Doomsday Command Line Options

CONTENTS:

1. General options

Option	Abbr.	Description
@filename		Response file. The given file is read and its contents are inserted to the command line, replacing the option itself. E.g. @args.rsp.
--		Stop processing options. Anything after this is discarded. Useful in response files.
-verbose	-v	Be more verbose with console messages. Two -verbose options gives even more messages (e.g. -v -v).
-userdir P	-ud	Sets the working directory. By default the engine uses the current working directory (the one in which it was started). Relative paths in -game and -gl are not affected.
-basedir P	-bd	Defines a custom base directory that will be prepended to some relative paths (default fonts path, model search paths, default DED file paths, default WAD file paths). E.g. the standard distribution uses -basedir ..\.., which is the relative path from the runtime folders to the Doomsday root folder.
-stdbasedir	-sbd	Use the standard base directory (..\..).
-savedir P		Changes the directory where savegames will be placed. The default is savegame.
-out F		Redirects output to the given file. By default all messages are printed to Doomsday.out.
-file F	-f	Loads in the given WAD file as a startup WAD (i.e. it can't be unloaded with the unload command). You can give more than one WAD file as the parameter. An alternative to -file is -iwad, which works in the same way.
-game F	-g	Specifies the game DLL to use (required). This must either be just the file name (jDoom.dll) or the full path to the DLL (C:\Doomsday\Bin\jDoom.dll).
-maxzone N	-mem	Specify how much memory will be allocated for the game (N bytes). E.g. to allocate 32 Mbs: -maxzone 32m
-playdemo F		After initialization loads the given demo file F (which resides in the Demo subdirectory), plays it and then quits.
-timedemo F		After initialization loads the given demo file F (which resides in the Demo subdirectory), plays it in singletics mode (i.e. as fast as possible), displays frame count information and quits.
-nowsk		Disable Windows system keys (Alt-Tab etc).
-nomouse		Don't initialize mouse.
-nojoy		Don't initialize joystick.

2. Configuration options

Option	Abbr.	Description
-config F	-cfg	Specifies the CFG file to use (for example jDoom.cfg). When the game is quit, console variable values and key bindings are written to this file.
-parse F	-p	After initialization reads the given file and executes the commands in it (by treating each read line as a console command). You can give more than one file as the parameter.
-cparse F	-cp	Same as -parse, but executes the commands before anything is initialized (right after console variable values have been read from the default config file). You can give more than one file as the parameter.
-command S	-cmd	After initialization executes the console command S. Note that if the command includes whitespace characters it must be quoted. E.g. to execute the command: echo "Hello world." you must use the option: -command "echo ""Hello world.""" More than one command can be given as a parameter, either as separate command line options (-cmd S S S) or separate console commands (-cmd "S; S; S").

3. DED options

Option	Abbr.	Description
-def F		Additional Doomsday Engine Definition files to read. The specified files are read in addition to the default DED files.
-defs F	-d	Specifies the Doomsday Engine Definition files to read. You can give more than one DED file as the parameter. When using this option you must give the name of the primary DED file first (for example jDoom.ded).

4. Multiplayer options

4.1 Options for a server

Option	Abbr.	Description
-dedicated		Run in dedicated mode. No graphics or sounds will be initialized. The game will run in a text mode console.
-server		Start running in server mode right after startup, using TCP/IP as the network protocol.

4.2 Options for a client

Option	Abbr.	Description
-connect IP		Connect to a server running at the specified IP address immediately after startup, using TCP/IP. For example: -connect 127.0.0.1. The port to use can be included: -connect 127.0.0.1:12345.

5. Graphics options

Option	Abbr.	Description
-gl F	-r	Specifies the rendering DLL to use (drOpenGL.dll by default). This must either be just the file name (drD3D.dll) or the full path to the DLL (C:\Doomsday\Bin\drD3D.dll).
-bpp N	-b	Specify the color depth to use. Defaults to desktop color depth. E.g. -bpp 32
-refresh N		Specify the refresh rate to use in fullscreen mode. Defaults to the current display refresh rate. E.g. -refresh 75
-window	-wnd	Start the game in a window. By default the game runs in fullscreen mode.
-width N	-w	Game window width or horizontal display resolution. The default value for this is taken from the vid-res-x console variable.
-height N	-h	Game window height or vertical display resolution. The default value for this is taken from the vid-res-y console variable.
-winsize N N	-wh	Game window width and height or display resolution.
-xpos N		Game window X coordinate.
-ypos N		Game window Y coordinate.
-nocenter	-noc	Prevents the game window from being centered on screen.
-modeldir P	-md	Uses the given search path instead of the one specified in the primary DED file.
-fontdir P	-fd	Looks in the given directory P for the font files. Defaults to Data\Fonts\.
-gdifonts		Use Windows' GDI fonts instead of the DFNs.
-novideo		Don't initialize video.
-noramp		Don't use hardware color settings (gamma, contrast, brightness).
-leaveramp		At shutdown, don't reset color settings (gamma, contrast, brightness) back to the original values.
-gfxdir P		Sets the directory where Doomsday graphics resources are loaded. Defaults to Data\Graphics.

