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There's more than one way to play Doom. Thats one of the main reasons i made this topic to show you how you can install and use ZDaemon.

Table of contents:

• 1.0 Introduction
  
• 2.0 Setting up and running ZDaemon
  
• 3.0 Starting a Single Player game in ZDaemon
  
• 4.0 How to verify and update your Doom2.wad
  
• 5.0 Iwads and Pwads
  
• 6.0 How to play custom Pwads with ZDaemon
  
• 7.0 How to join a multiplayer game with ZDaemon
  
• 8.0 Final words
  

[1.0] Introduction:
ZDaemon is a source port for Doom, similar to Skulltag. In essence both serve the same purpose. They allow you to play the game Doom both in single and multiplayer. Since both Doom ports have been made by different authors (read: programmers) there are some differences in the features available to you and to what the game has to offer.
To list some of the differences between ZDaemon and Skulltag:

• ZDaemon comes with its own integrated Game Launcher, which allows you to get an overview of all servers and players but, also acts as a Frontend menu for the game engine allowing you to easily manage every aspect the game has to offer (running custom games/maps or even to view ZDaemon demo's).
  
  
• ZDaemon has had quite a vast and active multiplayer community in the past. Even though its popularity in general is not what it used to be a few years ago...there are always 400+ servers online!
  
  
• The ZDaemon Game Launcher comes with its own stand alone IRC Chat client integrated in the launcher.
  
  
• The take on Doom from ZDaemon perspective is all about a modern online and authentic Doom experience. Nowadays the netcode and online experience is very sophisticated and comparable to games like Unreal Tournament 2004 technology wise.
  

Since the main focus in ZDaemon is on the multiplayer experience there are a few unique features that make it more interesting when playing online:

• Of course there's the main reason: You can easily play with friends or other people!
  
• You can create your own account and keep track of your Leaderboard Ranking as you play.
  
• ZDaemon allows you to play with up to 32 people in the same Coop, Deathmatch or CTF server!
  
• You can add friends and other people to your Buddy list and quickly trace their activity in the launcher (Playing, Chatting etc).
  
• You can easily find a multiplayer game to your own liking. Especially with over 150 dedicated servers.
  
• ZDaemon servers can allow voicechat, so you can talk to your friends while playing with them!
  

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[1.1]Downloading ZDaemon:
The ZDaemon setup can be downloaded from the main webpage: http://www.zdaemon.org

ZDaemon for Windows:

• Click the button in the middle of the website to start the download.
  (Or click the button here right away ).

ZDaemon for MacOSX 10.6:

• There is a ZDaemon version for MacOS 10.6 or higher, programmed seperatly by one of the ZDaemon developers.
  
• Go here to download it: Click

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[1.2]Installing ZDaemon:
Installing ZDaemon is very similar to installing Skulltag or any other small/indie game.

• Double click the setup file you just downloaded and follow the steps on the screen.
  
• Similar to installing Skulltag, remember where you install the game. You will need to know this later on if you want to copy your Doom2.wad file.

[2.0]Setting up and running ZDaemon:
After you are done installing, it is now time to copy the Doom2.wad file and to try to run the game for the first time!

• ZDaemon needs a copy of Doom2.wad in the root folder before it will run. So, copy your Doom2.wad file to your ZDaemon directory.
  
• After you do this, you can choose to start ZDaemon right away by double clicking zdaemon.exe.
  
• When ZDaemon is running, press escape to bring up the main menu (just like in the original Doom).
  
• You can navigate the menu using your Arrow keys. Enter a menu using the Enter key or Go back by pressing the Escape key.
  
• Select the Options menu and hit Enter to start with some basic configuration.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Navigate to Options -> Customize Controls. Here you can set your controls for movement and actions.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Select the control you want to change. Press the Enter key followed by pressing your desired key for the control.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Navigate to Options -> Video Mode. Here you can set a video mode (screen resolution) to make the game look better on your screen. If you are not sure what to pick, then 1024x768 should always work.
  Alternatively you could look at the Properties of your Windows Desktop (Screen Resolution) to see what resolution Windows is currently set to and also configure this for ZDaemon.
  
