[General Query] Upgrade questions (v1.8.6 to v1.9.7)

ant

Hello!

I still have my old v1.8.6 installed on my old Windows XP Pro. SP3 machine, but I haven't touched it for many years. I saw that v1.9.7 was just released and am curious to see how it is.

Questions:
1. Do I have to uninstall my old one with its DOOM (only DOOM 1 and 2 I care for) addons to install and use v1.9.7? Or can I have both installed?
2. Can I use the old addons or do I have to start clean with v1.9.7? If I can't keep the old addons, then are there replacements (I hate sprites and pixels!)?

Thank you in advance.

DaniJ

1: No you do not have to uninstall the old version first. You can run both versions side-by-side if you wish.

2: Yes you can keep all your old addons (with the exception of jDEP (there is an updated pack available here called Slide's Skyboxes) and "Sambo's sound pack" (there is no updated version of this that I know of)).

ant

Hmm, how about installing v1.9.7 over v1.8.7?

Edit DaniJ: My apologies ant. I accidentally edited your post instead of replying, I've salvaged what I remembered you said.

DaniJ

Hmm, how about installing v1.9.7 over v1.8.7?

No, it is not a good idea to install 1.9.7 over the top of 1.8.6. There have been considerable changes to the install directory since that release and the two versions are incompatible at install-level. I suggest you install the new version into a new directory and then move your add-ons if you've put these in the old install dir (I would advise against doing that in future as it is unnecessary).

Lightning Hunter

DaniJ wrote:

"Sambo's sound pack" (there is no updated version of this that I know of)).

I actually have updated this based on the new .ded files, but I've also made some other personal changes, and am not sure I should release it. It seems to me that if Objects.ded is ever modified again by the Doomsday staff, it will break compatibility once again. Speaking of which, have there been any changes to objects.ded since build 364 Dani? It would be nice to know if they ever ARE changed, so I can update my own objects.ded for various addons. It's tough going through and comparing every part of the .ded file to the new Doomsday version. If I could know exactly what was changed, I could simply go through and change a few things.

DaniJ

Doomsday 1.9.7 introduces a new feature which allows mods to only change certain values in a definition rather than override the whole thing. Mods like Sambo's sound pack should be updated to make use of this new functionality so they won't need to be updated again in future.

For example, if you have a State definition that only changes the value of tics you can use a definition like the following to only alter that value:

State mods "STATEID" { # Unique identifier of the state to change
  Tics = 4; # The new value.
}

ant

DaniJ wrote:

Hmm, how about installing v1.9.7 over v1.8.7?

No, it is not a good idea to install 1.9.7 over the top of 1.8.6. There have been considerable changes to the install directory since that release and the two versions are incompatible at install-level. I suggest you install the new version into a new directory and then move your add-ons if you've put these in the old install dir (I would advise against doing that in future as it is unnecessary).

Ah OK. I will do a new install to keep the old v1.8.6 then. I hope your installer denies users to install over the old one. If not, then please add that feature in your next version.

I hope I can recreate the awesome DOOM 1-2 with this v1.9.7 with improvements! I can't stand sprites, pixels, old MIDI, etc.

DaniJ

I've split off the discussion about the load order issue Lightning Hunter discovered here: viewtopic.php?f=7&t=975