GZDoom doesn't work 'Out of Box'

[Caligari_87]

So I got home after a two year hiatus, and decided that I should just drop my Doom1.wad and Doom2.wad into a fresh GZDoom download folder and start from scratch.

But there's a problem. Out of the box, dynamic lights (lights.pk3) don't load unless I rename it to a .wad and put it into the "Skins" folder, and I can't make brightmaps work at all. This may be my computer (crappy laptop), but I think it's like lights.pk3; not loading or buggy. Do they need special shaders? I can't get shaders to work either; never have, even with an ATI Radeon 9200 on my old machine.

On top of that, I noticed an odd bug: After configuring my preferences, I dropped the IWADS into a folder called "IWADs" and adjusted the preferences file to match. It seemed to work, until I dragged a PWAD onto GZDoom; then it wouldn't see my IWADs unless they were in the same folder as the executable.

There's some other odd quirks which I'm forgetting, but that's the gist of it; I can't just download and go - there's something wrong. Believe me, I've tried several times, and it doesn't happen.

[Rachael]

What version are you using?

Have you tried downloading 1.1.04, then installing an SVN version on top of it?

And yes, brightmaps require shaders; they won't work without them.

I think mostly you might need some INI edits.

[Graf Zahl]

So I got home after a two year hiatus, and decided that I should just drop my Doom1.wad and Doom2.wad into a fresh GZDoom download folder and start from scratch.

But there's a problem. Out of the box, dynamic lights (lights.pk3) don't load unless I rename it to a .wad and put it into the "Skins" folder,

That's quite intentional. Dynamic lights are an add-on so you have to add the file to the INI's autoload section. Don't use the Skins folder! It's for skins, not for autoloading other stuff.

and I can't make brightmaps work at all. This may be my computer (crappy laptop), but I think it's like lights.pk3; not loading or buggy. Do they need special shaders? I can't get shaders to work either; never have, even with an ATI Radeon 9200 on my old machine.

Yes, they need shaders - and of course you need to load brightmaps.pk3. Like lights.pk3 it's an add-on that is not loaded by default.

On top of that, I noticed an odd bug: After configuring my preferences, I dropped the IWADS into a folder called "IWADs" and adjusted the preferences file to match. It seemed to work, until I dragged a PWAD onto GZDoom; then it wouldn't see my IWADs unless they were in the same folder as the executable.

If you properly set the IWADs search path in the INI this should work as intended. I can start ZDoom and GZDoom from all over my HD and they always find the IWADs that are in one central place.

There's some other odd quirks which I'm forgetting, but that's the gist of it; I can't just download and go - there's something wrong. Believe me, I've tried several times, and it doesn't happen.

There's absolutely nothing wrong so there's nothing to fix.

[Caligari_87]

*facepalm* Well, I'll be jiggered. I thought I tried everything.

It was a little work to find out how to autoload Wads and pk3s with the INI, and to get the paths working properly, but it works fine now.

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

[Gez]

Don't use the Skins folder! It's for skins, not for autoloading other stuff.

You know that restriction against loading most lumps from files with S_SKIN lumps? I always thought it'd make more sense if it was in effect only against files (and all files) that are autoloaded by virtue of being in the skins folder.

[Enjay]

And, contrarily, I would have preferred it if the skins directory was actually called "autoload" and could possibly have subdirs for the different games.

Why? Because I think it would be easier and feel better than editing a game config file. Also, if you are trying to make something stand-alone for your friends, sometimes putting things in the main WAD isn't appropriate so having an autoload/skins directory is useful as an alternative and means that you don't have to either give your intended audience instructions how to add things to their ini or provide an ini for them.

/looks around furtively
Shhhh! don't tell anyone but there is also the super-secret zvox.wad file too. You didn't hear it from me though.

[Graf Zahl]

An Autoload folder has one big problem: There is no way to properly define loading order - and autoloaded WADs may depend on proper order.

[Enjay]

The obvious way would be how some games do it - alpha numeric by file name.

[MartinHowe]

The obvious way would be how some games do it - alpha numeric by file name.

Which is how most Unixes load driver files and startup scripts for a specified configuration - you say "safe mode" I say "run level 1"