  
  
  
  
  Note: If you are already familiar with your monitor resolution or setting up video modes for a game, pick whatever resolution suits your monitor to get the best gaming experience.
  

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[2.1]Setting up a Crosshair (aiming sight) in ZDaemon:
Classic Doom does not have a crosshair to aim with by itself. It's possible to configure one using ZDaemon.

• When in ZDaemon, Press Escape and go to the Options Menu.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Navigate to the menu called Display Options. Then use your Arrow keys to go all the way down the list of settings, until you reach the option called 'Crosshair'. Change the setting to your own liking (Cross1 or Cross2 for example).

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[2.2]Configuring your Mouse in ZDaemon:
A lot of people that play games similar to Doom (also known as a First Person Shooter) will use both their Mouse and Keyboard to play. The mouse is used for turning and aiming while the keyboard is used for movement and actions.
The difference compared to playing with just a keyboard is that people that use both mouse and keyboard are faster in games because of their more accurate turning/aiming and more versatile movement.


The most prominent difference in use, is that a keyboard only player will use the left/right arrow keys to turn and a mouse + keyboard user will use the left/right arrow keys to strafe.
Long term mouse + keyboard users will even use the W, A, S, D keys for movement instead of the arrow keys to achieve a more ergonomical placement of the left hand.

• To setup this method of movement, ZDaemon will have the W, A, S, D keys set to strafing/moving by default.
  If you are not comfortable with using these keys and prefer the arrow keys instead you can change this by going back to the 'Customize Controls' section as shown earlier in this guide.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• After changing to the new way of using the movement keys it is now time to setup the mouse. You can do this by going to the options menu again and selecting 'Mouse Options' instead of 'Customize Controls'.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Here you have a few options you will have to set:
  - Set 'Enable Mouse' to Yes.
  - Play around with the 'Turning speed' slider.
  - Optionally you can turn the 'Always Mouselook' option on, so you will also be able to look up and down whenever you play a Single Player game or Multi Player game if the server allows this (this is also referred to as Quake style aiming).
  - If you decide to turn on 'Always Mouselook', the 'Mouselook Speed' slider will allow you to change the speed for looking up/down.
  
  
• Overall Mouse sensitivity is something you usually do not need to alter, unless you still have a ball mouse. Turning speed is a matter of personal preference and the way you feel comfortable moving your arm or wrist.
  
  Note: Personally i like to have my mouse setup so i can look backwards if i move my mouse 5 cm to the left or right.

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[2.3]Changing your Player color in ZDaemon:
You might have noticed that there is a 'Player Setup' menu right below the 'Options' menu in ZDaemon.
The Player Setup menu can be used to change your player color. You can use the RGB color sliders that are shown to create a custom character color (other players will see you like this).



There are more settings you can change in the Player Setup:

• Gender (this is mainly used for obituary messages).
  
• Team (this only matters for team based multiplayer games).
  
• Player Skin (by default there is only one player skin to pick from...but some servers load extra skin packs).
  
• Autoaim (Doom will automatically aim vertically for you, if this annoys you during team gamemodes you can turn it off).
  
• Voice (this trigger was meant to set a taunting option, but is not available yet).
  
• Updates (The default setting for this will be 'fine' and should never be changed).

NOTE: You should not bother to change your 'Player Name' in this menu. It will only work temporarily since your Player or Account name is forced by ZDaemon each time you start the Launcher.

____________
Da_maniaC's Rig | Client / Server port for DooM!

[3.0]Starting a Single Player game in ZDaemon (first time):
Since we started zdaemon.exe directly for the first time, its possible to start playing a game of Doom right away!
In the menu select 'New Game', pick a 'Skill level' and you're off.



NOTE: By default ZDaemon will start a Cooperative Single Player game. A slight difference to the original Doom that one might notice in this case, is the fact that you can continue where you left off playing if you die! Personally i think this is a nice feature for long playing sessions and actually provokes you to keep playing if you die on a hard map (if you really want to start the entire map over again when you die, you can actually do this with a console command...read more about this in section 6.5).
Alternatively you can read on in section 3.1 and find out how to start a custom game, including Survival Coop which will not allow you to die over and over again.

