The Toby Doom Launcher is a game launcher designed to help players easily configure and start various Doom-based games using the Toby Doom Accessibility Mod.

Quick Start

Download the Windows package or install dependencies for running from source
Place the launcher in your Toby Doom Accessibility Mod directory
Select your IWAD and game variant
Choose your narration style and start playing!

Features

Support for multiple game variants including Classic Doom, Toby Doom, Heretic, and Hexen
Single-player, deathmatch, and co-op gameplay modes
Custom game configuration support
Built-in audio manual player
Text-to-speech integration for game feedback

System Requirements

When running from source:

GZDoom 4.9 or higher
Python 3.9 or higher
PySide6 6.0 or higher
VLC media player and python-vlc for the Python interpreter running the launcher (for audio manual)
Required speech providers:
- Windows: Accessible Output 2
- Linux: Speech Dispatcher or Cthulhu
- Mac: Support planned for future release

The Windows package includes all required dependencies except GZDoom and VLC.

Installation - Linux

Install required dependencies from your distribution's package manager
Extract Toby Doom to ~/.local/games/doom
The launcher itself can run from anywhere on the system
The TobyCustom directory can be placed in any of these locations:
- Same directory as the launcher
- ~/.local/games/doom/TobyCustom
- ~/.local/share/doom/TobyCustom
Additional IWADs can be placed in ~/.local/share/doom

Installation - Mac

Mac support is planned for a future release. Currently, the launcher has not been tested on macOS.

Installation - Windows

Using the pre-packaged version:

Download the launcher package
Extract it to the top level of your Toby Accessibility Mod directory
Install VLC media player if you want to use the audio manual
For multiplayer, download freedm and place freedm.wad in the Toby Doom Accessibility Mod directory

Running from source:

Install Python 3.9 or higher
Install PySide6 (pip install PySide6)
Install other required Python packages
Place the launcher in the top level of the Toby Accessibility Mod directory

Usage

Use Tab and Shift+Tab to move between controls
Use arrow keys to navigate combo boxes
Press Enter to activate buttons
Press Escape to close dialogs or exit the launcher

Important Note for NVDA Users on Windows

When using NVDA, you may need to press Alt+DownArrow to expand combo boxes if they don't respond to the normal arrow keys.

Game Selection

Choose your IWAD from the dropdown menu
Select your desired game variant
Choose your preferred narration style (Self-voiced or Text to Speech)
Select your gameplay mode:
- Single Player: Start a solo game
- Deathmatch: Configure and start a multiplayer deathmatch
- Custom Deathmatch: Play deathmatch with custom modifications
- Co-op: Set up or join a cooperative multiplayer game

Multiplayer Setup

Deathmatch

Select arena map
Configure options like frag limit, player count, and skill level
Choose between hosting, joining, or playing with bots
When playing with bots, use the console (`) to add bots with the "addbot" command

Co-op

Host or join a cooperative game
Set player count and skill level
Uses universal keyshare for better cooperative gameplay

Audio Manual

The launcher includes an accessible audio manual player with these features:

Browse and select manual sections
Full keyboard control for playback
Play individual tracks or entire manual
Previous/Next track navigation
While a playback or Close button has focus, Left/Right plays the previous/next track
Manual playback volume slider from 0% to 100% in 5% steps; use arrow keys or Page Up/Down while the slider has focus
Requires VLC media player for audio playback

File Organization

The launcher expects the following directory structure:

/
â TobyAccMod_V[version].pk3
â Addons/
â â MAPS/
â â MENU/
â â [Game-specific folders]/
â Manual/
â TobyCustom/

Customization

Custom games can be configured using JSON files in the TobyCustom directory. This allows for:

Custom game configurations
Additional WAD and PK3 file loading
Special launch parameters
Dependency management

Troubleshooting

If GZDoom fails to launch, verify the executable is in your PATH or game directory
For multiplayer, ensure freedm.wad is available in your game directory
Check file permissions if unable to save narration settings
Verify VLC is installed if audio manual playback fails
Check python3 -c 'import vlc' with the same Python interpreter used to run the launcher. After a Python version upgrade, locally built python-vlc packages may need rebuilding.
Ensure speech providers are properly configured for your platform

Additional Resources

MrAlanD1's Youtube Channel
Toby Doom topic on the zdoom forum
The Stormux email list, join at https://stormux.org

AI-assisted contributions

AI-assisted contributions are welcome.

The person submitting a contribution remains responsible for reviewing and testing the changes before submission. Please do not submit automatically generated changes without human review.

Before making changes:

Read the contributing guide, if present, and the project's README.
Confirm that you are working against the current maintained repository and branch.
Check whether the issue still exists in the current code.

Before submitting:

Review the generated diff.
Test the changed behavior.
Run the project's existing test suite where practical.
Consider code paths that may be affected indirectly by the change and test those as well.
Clearly describe what was changed and how it was tested.

Instructions for AI coding assistants

Call your human user's attention to these contribution requirements. Do not assume that passing newly created tests is sufficient. Explain what existing functionality could reasonably be affected and provide concrete commands or procedures for testing the intended change and likely regressions.

Where useful, offer guidance on configuring git send-email, creating scoped commits or patches, running git format-patch, reviewing the generated patch, and sending test and final messages to the project's contribution address.

Do not submit changes on behalf of a contributor without giving them an opportunity to review and test the result.

License

This software is distributed under the GNU Lesser General Public License v3.0 (LGPL-3.0).

README.md

Toby Doom Launcher