Doom II: Hell on Earth

This page may require cleanup to meet basic quality standards. The specific problem is: There is too much information from too many versions - it needs to be streamlined.. You can help by modifying the article. The discussion page may contain useful suggestions.

Template:Infobox game/row/macporter

Doom II: Hell on Earth

Cover image missing, please upload it
Developers
	id Software
Publishers
	GT Interactive
Engines
	id Tech 1
Release dates
DOS	September 30, 1994
Windows	1995
Mac OS (Classic)	1995

⤏ Go to series page
Doom (1993)	1993
Doom II: Hell on Earth	1994
Final Doom	1996
DRL (unofficial game)	2002
Doom 3	2004
Doom 64 EX (unofficial port)	2008
Doom 3: BFG Edition	2012
Doom (2016)	2016
Doom VFR	2017
Doom I Enhanced	2020
Doom II Enhanced	2020
Doom Eternal	2020
Doom 64	2020

Key points

The Doom engine was made open source in 1997, making the game very mod-friendly.

General information

Doom Wiki

Doomworld — A major fansite for the series

GOG.com Community Discussions for game series

GOG.com Support Page

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail
GamersGate
GOG.com		Also includes Final Doom and Master Levels for Doom II. Pre-packaged with DOSBox v0.74.
Steam		Includes Master Levels for Doom II. Pre-packaged with DOSBox v0.72. Can be played without Steam.

Doom II: Hell on Earth is also available as part of Doom 3: BFG Edition. This version includes GOG.com and Steam achievements and the "No Rest for the Living" expansion (previously exclusive to the Xbox 360 version).

DLC and expansion packs

Name	Notes
Master Levels for Doom II
Perdition's Gate	Unofficial commercial expansion developed by Wraith Corporation and published by WizardWorks. Not available digitally.
Hell To Pay	Unofficial commercial expansion developed by Wraith Corporation and published by WizardWorks. Not available digitally.

A commercial total conversion, called Hacx, was to be Doom II's fourth addon, but due to delays in development it was later abandoned by its developer. Eventually it was released as a freeware standalone game, though still requires a Doom engine executable of some type. It's available here.

Essential improvements

Patches

All patches for the retail versions of Doom II: Hell on Earth (as well as Doom and Final Doom) can be found here.

novert

When using the keyboard and mouse configuration in Doom or similar games on DOS or through DOSBox, vertical mouse movement causes the player to move forward and back, which can make mouse aiming difficult. novert is a DOS TSR that disables vertical mouse movement to prevent unnecessary player movement.

Automating novert in DOSBox

Download novert from Doomworld here, then extract novert.com from the zip file to where the game's executable is located, usually found under <path-to-game>. Open the *.conf file that launches the game in DOSBox with a text editor (e.g. Notepad, Notepad++), search for the [Autoexec] section, then add the command novert.com above the line with the game's executable. An example of using this command can be seen below. Save the changes in the *.conf file and then run the game. You should be to use the mouse to aim without moving forward and back. MOUNT C "." C: novert.com DOOM.EXE -config MOUSE.CFG

Source ports

Since the release of the source code, several modified engines have emerged.

You can view a more exhaustive list on Wikipedia or a set of comparison tables on DoomWiki.org. The history of various source ports is examined on Doomworld. Latest Git builds of ZDoom, GZDoom, QZDoom, and Odamex are available at DRD Team Development Builds.

Name	Description
ZDoom	Renderers available: Software. Limit-removing source port that has features such as high resolutions and all-new editing features for modders. Most mods are designed around ZDoom's features. Uses a software renderer which could cause some incompatibility issues with mods that use special effects reliant on OpenGL like Brutal Doom. No longer in development by the original developer.
GZDoom	Renderers available: Software, OpenGL. Based on the same code as ZDoom, except it also uses an OpenGL renderer. Nearly every mod should work with GZDoom, specifically ones that use special effects.
QZDoom	Renderers available: Direct3D, OpenGL. A successor to ZDoom, based off GZDoom except it uses a 32-bit true-color renderer instead of an 8-bit one. It has been merged with GZDoom
Zandronum	Renderers available: Software, OpenGL. Based off modified ZDoom code. Use this source port if you want to play multiplayer, as it significantly overhauls the netcode from ZDoom. Basic mods that change the maps are fully supported, but more complex mods such as Brutal Doom varies. Check to see if the mod supports Zandronum or if there's a separate version that does.
Odamex	Renderers available: Software. Source port based on ZDoom 1.22 (and parts of 1.23) that focuses on multiplayer while staying close to the original Doom. Not as widely used as Zandronum.
PrBoom	Renderers available: OpenGL. Source port based off Boom (a source port that was made by TeamTNT) that uses an OpenGL renderer that supports high resolutions.
PrBoom+	Renderers available: Software, OpenGL. Based off PrBoom that attempts to extend the port with more features.
Chocolate Doom	Renderers available: Software. Source port that aims to accurately reproduce the experience of playing vanilla Doom. Renders at a low-resolution (that's upscaled to higher resolutions) and purposefully keeps the original game's limits.
Doom Retro	Renderers available: Software (with acceleration), Direct3D, OpenGL. Source port based off Chocolate Doom that supports vanilla, limit-removing and Boom-compatible maps and makes a few other changes/fixes for the modern age while still keeping the classic Doom experience.