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[3.1]Starting a Custom Single Player game in ZDaemon:
It's possible to run a Custom Single Player game in ZDaemon. This makes it very easy to start a game to your liking or to start at a specific map. ZDaemon will start a game, based on the last Game Settings that were known to the engine (they change according to the games you play, especially when it comes to multiplayer games).
These settings are also referred to as 'Game Options' or 'DMFlags'.
Now...don't get scared, thinking it will be complicated to actually run a custom game of Doom with ZDaemon.
Quite the opposite is true. I will explain:

• Instead of running zdaemon.exe directly. Try starting the ZDaemon Game Launcher.
  
• You will see a Startup Window which allows you to "Login" or to "Play Locally"...
  
  
  
    
  
  
• The 'Login' button; will require for you to first create a "New Account". Fill in a Player Name and Password if you would like to do so.
  
• The 'Play Locally' button; will only require for you to fill in a desired Player Name (in case you did not create a New Account).
  
• For the quickest and most basic way of Starting a Single Player Game, you can just fill in a Player name and click "Play Locally" for now so the ZDaemon Game Launcher will open up.
  
  
• Since it is the very first time you are starting the Launcher you will be greeted by the following message:
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Click Yes, then in the next dialog either click the Add button and select your ZDaemon folder or click the Auto button and let ZDaemon find all your .wad files for you.
  
  
  
  
  
  Note: If you decide to click the Auto button, I suggest removing folders like \Skulltag\ from the Directory list after it is finished to prevent any Iwad (version) mix-ups to ever happen.
  
  
• After you click the 'Done' button the Launcher will open. In the Launcher menu go to:
  Local -> Single Player Game.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• A new dialog will show up called "Single Player Game"...this is the menu that will allow you to set up and run a Single Player game (this menu is also referred to as a Frontend).
  
  
  
  
  
  
• By default, all of the settings will be ready to start a game immediately! Click the 'OK' button if you want to do so (Cooperative Game mode in ZDaemon equals Single player...if you are the only one playing of course ).

[3.2]Cooperative versus Survival Game mode:
A slight difference to the original Doom that one might notice in this case, is the fact that you can continue where you left off playing if you die! Personally i think this is a nice feature for long playing sessions and actually provokes you to keep playing if you die on a hard map (if you really want to start the entire map over again when you die, you can actually do this with a console command...read more about this in section 6.5).
Alternatively you can set the Game Mode to Survival Coop which will reset the map if you die while playing.



Note: This menu also allows you to select a different starting map or will allow you to run custom doom wads (like Doom builder maps for example ). If you really want to...you can also try to start a deathmatch game from this menu (instead of Cooperative). Be sure to select a few Bots as well if you decide to try this. Do not be suprised...Deathmatch can be a lot harder than fighting monsters. Keep in mind that Bots are computer controlled opponents and they can be a tad unrealistic when it comes to movement or aim. Have fun!

____________
Da_maniaC's Rig | Client / Server port for DooM!

[4.0]How to verify and update your Doom2.wad:
ZDaemon is heavily focussed on multiplayer gaming. Therefore it has one requirement before you start playing a multiplayer game. Your doom2.wad file has to be v1.9 (there are more versions around).
ZDaemon will check the doom2.wad file every time you try to connect to a multiplayer game (to make sure it is not out-of-date or altered in any way).

[4.1] Doom2.wad Verification:
To check the version of your Doom2.wad file there is a very easy tool that comes with ZDaemon. Its called the IwadVerifier. This tool will quickly check the version of the doom2.wad file you are using.
You can find this tool in the \ZDaemon\Iwadverifier\ folder. Double click Iwadverifier.exe to start up the tool!

• Use the [...] button to browse to your Doom2.wad and select it. Make sure you select "Doom II" as the filetype you are looking for.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Now click the "Check" button and the tool will quickly check the version of your Doom2.wad.
  
  
  
  
  
  If the tool shows v1.9 you are good to go!
  
  

[4.2] Patching Doom2.wad:
My Doom2.wad isn't version 1.9!
This often happens. Don't worry. Read on...

