Official DOOM 3 discussion thread

[replicant]

Newell has basically made out more or less that Half-Life 2's 'performance' is going to be as ATI dependant as Doom III is on Nvidia, with an increase supposedly of up to 40% using an x800 over a 6800.

Marketing talk.

The variation between 6800u and x800pe dx9 and shader performance is not as big as the variation between opengl performance.

I honestly can't see any reason a x800 xt pe will be 40% faster than a 6800 Ultra. Maybe it will be 40% faster than a 5950u

The problem that ATI have is that they can't get the PE out of the door. Yields are tiny and supply is at a minimum. Therefore in the real world if Valve due ship HL2 soonish they are going to be compared against the 12 pipe pro which isn't really up to the "next gen" job, with the 16 pipe GT, and Ultra.

For your pro the vivo is flashable to 16 pipes, so give it a go. Then up the clocks et voila a x800 xt pe

[Concept]

I know Newell probably was exaggerating, but I've purchased an x800 just to be on the safe side I suppose with regards to Half-Life 2. I can imagine the 6800 and x800 having very similar performances in actuality, i.e. handling the game decently either way.

Well my Pro came today. The installation was relatively simple for my first graphics card upgrade, although after doing so there I heard some strangle crackling going on with Doom III's sound now and again. I know the x800 and Doom III's sound engine are supposed to be CPU dependant to a large degree, so maybe there's some conflict going on there. I'll take another look later on.

Anyway... On average, I get 49.1 fps in time demo1 with settings set to 'high' at 1280x1024, so I'm more than happy. That's with video sync turned on but with AA turned off by the way, because at that resolution, I don't notice much difference with it to be honest. In any case, the extra increase in resolution and fps has made the experience of playing through Doom III again that much more absorbing.

From an atmospheric point of view it's truly an impressive game, due in no small part to such fantastic use of technology in properly conveying such a well developed sense of artistry.

[JoeK]

Doom3 has surpassed my expectations completely. Which is a bit ironic because it's pretty much everything that I thought it was going to be - namely Doom with bells and whistles!

I think what I had forgot was just how much fun I had playing Doom originally. I'll never forget one bit when the lights went dead, then went on again and I was surrounded by imps!

Yes, the game is linear. It doesn't cry out innovation particularly, but I'm finding it enormous fun.

It's also quite gratifying that the game runs very smoothly on my relatively modest PC - admittedly, I bought a 5900, and a load more ram, but still - the 5900 isn't anywhere near top spec anymore, but everything looks great.

This and Far Cry have ressurected my waning interest in PC Gaming, and now I wait with bated breath to see what Half-Life 2 does.

Whatever else, I think iD have created an incredible engine here - and the very fact that a lot of people with very different spec PCs get it running acceptably is remarkable.

I'm a happy camper!

[Ciaran]

Concept: Turn the sound acceleration from full acceleration to basic acceleration in the DirectX control panel. This should fix that sound problem.


Spoiler: Is anyone else massively dissappointed over the soul cube. It was built up so much and its just a spinning box with blades sticking out of it. I was expecting so much more

[demon9k]

Spoiler: Is anyone else massively dissappointed over the soul cube. It was built up so much and its just a spinning box with blades sticking out of it. I was expecting so much more

Spoiler Talk - It might not look the part but it certainly does its job very well. It has kept me alive through really tough sections.

[razu]

OMFG. Total ****pants. Not got very far in but...

Videopanels are supercool.
Mouse cursor upon nearing interactive station: supercool.
Torch-to-weapon switching: arse-aperture defining.
Lighting: MOODY, and functional*.
Jumpyfactor: 10 out of 9.

Running on a p4 2.66, 1GB RAM with geForce 4200i, MOST IMPORTANTLY with new nVidia drivers, went from version 45's to 61's and gained lots of fps. With better HW it will look the DBs, but I am basis vector invariant, (eg. it functions perfectly well at my level: fookin skeery!!).

Brilliant stuff.


* plays well AND looks good, as opposed to looks good in screenshots but is no use to anyone when playing, see lens flares of doom in so many other games, this is not fx for the sake of fx. Yay!!

