Doom modding
modding in the Doom video game series
Doom modding is the practice of creating modifications for games in the first-person shooter franchise Doom developed by id Software, such as the original Doom and its sequel, Doom II: Hell on Earth. These modifications allow players to design new levels, change graphics and sounds, and adjust gameplay mechanics.
During the development of Doom, id Software designed the game to be easier to modify and change; game content was separated from the engine itself. Levels, textures, sounds, and other game data were packaged as WAD files. The name "WAD" stands for “Where’s All the Data?”. The WAD format made it possible to create and share new content without patching the game or writing code. There are two types of WADs: internal and patch WADs (IWAD and PWAD). An IWAD contains the data necessary to load the game, while additional PWADs contain add-on data, such as more character sprites, other weapons, and other content. Immediately following Doom's release in 1993, it attracted a sizeable following of players who created and shared WADs.
Following id Software's release of the Doom engine source code in 1997 (and its re-licensing under the GNU GPL in 1999), the community began developing modified versions of the engine called source ports.
The public source identifies “Doom modding” as modding in the Doom video game series. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Doom, modding and video.
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This entry incorporates text from “Doom modding” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.