My Doom Mapping & modding projects - in development ATM 2 maps out of at least 3 finished

Getting into Playing (and mapping/modding for Doom) in 2025 & onward on Windows:

To get started playing Doom (i will focus on Windows). Im using Windows 11 and everything works fine. I recommend:

Step 1) Get Doom + Doom 2 on Steam. This is the only thing you'll pay for and totally worth it, considering the mountain of user content that you'll be able to access. You don't need to get it via Steam but this is the most straightforward, legal way.

Step 2) Get GZDoom You need this for modern quality of life improvements (mouselook straight up/down,jumping...), 3D effects and much more. Its free. Go version 4 and up.

Step 3) I recommend getting ACECorp Launcher for making it easier to launch any downloaded mods, which you will want to do since there is an insane amount of fun user content.
Discussion of Acecorp launcher at Doomworld forum

Step 4) Get the Brutal Doom Mod Like with GZDoom it will seriously boost the gore and feel of Doom. Absolutely essential IMO, it's what i have loaded standard and expect people to use when playing my maps.

Step 5) If you want to get into the fine tradition of making maps for Doom, get Ultimate Doom Builder (UDB) It's what i use as well.

Step 6) You will run into limitations using Ultimate Doom Builder, like setting custom map music or sky textures. You need "Slade" for this. You also need this for deeper editing like custom textures. You can do without Slade while learning Ultimate Doom Builder but i do suggest grabbing it, just in case.

Step 7) This one, like Slade is very optional as well, but someone made an "Endscreen editor" for Doom, called "Endedit". A small utility for creating a custom DOS-like screen, that shows when a player exits a mapset. Its neat, it's free, it's straightforward. Might as well grab it too.