Doom Launcher - Doom frontend & database v3.7.6 (10/2024)

I was referring to this view - can't figure out how to switch to a different view than the current Large tiles. There's no right-click menu when I click the empty space on the right. Maybe I'm missing something obvious? Please see the screenshot below.

Thanks for considering my suggestions! If I may add one more: dark mode. I recently had to switch to light mode in Windows because in dark mode the windows flash white on minimise or launch etc, seems to be a limitation of stupid windows, so could be great to have it independently in the app.

20 hours ago, hobomaster22 said:

 

4 minutes ago, bLUEbYTE said:

I was referring to this view

It's in the settings.

15 hours ago, Deil said:

 

Overlay text was just an example, maybe you could put the text under the screenshot, if it's still a problem then any mark will do, even colored border around the screenshots or something like that would be enough.

 

I really like it, thanks.

 

 

Another retarded idea, would it be possible to select map from this context menu, same way we can select tags for wads from the sub-menu. (except right now it's not possible to select multiple screenshot by holding shift/ctrl)

 

I updated the edit for screenshots to go to the new one. Also added the map/title to the screenshots.
https://ci.appveyor.com/project/hobomaster22/doomlauncher/builds/46891187

I revived an old branch and got a lot more of the kinks worked out. When I push out the official release this weekend I will also a beta build for dark mode. It's not perfect and was a real fight since I have to draw my own title bar and tons of other custom drawing things.

Looks awesome, hobomaster22!

I hope you don't mind if I keep feeding in my findings & suggestions as I use this frontend more:

- Pressing enter on the left-hand pane moves to the next item instead of launching the content (I saw this in List mode on the Local tab)
- The relative sizes of panels are not remembered across program sessions.

Thanks for your awesome work.

5 hours ago, hobomaster22 said:

I revived an old branch and got a lot more of the kinks worked out. When I push out the official release this weekend I will also a beta build for dark mode. It's not perfect and was a real fight since I have to draw my own title bar and tons of other custom drawing things.

That dark mode looks fantastic, I'm so looking forward to trying it out. Sorry to hear it was a pain to make though.

Thank you so much for keeping Doom Launcher alive and well. Not even a year ago I couldn't possibly imagine using a frontend. Now I can't imagine going back to my old drag-and-drop and batch files.

19 hours ago, bLUEbYTE said:

Looks awesome, hobomaster22!

I hope you don't mind if I keep feeding in my findings & suggestions as I use this frontend more:

- Pressing enter on the left-hand pane moves to the next item instead of launching the content (I saw this in List mode on the Local tab)
- The relative sizes of panels are not remembered across program sessions.

Thanks for your awesome work.

That is the default behavior of grids in windows.
The sizes are saved, but there has been quirks with it that I haven't been able to track down. For me it happens rarely and then just the one time. I haven't been able to reliably reproduce it myself unfortunately.

I really like the revised layout! Especially having the tabs all along the left.

I wonder, would it be possible to add the option to be able to set the order/priority of tags? Mostly because of how I'd like certain tabs' colors (like total conversions and Christmas-themed wads) to be higher on the priority than others (patches) when determining what colors to use for the mod's title.

26 minutes ago, Superjustinbros said:

I really like the revised layout! Especially having the tabs all along the left.

Apparently, you can make that layout in the current version. In the settings, under Configuration, change "Show Tab Headers" to "No" and then click on the "Tags" button next to the "IWAD #" label and click on the pin icon in that menu so it stays there until you click the pin icon again. 

New version 3.6.5
 

https://github.com/nstlaurent/DoomLauncher/releases/tag/3.6.5

Dark Mode preview build:

https://github.com/nstlaurent/DoomLauncher/releases/tag/3.6.5-dark-mode

There are some sacrifices that had to be made since everything is very custom. Unfortunately the Windows Forms framework makes it very cumbersome to do something as simple as changing colors. I have been using this release for a bit and haven't had any issues but I expect some problems to show up on different machines.

 

20 hours ago, hobomaster22 said:

New version 3.6.5
...

Soo good.
I grabbed the dark-mode build and gave it a spin.

Firstly, I didn't see this on the release changelog but it now seems to consistently remember the panel sizes. Nice one!

Regarding the new page size options; now that I'm pretty much always on the Grid mode, it made little difference for me but nevertheless I think it's a great change (I've settled on 500 for the rare time when I use Tiles mode).

Disabling 'Show Play dialog' worked just as intended.

Regarding the dark mode implementation, even though I know nothing about the Windows programming ecosystem, I can imagine the pain and likely hacky ways it forced you to do it in. I mean, the whole global dark mode implementation in the OS seems to me like one giant hack, as per my previous post. I hope that it won't give you too much of a burden going forward.

