So you dug out the old Doom or Doom2 discs and you found that they play choppy on your Windows XP machine or that the sound doesn't work or one of a myriad of other problems that occur. This is because Windows XP abandoned the old DOS base that previous versions of Windows used. No need to worry, however, because there is a solution to your problem.

     In the intervening years since id Software released the source code for it's Doom games, the community has been very active in taking the old game to the next level. There are now many different programs, or "ports" that work with your original game to make it not only compatible with your Windows XP environment but which also enable features that are common in more current games like the Quake series or the new Doom3 game. Among these are things like strafing, jumping, etc... but also things like slopes, under water environments and much more.

     So what are these ports and where do I get them, you ask? Good question. Let's start with one of my favorites - Risen3d. This port, while slightly more difficult to use at first than some of the others, beautifully renders the original game as well as user created maps in opengl. Alongside of some new creature and weapon models, I feel this is one of the best ports available today. My next favorite would have to be Zdoom. Some of the best maps ever created by the community (In my opinion) are made for this port. It utilizes virtually every known possibility to allow mappers to create some of the most intense game environments for Doom and Doom2 that you can imagine. A cousin to this port which is fairly new on the scene but which seems to be gaining strength is the increasingly popular Gzdoom. This port incorporates all of the wonderful features of Zdoom with an open gl environemnt. I feel this is one of the must have ports for Doom and Doom2.

     Another popular port is called Legacy. While this is not personally one of my favorites, many members of the Doom community swear by it and it does have many fine features. I think it's best feature is it's easy configuration for Lan deathmatch and coop games. Speaking of multiplayer games, another popular port which was designed specifically for multiplayer is Skulltag. This port has garnered it's own following of players who like to deathmatch or play coop over the internet. If this sounds like what you want then this is the port for you. There are many more ports available on the internet but these ports cover the major players.

     So how do you use them? With the exception of Risen3d which is slightly more complicated, you simply unzip the files from the download you get at each of these sites into your Doom and Doom2 directories. After that, simply run the executable that came with it. For instance, Zdoom would be zdoom.exe and legacy would legacy.exe. You MUST have the original games for these ports to work. They are not stand alone games! If you have any further questions, you can feel free to email me.

    For links to other source ports which work with Doom and Doom2, you can check out my Source Ports page.

    Finally, if you have some even older games like Wolfenstein 3d or one of it's precursors, you can use a program called DOSBOX. Some familiarity with Linux is helpful since it uses a similar command structure to mount a "virtual drive" which allows you to play your old Dos games in a virtual Dos environment created by the program. Well, good luck and have fun!