Older FPS games: mouse aim yes/no?

[AW8]

I have the GOG version and it took me forever to figure out how to alter the controls, but there's a config app in the start menu of all places. Don't see it anywhere else. Anyway, it has mouse sensitivity options and allows you to boot the original setup program to change keybinds. It was a pretty smooth experience after that, though I did think the game was crazy easy on medium so I'll look and see if that shield thing is on.

The only way I was able to start the setup menu was to open Dosbox.conf and temporarily outcomment dark.exe and add install.exe under [autoexec]. There's also the DOSBox remapper (Ctrl+F1 while in-game) but I found the DOS menu fit my needs.

By the way, I didn't realize vertical aiming was vanilla behavior since I had never touched Page Up/Page Down, I thought it was a mod. I tried a program called GlovePIE to bind the mouse's vertical axis to Page Up/Page Down and...

Drunkard Simulator 95.

I'm gonna stick with horizontal aiming only, with practice shooting enemies above me using the auto-aim is starting to feel easier.

 

[schru]

All you need to do to run the Setup.exe is to drag and drop it on DOSBox.exe or its shortcut, which tend to be placed in the same folder.

 

[DalekFlay]

I'm gonna stick with horizontal aiming only, with practice shooting enemies above me using the auto-aim is starting to feel easier.

It's definitely trickier in Dark Forces than in Doom. Backing up a good ways seems to help, and you also have to be right on target.

 

[<3sRichardSimmons]

Best way to play Dark Forces (or really any pre-mouse-look FPS) without mouse-look while still remaining true to devs intent is to bind WASD to forward/turn left/backward/turn right and, using the NUMPAD, bind 8 to pitch up, 2 to pitch down, 5 to center view, and 0 to fire. Feels extremely intuitive and isn't hard to do in most games with config files. Also has added bonus of giving you a ton of ancillary keys for any strange esoteric commands individual games might have.

 

[DalekFlay]

I might have played them a little while after release, not sure, but when I first played Doom and Dark Forces back in the day I did so with a mouse. I probably used the arrow keys with it, but I definitely used a mouse. So the "play it how they did back then" keyboard only stuff flies over my head honestly. I respect a lot of people did though, and want that same experience today. That's why it's on the poll. My main interest though is whether the average gamer turns on vertical aim in source ports like zDoom and eDuke.

 

[schru]

I do in EDuke because vertical aim was always in the game. It's true that it wasn't enabled by default (there's a dedicated toggle key and a key to invert the y axis) and looking up and down wasn't really used by the developers in the menu demos.

 

[oddech_wymarlych_swiatow]

Doom is a keyboard-only game for me. It was made for that

Is there any interview with Id that confirms it? Back in the day, I discovered that Doom should be played via mouse just from watching attract modes over and over, check this out:



You cannot play that way with keyboard only. Though it's still mystery if they done that demos with max mouse speed that is available in in-game menu, I had to increase it through config file to receive optimal results.

Nowadays I like to play PSX ports of Doom and Final Doom with gamepad, these ports are slower than PC version and lack Archviles so it's pretty convenient.

 

[Generic-Giant-Spider]

If you don't play Doom as intended then I view you as a lesser humanoid. That's just how it is.

 

[Arbiter]

If you like Outcast and Academy, there is a Dark Forces mod for the later that recreates first few levels. Highly recommended, though we will probably never see it completed.

I actually played this mod 10 years ago. It was super cool to play new levels and I loved the music, so it's fun to play the original thing now.
I remember it ended with a Dark Trooper boss fight that was completely broken because it just walked around without attacking. I checked the mod page (Mod DB? Can't remember) to see if the modder was still working on it, and he had apparently gotten into fights with players as I was greeted with messages where he essentially told players to go fuck themselves and that he was done with modding forever.

There appears to be a continuation of that mod with more levels: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xF3p8Dt8WbY

 

[DraQ]

If you don't play Doom as intended then I view you as a lesser humanoid. That's just how it is.

Fuck humanoids, I mostly play Doom as fucking dragon these days, screwing the "intended" part sideways.

 

[DraQ]

Fuck humanoids, I mostly play Doom as fucking dragon these days, screwing the "intended" part sideways.

It would be cool if someone made a dragon mod that were actually good.

That one is good, though I would prefer dragon mod that is more dragony.

 

[BLOBERT]

BROS I PLAYED DOOM WITH KEYBOARD WHEN IT CAME OUT

DONE WITH THAT SHIT BROS LOLLLOLLOLL

 

[DraQ]

Fuck humanoids, I mostly play Doom as fucking dragon these days, screwing the "intended" part sideways.

It would be cool if someone made a dragon mod that were actually good.

That one is good, though I would prefer dragon mod that is more dragony.

I want a dragon mod that actually has its own campaign and isn't stupid.

This isn't stupid, it is metal.

(not that I don't agree, mind you)

 

[Melcar]

Traditional FPS games, old and new, I play with mouse aim. I started playing those games back in the mid 90s. Now games like Freespace and other 6DOF titles, it's fucking full keyboard for me. Can't stand using the mouse in those type of games for some reason.

 

[Kirtai]

Traditional FPS games, old and new, I play with mouse aim. I started playing those games back in the mid 90s. Now games like Freespace and other 6DOF titles, it's fucking full keyboard for me. Can't stand using the mouse in those type of games for some reason.

What, no joysticks? Pleb.

 

[Nutmeg]

BROS I PLAYED DOOM WITH KEYBOARD WHEN IT CAME OUT

DONE WITH THAT SHIT BROS LOLLLOLLOLL

Me too, then I used mouse exclusively, but then after playing perfect dark with keyboard and mouse I learned that control scheme greatly affects challenge and removes certain elements of the level design so I went back to keyboard for doom too.

A constant turn rate is one of the assumptions baked into the levels and YMMV breaking that assumption.

 

[DraQ]

BROS I PLAYED DOOM WITH KEYBOARD WHEN IT CAME OUT

DONE WITH THAT SHIT BROS LOLLLOLLOLL

Me too, then I used mouse exclusively, but then after playing perfect dark with keyboard and mouse I learned that control scheme greatly affects challenge and removes certain elements of the level design so I went back to keyboard for doom too.

Personally I don't give a fuck about challenge introduced by fucky controls.

 

[Kirtai]

Personally I don't give a fuck about challenge introduced by fucky controls.

It sounds like fake difficulty to me.

 

[Semiurge]

Only keyboard.

 

[Average Manatee]

If the concern is how these games warp when looking up or down, source ports generally fix the issue.

If the concern is difficulty, I don't see how mouse look up or down makes things generally more difficult as compared to auto aim up or down. Once in a blue moon you might want to shoot something on the ground that is perfectly in line with another enemy that you would otherwise auto aim up at, but this is so incredibly rare as to be irrelevant.

Generally I think that most old FPS games that get easy are easy simply because players are better now. At least, players who played DOOM when they were 8 are much better at DOOM now that they are in their 30s. Thankfully DOOM has -fast monsters, and games like Blood and Shadow Warrior have incredibly sadistic higher difficulty settings that I don't think anyone was reasonably beating on launch.

 

[Sinatar]

From the doom manual (page 9)

 

[DraQ]

From the doom manual (page 9)

Glorious PC master race VS dirty tryhard retro peasants* - which is better and why?

Spoiler

Discuss!!

*

Actually Codex in a nutshell