How to play Doom on modern Windows systems


 * For help running Doom on other operating systems, see How to download and run Doom.

Playing Doom under Windows XP can be troublesome. All games based on the Doom engine originally ran under MS-DOS. Windows XP has only limited support for DOS, and Doom engine games may run poorly or have other issues (sound support is especially affected). Some emulation patches have been released for Sound Blaster support on newer sound cards.

Recent commercial versions of Doom (such as the Collector's Edition) include Doom 95, id Software's native Windows port of Doom. However, even this does not play correctly because of compatibility issues in Windows XP and bugs in the port itself (the most serious bug is that the mouse does not work at all).

Source ports
By far the most effective solution is to use a source port. Many source ports exist which are derived from the Doom source code, Heretic source code and Hexen source code. These are further developed and much better supported than the official game engine versions released by id Software and Raven Software.

Recommended source ports are:
 * Chocolate Doom
 * Doom Legacy
 * Doomsday
 * Eternity
 * EDGE
 * GZDoom
 * PrBoom
 * ZDoom

And if you want to play multiplayer games on the internet, you should also try:
 * Skulltag
 * ZDaemon
 * Odamex

To use a source port, one should check the official websites for more detailed information and support. Not all source ports are compatible with all operating systems and most source ports have special areas of expertise. Do remind that a legitimate IWAD is required for most source ports to work. One should visit the Comparison of Doom Source Ports lists for a more detailed overview.

Emulation
Using console ports whose ROM images are dumped into a file for game system emulators is another way to play Doom on Windows XP, but is not legal unless the player owns the original cartridge or CD.

Other solutions

 * Use DOSBox to run the original DOS Doom, Heretic or Hexen executable. Poor performance can be improved by increasing the "cycles" parameter in the DOSBox configuration file.
 * SoundFX 2000 allows sound support for DOS games under Windows XP.
 * VDMSound does the same as the above.
 * Run the original DOS Doom, Heretic and Hexen executables without sound: either use the -nosound command line argument or set snd_sfxdevice and snd_musicdevice to zero in the game configuration file.
 * It is possible to run with music but no sound effects: In setup, select General MIDI (not Sound Blaster), with 0x300 as the address. Sound effects should be turned off.  This gives a configuration with music; however, even in this configuration the music may not play properly..

Quick & easy solution
If the above text confuses you or if you are unsure which source port you want to use, you can follow the instructions below to get to play Doom as quickly and easily as possible: If you do not have the full Doom games and wish to purchase them, look here for further instructions.
 * First install your Doom game normally to a folder of your choosing. If you do not have any of the Doom games, you can download the free shareware episode here.
 * If you downloaded the shareware episode, you should now have a file called doom95.zip. Right-click on the file and extract its contents into a folder, e.g. Doom95
 * Download latest ZDoom version,.
 * Right-click on the ZDoom archive and extract its files into the same folder as the shareware episode or where you installed the full game.
 * Open the folder and start zdoom.exe, which should launch the game.