The Unofficial Deathmatch FAQ
Getting Started
OK, now that you know what Deathmatching is all about, the next thing
is, how the heck do you do it? This next section will explain what you've
got to have to enter the world of Deathmatch.
Doom will run on a 386SX with 4 megs of RAM - honestly - I've done it!
You wouldn't really want to run it with this system though, trust me. It's
horrible. You'd either be getting a frame rate of 1 or 2 per second, or have to shrink
the active screen area to about the size of a postage stamp, and it's not
pretty. Doom is playable on a 486SX, but it isn't great if there's a lot
going on in front of you. I recommend a 486DX2/66 with 8 megs of RAM.
If your hard drive is nearly full, you may want to do some house cleaning
- Doom2 takes up about 16MB for the basic installation. My Doom2 directory
currently eats up about 45MB, which includes all my utilities, upgrade patches,
editors, and various wads. So if you've got a 486DX2/66, 8MB of RAM, and about
20MB of hard drive space, you're in business.
There's a few extras you might like to have as well. While you can play
quite well with the keyboard, I strongly suggest you use a mouse. Once you
get the hang of playing with a mouse, you'll find it has a more natural
feel, and it will also allow you to turn faster. Get a three-button mouse if
you can - I recommend Logitech. They're a little more, but they are the
best. If you have the money, get the cordless - it's worth it.
This is essential: a sound card. Doom will run without one, but you'll
get slaughtered in Deathmatch if you haven't got one. Get whatever sound
card you like, as long as it's Sound Blaster compatible, and be sure it's
stereo. That way you'll be able to hear which direction your oppenent is
shooting from. It's also kinda nice to have the music, and to be able to
hear your opponent's pitiful screams when you waste him.
Joystick users: you can use your joystick if you want, but don't.
Really. The only people you'll beat in a Deathmatch situation is other
joystick users. You don't have the control or fast movement of a mouse, and
you don't have the range of buttons that keyboarders have. Let the joystick
go - you'll be a better player for it.
Not at all. There are ports for the Mac, Atari Jaguar, SEGA 32X,
Linux/X, several flavours of UNIX (don't ask me which), and probably a few
more that I don't know about. I've only got a DOS box, so my research in this
area is incomplete at best. Check around.
The software requirements for Doom are surprisingly small. If you've got
MS-DOS v3.3 or higher, you can run Doom. All you need do is get yourself a
copy, install it, and away you go!
There is now a release for Windows `95, and if you're successfully
using this operating system, then you've got everything you need. I don't
really recommend this one though, it's still buggy, and the DOS version
works fine.
I honestly don't know the requirements for the MacOS, Linux, or UNIX,
and you will likely have a better idea about what these systems require than
I do. Pick up a shareware copy of Doom for your machine and try it out. It
will probably be OK.
Now that you've got the basic requirements to play Doom, we need to look
at the next step: what will you need to connect to another player?
Quite obviously, a modem. What kind? Any kind will do, as long as it's
9600bps or faster. Chances are, yours is. A 14400 is certainly better, and a
28800 is great...
First, you need to have two computers in close proximity, unless you
plan to buy a lot of cable and stretch it to a friend's house. Then you need
to get yourself a null-modem cable. This can't be just an ordinary serial
cable, it must be a null-modem cable. Ask at your local computer store,
everybody carries them now. If you need to extend the length, you can
connect an ordinary serial cable, but the null-modem cable has to be in
there somewhere.
Doom supports the IPX (Novell Netware) protocol. Any network using this
protocol can be used for Doom multiplayer games. I know, I know, you don't
have a LAN, and don't have the dough to set one up. Me neither. You don't
need a full fledged network. All you need to get is a network card for each
computer, a T-plug for each computer (usually supplied with your network
card), and some cable - a server is not necessary. Just make sure that the
network cards use ODI/IPX drivers.
NOTE: If you're using Registered Doom or Doom2, you need to buy a
copy for each player. It is illegal to just use one copy on the server.
Section Three
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