• If your Doom2.wad isn't v1.9 you will have to update it. Luckily nowadays this process is just as easy as checking the version of the file.
  
  
• Download a tool called the Iwadpatcher here: Click
  (I had to .zip the file or else your Antivirus or Internet Explorer might not like it).
  
  
• After downloading, unzip the file. Put it on your desktop or create a new folder inside your ZDaemon folder \ZDaemon\IwadPatcher\ for example (it will run anywhere). Double click Iwadpatcher.exe to start it.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Now, select the Doom2.wad file you want to patch by clicking the 'Browse for Iwad' button. Go to your \ZDaemon\ folder and select your Doom2.wad file.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• The patching tool will now automatically detect the version of your Doom2.wad file and patch it right away until v1.9 is reached!
  
  
  
  
  
  
• When the patching is completed, a message will pop up. Your Doom2.wad is now completely up to date.
  

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____________
Da_maniaC's Rig | Client / Server port for DooM!

[5.0]Iwads and Pwads. Wad is it all about?

The abbreviation WAD actually stands for "Where's All my Data?"
All engines that can run Doom work with .wad files.
Wad files are resource files that contain content like maps, sounds or even graphics that are used by the game.
There are 2 different types of wad files namely; Iwads and Pwads (they look exactly the same from the outside).

[5.1] Iwad:
Also known as 'Internal Wad'. Doom2.wad is an Iwad file. It contains resources that are mandatory to start a game of Doom. All of the default maps, sounds, sprites (weapons and monsters) and music are in this file.

There are more Iwads than Doom2.wad. But these are pretty hard to come by unless you actually buy them somewhere. Except for an Iwad called FreeDoom, which is....free of charge (as the name implies ).
Here is a list of all common Iwads for Doom:

• Doom 1
  
• Doom 2
  
• TNT: Evilution
  
• The Plutonia Experiment
  
• FreeDoom

IMPORTANT NOTE: For people that are going to check out Freedoom, be sure not to overwrite your Doom2.wad! Freedoom will have the same filename by default (i really don't like how they did this). I always rename the Freedoom doom2.wad to freedoom2.wad to prevent any mix-ups.

[5.2] Pwad:
Also known as 'Patch Wad'. Pwads are wad files that only contain resources that will change something to the game. Think of the custom maps you create with Doom Builder. The wad files with these custom maps are called Pwads.

There are literally thousands of Pwad files on the internet. Most of them contain custom maps.
Some of them have become quite famous in the Doom community for being even better then the original maps that the game Doom 2 had to offer.
Here is a list of some of the best Pwads around:

• Alien Vendetta
  
• Caverns of Darkness
  
• Dark 7 + Dark 7 Mission Pack (sequal to Dark 7)
  
• Phobos Anomly Reborn
  
• Scythe + Scythe 2
  
• The Darkening + The Darkening: Episode 2
  And many more....
  

[5.3] The way Pwads are loaded:
If you start a Custom game (be it Single or Multiplayer) the Doom engine will always start with loading an Iwad file first, followed by loading the Pwad you have chosen. So put simply, the game will be created starting from the normal Doom resources and when the Iwad data is loaded up, all of the modified Pwad data is loaded on top of that (this is an automatic process which you will not be able to see....except for the end result of course).

____________
Da_maniaC's Rig | Client / Server port for DooM!

[6.0] How to play custom Pwads with ZDaemon:
In section 3.1, I explained how to use the ZDaemon Launcher to start a Single Player game.
In this chapter I will show you how to make ZDaemon recognise custom Pwads and how you can start a custom game!

[6.1] Adding Pwads to the ZDaemon library:
Before you can actually pick a Pwad to play, ZDaemon will have to know where the wad file is located on your computer. These locations are managed in the Launcher. You can open up the Wad directory manager by clicking on the Menu icon (the folder icon, holding a Doom logo):




The following dialog will open up:



In this dialog you can click the 'Add' button and add all of the folders on your computer that contain .wad files.
In my experience it works best to move all your folders that contain custom wads to the \ZDaemon\Wads\ folder. This way you will have all your custom wads stored neatly in a single location.

