Doom + Doom II Patch Adds Multiplayer Mod Support To Raise Hell With Friends

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DOOM never dies, and neither does its modding scene. The official KEX-powered port of DOOM + DOOM II on every major platform just got a huge upgrade: support for mods in multiplayer. Now you and your friends can rip and tear through demons and custom WADs together without being shackled to the base game's maps and mechanics. If you've ever wanted to speedrun a slaughter map or get lost in an elaborate fan-made campaign with a squad, this patch can make that happen.

Alongside this game-changing addition, the update also squashes a bunch of multiplayer bugs, including a particularly nasty issue where item pickups in co-op could get restricted to the host. Now, sharing ammo and power-ups should work as intended, which is a big deal when you're fighting off an army of cyberdemons in Antaresian Reliquary. To play with mods, all players need to subscribe to the same mod from the in-game menu, and the host must enable it before starting a session—pretty straightforward.

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Why yes, that does say 42690 monsters. It'd go a lot faster with four players.

Of course, there are some caveats. Since the KEX port is its own thing separate from the community-made source ports, its mod compatibility has some limits. Mods need to be built for vanilla DOOM, BOOM, or the MBF21 format, although DeHackEd mods are supported as well. That means the vast majority of user levels and classic gameplay mods will work, but don't expect to load up Brutal Doom, Demonsteele, or anything else that relies on the more advanced scripting functions available in other ports. If you're hoping to play with a mod that fundamentally changes how DOOM feels, you might be out of luck.

Still, this patch is a big deal for fans of the official port, which already offers modern niceties like high resolutions and smooth frame rates—things the original DOS version could only dream of with its sub-240p visuals and 35 FPS cap. While ZDoom remains the author's go-to for single-player modding mayhem, this update makes the KEX port a solid choice for online demon-slaying. If you've been looking for an easy way to blast through classic DOOM WADs with friends, now's the time to lock and load.

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Sadly, you'll still have to use ZDoom to play as Highway Acceleroid Booster.

If we've got you stoked to play some multiplayer DOOM, it's currently 60% off on Steam for the next 20 hours, making the whole package (with DOOM, DOOM II, Final DOOM, the new Legacy of Rust episode, and thousands upon thousands of user levels) just $4. It could be a killer way to get pumped for the impending launch of DOOM: The Dark Ages this May. Just make sure you meet the demanding system requirements for that title before you get too hyped—they're brutal. Oh, and you can read the full DOOM + DOOM II patch notes here.
Tags:  Gaming, doom, mods