The dark mode itself seems all fine in Tile modes, however in the Grid mode I get black on black for text. Windows is configured as light mode. Strangely, if I use the search box and then clear the search, the full list comes back in white text, until I click somewhere else - then it reverts to black on black. A similar thing occurs if I scroll down using PgDown key, the next 'page' has white text for a split second before becoming black.

The second issue I'd like to report is more of a UX thing - for example I searched for the 1monster WAD and there is one match, which seems to be selected. However the right panel doesn't update, it still shows the item from the last selection. Only after I click on that item on the left panel then the right panel switches to show its details.

Also, the window can't be resized.

Thank you & hope you keep up the good work.

4 hours ago, bLUEbYTE said:

Soo good.
I grabbed the dark-mode build and gave it a spin.

Firstly, I didn't see this on the release changelog but it now seems to consistently remember the panel sizes. Nice one!

Regarding the new page size options; now that I'm pretty much always on the Grid mode, it made little difference for me but nevertheless I think it's a great change (I've settled on 500 for the rare time when I use Tiles mode).

Disabling 'Show Play dialog' worked just as intended.

Regarding the dark mode implementation, even though I know nothing about the Windows programming ecosystem, I can imagine the pain and likely hacky ways it forced you to do it in. I mean, the whole global dark mode implementation in the OS seems to me like one giant hack, as per my previous post. I hope that it won't give you too much of a burden going forward.

The dark mode itself seems all fine in Tile modes, however in the Grid mode I get black on black for text. Windows is configured as light mode. Strangely, if I use the search box and then clear the search, the full list comes back in white text, until I click somewhere else - then it reverts to black on black. A similar thing occurs if I scroll down using PgDown key, the next 'page' has white text for a split second before becoming black.

The second issue I'd like to report is more of a UX thing - for example I searched for the 1monster WAD and there is one match, which seems to be selected. However the right panel doesn't update, it still shows the item from the last selection. Only after I click on that item on the left panel then the right panel switches to show its details.

Also, the window can't be resized.

Thank you & hope you keep up the good work.

 

I'm not sure about the other Windows frameworks, but with Windows Forms dark mode is definitely a giant hack that you are forced into. A lot of the windows base is quite old and the ability to have themes like this didn't come along until recently, relatively speaking. Their older frameworks were never designed for it. The window can't be resized because it doesn't have a titlebar. No idea why they made this decision and it was one of the decisions that originally made me scrap the entire thing. This also means I have to manually calculate maximum window size every time, otherwise it would cover the task bar. For resizing the window, I would have to code this myself and I'm not seeing a good way to handle it that isn't an absurd amount of work. The compromise I came up with is setting it to a percentage of the screen size when leaving maximized.

The text for grid views should be fixed and the selection should update properly now searching:
https://ci.appveyor.com/project/hobomaster22/doomlauncher/builds/46980498

Impressive work, thanks again. Now I really like this launcher.
Will post if I run into new issues or have new feature or enhancement ideas.

I found a couple issues myself, probably related to the dark mode build: when adding a file and processing it (when the little progress bar shows up), the text box on the lower right turns white. The other is that whole section where the text box is was resized to be super narrow since the last time I opened DoomLauncher (which was yesterday). I do shut down my laptop before going to bed, so I assume something happened to make it do that during shutdown or on startup. Figured I'd mention it for more context.

Anyway, I enjoy the dark mode a lot!

Looks like DoomLauncher can't handle more than ~330 screenshots for a single wad, at least on my machine. Last visible row of screenshots has this glitch at the bottom, and everything past that is just a white emptiness.

Can we get an option to not sync our screenshots automatically between the source port and DoomLauncher? Right now there's only "delete after import" option which is quite the opposite. Thanks.

I simultaneously love and hate this update. On one hand, managing screenshots is so much more organised, on the other, now I have to go back and edit allllll those screenshots I took of the maps. Also, organising the position of these screenshots is still not too great, have to move each one manually up or down one space, with each move resetting me back to the first screenshot in the list. At the very least, we need a 'sort by map' and 'set last' option

Small bug I noticed on version 3.6.5.0. If an iwad zip archive has a file in it that alphabetically comes before the actual wad, then Doom Launcher will try to load that file instead.

Case below; action2.txt comes before action2.wad so it'll be considered the actual iwad file by the launcher.

EDIT:

I've found another bug. I'm not sure what's causing it because I wasn't having any issues with this before, but currently I can't edit details of screenshots I've imported manually (as opposed to screenshots I've taken myself)

Error message:

Sorry for double posting but I thought this was funny (i also need help)

I'm trying to install the windows re-release of an old DOS game (Boppin') and when I try to run the launcher it gives me a Doom Launcher error?

