What method do you use to launch your pwads?

I looked around a whole bunch and never found a proper poll for this.  Which probably means there is a proper, better poll on like page 2 but never mind

Anyway, with the many many questions and threads asking which source ports people like to play with I figured it would be interesting and potentially useful to see how folks actually load up their Doomy content in the first place.  I'm sure my poll isn't even half complete anyway (I guess I can add items if something really obvious and stupid is missing) so if you choose one of the "other" type options go ahead and describe how you do it.  I left it multiple choice because it might be situational for some people.

I never used a frontend at all until like a year ago; before that I'd click and drag if I was on Windows or use the command line if I was on Linux.  I'm new to them but boy are there a bunch now.  I've kind of grandfathered into using Doom Launcher, I really like it for the most part, have it managing all my wads for me because my prior wad management was just to throw them all into one big ol folder.  AceCorp Launcher looks pretty neat, if I ever switch that's probably the one I'd jump to.

It's only recently when I discovered that launchers exist and I've been playing Doom 20+ years (lol). All of that time I used command line and recently came up with my own "launcher" made out of a couple bat files to run my mod.

Doom Launcher is my main, with ZDL as the alt for testing. Occasionally I'll use command line/batch file for a very niche use case or two (ex. Master Levels), but even then most of my direct tinkering with DSDA-Doom cmd options happens in ZDL first.

I used to just drag and drop, back when I didn't know what -complevel meant and when I figured ZDoom would suffice for just about everything. Doom Launcher helps me keep my enormous downloads library organized and searchable via tags, in addition to including cmd line and demo naming fields. It's excellent for casual plays and testing, and the size bloat's pretty minimal compared to having redundant copies of file folders with less management. I'd feel a bit different if I played more multiplayer mods (Doomseeker automates that just fine for me), but for single-player, there's not much more I think Doom Launcher needs to add or perfect.

ZDL, on the other hand, works perfectly when I just want to record FDAs for something I've found in WAD Releases which I don't feel like adding to Doom Launcher yet. The lack of extra features makes it much better for these lightweight tasks.

I use .bat files

Batch files!  I knew I was missing something.  It looks a bit tacked on but that's what I get for not remembering lol.

I wrote a fancy-ish batch file you can drag mods on, where you only need to press at most two keys to set the IWAD/complevel, plus it sets the right cl for just vanilla.

Rockets. I've got three wads in heliocentric orbit as we speak, not to mention the additional wads orbiting pluto, neptune, and jupiter. Only costs 3 billion a pop.

I've set WAD files to be opened with DSDA-Doom by default so i just double click lmao. guess that counts as other method?

Batch files and Doom Runner are the two most common ways for me, though in DOSBox I'll usually type it all out every time if I haven't made one of those fancy menus that uses multiple batch files for things like enabling and disabling novert without typing it out.

Doom Runner is especially convenient when running upwards of ten or more mods and patch files with GZDoom; being able to deselect files and still keep them in the list order, or opening the actual file location for any file with two clicks are the biggest reasons I use it so often.

I keep a lot of source ports in the msys64 folder because it's fun to update them every time there's any little change on GitHub, but I don't like to copy iwad files into every folder and find a front end overkill for just a few files and parameters, so a simple batch file does the trick in that scenario.

@Dheta I’ve consolidated the first option as “in window” to include that, since it’s pretty adjacent to clicking and dragging to my mind (no futzing around with parameters or any of that, in particular).  Guess I could be more granular than that but eeeeeehhh

I’m used to using Batch files in both Windows and Linux, and I usually launch them through a two-panel file manager such as FAR or MC. They also contain a command line, if necessary.

Did use file association for the longest time, maybe Doom Launcher if I wanted to get crazy with mods, but lately I've been using a lot of DSDA-launcher since I heard about it. Love DSDA-doom so it was a no-brainer for me. Great source port, still use GZDoom from time to time for WADs that need that but I'm happy with what I use now. 

Batch files. Organizing files is something a filesystem can do perfectly fine for my simple needs. Searchable? Check. Grouped together (wads/ports/.bat-s)? Sure, it's called a directory. Copy run configurations (i.e. batch files)? A basic function of FS. I rarely use obscure parameters and multiple sourceports, so it's 95% just copypaste, rename, edit -complevel and -file, done once and for all.

If I were the type to meticulously categorize stuff by tags (never) or frequently mix and match multiple gameplay mods with maps (maybe sometime in the future?), I'd probably look towards a launcher as a library and easy-to-adjust-load-order manager.