Example:
In the picture you can see i also own the Alien Vendetta mappack that i mentioned in section 5.2.
You can try downloading this mappack, extracting it to a folder called ZDaemon\wads\Alien Vendetta\ and adding it to your WAD directories list by clicking the 'Add' button.
ZDaemon will now know, where to find Alien Vendetta (or av.wad as it is also called). Whenever you are finished hit the 'Done' button.

NOTE: If you have several custom wads already you can just click the 'Auto' button and ZDaemon will scan your computer for you. I suggest removing folders like \Skulltag\ from the Directory list after it is finished to prevent any Iwad (version) mix-ups to ever happen.

[6.2] Starting a custom Doom game with ZDaemon!
Once the custom wads are added to ZDaemon's library you can bring up the Single Player Game menu to start a custom Doom game. Open it by going to the menu and navigating to: Local -> Single Player Game...



The Single Player Game dialog will show up (which you should now be familiar with).



To load a custom Pwad, Click on the [...] button located near the "Extra Wads" section. A window will open up, where you get to see all custom wads that are available to you!
To continue using the same example...go to Alien Vendetta (named av in the list) and click the arrow button pointing to the right to add 'av' to the game you want to create.



When you click 'Ok' and return to the Single Player Game launcher you will now see that 'av' has been added as an extra Wad to load.



Now, if you hit the 'Ok' button in the Single Player Game launcher, the game will start up and you will see you no longer start in the very first map of Doom 2. You are now in the first map of Alien Vendetta!




[6.3] Loading more than one custom Pwad at the same time:
For those of you who paid close attention to the Alien Vendetta package while downloading, you might have noticed that there is more than one .wad file present in the download. Namely av.wad and avmovfix.wad.
As the name already implies, avmovfix.wad is a pwad that contains a fix for one of the maps in Alien Vendetta.
Its possible to select this Pwad as well from the Single Player Game launcher. This way you can load up more than one Pwad at the same time.




Remember the loading method of Iwads and Pwads i talked about in section 5.3? This also applies when there is more than one Pwad.
If you load a game with more then one Pwad, the engine will create the game loading the Pwads in the order they are presented.
So in this case, when starting up the game:
1. Doom2.wad (Iwad) will be loaded first (Iwads are always loaded first).
2. av.wad (Pwad) will be loaded second (as this is the first Pwad we selected).
3. avmovfix.wad (Pwad) will be loaded (as this is the second Pwad we selected).

NOTE: The loading order in this particular case is pretty important. If we would have chosen avmovfix.wad first and av.wad second, we would have ended up with a different loading order:
1. Doom2.wad (Iwad) will be loaded first (Iwads are always loaded first).
2. avmovfix.wad (Pwad) would have loaded second.
3. av.wad (Pwad) would have loaded as the third pwad.
This is not good because the fix in avmovfix.wad is loaded first and the original av.wad will be loaded after. This way the fix will not be present in the game (it will be overwritten by the content in av.wad). Keep this in mind when combining Pwads.

[6.4] Setting up extra game parameters to customize your game:
With the ZDaemon Single Player Game launcher its also possible to change many parameters of the game.
You can do this by clicking the [...] Button next to the "Game Options". A dialog showing all of the adjustable options will open up:



Some options will be greyed out and you will not be able to select those because they only apply to specific gamemodes (Cooperative, Deathmatch or Capture the Flag).
A commonly used option to turn on for Cooperative (Single Player) mode is the option called "Keep keys".
This game option will make sure you get to keep your keys after dying.

NOTE: All of the "Classic" options were made for players that strongly prefer to play Doom on the ZDaemon engine as close to the original game as possible. If you are rather new to the game you will probably not notice much difference when turning these on, so feel free to leave these options alone (unless you really want to).

[6.5] Using console commands while playing a game:
Most games nowadays have a console (also known as developer console). The console is basically a commandline that will show all the game activity and will allow you to execute commands.
To bring up the console while playing you can press the tilde (~) key.



The console is of most use to you in single player mode (in multi player mode its use is very limited).
Some of the common console commands you can type are:

• map map01 (This wil load map01 of the wad you are playing. You can do this for every mapnumber).
  