Boppin downloaded from https://jenniverse.com/boppin main.html

1 hour ago, Renbot said:

Sorry for double posting but I thought this was funny (i also need help)

I'm trying to install the windows re-release of an old DOS game (Boppin') and when I try to run the launcher it gives me a Doom Launcher error?

 

  Hide contents

Details:

Unable to locate application file 'DoomLauncher.msi'.

See the setup log file located at 'C:\Users\pc\AppData\Local\Temp\VSD50B1.tmp\install.log' for more information.

 

log:https://rentry.org/e2v9w

Boppin downloaded from https://jenniverse.com/boppin main.html

Looks like you somehow associated self-extracting EXEs with DoomLauncher. That's a big no-no.

14 hours ago, Dark Pulse said:

Looks like you somehow associated self-extracting EXEs with DoomLauncher. That's a big no-no.

Any idea on how to fix it? I don't know how it happened

@Renbot This build fixes the IWAD issue with Action Doom 2 and the edit details for screenshots. As for that install issue, it appears the installer for Doom Launcher is being run. I tested that self extracting archive and it 'works on my machine™' and I can't explain how that self extracting archive is running the Doom Launcher installer.

@Devalaous This build adds a 'Sort by Map' option in the screenshots.

Main build (also happens to be build number 666):
https://ci.appveyor.com/project/hobomaster22/doomlauncher/builds/47337879/artifacts
Dark mode build:
https://ci.appveyor.com/project/hobomaster22/doomlauncher/builds/47338020/artifacts
 

Hi Hobo,

I found a few things you may or may not want to look at, and forgive in advance if my explanation is confusing, especially for the 2nd issue:

1. Nerve.wad (the No Rest For The Living expansion) won't play by default using your launcher. It uses the Doom2 iWad, but cannot find the levels. It just looks for MAP01-09. But, NERVE's levels are called actually called LEVEL01, LEVEL02 etc. So, you may want to tweak..

2.  That new Show Play Dialog option you put in, for skipping the launch screen. I have it unchecked. So, if I have Doom2 as the default iWad to use, and I use your Play Random feature, and the launcher selects a Doom 1 wad that I haven't yet played (i.e. E1M1, E1M2 etc), it just loads up a Doom 2 map. So, I can't really stay unchecked with Show Play Dialog unless Doom Launcher calls a DOOM 2 pWad. There's probably no way around that right?

3. Renaming Files. There's a character limit when you rename files. Can you extend that a couple dozen or so characters?

Also, feature request: Can you add drag and drop functionality in the Load Order section?

Regardless, love this launcher and thanks for all your hard work on this amazing app.

On 7/12/2023 at 11:38 PM, hatehatehatehate said:

Hi Hobo,

 

I found a few things you may or may not want to look at, and forgive in advance if my explanation is confusing, especially for the 2nd issue:

 

1. Nerve.wad (the No Rest For The Living expansion) won't play by default using your launcher. It uses the Doom2 iWad, but cannot find the levels. It just looks for MAP01-09. But, NERVE's levels are called actually called LEVEL01, LEVEL02 etc. So, you may want to tweak..

2.  That new Show Play Dialog option you put in, for skipping the launch screen. I have it unchecked. So, if I have Doom2 as the default iWad to use, and I use your Play Random feature, and the launcher selects a Doom 1 wad that I haven't yet played (i.e. E1M1, E1M2 etc), it just loads up a Doom 2 map. So, I can't really stay unchecked with Show Play Dialog unless Doom Launcher calls a DOOM 2 pWad. There's probably no way around that right?

3. Renaming Files. There's a character limit when you rename files. Can you extend that a couple dozen or so characters?

 

 

Also, feature request: Can you add drag and drop functionality in the Load Order section?

 

Regardless, love this launcher and thanks for all your hard work on this amazing app.

1. The map lump names in Nerve.wad are actually MAP01-MAP09. This only breaks in GZDoom because it has a built in MAPINFO that change it LEVEL01-09 for reasons I don't entirely understand.

2. I'm going to do two things with this. I will add a check box that can allow you to show the dialog if it's disabled in the settings. And have the dialog remember the last selected file/map.

3. I can. What is the filename that you are wanting to change to? Keep in mind that Windows has some old legacy limitations where the the filename + path have to fit in 260 characters.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/fileio/maximum-file-path-limitation?tabs=registry

I can add the feature request in the list of things to look at for a later release.

11 hours ago, hobomaster22 said:

1. The map lump names in Nerve.wad are actually MAP01-MAP09. This only breaks in GZDoom because it has a built in MAPINFO that change it LEVEL01-09 for reasons I don't entirely understand.

2. I'm going to do two things with this. I will add a check box that can allow you to show the dialog if it's disabled in the settings. And have the dialog remember the last selected file/map.

