_level set to -1 in the config file, which means "use most recent" which has most features, most bug fixes, etc. But some people want to test the behaviour of levels with older versions, and will find it helpful to not have to load a dozen games to do so. Some people like me play a lot of old levels, so need to be able to enable compatibility with some old bugs. And some people may want to record demos for older game versions. When you play a demo, PrBoom sets the compatibility level and settings automatically. When you load a savegame, the settings are restored. When you start a new game, the compatibility level is got from (in order of preference): - -complevel parameter - default_compatibility_level config file param if not -1 - set to the most recent otherwise If the compatibility level is MBF or better, the detailed compatibility settings are read from the comp_* config file options, as in MBF. Otherwise, the settings are put to the defaults for that game version. You can adjust the compatibility settings during play from the menus (Options->Setup->Doom Compatibility). The sort of people interested in these things will already know the MBF options, so I'll just list the changes: - comp_floors now also causes the original Doom behaviour of objects stuck in a ceiling preventing the floor below lowering. - new option comp_moveblock enables the old movement clipping bug which allows things to go through walls sometimes (mancubus shots, and key grabbing tricks) PrBoom can also record old demos with some success (demo players see the comp_moveblock note above): prboom -complevel 2 -record test records a doom v1.9 compatible demo prboom -complevel 9 -record whatever records a Boom (v2.02) demo prboom -complevel 11 -record blah records an MBF demo. Of course, demo recording is no more reliable than demo playback; original Doom demos will usually but not always work. MBF support should be perfect. - Colin