Back when I was new to source ports and had no idea how to use Zdoom I spent a day or two just trying to figure out how to use Zdoom to run home made mods. Now that I know how, I hope this page helps newbies learn the neat Zdoom tricks faster than I did.

  First of all you need zdoom. Get it at www.zdoom.org. Second you need the doom 1 or doom 2 IWAD. An IWAD is the Doom games main file. It contains all of the sprites code and levels the game uses to run. Once you have located your IWAD, unzip the Zdoom folder and drag and drop the IWAD into it. Now the folder has a file called doom2.wad (I'm using doom 2 as an example, it works the same with doom 1 or final doom.) Now clicking on the Zdoom application launches the game doom 2. There you go now you can play Doom on any computer you like new or old, dos or no dos. Remember you can have more than one IWAD in your zdoom folder. If you have more than one IWAD in the Zdoom folder, a screen will appear asking you to choose which one to play. Simply pick one and play Doom.

  A PWAD is basically a attachment to the game. It is a custom user made level that needs the full version of doom to run. To run a PWAD on Zdoom, you don't need to do all of that fancy path writing, instead just drag and drop the wad onto the Zdoom application. Doing so causes Zdoom to launch, it reconizes the wad and runs it as long as it's Zdoom compatible. Wads made for other ports like doomsday may not run with zdoom. Also the version of Zdoom you are using effects how a wad runs. Another way to run a custom wad file is to right click on the wad go to properties, and go to the open with option. Under the open with option select your Zdoom application. Now whenever you double click a wad Zdoom automatically opens up and runs it. No paths or drag "n" dropping required. If you have more than one IWAD in your Zdoom folder Zdoom will ask you to choose an Iwad to run the custom wad file. If it's a Doom 2 wad You select the Doom 2 iwad to run it. A doom 2 wad will not run with the Doom 1 IWAD, nor will a doom 1 wad run with a Doom 2 IWAD.

Hopefully this helps all of you Doom n00bs out there. :P