DOOM Retro is intentionally minimalist in its approach, and so it does a few things differently
 if compared with other modern DOOM source ports. Open the ¥ DOOM Retro Wiki for details.

DOOM Retro v6.2 is now available to download as a 64-bit Windows app. Here’s a list of what’s changed since the last version:

• DOOM Retro is now built using v18.7.3 of Microsoft Visual Studio Community 2026.
• Minor changes have been made to further improve the overall performance and stability of DOOM Retro.
• sdl2_image.dll is no longer included with DOOM Retro. It was causing false positives in some antivirus software, and now isn’t required for taking screenshots.
• The desktop now fades to black when starting DOOM Retro if the vid_fullscreen, vid_borderlesswindow and smoothtransitions CVARs are on.
• Minor changes have been made to DOOM Retro’s splash screen.
• Minor changes have been made to text that is output to the console.
• The console now appears over the menu if opened while the menu is open, rather than the menu closing first.
• While not playing a game and if the m_pointer CVAR is on, moving the mouse pointer towards the top of the screen now displays the bottom edge of the console. You may then click on it (or click and drag downwards) to open the console.
• You may now also click and drag the console’s edge upwards to close it.
• A bug is fixed whereby obituaries weren’t being displayed in the console when the obituaries CVAR was on.
• The effect when the player has an invulnerability power-up can now be changed using the new r_invulnerabilityeffect CVAR, which can be set to invertedgrayscale (the default) or grayscale.
• ENTERANIM is now parsed correctly in MAPINFO lumps.
• Retro bits = FLOATBOB used in DEHACKED lumps is now allowed for shootable things.
• A bug is fixed whereby a monster sometimes wouldn’t play a sound effect if it was already playing one.
• A crash no longer occurs when pressing the F1 key to open the help screen from the title screen.
• The crosshair displayed using the crosshair CVAR can now snap to your current target by enabling the new snapcrosshair CVAR, which is off by default and when vanilla mode is enabled.
• If extras.wad is autoloaded, Andrew Hulshult’s IDKFA soundtrack can be disabled using the new s_remix CVAR, which is on by default and off when vanilla mode is enabled.
• Savegames are now compressed to save disk space. This can be disabled using the new compresssavegames CVAR, which is on by default and off when vanilla mode is enabled.
• Screenshots are now saved as smaller 8-bit PNG images rather than 32-bit.
• The swirling effect applied to the player’s view in BOOM-compatible deep water when the r_liquid_swirl CVAR is on has improved.
• The mapstats CCMD now displays the length of the current map’s music lump.

DOOM Retro v6.1.1 is now available to download as a 64-bit Windows app. Here’s a list of what’s changed since the last version:

• DOOM Retro is now built using v18.7.0 of Microsoft Visual Studio Community 2026.
• Minor changes have been made to further improve the overall performance and stability of DOOM Retro.
• Minor changes have been made to DOOM Retro’s splash screen.
• Minor changes have been made to text that is output to the console.
• A bug is fixed whereby the player’s view would spin as the screen faded to black when quitting using the quit CCMD in the console.
• The very top line of the console now displays correctly.
• The correct sprite for the strength symbiote power-up is now displayed when playing Freedoom: Phase 1 or Freedoom: Phase 2.
• Music is now heard again when playing DOOM’s fourth episode, Thy Flesh Consumed.
• Several improvements have been made to the support of the Master Levels.
• The correct map names are now used when playing Final DOOM: The Plutonia Experiment and TNT – Evilution.
• The value of the alwaysrun CVAR is now retained when entering resurrect player in the console.
• Pressing the END key in the console now moves the text caret to the end of the input first, before scrolling to the bottom of the console.
• Dithered lighting when the r_ditheredlighting CVAR is on now appears correctly when the r_detail CVAR is low and the r_lowpixelsize CVAR is not its default of 2×2.

DOOM Retro v6.1 is now available to download as either a 32 or 64-bit Windows app. Here’s a list of what’s changed since the last version:

• DOOM Retro is now built using v18.6.2 of Microsoft Visual Studio Community 2026.
• DOOM Retro now uses SDL_mixer v2.8.2.
• Several changes have been made to further improve the overall stability of DOOM Retro.
• Minor changes have been made to text that is output to the console.
• These bugs have been fixed on older versions of Windows that were affecting some users:
  • An error message about SetProcessInformation would appear at startup.
  • The screen’s palette would be corrupted.
• The Master Levels are now supported. When loading doom2.wad, if masterlevels.wad is found in the same folder, it will be loaded automatically and “Master Levels” may then be chosen from the expansion menu.
• A bug is fixed whereby the TEKWALL1 texture would be misaligned in some instances.
• Minor improvements have been made to the support of ID24-compatible intermissions.
• Warnings in the console now wrap correctly.
• Brightmaps can now be applied to sprites and flats by specifying them using a BRGHTMPS lump in a PWAD.
• Changing the screen size using the + and – keys can now be rebound to other controls using the new +sizeup and +sizedown actions with the bind CCMD.
• These changes have been made while a confirmation message is displayed:
  • Screenshots can now be taken using the PRINTSCREEN key.
  • The console can now be opened using the ~ key.
  • When ending or quitting a game, or selecting the Nightmare! skill level, if the m_pointer CVAR is on, and the mouse has been moved to show the pointer, YES and NO buttons that can be selected with the mouse are now displayed instead of the usual text.
• The ellipsis has been removed from “CONSOLE…” in the options menu.
• The correct M_DOOM lump is now displayed in the main menu when playing Freedoom: Phase 1 or Freedoom: Phase 2.
• The menu’s background now continues to animate as the screen fades to black when quitting.

DOOM Retro v6.0 is now available to download as either a 32 or 64-bit Windows app. Here’s a list of what’s changed since the last version:

