The Preferences window provides options that apply to Doom Builder, regardless of the game configuration or map you choose to edit. You can access this window from the Tools menu, or with the default key F5. The options are categorized in different tabs;
Interface
This tab contains some interface related options.
Default view:
This sets the default view mode that you wish to use when opening or creating a new map.
Preview image size:
The size of all preview images in the editor and in the
Image Browser. Smaller preview images consume less system memory.
Autoscroll speed:
During some actions, such as drawing and dragging, Doom Builder can automatically scroll the working area when you move your mouse towards the edges. Use this setting to set the scrolling speed to use. Drag the slider completely to the left to turn off automatic scrolling.
Vertex scale factor (GZDB only):
Controls the size of vertex handles in Classic and Visual modes.
Max. recent files (GZDB only):
Controls how many recent files are shown in the File menu.
Script Editor always on top of main window:
Check the box
if you want the script editor to float above the
Main Window even when the script editor does not have the focus.
When enabled, GZDoom Builder will center 2D-mode on Visual Camera position when you leave Visual mode, and will place Visual Camera at cursor position when you toggle from 2D mode to Visual Mode (unless you have Visual Mode camera thing in your map).
Visual Modes:
This area contains several settings for the
Visual Mode. To improve performance, you may want to decrease the
View distance setting.
Controls
This is where you configure your keyboard and mouse shortcut keys. On the left is a list of all
Actions in Doom Builder with the current mouse or key combination shown next to them. Select an action to view a summary of this action on the right. Press any key combination to set to this action, or select a special mouse combination from the drop down box. Below that, you can see which other actions share the same key combination so that you can verify any conflicts it may have. Note that actions used in different editing modes can safely share the same key combination.
Appearance
On this tab you can change some settings related to visual aesthetics. On the top and the left of this tab you can change colors that are used in the
Working Area
and set the font and other options regarding the
Script Editor.
Passable lines transparency:
This controls how much translucent the passable lines are. 0% is completely opaque, which is the same as impassable lines. Passable or impassable can be set with a linedef setting, but is automatically set by the editor for singlesided lines and removed for doublesided lines.
Textures and Flats brightness:
With this setting you can increase the brightness of the textures and flats. This is useful when viewing the texture against a white background, or if you are using a dark monitor.
Maximum dynamic lights to render (GZDB only):
Lets you choose how many dynamic lights to render in Visual mode. Decrease this to improve performance when Dynamic Lights Rendering is on. Possible values are [1..32].
Dynamic light size (GZDB only):
This option mimics GZDoom's "light size" option.
Dynamic light intensity (GZDB only):
This option mimics GZDoom's "light intensity" option.
Square things:
Things in Doom use a square shape for collision detection and you may want to turn this option on to get a better view on the bounding boxes of things in the classic Editing Modes (2D).
High quality display rendering:
This improves the display with the use of Pixel Shader Model 2.0. Also adds anti-aliasing to the classic Editing Modes (2D). Performance may be improved by turning off this setting (this also gives a more oldschool Doom Builder 1.68 look to the working area). When Pixel Shader Model 2.0 support is not available, Doom Builder automatically turns off this setting and disables this option.
Bilinear filtering in classic modes:
This enables bilinear texture filtering for all classic Editing Modes (2D). Bilinear texture filtering removes the large square blocks when zooming in, but can also make it look blurry.
Bilinear filtering in visual modes:
This enables bilinear texture filtering for all visual Editing Modes (3D). Bilinear texture filtering removes the large square blocks when zooming in, but can also make it look blurry.
Load GZDoom light definitions (GZDB only):
When enabled, GZDoom's built-in GLDEFS dynamic light definitions will be loaded.
Warning: if a map is loaded, you'll need to reload resources after changing this option to apply the changes.
Scale models in visual modes (GZDB only):
When enabled, height of models will be scaled down by 15% in Visual mode to mimick GZDoom's way of rendering them.
Black background in image browser:
Turn this on to create a black background in the
Image Browser.
Always show selection in visual modes (GZDB only):
When enabled, selected surfaces will be highlighted in Visual mode even if "Show highlight" mode is disabled (Doom Builder 2 behaviour).
Mark 3D floors in classic modes (GZDB only):
When enabled, linedefs of sectors with 3D floors will be marked using "3D Floors" color.
Appearance
Default sector settings (GZDB only):
Allows you to modify setting used when drawing a new sector. These settings can be overriden using
Draw Settings Panel.
Auto-align textures on newly created linedefs (GZDB only):
When enabled, auto texture alignment will be applied to sidedefs created after drawing deometry.
Don't move selection if any part of it is outside of map boundary (GZDB only):
When enabled, geometry outisde of map boundaries can not be dragged. When disabled, geometry will be moved inside of map boundary, most likely destroying sector shapes in the process (Doom Builder 2 behaviour).