Welcome to the Speed Demos Forum [getting started, port usage + info, co-op, etc]

Welcome to the Doom Speed Demos Subforum! This forum is a central place to post any of your speedrun demos, whether they're going into various WAD-specific threads, or other places like the Failed Demo Attempts and Personal Best threads. This forum is regularly scraped by maintainers of the Doom Speed Demo Archive, so be aware that runs of valid compatibility for a given WAD will likely be picked up and uploaded. You can always feel free to opt out, and the easiest way to do this is by not including a readable text file with the demo.

If you have an interest in recording and submitting runs for the archive, the first thing you should do is grab DSDA-Doom, which is the most recommended port for speedrunning. It maintains complete playback accuracy with the original executables, and includes a lot of useful quality-of-life features.

Getting started recording a demo is simple. Two common methods would be using the DSDA-Launcher, or one of these batch files: bats.zip. These batch files, by default, will make a subfolder with your attempts inside. You can change the map by altering the warp= variable.

Important: You should put your IWAD files (Doom, Doom2, TNT, Plutonia) inside the DSDA-Doom folder, so they will be detected and launch properly.

For Mac or Linux users looking for an equivalent to these batch files: bashscripts.zip - originally offered in this thread, details over there.

After you've recorded your demo, you should write up a .txt file to go with the demo. It doesn't have to be very long, just include relevant information like the version of DSDA-Doom you used, the wad name and map number, the time and category, and any comments you have about the run. Here is an example template: txt template.zip

DSDA-Doom also has the ability to automatically generate a text file for the run, but you will have to play back an existing demo to use it. There is more information about doing this later in the thread.

Next, you should check the naming scheme for the wad you ran, rename your demo file (lmp file extension) and the txt, select both of them and zip them together with the same name. Please submit .zip FILES ONLY, do not compress them into a .rar .7z or any other type other than a .zip file. Do not rename .rar .7z or other files into .zip files either. Zipping folders (rather than just the pair of files) is discouraged. However, if you wish to share extra stuff such as bonuses like interesting failed attempts, they are okay.

The naming scheme is a short identifier taken from the wad name, the map number (and episode, if it is The Ultimate Doom), a category identifier, and the time. You can see the full list of identifiers at the bottom of the front page of DSDA. Here are a few examples:

Finally, you're ready to post your demo! If it's a record, go post it in the relevant thread (The Ultimate Doom, Doom 2, Final Doom), or if it's a Personal Best, go show it off in the Personal Best thread!

Co-op Demos

In order to create co-op demos, currently, you will need a separate source port from DSDA-Doom, as DSDA-Doom does not have co-op support at the moment. The current recommendation is Woof, as it has largely the same compatibility range support as DSDA-Doom does. You'll want the latest version of Woof (10+), as prior versions of the port with co-op support were unstable for demo recording. Otherwise, most of the settings listed above for DSDA-Doom still apply to Woof.

For setting up co-op specifically, you will need two different kind of batch files; one for the host of the co-op session, and 1-3 for other players joining the session (classic Doom only supports co-op up to 4 players). Here's an example of a host batch file; woof_coop_server.zip - notably, you will need to provide the following extra arguments:
  * -server: this indicates that you are hosting the session
  * -nodes #: should be set from 2-4 to indicate how many players you expect in the session
  * -port ####: largely optional, but recommended to set to 2342

For other players, the required batch file arguments will depend on whether or not the co-op session is happening through the Internet (LAN example: woof_coop_autojoin_example.zip, Internet example: woof_coop_connect_example.zip). Here's an explanation of the arguments needed in either case:
  * -autojoin: in LAN, this just joins an existing co-op session
  * -connect {ip_address}: over the Internet, each player will need the host's IP address for connecting to their session. You can find this out at https://www.whatismyip.com/.

The game mode settings will derive from the host, but all players' batch files should have the same complevel, wads, skill, etc., set to be on the safe side.

For more information, please see the Multiplayer section on the Chocolate Doom wiki: https://www.chocolate-doom.org/wiki/index.php/Multiplayer. While the info in that section assumes Chocolate Doom, pretty much all of the info there also applies to Woof co-op.