• DOOM Retro is now built using v18.5.2 of Microsoft Visual Studio Community 2026.
• DOOM Retro now uses SDL_image v2.8.12.
• Extensive changes have been made to further improve the overall performance and stability of DOOM Retro.
• If DOOM Retro does happen to crash, a dialog box is now displayed and a crash report is generated that you are then encouraged to send to the developer.
• DOOM Retro now uses Direct3D 11 rather than Direct3D 9 to scale every frame on the screen when the vid_scaleapi CVAR is its default of direct3d, resulting in a considerable increase in performance.
• Changes have been made to DOOM Retro’s splash screen.
• Several changes have been made to text that is output to the console.
• These changes have been made to scrolling in the console:
  • Wrapped lines are no longer skipped.
  • A bug is fixed whereby it sometimes wasn’t possible to scroll all the way to the top of the console.
  • The scroll bar’s thumb is now sized more accurately, and no longer gets too small such that its grip isn’t shown.
• Long lines in the console can now wrap over multiple lines.
• Minor improvements have been made to text autocompleted in the console.
• When a semicolon is used so another command can be entered in the console’s input, any whitespace preceding it will be removed, a space will be added after it, and the TAB key can be pressed to autocomplete that command.
• Changes made to the console’s input that have been undone by pressing CTRL + Z can now be redone by pressing CTRL + Y.
• These changes have been made to the support of MAPINFO lumps:
  • Maps greater than MAP99 are now supported.
  • A bug is fixed whereby MUSIC wouldn’t be parsed correctly in some rare instances.
  • ALLOWMONSTERTELEFRAGS is now parsed correctly.
  • ENDGAME = TRUE is now parsed correctly.
• A bug is fixed, present in the original DOOM, whereby some floor textures wouldn’t change when line specials 37, 84, 159 or 177 were triggered in some instances.
• These changes have been made to the automap:
  • The color of undiscovered secrets when using the IDDT cheat can now be changed using the new am_secretcolor CVAR, which can be set to none (the default), or 0 to 255. All secrets flash three times in this color upon entering the cheat.
  • Panning around using the mouse has changed. When the am_mousepanning CVAR is on, pressing the F key to turn follow mode off and moving the mouse will now show the mouse pointer. You may then click and drag the mouse to pan around instead of just moving the mouse. (This feature also requires the m_pointer CVAR to be on.)
  • The crosshair displayed when the am_followmode CVAR is off now remains behind the console while it is open.
  • The accuracy of the lines drawn when the am_rotatemode CVAR is on has improved.
  • Both zooming and panning, using the keyboard, mouse or controller, are now smoother.
  • The player’s path is now anchored to the back of the player’s arrow when the am_path CVAR is on.
  • The +maxzoom action has been renamed +fullzoom.
  • The correct player arrow is now shown when the player has a partial invisibility power-up.
• Flat textures between both F_START/F_END and FF_START/FF_END markers are now always found.
• A bug is fixed whereby if the ENTER key was bound to an action using the bind CCMD, when pressed it would also still show the previous player message.
• A bug is fixed whereby strings of commands bound to mouse buttons using the bind CCMD wouldn’t always execute.
• Actions may now be bound to more keys on the numeric keypad using the bind CCMD with the values numpad/, numpad+, numpad-, numpad* and numpad..
• Actions may now be bound to tilting the mouse wheel left or right using the bind CCMD with the values wheelleft and wheelright.
• Looking up, down, and centering the view can now be bound a control using the bind CCMD with the actions +lookup, +lookdown and +lookcenter.
• The bindlist CCMD now also lists all unbound controls and actions.
• The thinglist CCMD now also lists the DoomEd number of each thing.
• The ammo CCMD now always successfully changes the amount of ammo for the currently equipped weapon.
• The fade CVAR has been renamed smoothtransitions.
• A transition effect now occurs when pressing the + and – keys to toggle widescreen. This effect can be disabled using the smoothtransitions CVAR.
• The player’s vertical field of view is now exactly the same in both widescreen and non-widescreen modes.
• Screenshots taken while the menu is open, or if the palette CCMD is in use, now have more descriptive filenames.
• Texture offsets are now corrected in certain maps built with ZDBSP extended nodes.
• A bug is fixed whereby the con_timestampformat, english, r_detail and units CVARs couldn’t be changed in the console. These CVARs also weren’t being reset when vanilla mode was enabled.
• The playername CVAR can now be changed back to its default of “” in the console.
• If the playername CVAR is “you” (its default value in earlier versions of DOOM Retro), it is now automatically changed to “” at startup as it was affecting the grammar of obituaries in the console.
• The restartmap CCMD can now be used during intermission.
• Support has been added for maps with ZDoom’s XGLN, ZGLN, XGL2, ZGL2, XGL3 and ZGL3 extended formats.
• Maps without nodes, or unsupported node formats, will now be rebuilt using the integrated NanoBSP node builder.
• Custom palettes and M_DOOM patches now work as intended when playing Freedoom: Phase 1 or Freedoom: Phase 2.
• Minor improvements have been made to the support of Back To Saturn X E1: Get Out Of My Stations and Back To Saturn X E2: Tower In The Fountain Of Sparks.
• The FPS graph displayed when the vid_showfps CVAR is on now displays correctly when the menu is open and a DBIGFONT lump is being used.
• Minor improvements have been made to the colors used for the DOOM Retro logo in the console when the edge color is bright.
• The player’s face now flashes in the status bar when they have the invulnerability power-up and it starts to wear out.
• A crash no longer occurs when the player picks up an invulnerability power-up and the r_textures CVAR is off.
• The underscores below the player message displayed when using the IDBEHOLD cheat are now always aligned correctly.
• Smoothing of the mouse can now be toggled off using the new m_smoothing CVAR, which is on by default and off when vanilla mode is enabled.
• The mouse’s vertical sensitivity when the freelook CVAR is on can now be changed separately from its horizontal sensitivity using the new m_sensitivity_vertical CVAR, which is 16 by default.
• The m_sensitivity CVAR has been renamed m_sensitivity_horizontal to reflect that it now only affects horizontal sensitivity. Also, adjusting “mouse sensitivity” in the options menu now only changes this CVAR.
• These changes have been made to the menu’s background:
  • The r_textures CVAR no longer affects it.
  • The player’s view now tilts upwards slightly.
  • Things such as barrels now animate.
• Elements in the widescreen HUD now have drop shadows when the r_hud_translucency CVAR is on.
• These changes have been made to blood splats:
  • Extensive optimizations have been made to the rendering of blood splats.
  • A bug is fixed whereby the shapes of blood splats weren’t as random as intended.
  • There are no longer slight random variations in the colors of blood splats.
  • When the number of blood splats spawned in the current map reaches the amount set by the r_bloodsplats_max CVAR, the oldest blood splats are now removed to make room for new ones, rather than blood splats stopping being spawned altogether.
  • Blood splats are now selectively culled the further they are away from the player.
  • There is now a new read-only CVAR called r_bloodsplats_visible that shows the number of blood splats currently visible to the player.
  • The r_bloodsplats_total CVAR is now reset to 0 when the player finishes a map.
  • Blood splats spawned when the player is injured in Chex Quest and Chex Quest 2 are now green.
• These changes have been made to shadows when the r_shadows CVAR is on:
  • Monsters that are in liquid sectors now cast shadows.
  • Shadows can now be cast on multiple floors at different heights.
• The player is now able to slide along walls at any angle without getting stuck.
• A bug is fixed, present in the original DOOM and called the “long wall error”, whereby very long walls would shift back and forth as the player moved relative to them.
• Wide sprites that are partially obscured by a wall are now less likely to disappear.
• Freeze mode, enabled using the freeze CCMD, is now remembered in savegames.
• Whether god mode, no clipping mode, freeze mode or no target mode are enabled or disabled as a result of loading a savegame is now displayed in the console.
• The r_playersprites CVAR has been renamed r_playerweapon.
• Instead of using the r_sprites_translucency CVAR, the translucency effect when the player fires their weapon can now be disabled on its own using the new r_playerweapon_translucency CVAR, which is on by default and off when vanilla mode is enabled.
• Obituaries are now still recorded every time something is killed when the obituaries CVAR is off, but are just not displayed in the console.
• Changing the con_warninglevel CVAR will now cause all previously generated warnings in the console to appear or disappear as necessary.
• Wildcard expressions now work correctly with the reset CCMD to reset multiple CVARs at once.
• The BIGDOOR1 texture is now vertically aligned correctly.
• A bug is fixed whereby the player’s weapon could bleed from the right side of the screen to the left in some rare instances.
• When DOOM Retro is run for the first time and an installation of DOOM is found, the IWAD in the “File name” field of the WAD launcher is now in the correct case.
• If multiple files are selected in the WAD launcher, each of those files are now saved in the wad CVAR, and then restored in the “File name” field of the WAD launcher the next time DOOM Retro is run.
• The wad and wadfolder CVARs now retain any non-Latin characters when saved to doomretro.cfg.
• The files output from the condump CCMD now retain any non-Latin characters.
• The console will now be closed while the resetall CCMD’s confirmation message is displayed.
• When the m_pointer CVAR is on:
  • The console’s input can now be selected by double-clicking, triple-clicking, or clicking and dragging the mouse.
  • You can now scroll up and down in the console by clicking and dragging the mouse on the scroll bar.
  • The mouse pointer no longer briefly appears centered on the screen before it is hidden.
  • The mouse pointer no longer becomes hidden when certain CVARs are changed in the console.
  • In the save game menu, clicking on a savegame slot to edit its description now shifts the text caret to where the mouse pointer is clicked rather than always placing it at the end.
• The text caret in the save game menu is now slightly darker.
• Animated flats with SWAMP or SWMP in their names are now recognized as liquid textures.
• The vertical sprite offset of dead pinky demons has improved when the r_fixspriteoffsets CVAR is on.
• Looking up and down is now smoother when the freelook CVAR is on.
• The accuracy of the player’s aim has improved when firing their weapon while the freelook CVAR is on and the r_fov CVAR is a value other than its default of 90°.
• When the player teleports, a zoom effect is now applied to their field of view. This can be disabled using the new r_teleportzoom CVAR, which is on by default and off when vanilla mode is enabled.
• A bug is fixed whereby the screen would momentarily go black if the player was injured and the r_shake_damage CVAR was on, the vid_scalefilter CVAR was nearest and the vid_showfps CVAR was on.
• VSync is now forced on when the vid_motionblur CVAR is greater than 0%.
• Motion blur is now also applied when the player looks up and down while the freelook CVAR is on and the vid_motionblur CVAR is greater than 0%.
• All friendly monsters, not just dogs, are now able to drop down from high ledges to follow the player.
• Minor improvements have been made to the support of ID24 line specials.
• Better colors are now chosen to fill the pillarboxes when a 320×200 fullscreen lump such as TITLEPIC is displayed in widescreen mode.
• These changes have been made to the support for controllers:
  • Controller movement has been made slightly smoother.
  • Controller sensitivity has been reduced.
  • The LED lights on PS5 DualSense controllers now change color based on the player’s health (from green to yellow to orange to flashing red).
  • The touchpad on PS5 DualSense controllers can now be used to pan around the automap when the am_followmode CVAR is off.
  • Horizontal autoaiming is now applied when the player fires their weapon. This can be disabled using the new joy_autoaim_horizontal CVAR, which is on by default and off when vanilla mode is enabled.
  • When the joy_rumble_fall CVAR is on, controllers no longer rumble when the player falls into liquid.
• An accessibility feature has been implemented that allows the player to automatically fire their currently equipped weapon when there’s a monster in front of them. This can be enabled using the new autofire CVAR, which is off by default and when vanilla mode is enabled.
• A bug is fixed whereby the angles of things passing through silent teleporters wouldn’t be preserved.
• The map CCMD now works correctly when playing Legacy Of Rust.
• A bug is fixed whereby the wrong stat was being updated when the player fired their calamity blade in Legacy Of Rust.
• These changes have been made to the support of BOOM-compatible deep water:
  • A swirling effect is now applied to the player’s view when the r_liquid_swirl CVAR is on.
  • The effect when the player has an invulnerability power-up is no longer affected.
• AASTINKY and AASHITTY textures in maps are now treated as blank as intended.
• MUSINFO things 14,100 and 14,164 are now supported.
• These changes have been made to the support of DEHACKED lumps:
  • Using Fullbright to make the frames of all things fullbright now works as intended.
  • Corpses whose Exploding frame has been altered no longer gib when the r_corpses_gib CVAR is on.
  • HUSTR_SECRETFOUND can now be used to change the player message that is displayed when a secret is found and the secretmessages CVAR is on.
• Additional bars indicating the amount of ammo the player has for all ammo types can now be shown in the alternate widescreen HUD by enabling the new r_althud_ammobars CVAR, which is off by default.
• Noise is no longer applied to the pillarbox areas when displaying the help screen over a non-widescreen TITLEPIC lump.
• Turning the messages CVAR on no longer causes the last player message to be immediately displayed.
• The spectre’s fuzz effect now appears correctly in DOOM II’s cast sequence.
• DOOM II’s cast sequence no longer tries to display Legacy Of Rust’s new monsters towards the end.
• If the TITLEPIC lump in a PWAD is an unsupported PNG or JPG image, the IWAD’s TITLEPIC lump is now displayed instead, rather than DOOM Retro exiting with an error.
• Platforms that are not going to move no longer make their start or stop sounds when activated.