Drag'n'drop is the most "completely out of question" method between -complevel and load order relevance existing, wads being kept in a different place from source ports and desktop icons being something I've parted ways with well over a decade ago.

I use SoBad's Doom Launcher for basically everything nowadays, it has a good layout and is very simple to use. It's also really good for quickly recording / loading demos. My only real complaint with it is that switching launchers is kind of inconvenient compared to some other launchers, but I basically just use DSDA for everything nowadays so it doesn't really bother me. It doesn't work with pk3s or other ZDoom mods but I personally don't use any of those.

I used to use ZDL but it's sort of outdated and I had a lot of issues with it so I ended up switching over, but I still keep it around for weird things like loading custom Doom64 episodes or whatnot.

I disorganizedly dump all my PWADs into the folder of whatever source port I'm using (if I need to run it in another source port, I'll make a symbolic link to the wad in that folder), and then launch it from a terminal. I use linux btw.

cmd with batch files for aliases

Mainly Rocket Launcher 2. It's simple, does what I want, and I've been using it for years so I've gotten used to it. Sadly it's no longer maintained.

When I want more control over parameters, I launch the source port directly from the command line.

Also, a couple months back I made a command-based frontend, so I could just open a terminal and type something like:

doom --engine woof --iwad doom2 --pwad eviternity

In theory, it was supposed to be more comfy than opening a GUI launcher and dragging the mouse cursor all over the screen. But it's still unfinished and has some rough edges. It lacks tab completion, which is a bummer because I have to type out everything... Or worse, manually list the contents of my PWAD directory so that I know the file names.

I'm not sure if Windows has this too but on Linux there's a terminal program called TWAD. if you're a Linux user its definitely the best doom launcher I know of. Its extremely light weight and can even save and run demo files. Its a good program.

If I'm playing natively on modern Windows, I'll usually launch with Woof via ZDL. Rock-solid, versatile source port with a tried and true launcher. Can't go wrong.

If I'm playing on DOSBox or real DOS/Win9x DOS, I'll launch with either a batch file (if I'm super lazy and have one set up) or idManager. 

Drag and drop or batch files are what I tend to use.

Command line pretty much all of the time, except when I'm using Doomsday and use its built-in launcher.  Even then, I sometimes launch Doomsday from the command line lol.

Yeah I live in terminals.

Command line. Well, sometimes I use ZDL, too.

(On Windows) I make batch files to launch the 3 or 4 wads I'm in the middle of playing through, even if drag and drop would be enough in some cases, as it helps me keep track of those wads in case of a long hiatus.

If I'm not commiting to a full playthrough yet, I drag and drop onto a source port's shrotcut if that's enough (I have shortcuts to multiple source ports in every floder with wads in it) or use the command line if necessary.

Command line, either in PowerShell or Bash depending on whether I'm on my Windows or my Linux computer. It gives you a little more control and precision and the friction of it doesn't annoy me as much as opening three different windows so I can drag and drop two different wads onto a source port's icon. I like Doom Explorer and ZDL, but those feel like abstractions of the command line now that I'm familiar with the CLI.

I also use batch files/shell scripts to run wads and record demos easily and consistently, but this tends not to be the way I usually launch wads these days.

I pretty much exclusively use Doom Launcher, unless I wanna play Ashes 2063, in which case I just use batch files (both episodes are shortcuts on my desktop.)

Came back here to find the name of that one launcher I'd been wanting to try (it was AceCorp) and also to add the Bethesda.net platform since that's a major enough change to the modding environment to warrant it.  I'm still using Doom Launcher by default, but kind of wanting to try something a bit more minimal for quick playtesting, at least alongside DL which maybe can be kept for like "finished" releases and things of that sort

Perfect opportunity to share my wad-launching methods.

I use DoomRunner, and it's pretty useful for what I'm doing. You can get it to create a folder for each preset inside a dedicated folder if you know what you're doing. Simplistic, but awesome.

Most of the time, ZDL. When actively testing something that I'm making I will have a terminal open and launch it from there so I can read stdout.

I grew up with DOOM on DOS and while I've tried all kinds of engines GZDOOM is life, when I play with no crouching jumping free look it's just like yeah, cute... downloaded chocolate Doom and some others recently and yeah... Deleted. Half if not more of the games on my computer I drag onto DOSBOX but not DOOM

What are you talking about? This is about how you launch Doom wads, not what source port you use.