ZDaemon
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
ZDaemon is a modified Doom source port based on ZDoom for both Windows and *NIX (server only at this time), purposely-built for playing multiplayer games of Doom over the internet. It used to be open source, but the source has been closed due to cheating incidents and security issues. The current client version is 1.08.01 (December 31, 2005), and the current server version is 1.08.02 (April 6, 2006). The difference in version numbers, normally kept balanced, is due to a recent server patch that fixes a critical security vulnerability.
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[edit] ZLauncher
ZLauncher is a specialized launcher made specifically for ZDaemon. It provides an official list of currently available servers for people to play on. It also features a buddy list, GETWAD (automatic wad downloading), a quick link to ZSL (the server launcher) from the menu, a WAD file setup utility, demo recording, playback utilities, a built in chat lobby (based on IRC), and embedded forum access. It is maintained by team member Kilgore.
[edit] ZSL
ZSL, or ZDaemon Server Launcher is a program for invoking the ZDaemon server program with a specific configuration instead of having to edit the server configuration files by hand and start zserv manually. It is maintained by team member Doom2pro.
[edit] Other Utilities
GETWAD
This is a modular utility created by team member Kilgore that looks on many major file repositories for map files, which it then downloads and extracts to a users specified map directory automatically.
ZRC
This is a modular IRC client created by team member Kilgore that is simply that - an IRC client. However, when used in tandem with ZLauncher, it automatically joins a specialized IRC server. Since everyone who uses ZLauncher is logged in to this chat server, you can chat with everyone who is logged in to ZDaemon and has ZLauncher open.
[edit] Criticism
[edit] Cheating
The nature with which ZDaemon staffers have dealt with cheaters has been a controversial one. For the most part, cheating had been kept relatively under control. As incidences began to escalate, the source code was no longer released with binaries, and culminated in the 'ZDHook' cheat. ZDHook was a combination package containing several cheating mechanisms, including an aimbot, a primitive wallhack, and the use of modified WADs. It became prevalent enough in the community that the official tournaments were closed until security updates could be made.
The cheating policy is a point of contention within the ZDaemon community. Public accusations of cheating (whether legitimate or not) are frowned upon as unnecessary public disturbance, with Raider once declaring it as a form of harassment. This has led to conflicts in the community, including many by long-standing members who feel there are a small number of cheaters who evade the scrunity of the administration, which they feel is either ignorant of the matter or simply turning a blind eye. The administrators maintain that they ban only when given clear evidence and stand by their policy, although this same policy seems to be based under color of authority.
[edit] Source code controversy
In the ZDaemon 1.07 era, the development team stopped releasing the source code to ZDaemon due to numerous attacks and cheating incidents. The development team claims that since ZDaemon came from a mixed number of conflicting licenses, it was thus only subject to one of them: The Doom Public License. This license technically allows for the source to be closed, and the development team felt, much to their benefit, this to be an appropriate license to abide by.
This action caused a number of people to leave the community until the ZDaemon source is released again. The move has been criticised as a form of security through obscurity, making development of some cheats more difficult but not addressing the causes. The move also makes development of alternate ZDaemon clients and servers impossible and is uncommon in the Doom community where most source ports have their source code publicly available. Though, it should be taken note of that ZDaemon's main competitor, Skulltag, is also closed source.
The developers have agreed that anyone wanting to develop a new feature or bugfix can do so using the older ZDaemon 1.06 codebase and submit it to the core development team for inclusion.
The utility GetWAD has received criticism for being able to download commercial IWAD files which are still, to this day, licensed to ID Software
[edit] Bans
The ZDaemon master server will only advertise servers that enforce a ban list controlled by the ZDaemon staff. Servers that do not enforce this ban list are not shown to users. The effective result of this is that the ZDaemon staff have the ability to globally ban anyone they choose from all ZDaemon servers that can be easily found. While this allows the removal of many cheaters, the mechanism used can occasionally block innocent players as well due to matching dynamic IP ranges.
Relatedly, ban appeals, especially those of bystanders caught in the range bans of others, often end up as over-dramatized forum posts. For this reason, it is usually requested that such appeals be relegated to a private dialog with a member of the staff.
[edit] The ZDaemon community
The ZDaemon community itself, while not part of the ZDaemon program in a strict sense, plays a huge role in the experience of playing ZDaemon online. It features multiple methods of discussion and game collaboration.