DOOM Retro v5.8.2 is now available to download as either a 32 or 64-bit Windows app. Here’s a list of what’s changed since the last version:

• DOOM Retro is now built using v18.1.0 of Microsoft Visual Studio Community 2026.
• Minor changes have been made to further improve the overall performance and stability of DOOM Retro.
• Minor changes have been made to text that is output to the console.
• When changing a CVAR in the console, a message is now displayed indicating that the CVAR has been changed and what it was previously.
• The values of color CVARs in the console, shown either by entering a CVAR individually or by using the cvarlist CCMD, are now shown with a colored background.
• A new palette CCMD has been implemented that will display a table of all 256 colors in the current palette.
• The spawn CCMD now still tries to spawn things anywhere around the player if there isn’t enough space directly in front of them.
• Minor improvements have been made to the colors used for the DOOM Retro logo in the console when the edge color is bright.
• These changes have been made to the support of DEHACKED lumps:
  • The trail of smoke behind rockets fired by the player and cyberdemons when the r_rockettrails CVAR is on now appear if thing 149 and/or its accompanying states are replaced.
  • A bug is fixed whereby the execution of certain codepointers could be repeated in the same tic in some rare instances.
• Navigating to E1M0, E2M0 and MAP99 in Legacy Of Rust using the map CCMD or IDCLEV cheat has been fixed.
• These improvements have been made to the support of DBIGFONT lumps:
  • Black pixels are no longer translucent.
  • ON/OFF and HIGH/LOW now appear in the options menu.
• A bug is fixed whereby music wouldn’t be played in some rare instances when extras.wad was autoloaded.
• The screen now always clears to black at startup.
• A bug is fixed whereby certain player’s stats would become invalid when a monster is resurrected.
• The default values of the crosshaircolor and am_crosshaircolor CVARs are now correct.
• Improvements have been made to the position of the STTMINUS lump in the status bar and widescreen HUD when the player is dead and the negativehealth CVAR is on.
• The map title and author in the automap are now always truncated correctly when the r_screensize CVAR is 8.

DOOM Retro v5.8.1 is now available to download as either a 32 or 64-bit Windows app. Here’s a list of what’s changed since the last version:

• DOOM Retro is now built using v17.14.19 of Microsoft Visual Studio Community 2022.
• The player is now notified at startup if a newer version of DOOM Retro is found.
• Minor changes have been made to further improve the overall performance and stability of DOOM Retro.
• Minor changes have been made to text that is output to the console.
• The r_levelbrightness CVAR has been renamed r_extralighting.
• The timestamps in the console are now correct.
• A bug is fixed whereby textures containing patches with negative offsets wouldn’t render correctly.
• These changes have been made to the intermission screen:
  • The par time is now still displayed if the “SUCKS” text is shown.
  • An exclamation mark now follows the “SUCKS” text.
• The authors of the maps are now displayed by the mapstats and maplist CCMDs when playing No Rest For The Living.
• These changes have been made when the vid_showfps CVAR is on:
  • The frames per second shown are now more accurate.
  • The frames per second are now shown if a HELP or HELP1 lump from a PWAD is displayed.
• Focus is now given to your browser when using the license, releasenotes or wiki CCMDs.
• The MIDI music of the free versions of SIGIL and SIGIL II now play as intended.
• A bug is fixed whereby binding the +supershotgun action to a control, and then using that control, would cause the player to jump rather than equip their super shotgun.

DOOM Retro v5.8 is now available to download as either a 32 or 64-bit Windows app. Here’s a list of what’s changed since the last version:

• DOOM Retro is now built using v17.14.16 of Microsoft Visual Studio Community 2022.
• DOOM Retro now uses SDL v2.32.10.
• Minor changes have been made to further improve the overall performance and stability of DOOM Retro.
• Several changes have been made to text that is output to the console.
• Support has been added for version 1.23 of John Romero’s SIGIL by autoloading SIGIL_V1_23_REG.wad or SIGIL_V1_23.wad if found.
• The backgrounds of the intermission screens in SIGIL and SIGIL II are now widescreen.
• Additional brightmaps have been added to Legacy Of Rust when the r_brightmaps CVAR is on.
• The player’s path in the automap can now easily be toggled on and off by pressing the P key. This can be rebound to another key using the new +path action with the bind CCMD in the console.
• The length of the player’s path in the automap can now be changed using the new am_pathlength CVAR. This CVAR can be short, medium (the default), long or endless.
• Moving the mouse now pans around the automap when follow mode is off. This feature can be disabled using the new am_mousepanning CVAR, which is on by default and off when vanilla mode is enabled.
• The movement of the player into and out of liquid sectors is now smoother in some instances when the r_liquid_lowerview CVAR is on.
• These changes have been made to the support of MAPINFO lumps:
  • If AUTHOR is specified, the author of the map is now displayed in the console when the map starts, and in the automap. This feature can be disabled in the automap using the new am_author CVAR, which is on by default and off when vanilla mode is enabled.
  • NOJUMP and NOFREELOOK now always work as intended.
  • LABEL is now supported.
  • A bug is fixed whereby music wouldn’t be randomized when the s_randommusic CVAR was on and custom music was specified using MUSIC.
  • A bug is fixed whereby BOSSACTION wouldn’t be parsed in some rare instances.
• The music now updates immediately when changing the s_randommusic CVAR in the console.
• These changes have been made to the alternate widescreen HUD:
  • Changes have been made so that the color, translucency and drop shadow of all elements are now consistent, particularly when the player has an invulnerability power-up or the r_textures CVAR is off.
  • A bug is fixed whereby the wrong keys would flash when trying to open a BOOM-compatible locked door that requires all six keys.
  • The DRHUDWP1 lump can now be replaced in a PWAD to change the silhouette of the player’s pistol.
• Barrels now appear in the background when the menu is open.
• Navigating the menu using the thumbsticks on a controller, and using the mouse when the m_pointer CVAR is on, has improved.
• The framerate is now capped at 60 FPS when the menu is open and the vid_vsync CVAR is on.
• These changes have been made to the crosshair:
  • The default value of the crosshaircolor CVAR has changed from 4 (white) to 112 (green).
  • The crosshair is now slightly more opaque when the r_hud_translucency CVAR is on.
  • The crosshair now becomes brighter when the player is firing their weapon and the r_hud_translucency CVAR is off.
  • The crosshair is now larger and consistent regardless of the value of the r_detail CVAR.
  • Several new crosshair styles are available. As well as the existing cross and dot, the crosshair CVAR can now be set to angle, bigcross, circle, bigcircle, chevron, chevrons or arcs.
  • The crosshair can now be replaced in a PWAD by including DRXHAIR1 to DRXHAIR9 lumps.
  • The crosshair now remains on the screen while the console is open.
• The crosshair in the automap when am_followmode is off is now also slightly larger.
• The number of decorations in the map displayed by the mapstats CCMD is now more accurate.
• A crash no longer occurs when the player has a partial invisibility power-up and the r_textures CVAR is off.
• A bug is fixed whereby the flash of the super shotgun could be misaligned in some rare instances.
• Textures with widths that are not powers of two are now rendered correctly.
• Support has been added for textures between TX_START and TX_END markers in PWADs.
• These changes have been made to the timestamps in the console:
  • They are now more accurate.
  • They can now be disabled using the new con_timestamps CVAR, which is on by default.
  • Their format can now be changed using the new con_timestampformat CVAR, which can be set to standard (the default, and which now displays whether it is AM or PM), or military.
• The color of the console’s edge can now be changed using the new con_edgecolor CVAR, which can be auto (the default), or 0 to 255. Also, the color of DOOM Retro’s logo is now black if the color chosen is too bright.
• The warninglevel CVAR has been renamed con_warninglevel.
• The player’s health now updates when they are resurrected and the negativehealth CVAR is on.
• The health CVAR can now be set to 0% when the negativehealth CVAR is on.
• The maplist CCMD now lists the author for each map.
• Mouse buttons bound to the +rotatemode action now work as intended.
• The times displayed on the intermission screen, when the am_playerstats CVAR is on, and when the timer CCMD is used, now show the number of milliseconds.
• Per-pixel translucency is now removed from sprites that are replaced in a PWAD.

DOOM Retro v5.7.2 is now available to download as either a 32 or 64-bit Windows app. Here’s a list of what’s changed since the last version:

• DOOM Retro is now built using v17.14.10 of Microsoft Visual Studio Community 2022.
• A graph is now displayed along with the number of frames per second when the vid_showfps CVAR is on.
• The distance the player travels, displayed in the automap when the am_path CVAR is on, and by the playerstats CCMD, has improved in accuracy.
• A message is now displayed in the console when the player upgrades from an earlier version of DOOM Retro.
• A new releasenotes CCMD has been implemented that opens a list of what’s changed since the last version of DOOM Retro in the default browser.
• A bug is fixed whereby DEHACKED lumps wouldn’t be parsed correctly in some rare instances.
• BRGHTMPS lumps are now always parsed if included in a PWAD.
• Helper dogs spawned using the spawn CCMD in the console are now colored correctly when a custom PLAYPAL lump is used.
• Solid, non-shootable sprites now appear in the background when the menu is open.
• Per-column lighting is now only cast on monsters when the r_percolumnlighting CVAR is on.
• A bug is fixed whereby pressing a mouse button would perform other unbound actions in some rare instances.
• Minor improvements have been made to the support of ID24 line specials.

DOOM Retro v5.7.1 is now available to download as either a 32 or 64-bit Windows app. Here’s a list of what’s changed since the last version:

• DOOM Retro is now built using v17.14.7 of Microsoft Visual Studio Community 2022.
• A bug is fixed whereby pressing SPACE to accelerate the intermission screen wouldn’t always work.
• Brightmaps specified using a BRGHTMPS lump in a PWAD now combine with the default brightmaps, rather than replace them.
• Displaying messages in the alternate font when the alternate HUD is displayed can now be toggled off using the new r_althudfont CVAR, which is on by default.
• Minor changes have been made to text that is output to the console.
• Minor improvements have been made to text autocompleted in the console by pressing the TAB key.
• A bug is fixed whereby monsters could telefrag other monsters.
• Automatically switching your weapon when picking up a new one or better ammo can now be toggled off using the new autoswitch CVAR, which is on by default and when vanilla mode is enabled.
• Controls can now be bound to the +fists, +chainsaw, +pistol, +shotgun, +supershotgun, +chaingun, +rocketlauncher, +plasmarifle and +bfg9000 actions using the bind CCMD in the console.
• Improvements have been made to when the mouse wheel is bound to an action other than +nextweapon or +prevweapon.
• A bug is fixed whereby the CREDITS lump wouldn’t be displayed during the title sequence of DOOM II.
• The player can now pick up more than one of the same type of key card or skull key.
• Randomness is no longer applied to the angle of non-shootable things.
• The DRHUDKEY and DRHUDSKU are now positioned better in the alternate widescreen HUD if replaced in a PWAD.
• Performance has improved slightly when the vid_capfps CVAR is 35.

DOOM Retro v5.7 is now available to download as either a 32 or 64-bit Windows app. Here’s a list of what’s changed since the last version:

• DOOM Retro is now built using v17.14.5 of Microsoft Visual Studio Community 2022.
• DOOM Retro now uses SDL v2.32.8, SDL_mixer v2.8.1 and SDL_image v2.8.8.
• Several changes have been made to further improve the overall performance and stability of DOOM Retro.
• Minor changes have been made to text that is output to the console.
• Very long player messages now wrap to a second line when the vid_widescreen CVAR is on.
• Minor improvements have been made to the support of Back To Saturn X E1: Get Out Of My Stations and Back To Saturn X E2: Tower In The Fountain Of Sparks.
• John Romero’s SIGIL II will now autoload correctly if named SIGIL2.WAD and placed in the autoload folder.
• Additional PWADs will now autoload alongside SIGIL, SIGIL II and No Rest For The Living by placing them in the relevant autoload subfolder.
• A crash no longer occurs at startup if -autoload or -autoloaddir is used on the command-line.
• The savegames subfolder of Freedoom: Phase 1 has been renamed from freedoom to freedoom1.
• Per-column lighting is now cast on sprites using the new r_percolumnlighting CVAR, which is on by default and off when vanilla mode is enabled.
• A bug is fixed whereby pressing SPACE to accelerate the intermission screen wouldn’t always work.
• Blood splats no longer spawn when lost souls are killed using the kill CCMD.
• These changes have been made to the support of DEHACKED lumps:
  • The MBF-compatible codepointer A_LineEffect now works correctly with non-repeatable line specials.
  • The MBF21-compatible codepointer A_RadiusDamage now always inflicts damage as intended.
  • Weapons that use the MBF21-compatible codepointers A_Weapon­Projectile, A_Weapon­BulletAttack and A_WeaponMeleeAttack now recoil if fired when the weaponrecoil CVAR is on.
  • A bug is fixed whereby things spawned using the MBF21-compatible codepointer A_Spawn­Object couldn’t be made translucent.
  • Retro bits = MOREBLOOD can now be used to spawn blood splats around a thing with a custom sprite at the start of a map when the r_corpses_moreblood CVAR is on.
  • A bug is fixed whereby the last line of DEHACKED lumps wasn’t being parsed.
• These changes have been made to ID24 compatibility:
  • Flats can now be offset and rotated using line specials 2,048 to 2,056.
  • Music can now be changed using line specials 2,057 to 2,068 and 2,087 to 2,098.
  • The player’s inventory can now be reset when exiting a map using line specials 2,069 to 2,074.
  • Colormaps can now be applied to individual sectors using line specials 2,075 to 2,081.
  • These changes have been made to the support for the SKYDEFS lump:
    • Skies can now be scaled using scalex.
    • The inverted screen effect is now always applied to the sky when the player has an invulnerability power-up.
    • Fire skies defined using this lump now aren’t rendered when vanilla mode is enabled.
    • Skies can now be specified using flatmapping. This fixes the sky in the hole the player falls into at the end of MAP20 in DOOM II.
• The IDMUS cheat can now be used in the console when not playing a game.
• Cheats now become redacted when entered in the console before pressing ENTER.
• A crash no longer occurs when using the mapstats CCMD in the console in some rare instances.
• A bug is fixed whereby the console would open when using the mouse pointer to adjust sliders in the options menu.
• The vid_widescreen CVAR no longer resets to off at startup if -warp is used on the command-line.
• A bug is fixed whereby all shootable things, and not just monsters, would be hidden when using the nomonsters CCMD or if -nomonsters was used on the command-line.
• The mouse wheel can now be bound to actions other than +nextweapon and +prevweapon using the wheelup and wheeldown controls with the bind CCMD in the console.
• A bug is fixed whereby the +prevweapon action wouldn’t work if bound to a key.
• These changes have been made to the support for Final DOOM: The Plutonia Experiment and TNT - Evilution:
  • Custom map names now always display correctly when playing a PWAD.
  • PWADs placed in the autoload folder are now always automatically loaded.
• These changes have been made to BOOM compatibility:
  • Brightmaps specified using a BRGHTMPS lump no longer remove the translucency of translucent wall textures.
  • Sky textures specified using an ANIMATED lump now animate.
  • The offsets of scrolling floor and ceiling textures are now remembered in savegames.
  • The correct player message is now always displayed when trying to open a generalized locked door.
  • Improvements have been made to the colors used in the WATERMAP lump.
• A bug is fixed whereby the sky wouldn’t render correctly in some rare instances when the weaponrecoil CVAR was turned on in the console.
• The support for Direct 3D 11 has been removed. The vid_scaleapi CVAR can no longer be set to direct3d9 or direct3d11, but direct3d instead.
• The positioning of tall skies has improved in some instances when the freelook CVAR is off.
• Improvements have been made to fixing the offsets of sprites when the r_fix­sprite­offsets CVAR is on.
• Playing sound effects in full as things are removed from a map can now be disabled using the new s_fullsfx CVAR, which is on by default and off when vanilla mode is enabled.
• The volume of MP3 and Ogg Vorbis music lumps has increased slightly.
• The player’s controller now rumbles when they land after a fall using the new joy_rumble_fall CVAR, which is on by default and off when vanilla mode is enabled.
• The vid_showfps CVAR no longer resets to off at startup.
• A bug is fixed whereby the play CCMD wouldn’t play music lumps in some instances.

DOOM Retro v5.6.2 is now available to download as either a 32 or 64-bit Windows app. Here’s a list of what’s changed since the last version:

• DOOM Retro is now built using v17.12.4 of Microsoft Visual Studio Community 2022.
• Changes have been made to further improve the overall stability of DOOM Retro.
• A bug is fixed whereby a sprite’s shadow would be positioned incorrectly in some rare instances when the r_shadows CVAR was on.
• Minor improvements have been made to the support of Back To Saturn X E2: Tower In The Fountain Of Sparks and Smooth DOOM MBF21.
• The save CCMD now always works as intended.
• The r_detail and r_lowpixelsize CVARs no longer affect the appearance of the menu’s background.
• A bug is fixed whereby colored blood would turn red after opening and closing the menu.
• Further improvements have been made to the clipping of sprites in liquid sectors when the r_liquid_clipsprites CVAR is on.
• The vertical offsets of the sprites of cacodemons, lost souls and pain elementals have improved when the r_fixspriteoffsets CVAR is on.
• Minor improvements have been made to the fuzz effect applied to spectres.
• The vid_scaleapi CVAR is now back to direct3d9 by default.
• These changes have been made to the support of DEHACKED lumps:
  • Retro bits = CRUSHABLE now works as intended.
  • The Hit points of decorative corpses have been changed from 0 back to 1000 by default.
• A bug is fixed whereby monsters wouldn’t be alerted to the player firing their weapon in some rare instances.

DOOM Retro v5.6.1 is now available to download as either a 32 or 64-bit Windows app. Here’s a list of what’s changed since the last version:

• DOOM Retro now uses SDL v2.30.11 and SDL_image v2.8.4.
• Changes have been made to further improve the overall stability of DOOM Retro.
• Minor changes have been made to text that is output to the console.
• An error is no longer displayed when trying to load the BFG Edition of DOOM II: Hell On Earth.
• Weapons that use the MBF21-compatible A_ConsumeAmmo code pointer no longer consume ammo when fired if infinite ammo is enabled using the infiniteammo CCMD.
• Animated skies defined using the ID24-compatible SKYDEFS lump are now fully supported.
• Improvements have been made to the clipping of sprites in liquid sectors when the r_liquid_clipsprites CVAR is on.
• The correct INTERPIC lump is now always displayed when playing a PWAD for Final DOOM: The Plutonia Experiment or TNT - Evilution.
• A soft lock no longer occurs in MAP05: The Waste Tunnels when playing v1.666 of DOOM2.WAD and the r_fixmaperrors CVAR is on.

DOOM Retro v5.6 is now available to download as either a 32 or 64-bit Windows app. Here’s a list of what’s changed since the last version:

• DOOM Retro is now built using v17.12.3 of Microsoft Visual Studio Community 2022.
• DOOM Retro now uses SDL v2.30.10.
• Several changes have been made to further improve the overall performance and stability of DOOM Retro.
• Minor changes have been made to text that is output to the console.
• Minor improvements have been made to text autocompleted in the console by pressing the TAB key.
• A bug is fixed whereby textures wouldn’t load from a PWAD in some rare instances.
• These changes have been made when a PWAD is loaded that has a custom character set:
  • The message displayed when the player finds a secret is now gold if the secretmessages CVAR is on.
  • The message displayed when using the IDCLEV cheat or map CCMD to warp to a secret map is now gold.
  • The title in the automap is now gold if the map is a secret map.
  • The title in the automap now has a drop shadow.
• A bug is fixed whereby the screen wasn’t being immediately updated after changing the r_hud CVAR in the console.
• The health of the player when they are dead if the negativehealth CVAR is on no longer affects voodoo dolls.
• Extensive improvements have been made to the support of Legacy Of Rust:
  • Partial support has been introduced for the new ID24 specification so that:
    • The sky in some maps is now on fire.
    • An animated intermission screen is now displayed when finishing a map.
    • Maps are now denoted as “ExMy” rather than “MAPxx” in the automap.
  • Stats for killing banshees, ghouls, mindweavers, shocktroopers, tyrants and vassagos, for picking up fuel, and for firing the incinerator and calamity blade, are now all displayed by the playerstats CCMD.
  • A fuel can icon now appears in the widescreen HUD when the player has their incinerator or calamity blade equipped.
  • Fire from the player’s incinerator and calamity blade is now randomly mirrored and translucent.
  • DOOM Retro’s higher resolution status bar is now displayed, with “FUEL” replacing “CELL”, rather than the STBAR lump in ID1.WAD.
  • The help screen has been updated to include the incinerator and calamity blade.
  • The positions of shadows cast by some monsters have improved.
  • The new monsters no longer bob up and down when in a liquid sector.
  • Adaptive translucency is now applied to projectiles fired by ghouls when the r_sprites_translucency CVAR is on.
  • A bug is fixed whereby the calamity blade was inflicting too much damage.
• A bug is fixed whereby Andrew Hulshult’s IDKFA soundtrack wasn’t being played in some maps when extras.wad was autoloaded.
• The volume of MP3 and Ogg Vorbis music lumps has increased slightly.
• Minor improvements have been made to the support of Master Levels, SIGIL, Chex Quest, Chex Quest 2, Ancient Aliens and Back To Saturn X E2: Tower In The Fountain Of Sparks.
• These changes have been made to the support of MAPINFO lumps:
  • The order in which multiple MAPINFO lumps are loaded is now correct.
  • EPISODE is now parsed in more instances.
  • Up to 10 episodes can now be specified using EPISODE and will display correctly in the episode menu.
• These changes have been made to the support of DEHACKED lumps:
  • A bug is fixed whereby a line wouldn’t be parsed in some instances if the previous line was blank.
  • If the fists or chainsaw are replaced using WEAPON, that weapon can now consume ammo.
  • Blood splats are no longer spawned if the states of blood have been changed.
• The fake contrast applied to walls at different angles is now more varied.
• A bug is fixed whereby the player’s aim was slightly lower when the freelook CVAR was on and the r_screensize CVAR was 8.
• These changes have been made to the alternate widescreen HUD:
  • The weapon silhouette now accurately reflects the pickup sprite for each weapon.
  • Certain elements have now either shifted position, increased in size and/or cast a slight shadow.
  • The health bar no longer flashes white while it is red and the player picks up some health.
• Pressing the PRINTSCREEN key no longer advances the finale.
• The mouse wheel can no longer be used to advance DOOM II’s cast sequence.
• The amount of ammo the player has is no longer momentarily translucent in the widescreen HUD at the start of each map if the animatedstats CVAR is on.
• These changes have been made to the help screen:
  • A bug is fixed whereby the help screen wouldn’t be fully displayed when the vid_widescreen CVAR was off.
  • The TITLEPIC lump is now always used as the help screen’s background when not playing a game.
  • The help screen now displays better in some PWADs that have custom PLAYPAL lumps.
• Using the mouse pointer to move the scroll bar in the console is now more responsive when the m_pointer CVAR is on.
• Drop shadows are now always displayed correctly for all elements on the intermission screen.
• A bug is fixed whereby the wrong INTERPIC lump would be displayed in some instances.
• The vid_widescreen CVAR no longer resets to off at startup if -nosplash is used on the command-line.
• A bug is fixed whereby the z-coordinates of things bobbing in liquid sectors were altered upon loading a savegame when the r_liquid_bob CVAR was on.
• Very short sprites are no longer clipped in liquid sectors when the r_liquid_clipsprites CVAR is on.
• These changes have been made to the automap:
  • Aspect ratio correction is now applied. This feature can be toggled off using the new am_correctaspectratio CVAR, which is on by default and off when vanilla mode is enabled.
  • In the original DOOM, if the player moved around while the automap was open, walls seen by the player for the first time weren’t mapped. This behavior can now be restored by disabling the new am_dynamic CVAR, which is on by default and off when vanilla mode is enabled.
  • The automap now displays correctly when zooming out in very large maps.
  • The grid now always covers the entire screen when the am_rotatemode CVAR is on.
  • A bug is fixed whereby the player’s path would stop being drawn after the player teleported and the am_rotatemode CVAR was off.
  • A bug is also fixed whereby the player’s path would display incorrectly at the start of a map in some instances.
• The fuzz effect from spectres and the partial invisibility power-up now:
  • Doesn’t cause the status bar to bleed into the player’s view while the console is open.
  • Freezes along with everything else when freeze mode is enabled.
• Flying monsters no longer nudge corpses beneath them when the r_corpses_nudge CVAR is on.
• Scrolling textures are now smoother when the vid_capfps CVAR is a value other than 35.
• The interpolation of moving floors and ceilings is now smoother in some instances when the vid_capfps CVAR is a value other than 35.
• Semi-colons are now parsed correctly when using the alias CCMD in the console.
• All actions can now be bound to a second key using the bind CCMD in the console.
• If the key bound to the +followmode action is bound to another action, pressing that key now works outside of the automap.
• Maps that use BOOM’s WATERMAP lump are now supported.
• A bug is fixed whereby the next map wouldn’t load after displaying a text screen during intermission in some rare instances.
• The episode CVAR is now reset to its default if the WAD loaded in the launcher is different than last time.
• Minor improvements have been made to the support for MBF21-compatible WADs.
• A bug is fixed whereby Wolfenstein SS were replaced by zombiemen at the start of each map in some rare instances.
• The behavior of lost souls spawned by pain elementals is now consistent with the original DOOM II.
• The drop shadows of menu items displayed using a DBIGFONT lump no longer overlap.
• Torched trees no longer bob when in liquid sectors.
• The player and monsters now traverse liquid sectors at different heights better.

DOOM Retro v5.5.1 is now available to download as either a 32 or 64-bit Windows app. Here’s a list of what’s changed since the last version:

• DOOM Retro now uses SDL v2.30.6.
• Minor changes have been made to text that is output to the console.
• Player messages that don’t fit on the screen when the vid_widescreen CVAR is off now wrap to a second line rather than being truncated with an ellipsis.
• These changes have been made when loading a savegame:
  • The date and time a savegame was saved, and whether it has changed the skill level, is now displayed in the console.
  • The episode and skilllevel CVARs are now updated as necessary.
  • A bug is fixed whereby certain floor heights, ceiling heights and wall texture offsets could be slightly off after loading a savegame in some rare instances.
• A crash no longer occurs when killing something that has both an Exploding frame and Bits = NOBLOOD specified in a DEHACKED lump, and the r_blood_gibs CVAR is on.
• These changes have been made to the support of MAPINFO lumps:
  • A bug is fixed whereby a MAPINFO lump wouldn’t be parsed at all in some instances.
  • Actions specified using BOSSACTION now always trigger as intended.
  • INTERTEXT = CLEAR is now parsed.
  • Up to 9 episodes can now be specified using EPISODE and will display correctly in the episode menu.
• A bug is fixed whereby the player wouldn’t telefrag monsters.
• The player now equips their fists if they pick up a berserk power-up and they already have one.
• Player and voodoo doll corpses can now trigger line specials again.
• A bug is fixed whereby the mouse pointer couldn’t be used to move the text caret or scroll bar in the console when the m_pointer CVAR was on and the vid_widescreen CVAR was off.
• These changes have been made in response to id Software’s rerelease of DOOM and DOOM II during QuakeCon on August 8, 2024:
  • When DOOM Retro is run for the first time, the WAD launcher will now also look for the IWADs included with installations of this release.
  • A bug is fixed whereby several wrong lumps would be displayed when loading a PWAD alongside the new DOOM or DOOM II IWADs.
  • Several compatibility fixes have been implemented for Legacy Of Rust.
  • If extras.wad is found alongside DOOM.WAD or DOOM2.WAD, it is now autoloaded, and Andrew Hulshult’s IDKFA soundtrack is played instead of the regular MIDI music.
• Minor improvements have been made to the support of REKKR and REKKR: Sunken Land.
• The STTMINUS lump used in the status bar and widescreen HUD when the negativehealth CVAR is on and the player is dead, is now positioned correctly in instances where its vertical offset is missing.
• A bug is fixed whereby a string CVAR couldn’t be changed in the console to the same string but with a different case.
• The length of the playername CVAR is now limited to 16 characters.
• Blood splats now move with everything else on BOOM-compatible scrolling floors.
• If the +alwaysrun action is bound to the CAPSLOCK key, and the alwaysrun CVAR is on, the CAPSLOCK key is now toggled off when the console is opened, and then toggled back on when it closes.

