GZDoom 4.11.3 classic Doom feel settings

I wanted to share the settings I'm using to make GZDoom 4.11.3 feel like classic Doom while using the Vulkan renderer.

 

 

The easiest way to configure GZDoom is to use the Options Search function. If you're looking for one of the below settings without searching, make sure you set

Simple options menu: Off

 

gzdoom.ini is saved in a user folder now, so there is no need to copy your gzdoom.ini to a new install. Save the file somewhere safe for future use.

 

The below settings may need tweaking depending on your preferences and screen resolution.

Mouse Options

Always Mouselook: Off

 

Compatibility Options

Compatibility mode: Doom

 

Automap Options

Map colour set: Traditional Doom

 

HUD Options

Crosshair: Off

Scaling factor: 1.0

Aspect ratio: 1.2

 

HUD Options > Scaling Options

User interface scale: Adapt to screen size

Alternative HUD: 1

HUD preserves aspect ratio: Off

 

Sound Options

Randomize pitches: On

 

Display Options

Sprite shadows: Default

Use fuzz effect: Fuzz

Classic Transparency: ZDoom (Forced)

Use fake contrast: On

Rocket Trails: Off

Blood Type: Sprites & Particles

Bullet Puff Type: Sprites & Particles

 

Display Options > Hardware Renderer

Sector light mode: Software

Banded SW Lightmode: On

Fog mode: Standard

Fog forces fullbright: Off

Enhanced night vision mode: Off

Adjust sprite clipping: Smarter

Smooth sprite edges: Off

Fuzz style: Software

Particle style: Square

Rendering quality: Quality

Multisample: Off

 

Display Options > Hardware Renderer > Postprocessing

Bloom effect: Off

Lens distortion effect: Off

Ambient occlusion quality: Off

FXAA quality: Off

Dither output: Off

Tonemap mode: Palette

 

Display Options > Texture Options

Texture filter mode: None

Anisotropic filter: 16x

High Quality Resize mode: Off

High Quality Resize multiplier: Off

Resize textures: On

Resize sprites: On

Resize fonts: On

Resize model skins: On

 

Display Options > Dynamic Light Options

Dynamic lights (software): Off

Dynamic lights (hardware): Off

Lights affect sprites: No

Lights affect particles: No

Light shadowmaps: No

 

Set video mode

Resolution scale: Lowest possible scale

Scale Factor: 1.00

Use Linear Scaling (Fullscreen): No

Edited January 9 by orffen

The key settings to get light banding seemed to be:

Fog mode: Standard (or Off) - Radial smooths the banding. I believe Hexen or Heretic use fog so Off would presumably affect those games.

Tonemap mode: Palette

 

The fuzz settings look great on Spectres!

 

I like the lowest possible resolution scale, but if you're using a different resolution you can scale the HUD and interface yourself or let GZDoom do it automatically.

Nice, I like to play with settings ..and I like people that change and test things as well. Is there anything that you would say I should try or change here or you think it's not the right configuration https://rentry.org/doomconfigs? I try my best but I'm still new to Doom.

 

*Here precisely: https://rentry.org/m9scdi

Edited January 9 by CacoKnight

I did see your post after I'd put mine up. I don't think there's any "right" or "wrong" configuration, just your preferences 😊

 

If you're wanting to get that more classic look, think about tweaking:

// fog: standard
gl_fogmode=1
// fuzz
gl_fuzztype=1
r_fuzzscale=true
// tonemap: palette
gl_tonemap 5

I found the Fuzz looks much better even at high resolution, and the fog setting made the biggest difference in my case to getting light banding looking right.

Oh nice thank you, didn't even think about the fog honestly, I'll adjust then I'll test some.

 

About the Fuzz, why do I even have 8? I think it's from some old configs, I like the fuzz more like vanilla, it's now 1? Can't find 8 here anymore: https://zdoom.org/wiki/Fuzz and https://zdoom.org/wiki/CVARs:Display#gl_fuzztype

 

Tonemap I agree, 5 is better but I keep 0 for more GZDoom pk3 maps and I switch back and forth, my son uses GZDoom more so I thought I rather keep 0 in the settings and put 5 under the //. Also that's why it's under "//EXTRAS" = easily changeable options for more modern or classic experience all down there.

 

When I want to play more accurately to vanilla I run DSDA or Nugget anyway.

 

edit (Fog):

Can't find an example of the 3 settings, which is a good map to test this fogmode? Funny here https://zdoom.org/wiki/CVARs:Display#gl_fogmode it says Default=1 but I never touched it and have 2 set, changing back to 1.

 

edit2 (Fuzz):

Ohh I see, fuzztype =8 is actually exactly like vanilla (just tested side by side with Chocolate and it looks the same), I like =6 too but I HATE HATE =1. That one stays =8 :) Changed so long ago and never touched again I didn't even remember anymore.

 

r_fuzzscale is 1/true by default, I'll add the setting anyway.

Edited January 9 by CacoKnight

17 minutes ago, CacoKnight said:

Oh nice thank you, didn't even think about the fog honestly, I'll adjust then I'll test some. Can't find an example of the 3 settings, which is a good map to test this fogmode? Funny here https://zdoom.org/wiki/CVARs:Display#gl_fogmode it says Default=1 but I never touched it and have 2 set, changing back to 1.

 

 

I just look at e1m1 of DOOM.WAD at the ceiling. As far as I know Doom doesn't implement any fog, but you might be able to test with Hexen.

 

Here's some screenshots:

Fog mode: Standard // gl_fogmode=1

 

Fog mode: Radial // gl_fogmode=2

 

23 minutes ago, CacoKnight said:

Ohh I see, fuzztype =8 is actually exactly like vanilla, I like =6 too but I HATE HATE =1. That one stays =8 :) Changed so long ago and never touched again I didn't even remember anymore.

 

 

Interesting - it may be wrapping around back to 0 (Shadow). Or just defaulting to 0 because it's not a value it recognises.

 

What makes you hate =1? Just don't like the look of it? I think that will only work well with r_fuzzscale=1 or the pixels are too small to look good.

 

Just to note as well, that wiki page for the CVARs hasn't been updated since 2022, so I'm not sure if it's completely accurate 🙂 I know some GZDoom settings changed since the old Dwars YouTube video.

6 minutes ago, orffen said:

Interesting - it may be wrapping around back to 0 (Shadow). Or just defaulting to 0 because it's not a value it recognises.

 

What makes you hate =1? Just don't like the look of it? I think that will only work well with r_fuzzscale=1 or the pixels are too small to look good.

Looks like 8 is Vanilla but can't remember where I found that info, set once, checked with Chocolate and forgot. Different from 0 or 6, 8 for sure is the one I like the most.

Yeah I don't like the look of 1 :)

I just checked as well and actually that's Software fuzz (8), and yeah it looks pretty good 🙂 I'll update my post, I prefer that look.

i use these for resolution:

vid_scale_customheight 400
vid_scale_customwidth 854
vid_scale_custompixelaspect 1.2

to make sure the hud looks right

hud_oldscale true

On 1/9/2024 at 3:18 AM, Quill said:

hud_oldscale true

Didn't know about this, I kind of like 0 more so it's defaulting to the vanilla scale and I can also adjust it with Shift + +/-.

On 1/9/2024 at 8:18 PM, Quill said:

to make sure the hud looks right

hud_oldscale true

I'm wary of using settings that can't be changed in the menu, I assume they could be removed by GZDoom in future.