• addbot (This will add a bot to the game. Note: you can't remove bots unless you restart the entire game).
  
• quit (This will quit the game right away).
  
• god (This will make you invincible and you can play without dying).
  
• give all (This will give you all weapons, ammo and keys).
  

____________
Da_maniaC's Rig | Client / Server port for DooM!

[7.0] How to join a multiplayer game with ZDaemon:
Since we have pretty much covered most of the basic mechanics of this source port in the previous sections, its time to look at the main aspect that makes ZDaemon stand out compared to most of the other Doom source ports out there.
ZDaemon allows you to join a multiplayer game with great ease using the ZDaemon Game Launcher.
Take note that before you can join in on the multiplayer fun you will have to create a new account and login to ZDaemon as explained by me in section 3.1.

[7.1] The ZDaemon Game Launcher:
After logging in, you will get to see all of the multiplayer acitivity available to you in the launcher:



The overview you see will show you:

• The name of each server running
  
• If the server is running statistic collection or voicechat
  
• The number of players or bots that are in the server.
  
• The gamemode (type) that the server  is running
  
• The wads that the server has loaded (IWad, Pwads and optional [Pwads]).
  
• The current map number that is being played on the server.
  
• The country the server resides in and what the current latency (Ping) is, from the server to you.

[7.2] Picking a multiplayer game to play:
When playing online there are a few things to take into account.

• Latency (also known as Ping) is the delay in milliseconds (ms) that it will take for a data package to travel from you to the server. Always try to pick a server that has the best (lowest) Ping for you.
  This will result in the best playing experience.
  - A ping ranging anywhere from 25ms to 75ms is considered very good.
  - A ping ranging anywhere from 75ms to 150ms is considered fairly okay.
  - A ping ranging anywhere from 150ms to 200ms is considered slightly worse, but playable.
  - A ping ranging higher then 200ms+ is quite high and will probably result in a lagged gaming experience.

NOTE: The best pings are often seen on servers that are in the countries closest to you.

[7.3] Downloading custom Pwads (Mappacks/Skinpacks):
If you look closely in the launcher you will probably notice that pretty much every server is running a few custom Pwads. You will not have to download all of these by hand!
Double click on a server to your liking and when ZDaemon can not find the custom Pwad on your computer a dialog will ask you if you want ZDaemon to find the wad for you.



An integrated download tool named GetWAD will open up and will automatically start downloading/unpacking the wad for you:



GetWAD will download and unpack the wadfile in the folder that you have configured as download location in the WAD Directory List. You can change the folder if you want to, by double clicking on the folder to your liking
(i suggest using \ZDaemon\Wads\ or creating a folder called \ZDaemon\Wads\Pwads\ ).



[7.4] Downloading optional Pwads (Mappacks/Skinpacks):
GetWAD will not download optional Pwads for you by default. Optional Pwads are wad files loaded on a server but are not required to play (they are shown in brackets eg. [Zvox4]). These wads usually contain extra skins or sound effects.
If you want to download these optional wads as well, you can start GetWAD from the launcher manually:



Type in the name of the wad you want GetWAD to find for you and press Enter:



[7.5] Chatting with people in Multiplayer:
One more aspect of online gaming is communicating with one another.
By default ZDaemon will allow you to talk with other people while playing using text chat
(Voicechat is also supported, but not on every server and will require a microphone or headset).



The default key to chat is 'T'.  After pressing it you will be able to type a chat message and send it by pressing the Enter key.

[8.0] Final words on the ZDaemon Starting Guide:
You are now all set to enjoy ZDaemon multiplayer games!

Keep in mind that while playing on the internet, there are always people out there who get bored and decide to annoy (troll) other people to pass their time. Be a good sport and pay them no attention whatsoever.
Focus on the game at hand (especially with your friends) and have a good time!

I hope my guide will have helped you to get familiar with ZDaemon and will allow you to play Doom the way you like to play it.

Perhaps in the future Mr. Garry will host his own ZDaemon server where everyone can meet up and play with each other. A well organised Survival Coop play session could mean some good fun.

PS.
If you have any ZDaemon related questions, feel free to ask.