[Concept]

Exactly. I can imagine people reading this thread and coming to the simple conclusion that people upgrading their systems in and around Doom III, Half-Life 2 and STALKER are being graphic whores.

The simple fact is I see it like this...

Atmosphere is partially integrated and responsible for how we respond to gameplay.
The building blocks of atmosphere are immersion.
Immersion is built on believability.
Constructive beliveability gets built on technically and artisitic consistent representation.

So personally I think it all tends to link up.

In the case of Doom III, the reason the game's atmosphere, pacing and sense of 'being there' works so well is in large part down to the engine and what iD have used it for in representing their vision.

I've played about with my x800Pro a little more, and I can just about get 52fps at 'high' 1280x1024, automatically coupled with 8x Anisotropic filtering. What I'd like to know is what does significant use of Anisotropic filtering actually do? I've never seen any overwhelming difference in any of the recent PC games it's been used on.

On a side note, I can get 35fps choosing ultra at 1280x1024 (my monitor's top resolution), but as has been suggested in reports, there's stuttering every few areas while levels are being loaded into the cache on a 256MB card. Still... To be honest, I struggle to tell all that much difference between high and ultra.

Concept: Turn the sound acceleration from full acceleration to basic acceleration in the DirectX control panel. This should fix that sound problem.

Aye. That pretty much sorted the problem thanks.

As for the (spoiler ahead)... Soul Cube... I thought it represented the experience outstaying it's welcome in single-player a little bit, and an indication of a slightly confused last fifth to the play in terms of pacing. The game should have finished in hell... When I plundered into the cavern levels afterwards I thought Doom III had lost momentum by peaking a little too early... The slightly weak effect of the Soul Cube weapon showed a lack of thought to the build up it was previously given throughout the story in my opinion as well. Yet... I did enjoy the fact the end boss was the Cyber Demon. I was wondering where the old bastard had got to, and I suppose it only ended fittingly for him to be carved up all gorified by the weapon which the game represented as its pinnicle. Although, in my heart of hearts, that has to be reserved for the BFG.

[Ian(not Ian)]

I particularly like the red mist effect when you're getting thumped, totally throws you off balance resulting in more thumping, which leads to panic....Panic! Run away, run away....**** I'm in a corner! That's what DOOM was all about and DOOM3 is more of that same loveliness wrapped up in supercool visuals and sound effects.

Well done id.

[Tom Salter]

Got my 1Gb of ram this morning, and it now runs fantastic - even with a GeForce 3. Running it in 1280x1024 at low quality, and I'm really impressed with it.

However, I'm about to drive to Overclockers to go and pick up a 6800GT...

[jezzace]

ha, I just realised you can play with the original doom controls... arrow keys to move, ctrl to fire, alt to strafe. Give it a go its super hard!

[Tom Salter]

6800GT installed, I'll let you know how it plays

[Tom Salter]

OMG, it looks and runs amazing in Ultra settings 1280x1024.

[Concept]

Ultra is good. But the occasional caching got on my nerves after a while.

[Tom Salter]

Yeah, I just threw it down to High instead. Now runs really quick and looks amazing.

So far, I think the flashlight is an amazing little gimmick. Do you wander around in pitch black, weapon raised, or do you use the light, leave yourself vulnerable slightly, but be able to see?

[Concept]

You know something? I just ran it at Ultra after your post and doing tweaks last night based on recommendations from this page.

http://www.viperlair.com/articles/howto/software/tweakd3/

I got 57.2 fps on my second run through of timedemo1. Faster than high. Odd.

Forget the caching issues, for an x800Pro and considering Doom III is capped at 60fps I'm impressed. Oh, that's another thing... If you thought your first timedemo1 performance on your 6800GT was good Tom, then just run it again. Apparently, disc I/0 causes stuttering on the first run.

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1558,1634117,00.asp

When I tried Ultra a second time with my tweaks, I got quite a nice fps increase due to the fact timedemo1 was loaded into memory. With your 6800GT, your rates should go through the roof.

As for the game, I like to wander around with the flashlight on, and alternate continually between weapon and no weapon. It really highlights the simple, but effective tactical awarness you have to show, and also continually be on edge.

Doom III reminds me of the old Doom mixed with the claustrophobia and atmosphere of Alien if I had to quickly sum it up why the game works for me.