The community's discussion and gaming services include:
The ZDaemon Forums
ZDaemon Chat / #zdplayers on ZDirc
#zdaemon on irc.freenode.net (defunct)
ZDaemon Tournaments
ZDReview
[edit] Clan activity
ZDaemon features a highly active clan scene. However, there are several major clans of note within ZDaemon.
A bit of history about Clans and First Person Shooters
Wikipedia Clans in First Person Shooter
Wikipedia Deathmatch Gaming and Clans
Total Control (TC)
Created by the Founder of The Gaming Center BBS, a Worldgroup BBS and Internet Service Provider hosted during the explosion DooM II and Multi-Player Gaming during the mid 1990s. The Gaming Center BBS specialized in Multiplayer DooM II Gaming via its low latency engine powered by SirDoom http://www.TCDooM.com
Dwango United (DUI)
Created by former users of the DWANGO online gaming service of the mid 1990s, it boasts a large number of active participants. http://www.dwangounited.org
Oldschoolers (OS)
A clan made up of more oldschool players, originated by three members: KNorton, Urhash, and fyrestorm. They are almost immediately recognizable by their ^OS tag, and are the original clan that came up with the "on top!" phrase commonly used in the ZDaemon lexicon. http://clanos.slipgate.org
UniDoom (UD)
One of the oldest existing clans that remain constantly active. Among other things, they are responsible for the creation of the very popular UDM deathmatch series. Their active and inactive roster encompasses more than 30 players, mappers and coders, however disputes between the clan and the ZDaemon developers and community have resulted in the exodus of a good portion of them from the community. With close ties to Clan OS, UD is often attributed to making the "on top!" phrase popular by excessive use. http://www.unidoom.org
Bad Taste (BT)
Founded by ATG (Sleepless) and 206, it's current roster mostly consists of staff members and a few mappers. They are hard to spot at times, since they sometimes play sans clan tag. http://bt.keystone.gr
Limp Gimps (LG)
A tightly knitted English clan (with the exception of one Dutch member) founded by enVision (Rat Arsed), the roster only contains 5 members of which 3 are staff. Also good at mapping. http://limpgimps.getsomewhere.net
A more extensive list of clans can be found at the ZDaemon Home Page.
[edit] The ZDaemon Team
Raider
Project Leader
Doom2pro
Development
Danni
Development
Kilgore
Development and Support
Lyfe
Development and Launcher Admin
Da_maniaC
ZDaemon administration mail and tech support, Beta tester and former forum moderator/channel operator.
[edit] Old Staffers
These people are no longer involved with ZDaemon and many of them are now actually banned. This section exists purely for historical reasons.
NightFang
Founder and Developer of ZDaemon
Retired.
Slayer
Website hoster, master server hoster and doom2.org administrator
Retired.
KNorton
Founder of #zdaemon
The IRC channel #zdaemon on freenode was originally unrelated to ZDaemon itself, instead being simply a chat room by and for players of the game. When KNorton disappeared for a brief period of time, Raider petitioned a global administrator to grant him ownership of the channel—freenode's policy supported projects adopting their own channels. When KNorton returned from his absence, he discovered his former position taken, and did not attempt to re-enter the community.
Ralphis
Community moderator
One of the original ZDaemon team members, Ralphis was responsible for naming ZDaemon itself. The ZDaemon team has claimed that Ralphis was removed for being too oppressive to the community. Ralphis claims otherwise however, claiming that he left due to ideological differences relating to the project. For certain reasons he was banned from the ZDaemon community in Fall of 2006
deathz0r
Beta tester and Forum Moderator
Some level of confusion surrounds the cause of deathz0r's ban, although his condemnation was ruled certain as a result of his support of a DDOS attack against the ZDaemon master server in late 2005.
Russell
Channel operator and Forum Moderator
Banned for defending himself against an individual in the community who was considered higher than him by the project leader.
[edit] List of games that ZDaemon is compatible with
Some games listed are not fully supported by the ZDaemon engine because it is based on the old ZDoom base code, version 1.23. In particular, Heretic is known to display a number of bugs (the most severe of which is a bug in monster support that makes it impossible to join a server once a monster has been killed; introduced in 1.08) and very few HeXen-exclusive effects and objects are supported, making gameplay impossible under most circumstances. This is expected to change with the release of newer versions and updates as the ZDaemon development team improves support.
[edit] Game adaptations
The voices used for announcements of most CTF/Deathmatch/Team Deathmatch games were taken from Quake III Arena and Unreal Tournament. They were compiled together by the creator of the WADs zvox.wad and zvox2.wad, and are subject to change with time. There is also some custom soundpacks which are made and maintained by individual authors and are subject to change anytime according to the author.