3. I can. What is the filename that you are wanting to change to? Keep in mind that Windows has some old legacy limitations where the the filename + path have to fit in 260 characters.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/fileio/maximum-file-path-limitation?tabs=registry

 

I can add the feature request in the list of things to look at for a later release.

1. No problem at all. I can easily still get to any map in NERVE through console or launch parameters.

2. I don't quite understand, but that's OK.

Slight plot twist: I would use DoomComplete (JPL's Wadsmoosh project) to get around this whole issue, but there's one problem: when using DoomComplete in Doom Launcher, it won't load up any maps using the E1M1 format. I'd thought of bringing that up earlier in this thread, but never did.

3.  Any file. I rename all my wads (through Doom Launcher) for organization purposes. Doom Launcher lets me rename up to 44 characters (which is a lot), but yea, it'd be cool to extend that to 60 or 70. It's not a big deal and no one else probably cares, but it's something that I noticed.

Feature Request: Thank you for adding to the queue!

19 hours ago, hobomaster22 said:

The map lump names in Nerve.wad are actually MAP01-MAP09. This only breaks in GZDoom because it has a built in MAPINFO that change it LEVEL01-09 for reasons I don't entirely understand.

Sorry to intervene in the conversation but this part confused me, I use Doom Launcher with GZDoom, and don't remember ever having a problem with nerve.wad. I just went now and checked it (latest version of Doom Launcher with GZDoom 4.10), and launching nerve.wad through Doom Launcher, with doom2.wad as the IWAD, works exactly as it should and as it does if I launch it through GZDoom's own launcher: starting a "New Game" offers the option between "Hell on Earth" and "No Rest For The Living", first one takes me to Entryway, second ones takes me to the NRFTL maps as normal. GZDoom's built-in MAPINFO to control all this works fine with Doom Launcher as far as I can tell.

3 hours ago, brick said:

Sorry to intervene in the conversation but this part confused me, I use Doom Launcher with GZDoom, and don't remember ever having a problem with nerve.wad. I just went now and checked it (latest version of Doom Launcher with GZDoom 4.10), and launching nerve.wad through Doom Launcher, with doom2.wad as the IWAD, works exactly as it should and as it does if I launch it through GZDoom's own launcher: starting a "New Game" offers the option between "Hell on Earth" and "No Rest For The Living", first one takes me to Entryway, second ones takes me to the NRFTL maps as normal. GZDoom's built-in MAPINFO to control all this works fine with Doom Launcher as far as I can tell.

You are right that it works perfectly fine if you launch with GZDoom and go through the new game screen. Where it breaks is if you select a specific map to warp to, which is what I think @hatehatehatehate was talking about. Selecting MAP01 directly in Doom Launcher goes to Doom2 MAP01 instead of MAP01 from nerve.wad because GZDoom has a MAPINFO that remaps nerve.wad MAP01 to LEVEL01. Instead of the launch parameter being +map MAP01 it would need to be +map LEVEL01 for GZDoom. In every other port it would still be +MAP01 or -warp 1.

13 hours ago, hatehatehatehate said:

2. I don't quite understand, but that's OK.

Slight plot twist: I would use DoomComplete (JPL's Wadsmoosh project) to get around this whole issue, but there's one problem: when using DoomComplete in Doom Launcher, it won't load up any maps using the E1M1 format. I'd thought of bringing that up earlier in this thread, but never did.

 

Currently maps that are in ExMx or MAPxx format always use the legacy warp parameter. I will fix this in the next update by having ports that support +map to always use +map instead of -warp.

On 7/15/2023 at 3:38 AM, hobomaster22 said:

Currently maps that are in ExMx or MAPxx format always use the legacy warp parameter. I will fix this in the next update by having ports that support +map to always use +map instead of -warp.

Game changer for me. Much appreciated.

Found something noteworthy today from two wads (The Sentinel's Lexicon, and the new Ramp2023 project): these are compilation wads with hundreds of maps, but in Doom Launcher they both only show the maps for the Hubs, which is like 3 maps for each wad. So, none of those maps will show up in stats. Is this a compatibility thing you're able to tweak on your end?

Note: Lexicon's maps have a three character prefix and then the map #, while Ramp2023 is just MAP01-MAP296 (-ish).

3.7.0 Release
https://github.com/nstlaurent/DoomLauncher/releases/tag/3.7.0
 

Thanks for the update, big fan of dark mode + stacked tabs.

There's this one weird bug I noticed;

If a file already had comments written before this update, if you edit the comments the number of maps will drop to 0.

Doesn't seem to happen with newly written comments, only if the comments were written in a previous version.

example; https://i.imgur.com/ZGUPjVu.mp4