DOOM Retro v5.5 is now available to download as either a 32 or 64-bit Windows app. Here’s a list of what’s changed since the last version:

• DOOM Retro is now built using v17.10.5 of Microsoft Visual Studio Community 2022.
• DOOM Retro now uses SDL v2.30.5.
• Several changes have been made to further improve the overall performance and stability of DOOM Retro.
• Several changes have been made to text that is output to the console.
• The mouse no longer has any effect on DOOM Retro’s window when it doesn’t have focus.
• Changing the r_mirroredweapons CVAR no longer affects the random colors of marine corpses when the r_corpses_color CVAR is on.
• These changes have been made to the support of MAPINFO lumps:
  • A bug is fixed whereby map names wouldn’t be parsed correctly in some instances.
  • EPISODE is now parsed correctly in more instances.
  • Newline characters in INTERTEXT and INTERTEXTSECRET strings are now parsed.
• These changes have been made to the support of DEHACKED lumps:
  • The values specified using Initial health and Initial bullets will now be used at the start of each map if the pistolstart CCMD or -pistolstart command-line parameter are used.
  • A bug is fixed whereby the health of spiderdemons would always be 3,000 even if a value was specified using Hit points.
• These changes have been made to the support for controllers:
  • Improvements have been made to the rumbling of controllers when the player uses certain weapons and the joy_rumble_weapons CVAR is on.
  • A bug is fixed whereby the player would continually turn to their right if the joy_analog CVAR was off (including when vanilla mode was enabled).
  • Hotplugging controllers now always works.
  • Pressing the left thumbstick of a controller is no longer bound to the +alwaysrun action by default.
  • Controllers no longer rumble if the mouse or keyboard are being used by the player instead.
• The aspect ratio of the display when in widescreen mode can now be forced by changing the new vid_aspectratio CVAR from its default auto to 16:9, 16:10, 21:9 or 32:9.
• Pressing the ENTER key to close the help screen no longer causes the previous player message to be displayed.
• The save and load CCMDs can now be used to save and load games by specifying numbers 1 to 8.
• The player’s currently equipped weapon is now translucent when they have a partial invisibility power-up and the r_textures CVAR is off.
• A bug is fixed, present in the original DOOM, whereby sprites wouldn’t be rendered if the sector they were in wasn’t in the player’s line of sight.
• Sprites also no longer disappear when drawn against the left and right edges of ultra-wide displays.
• A small amount of blood is now sprayed when a monster is gibbed. This can be disabled using the new r_blood_gibs CVAR, which is on by default and off when vanilla mode is enabled.
• The playername CVAR is now “” rather than “you” by default.
• A bug is fixed whereby the ammo the player had for their equipped weapon wasn’t displayed in the widescreen HUD while they were dead.
• The power-up bar is now displayed in the alternate widescreen HUD when the player enters the IDBEHOLDL cheat.
• These changes have been made to the menu:
  • Minor improvements have been made to the highlighting of items selected in the menu.
  • The highlighting of items selected in the menu can now be disabled using the new menuhighlight CVAR, which is on by default and off when vanilla mode is enabled.
  • Shadows cast by items in the menu can now be disabled using the new menushadow CVAR, which is on by default and off when vanilla mode is enabled.
  • The episode, expansion and skilllevel CVARs are now always updated whenever the selected episode, expansion or skill level are changed in the menu.
  • DBIGFONT lumps are now supported. This will allow more menu items to be displayed in the correct font, and CONSOLE... to be displayed in the options menu, in some instances.
  • These changes have been made to the load and save game menus:
    • The text caret in the save game menu is now larger and flashes quicker.
    • A bug is fixed whereby the text caret could become momentarily stuck at the end of a truncated savegame description in some instances.
    • To be consistent with every other menu, pressing a key that corresponds with the first letter of a savegame description now navigates to that savegame slot.
• The sound effect heard when opening and closing the console by pressing the ~ key is now slightly louder.
• Further improvements have been made to rendering liquid sectors when the r_liquid_bob CVAR is on.
• The screen’s brightness can now be adjusted using the new vid_brightness CVAR. This CVAR can be between -100% and 100%, and is 0% by default and when vanilla mode is enabled.
• The screen’s contrast can now be adjusted using the new vid_contrast CVAR. This CVAR can be between -100% and 100%, and is 0% by default and when vanilla mode is enabled.
• The screen’s red, green and blue levels can now be adjusted using the new vid_red, vid_green and vid_blue CVARs. These CVARs can be between -100% and 100%, and are 0% by default and when vanilla mode is enabled.
• The r_saturation CVAR is renamed vid_saturation, is now a value between -100% and 100% and is 0% by default.
• The vid_scaleapi CVAR is now direct3d11 by default.
• The map title in the automap is now always positioned correctly when the am_external CVAR is on.
• Additional brightness can now be applied to all of the lighting in the current map using the new r_levelbrightness CVAR. This CVAR can be between 0% and 100%, and is 0% by default and when vanilla mode is enabled.
• The infiniteammo and regenhealth CCMDs can no longer be entered when a game isn’t being played.
• The color of the bottom edge of the console now changes to reflect the color of the digits in the status bar, (or in some cases, the text in the menu), if the relevant lumps have been replaced by the currently loaded PWAD.
• The mouse pointer may now be used to move the scroll bar in the console when the m_pointer CVAR is on.
• Minor changes have been made to text in the status bar and alternate widescreen HUD.
• The r_shake_damage CVAR is now a value of on or off and is on by default. Improvements have been made to the shake effect when this CVAR is on.
• A confirmation message is now displayed when entering the endgame CCMD in the console.
• A bug is fixed whereby a controller’s left thumbstick would be too sensitive while the player was running.
• A minor improvement has been made to the rumble of controllers when the player picks something up and the joy_rumble_pickup CVAR is on.
• A bug is fixed whereby advancing the intermission screen wouldn’t work in some instances.
• A crash no longer occurs if a texture is missing a patch.

DOOM Retro v5.4 is now available to download as either a 32 or 64-bit Windows app. Here’s a list of what’s changed since the last version:

• DOOM Retro is now built using v17.9.6 of Microsoft Visual Studio Community 2022.
• DOOM Retro now uses SDL v2.30.3.
• Minor changes have been made to further improve the overall performance and stability of DOOM Retro.
• Several changes have been made to text that is output to the console.
• A slightly brighter color is now chosen for the surrounding pillarboxes when displaying certain lumps from PWADs that are only 320 pixels wide and the vid_widescreen CVAR is on.
• A bug is fixed whereby grouping wasn’t being applied to the previous player message when displayed by pressing the ENTER key if both the messages and groupmessages CVARs were on.
• Minor improvements have been made to certain animations on the intermission screen.
• The status bar now shows when the player has picked up both a keycard and a skull key of the same color by introducing support for BOOM’s STKEYS6, STKEYS7 and STKEYS8 lumps.
• Improvements have been made to drawing thing triangles in the automap when the IDDT cheat has been entered.
• The underscores of the message displayed when the IDBEHOLD cheat has been entered now always line up.
• The shadow cast by the status bar in the automap is now low detail when the r_detail CVAR is low.
• The color of the player stats shown in the automap when the am_playerstats CVAR is on can now be changed using the new am_playerstatscolor CVAR, which is 4 by default.
• These changes have been made to the support of MAPINFO lumps:
  • Scrolling skies are now supported if a value is specified with SKY1.
  • ALLOWMONSTERTELEFRAGS = 0 now works on all maps.
  • A bug is fixed whereby map names wouldn’t be used in some instances.
• Minor improvements have been made to the parsing of DEHACKED lumps.
• The status bar and widescreen HUD are now always correctly updated when the give or take CCMDs are used to give or take keycards and skull keys to or from the player. The order in which they are given has also improved.
• The DSSAWUP sound effect is no longer heard in its entirety when the player equips their chainsaw.
• If a sound effect lump in a PWAD is 0 bytes in size, now rather than playing the IWAD’s lump it replaces, nothing is played.
• Explosions now cast shadows if the r_shadows CVAR is on.
• These changes have been made to intermission text screens:
  • A sound effect is now played when a key is pressed to advance the text.
  • A crash no longer occurs if the text is too long.
• The F1 key no longer interrupts the splash screen if pressed.
• The console can no longer be opened while a menu confirmation message is displayed.
• Further improvements have been made to the position of player messages in some instances.
• These changes have been made to the load and save game menus:
  • If any STCFNxxx lumps are present in a PWAD, the savegame descriptions are now correctly positioned vertically.
  • The correct savegame description is now always displayed in the confirmation message when pressing DEL to delete a savegame.
• The mouselook CVAR and the +mouselook action have been renamed freelook and +freelook.
• These changes have been made when using the resetall CCMD:
  • A bug is fixed whereby certain actions bound to a mouse button weren’t being reset.
  • The automap no longer closes if it was open.
• A bug is fixed whereby the sky wouldn’t be stretched if the +freelook action was bound to a button on a controller.
• The text in the console has been brought in slightly from the left and right edges of the screen when the vid_widescreen CVAR is on, and even more so on ultra-wide displays.
• Improvements have been made to the position of some elements of the alternate widescreen HUD.
• The game may now be ended during intermission by either using the endgame CCMD in the console or selecting “End Game” in the options menu.
• The number of keycards and skull keys the player picks up is now displayed by the playerstats CCMD.
• The translucency of the trail of smoke behind rockets fired by the player and cyberdemons can now be toggled separately from other sprites by using the new r_rocket­trails_translucency CVAR. This CVAR is on by default and off when vanilla mode is enabled.
• Boss actions now occur when using the kill CCMD in the console.
• Improvements have been made to displaying the disk icon when the r_diskicon CVAR is on.
• Improvements have been made to the contents of files created using the condump CCMD.
• Liquid sectors are now rendered correctly when their floor height is in line with the player’s view height and the r_liquid_bob CVAR is on.
• The help CCMD has been renamed wiki.
• Player messages no longer cast shadows when vanilla mode is enabled.
• An infinite amount of ammo for all of the player’s weapons can now be enabled by using the new infiniteammo CCMD.

DOOM Retro v5.3 is now available to download as either a 32 or 64-bit Windows app. Here’s a list of what’s changed since the last version:

• DOOM Retro is now built using v17.9.2 of Microsoft Visual Studio Community 2022.
• DOOM Retro now uses SDL v2.30.0 and SDL_mixer v2.8.0.
• Changes have been made to DOOM Retro’s splash screen.
• Several changes have been made to further improve the overall performance and stability of DOOM Retro.
• Support has been added for maps with compressed, extended nodes.
• A warning is now displayed in the console at startup if a lump in a PWAD is an unsupported PNG image, since trying to display it would cause DOOM Retro to crash.
• Minor changes have been made to text that is output to the console.
• Improvements have been made when the player moves using a controller.
• A bug is fixed whereby corpses weren’t being nudged whenever the player or a monster walked over them and the r_corpses_nudge CVAR was on.
• The blood splats spawned around a corpse at the start of each map when the r_corpses_moreblood CVAR is on are no longer spawned outside of the map if the corpse happens to be too close to a wall.
• These changes have been made when entering the IDCLEV cheat:
  • If it is used to restart the current map, the player message displayed is now always correct.
  • If invalid parameters are entered, such as if IDCLEV01 is entered while playing DOOM instead of DOOM II, the player no longer equips their fists because the 1 key was pressed.
• The IDMUS cheat now works as intended.
• The thing triangles of spectres in the automap are now translucent when the IDDT cheat has been entered.
• Improvements have been made to parsing custom monster names in DEHACKED lumps.
• These changes have been made to the support of MAPINFO lumps:
  • BOSSACTION now always works as intended.
  • NEXT and SECRETNEXT now always work as intended.
  • Custom episodes greater than episode 4 now work as intended when playing DOOM.
  • A crash no longer occurs during the finale when playing DOOM II and ENDGAME = TRUE is present.
• If the music lumps D_E4M1 to D_E4M9 are found in a PWAD, they are now heard when playing maps in episode 4 of DOOM.
• These changes have been made to the weapon silhouettes in the alternate widescreen HUD:
  • The DRHUDWP0 lump can now be changed in a PWAD to display a weapon silhouette when the player has their fists equipped.
  • If any of the player weapon sprites have changed in a PWAD, the weapon silhouettes can now be displayed if the DRHUDWP0 to DRHUDWP8 lumps are also changed.
• Several improvements have been made to the position, translucency and truncation of player messages and the current map’s title in the automap.
• When playing DOOM (Shareware), files no longer attempt to autoload from the autoload folder during startup.
• A bug is fixed whereby the presence of SIGIL_SHREDS.WAD in the autoload folder would cause a crash in some instances.
• Restoring a lesser known feature from the original DOOM, pressing the ENTER key now displays the previous player message if the messages CVAR is on. Also, pressing the ENTER key while a player message is displayed will now hide that message.
• Further improvements have been made to the support of Freedoom: Phase 1 and Freedoom: Phase 2.
• Solid walls now always clip correctly against the left and top edges of the automap.
• The puffs of smoke that trail behind rockets fired by the player and cyberdemons when the r_rockettrails CVAR is on are now randomly mirrored.
• The spawn CCMD no longer spawns something if the ceiling in front of the player is too low.
• The stairs in MAP30: Last Call of Final DOOM: TNT - Evilution now rise up to their correct heights.
• A bug is fixed whereby the player’s view angle would be slightly off after they teleported.
• Both the player and monsters can no longer move under corpses hanging from the ceiling if the infiniteheight CVAR is on.
• The number of power-ups the player picks up is now displayed by the playerstats CCMD.
• The use of DEHACKED and MAPINFO lumps is now displayed by the mapstats CCMD.
• A bug is fixed whereby the screen would glitch slightly as the player exited a map if the vid_scaleapi CVAR was direct3d11.
• The vid_scaleapi CVAR is now direct3d9 by default.
• Minor improvements have been made to the position and translucency of several elements on the intermission screen.
• The total amount of time played is now displayed in the console each time the player exits a map.
• The amount the screen shakes when the player receives damage has been reduced if the r_shake_damage CVAR is greater than 0%.
• These changes have been made when using the kill CCMD in the console:
  • The distance a monster slides upon their death, and the amount of blood splats that are spawned, are now consistent regardless of the size of the monster.
  • Friendly monsters no longer affect the total number of monsters killed in the current map.
  • A bug is fixed whereby invalid obituaries would be displayed in some instances.
• Entering explode barrels in the console now works as intended.
• Entering explode missiles in the console now also explodes any projectiles that the player has fired.

DOOM Retro v5.2.1 is now available to download as either a 32 or 64-bit Windows app. Here’s a list of what’s changed since the last version:

• DOOM Retro is now built using v17.8.4 of Microsoft Visual Studio Community 2022.
• DOOM Retro now uses Direct3D 11 by default rather than Direct3D 9 to scale every frame on the screen, resulting in a considerable boost in performance. The vid_scaleapi CVAR can now be direct3d9, direct3d11, opengl or software.
• IT, S3M, XM and MOD music lumps now play again.
• These changes have been made in the automap:
  • The player’s path is now drawn correctly if the am_path CVAR is on and they have just teleported.
  • A controller’s left and right shoulder buttons can now be held down to zoom in and out.
  • The subtle shadow cast by the status bar is now only visible when the am_backcolor CVAR is its default of 0.
  • Minor improvements have been made to drawing marks added by pressing the M key.
• The con_obituaries CVAR has been renamed to just obituaries.
• When the r_rockettrails CVAR is on:
  • A bug is fixed whereby no smoke was trailing behind rockets fired by the player and cyberdemons.
  • Smoke trailing behind rockets fired by cyberdemons won’t be spawned if certain states or sprites have been changed in a DEHACKED lump.
• A sound effect is now played when using a control that has been bound to the toggle CCMD.