Arriving at Fort Oasis was no vacation. The community of coal miners have mysteriously dissapeared and left facility looking like a wasteland. You receive a transmission on your radio about a sole survivor.... Explore the remains of the island, craft weapons and gear to survive, slay evil minions and more.



Follow my step-by-step guide on installing, configuring and optimizing Total Chaos in GZDoom

Note: This guide applies to the Moddb Doom II version of Total Chaos. Other versions may require additional steps.

Tips & Specs:

To learn more about GZDoom, see the online manual: https://zdoom.org/wiki/GZDoom

Mint 19 64-bit
GeForce GTX 1060
Nvidia 396.54
GZDoom 3.6.0

Download GZDoom for your distro
https://zdoom.org/downloads


Save it to your computer


Double-click to install GZDoom
Click Install (Mint)


Go to your Menu and run GZDoom one time
Click OK


Download the Total Chaos Standalone
https://www.moddb.com/mods/total-chaos/downloads/total-chaos-10


Click "Download Now"


Note: There is also a "Retro Edition" for improved performance on lower spec computers.

Open "totalchaos_standalone_1000b.zip" with your Archive Manager
Select all files
Click Extract


Navigate to the GZDoom directory
Full path:

Code:

/home/username/.config/gzdoom

Click Extract


Click "Show the Files"


The gzdoom directory now has the Total Chaos standalone installed
Here is the .pk3 we will use to launch it with GZDoom


Note: I was not able to find a way to put all of the game files in a single folder and launch it with GZDoom

Test GZDoom and make sure Total Chaos launches
Open Terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T)
Type:

Code:

gzdoom -file totalchaos.pk3

Code should start scrolling up and the game should launch after 10 seconds...


Then you will see the title screen in fullscreen


Controls

Total Chaos is using the standard Doom controls
Update the controls to WSAD and jump, crouch, etc.


Grain Effect

The film grain effect might be a bit intense. You can turn it off in the Options, Post Processing menu

Shortcut to Total Chaos (Mint)

Right-click the menu
Click Configure


Click "Open the menu editor"


Select "Games"
Click "New Item"


Name: Total Chaos
Command: gzdoom -file totalchaos.pk3
Click the icon
Navigate to the Total Chaos icon folder
Select the Total Chaos icon
Click OK


Now you can launch Total Chaos from the Menu


Conclusion:
Total Chaos runs pretty well, but has a few stutters... It didn't affect game-play and the developer is working on optimizing it. In fact, there is a "Retro Edition" that is already optimized for lower spec computers like laptops and netbooks.
I found the game to be a fun survival exploration action game. I love the levels, interaction, crafting and action mechanics. The developer spent a lot of time dialing in the game so it was a challenge, but still possible to have fun. The graphics and ambiance is amazing considering they are using a modified Doom engine.

Gameplay Video:


Screenshots: