Widescreen Gaming Forum

Oh, didn't Carmack cap the fps of doom 3 to 65 fps? I read this somewhere but I think it was to prevent people from doing certain trick jumps etc by having a certain framrate.
I think I read it somewhere at quake3world.com...

I've definitely seen it go higher than that.

Not that i've noticed this personally but to address the 60fps thing :

(taken from : http://www.bluesnews.com/plans/313/ )

Another question I have had multiple emails about, yes the game is capped at 60fps for normal game play. For render demos, like what was used for the HARD OCP stuff, we run those at full tilt which is why you will see > 60fps.

I agree that the sound is as important as the video, although I only play with headphones, so a good pair of those enhances the creepiness factor. Oh, didn't Carmack cap the fps of doom 3 to 65 fps? I read this somewhere but I think it was to prevent people from doing certain trick jumps etc by having a certain framrate.
I think I read it somewhere at quake3world.com...

it's not to prevent people from doing tricks but to prevent from NOT be able to do it. because some tricks need to be at a particular framerate with Q3 or other "old" engine. now everyone can on any config on Doom 3 ;)

One more sidenote: You guys might think I'm crazy, but a good sound card with 5.1 surround is probably just as important here as the video card. Go play it on a system with surround for 5 mins, and you'll know exactly what I'm talkin' about.

:evil: <== Smiley face in Doom 3.

You're right. the sound side of Doom 3 is a big one but you should also try with good headphones, and you'll know exactly what i'm talkin' about too ;)

Personally, I think the sound in all games is important. For games that are extremely atmospheric, it is perhaps more important, but you wouldn't catch me playing even Flight of the Amazon Queen or Beneath a Steel Sky without some sort of sound. ;) :D

In games without spoken dialogue... (eg: Final Fantasy series, some parts of the Baldur's Gate series) sound is even more vital. :)

I'll be able to give opinions on Doom 3 myself in a few days. :D

I thought the atmosphere was great in the initial stages of the game but after an hour or two it quickly descended into a very repetitive task of room after room mob clearance. You get to a certain point in a room, it triggers a spawn and the mobs appear. A few in front and a few behind you. They all head directly at you in a straight line. Sometimes picking up a power up in a corner will result in the wall sliding back and something popping out at you. It all gets so predictable and repetitive that by the time I reached the caverns I cried out with joy just to see a different environment. Then the game was quickly over.

Even the *cough* special place you end up in about 75% of the way through was just so hackneyed and exactly what I was expecting, having seen it before in countless other games. Painkiller made it into a frozen tableau of war throughout the ages, interspersed with nightmarish chase entrances by a flaming Lucifer. American McGee's Alice was a much more disturbing and imaginative place with decent scripted events.

If this was an homage to Doom1 then it was badly beaten on fun factor by Painkiller and Serious Sam. They are the only games since that have thrown mass upon relentless mass of bad guys at you in a similar fashion. If it was Doom1 told differently then it was almost as if the past 10 years of gaming have never happened. If it was a "terrifying sci-fi horror" then it should have stuck with the first 1-2 hours and gone on to do something different instead of tagging on a generic first person corridor shooter for another 15 hours.

The boss mobs were dreadful with no strategy to learn or weak point to exploit. (Has id never heard of Treasure? Would it have really been that hard to look at some decent boss mob design and code some fun into them?) Just circle strafe and shoot till dead, or later on just use your "special weapon" and fire off some rockets/BFG rounds. All dead within about 20 seconds bar the final mob, which was still extrememly easy.

After the first 1-2 hours I found the entire experience curiously soulless and dull.

id may make a nice graphics engine but there are a many companies out there making decent games. Unfortunately most people never get to play them because they are overshadowed by hyped up, generic game design like this.

(Yes I played at 1920x1200 widescreen on an X800XT-PE with 5.1 surround sound speakers or headphones, at night, with the lights off.)

...wow... that was quite a rant! I guess I didn't like it that much. :D

And now I wonder whether it is worth buying...

Although those criticisms can be levelled at a lot of games now: the first game to use an engine is typically uninventive, because they spent such a long time working on the engine rather than the gameplay. Later, games using the Doom 3 engine should be more enjoyable... longer, more scripted, whatever. ;)

I can't know for sure, but I have a feeling the mod community is going to explode with Doom 3 mods. Personally I'm most looking forward to interesting multiplayer scenarios that make creative use of the shadows and such. I can't wait to see some Xenomorphs running around in the Doom 3 engine. Just that thought alone makes it worth buying I think. :)

Heh... or a new Splinter Cell using the Doom 3 engine. :wink:

you get the occasional cutscene but it isnt really anything more than "im here, thank god youre alive, im staying in this spot while you continue on"

lolol that's so true... of all 4 of the still living NPCs you encounter.

"Oh you startled me. I'll stay here and twiddle with this flux generator warp machine thing, even though everyone is dead and I have no reason to be still working here"

-"Hi2u2, please don't mention storage locker codes"

"I'll unlock some doors, or something useful like that, for you"

-"Thanks. You mean we're actually going to have a conversation that doesn't involve storage locker codes? Wow that's scarier than the zombies."

"Oh and on your way out you may want to pick up lots of ammo and health packs that are hidden in the storage locker. The code is....."

BLAM!