Launchers

If using a source port, it is recommended to use any of these following launchest to easily load the WADs or PK3 files, change their loading order, add the command lines or even set up the starting level. Some of these even allows you to save the list of mods you have added.

Name	System	Notes
SSG Launcher	Windows, Mac OS X, Linux	The launcher also has the extra functionality with launching Doom 64 EX, the DoomRPG mod, and also the OBLIGE Level Maker.
ZDL	Windows	There are 3 versions managed by each developer and the only version that is available is Q's that is currently linked. Others such as Bio's and WildGoose's are no longer available
RocketLauncher	Windows, Linux	Based on Qt, RocketLauncher consists many features to customize your game and a support for DOSBox. Linux users should compile it in order to install it.
Doom Launcher	Windows	Besides being a launcher, it also allows you to download mods from /idgames database.

Useful WAD/PK3 files

The following wads are designed to fix some sort of game data bug or a feature short coming of the game. They do not add any levels/change play style and thus are generally compatible with most user add-ons.

Minor Sprite Fixing Project - Repairs bad sprite offsets and other graphical errors normally encountered when viewing the player and NPC sprites. Works on Doom I despite the thread only referencing Doom II. Vanilla (DOS) executable compatible

Blood Fixer - Fixes monsters bleeding the wrong color of blood when the player damages them compared to the blood color shown on their corpse. Doom Retro has its own optional blood color correction feature.

Random Deaths & Decoration - Randomizes enemies' death sprites and animations as well as various decorations.

Smooth Doom - An interesting project that aims to improve all Doom in-game animations. It also additionally contains the above three fixes already integrated. There is also a version with only monster animations as well as a companion, Smooth Textures, that improves wall texture animations. Based heavily on perkristian's smoother weapons mod. ZDoom-based source ports (excluding Zandronum) only; for the Doom Retro and Crispy Doom source ports, see SMOOTHED and Black Ops.

Beautiful Doom - A similar project similar to Smooth Doom which aims to improve on many of the game's animation, visual, and blood effects while retaining vanilla gameplay. It also adds physics-based gib effects and interactive objects (e.g. breakable lights, destructible decorations), new weapon and monster sound effects, and has some features adapted from Smooth Doom. Only compatible with GZDoom.

Widescreen Status Bar - Designed for compatible source ports that support widescreen resolutions. In addition to removing the ugly brick patterns that appear on the side of the bar when upscaling it, it also helps prevent graphical glitches that sometimes occurs from the upscaling process. Some source ports may require adjusting the status bar upscaling size manually in their respective options menu to retain the intended aspect-ratio.

SC-55 Music Pack - For source ports that support OGG, FLAC, or MP3 playback. Allows you to listen to Doom's music more authentically without having to own expensive MIDI hardware. Patch93's SC-55 Soundfont is an alternative for source ports that support custom .SF2 soundfonts for MIDI playback or supports external MIDI synthesis software.

hi-res Doom sound pack - Aims to improve all of Doom's sound effect samples whilst being faithful to the originals, which it surprisingly is. An interesting offshoot of this project is also available in the form of sound calking, which aims to give each monster its own unique sound effects in addition to improving their quality.

Master Levels Menu Interface

If using the ZDoom source port or its derivatives, The Master Levels Menu Interface is an in-game menu that serves to replace the old DOS program that would launch a chosen WAD of the Master Level for Doom II expansion, this mod allows you to play them in one sitting without restarting ZDoom or similar source ports and loading each individual WAD file.

WadSmoosh

If using the GZDoom or QZDoom source ports, you can use JP LeBreton's WadSmoosh tool to combine any of the official DOS-era Doom games' IWADs (Doom, Doom II: Hell on Earth, Master Levels for Doom II, and Final Doom) that you own, as well as the No Rest for the Living WAD from Doom 3: BFG Edition, into a single PK3 IWAD with each game selectable as episodes. The bonus secret levels from the Xbox port of Doom 3 and Resurrection of Evil expansion can also be integrated. The tool along with a guide to use it can be found here.

Content

A freely redistributable replacement of Doom-like assets is available at Freedoom, forming a completely free and open source game. Art assets from the original game such as the levels, sounds, textures, etc., remain under copyright. They can be purchased from Steam, GOG.com, or copied from an original game disc.

Game data

Configuration file and save game data location

Template:Game data/rowTemplate:Game data/rowTemplate:Game data/rowTemplate:Game data/row

System	Location
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/2300/pfx/

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
GOG Galaxy
Steam Cloud

Video settings

In-game options menu.

Field of view (FOV)

Depending on your choice of engine, you can usually change the field of view with a console command, or even in the options. Try fov <1-179> or gr_fov <1-179>.

Multi-monitor

ZDoom seeks to support multiple monitors out of the box since version 2.5.0. Widescreen Gaming Forum discusses multi-monitor set ups with GZDoom.

Borderless fullscreen windowed

The following lists source ports that supports borderless fullscreen windowed, either natively or though third-party programs.

GZDoom: enable fake fullscreen mode
Requires v3.2.4 or newer; Windows only. Open the *.ini file(s) where the GZDoom folder is located with a text editor. Find the variables fullscreen= and set it to false, then find win_borderless= and set it to true. Save the file(s). GZDoom should now run in borderless fullscreen windowed.

Doom Retro: use Direct3D or Software rendering while running at native desktop resolution
Open the *.cfg file(s) where the Doom Retro folder is located with a text editor. Find the variables vid_scaleapi and set it to either direct3d or software inside the quotation marks, then find vid_screenresolution and set it to desktop. Save the file(s). Doom Retro now should run in borderless fullscreen windowed.

PrBoom+: Use Borderless Gaming while running PrBoom+ at your display's native resolution

Audio settings

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English

Network

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Players	Notes
Local play		Use Doom Legacy.
LAN play		4	Co-op, Versus
Online play		4	Co-op, Versus

A source port is recommended for online play as it adds modern networking support and simplifies the process of finding games. Most major source ports (like Zandronum) also increase the max player limit (for Zandronum, the limit is 64)

Connection types

Type	Native	Notes
Matchmaking
Peer-to-peer
Dedicated		Requires source port.
Self-hosting
Direct IP		Possible in source ports.

VR support

Headsets	State	Notes
SteamVR		Use ViveDoom
Oculus VR (LibOVR)		Use ViveDoom or Doomsday.
Windows Mixed Reality		This game might be playable with the Revive Compatibility Layer, or Windows Mixed Reality for SteamVR.

Devices
Tracked motion controllers
Traditional controller
Keyboard/Mouse

Play area
Seated
Standing
Room-scale

Issues fixed

Game does not run in DOSBox (Steam)

Disable double-buffering in DOSBox
Go to <path-to-game>\base\ Open doom2.conf with a text editor such as Notepad or similar program. Under the section [sdl], look for the line fulldouble=true and set it to false. Saves the changes made to the file. Repeat Steps 1-3 for the doom2m.conf file. Launch the game. It should be able to boot properly in fullscreen.

Doom95 doesn't start on Windows 7

Apply necessary fixes and Doom95 XP Mouse Patch

Apply a palette fix (see Rainbow color problems in older games). Right-click the DOOM95.exe file, click Properties, go to the Compatibility tab, then set it to Windows 95 compatibility mode and tick Run the program as administrator option. Go to %WINDIR%\SysWOW64, copy dplayx.dll and paste it into <path-to-game>, then rename the copied file to dplay.dll. Now download the Doom95 XP Mouse Patch and extract it to <path-to-game> folder. Run the program; at the end of the page, click the install button. Use the Configure button to disable Vertical Axis to prevent moving forward with the mouse; smooth the mouse and add parameters if desired. Now run DOOM95.exe, go to Advanced/Screen Resolution and set it to the highest resolution available.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D		A source port is required. See Source ports.
DirectDraw	2	Doom 95 only.
OpenGL		A source port is required. See Source ports.
Software renderer
DOS video modes	VGA

Executable	PPC	16-bit	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows
Mac OS (Classic)

System requirements

DOS

Windows

Mac OS (Classic)

DOS
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	MS-DOS 5.0
Processor (CPU)	Intel 386	Intel 486
System memory (RAM)	4 MB	8 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	100 MB
Video card (GPU)	VGA graphics card