5.1 Textures

Option	Abbr.	Description
-outlines		All letters, sprites, etc. will have black outlines.
-bigmtex		If a masked texture has taller patches than the texture's height, the engine will resize the texture so that the largest patch will fit.
-anifilter	-ani	Use anisotropic texture filtering.
-paltex	-ptx	Use paletted textures (if supported by the hardware).
-maxtex N		Set maximum texture size to N x N. E.g. -maxtex 128 sets the maximum size to 128 x 128 pixels.
-pwadtex		Allow using external resources with textures/flats whose data is read from a PWAD. By default, external resources are only used with textures from an IWAD.
-nohightex		Disable high-resolution (external) textures and flats.
-nohighpat		Disable high-resolution (external) patches and sprites.
-texdir P	-td	Loads all high-resolution (PNG, TGA, PCX) textures from the given directory P. Defaults to Data\<Game>\Textures.
-texdir2 P	-td2	Secondary high-resolution (PNG, TGA, PCX) texture directory. This directory is checked first, so it can be used to override textures in the normal texture directory (-texdir).
-patdir P		Sets the directory where external resources for patches are loaded. Defaults to Data\<Game>\Patches.
-patdir2 P		Secondary directory for searching external resources for patches. This is checked first, so it can be used for overriding resources in the normal Patches directory.
-lmdir P		Sets the directory where light map resources are loaded. Defaults to Data\<Game>\LightMaps.
-lmdir2 P		Secondary directory for light maps resources. This is checked first, so it can be used for overriding resources in the normal LightMaps directory.

5.2 OpenGL renderer

Option	Abbr.	Description
-vtxar		Use vertex arrays. Vertex arrays are usually enabled by default.
-novtxar		Disable vertex arrays. Try this when experiencing rendering errors.
-texcomp		Enable texture compression (if supported by the OpenGL driver). Compression is disabled by default.
-nosgm		Disable the SGIS_generate_mipmap extension. Try this when experiencing texture errors.
-allowsoftware		Allow using the software renderer if no 3D hardware acceleration is detected (or reported by Windows).
-dumptextures		Debug: Writes Targa images out of all the textures that are loaded (mipmap level zero).

5.3 Direct3D renderer

Option	Abbr.	Description
-d3dcfg		Display the Direct3D configuration dialog. The dialog is otherwise only shown if Ctrl, Shift or Alt is held down when the game is started.
-triple		Enable triple buffering.
-texbits N		Set texture bit depth. Won't affect the default configuration in drD3D.ini.
-zbits N		Set Z buffer bit depth. Won't affect the default configuration in drD3D.ini.
-badtexalpha		Use as few bytes for texture alpha data as possible (with 16 bit textures causes that only one bit is used for the alpha data).
-nodither		Disable dithering.
-diag		Print lots of extra information about Direct3D initialization.

6. Sound options

Option	Abbr.	Description
-csd		Use dsCompat.dll, the DirectSound 6 sound driver.
-dummy		Use the Dummy sound driver (does nothing).
-sfxchan N		Set the number of sound channels. 16 is the default.
-musdir P		Same as -patdir but for music resources.
-musdir2 P		Same as -patdir2 but for music resources.
-sfxdir P		Same as -patdir but for sound effect resources.
-sfxdir2 P		Same as -patdir2 but for sound effect resources.
-mdvol		Multiply the volume of all MIDI notes by two. The volume is still capped to the MIDI maximum of 127, though.
-eaxignore		Ignore any errors that occur with EAX.
-nopsf		Do not set the primary sound buffer format. Try this option if you notice that the audio quality of other applications (including FMOD) degrades when Doomsday is running.
-noeax		Disable EAX.
-nopitch		Disable sound effect pitch/frequency changes.
-nodop		Disable doppler effect (with 3D sounds).
-nosound		Don't initialize sound or music.
-nomixer		Don't use Windows' mixer (used for CD volume).
-nosfx		Don't initialize sound.
-nomusic		Don't initialize music.
-nofmod		Don't initialize FMOD (http://www.fmod.org/).

7. Plugin options

7.1 DeHackEd reader

Option	Abbr.	Description
-deh F		Applies the Dehacked patch F. You can give more than one F as arguments, e.g. -deh first.deh second.deh.
-alldehs		Allows the processing of more than one DEHACKED lump. Otherwise only the DEHACKED lump that has been loaded last is processed. Does not affect the -deh option.

8. Development options

Option	Abbr.	Description
-sounddebug		Display lots of sound debug information.
-dump S		Writes the specified lump (S) into a file named (S).DUM and quits.
-dumpfont		When a font is prepared it is written to a file named FONT(id number).DFN.
-dumpwaddir		Prints the names of all the lumps in the loaded WAD files and quits.
-dump_pal18to8		Generates a PAL18TO8 palette conversion table. If you don't know what that means you don't have to worry about this option.