Doom 3 - at long last

[Rogue]

No really, it is official - ships first week in August.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5439460/

[firstadopter]

Let me guess, you're going to get it. :)

[Rogue]

Oh Yeah!!! and a new video card and a new CPU and a new motherboard and new memory. Already got the 2001FP. Geez... this is one expensive game. It had better be worth it. If not, there will always be Half-Life 2.

[firstadopter]

I always used to upgrade my hardware on iD software releases.

I HAD to upgrade to a 486/66mhz for Doom.
Pentium 60mhz for Doom 2.
Celeron 300mhz overclocked to 450mhz for Quake
AMD Thunderbird 1.3ghz for Quake 2/Quake 3

My one yr old 2.66ghz P4 is the only one that missed an iD software release. ha!

[firstadopter]

I don't think I can run Doom3 at acceptable framerates on my 2001FP with my current PC. oh well.

I don't intend to run 800x600 in a microscopic window.

[Rogue]

I know my PC will have problems. My video card is a GeForce 3. I have hunted all over for a X800 XT and only on eBay where they are going for around $590 to $630. I managed to pick up a PNY 6800 GT today from COMPUSA, but I have not decided if I am going to keep it or keep trying to find a X800 XT.

Any suggestions are welcome.

[firstadopter]

hardocp.com has a good article on what each graphics card will do with doom3.

I think it depends on what you like more doom3 or halflife2?

If you like doom3 stick with nvidia, and ATI for halflife 2. Each run better on their respective supported game.

I personally like ATI better b/c it doesn't have the power connector issues Nvidia's new cards do.

[Rogue]

my gut tells me Doom3 will be the choice for me, but then again, I was really looking forward to Daikatana and it was horrid (at least in my opinion). Bottom line is that I can't find a X800 XT except on eBay and I am having real issues justifying spending $600 bucks ($500 was bad enough). I have been doing some research on the 6800 GT, it appears to be a clocked down version of the ultra (of which I can't find either). But it is a single slot card and they appear to have reduced the power requirements and it does support pixel shader 3.0.

I was on hardocp but the site must have gone down, can't get to it now. I was right in the middle of reading how wonderful the nVidia cards are for Doom3.

[firstadopter]

Found the following John Carmack post about Doom3. He's like a proud father. :)

I'm proud of it. (Score:5, Informative)
by John Carmack (101025) on Wednesday August 04, @03:56AM (#9876672)
I am extremely proud of Doom 3. I think it is the best game we have ever made, and it exceeded all of my expectations. That is a rather trite phrase, but it is literally true -- I had a good set of expectations for how the game would turn out based on the technologies that it was built on, and it wound up being just plain better than that.

We think a lot of people will like it.

I don't follow gaming message boards, because, at its best, entertainment is going to be a subjective thing that can't win for everyone, while at worst, a particular game just becomes a random symbol for petty tribal behavior. This slashdot story is about as close as I want to go...

Amidst all the various Doom ports and expansions, we are starting up on our next game. It will have a new rendering engine, which will be keeping me busy for a while, but the only other thing we are saying for now is that it won't be a sequel to any of our previous work. We have a really solid team that did a lot of maturing through Doom's development, so I have high hopes that it won't be another four year odyssey.

John Carmack

[idx]

Originally posted by Rendition
Amidst all the various Doom ports and expansions, we are starting up on our next game. It will have a new rendering engine, which will be keeping me busy for a while, but the only other thing we are saying for now is that it won't be a sequel to any of our previous work. We have a really solid team that did a lot of maturing through Doom's development, so I have high hopes that it won't be another four year odyssey.

John Carmack

Heh, pumping out new engines like its going out of style. Pretty amazing group at id. I'm sure there's a number of companies lining up to create new games with the d3 engine as we speak.

-r

[arogan]

First Impressions:

3 discs

about 1.5 hrs of play (some of that was tweaking the settings)

benchmarks:
hold ctrl + alt + tilde for console
type:
timedemo demo1
DO IT TWICE in a row and note the fps on the 2nd run.

abit nf7-s
1 gig corsair 3200
ati radeon 9700 pro
amd mobile athlon xp oc to 2.4ghz (200X12)

medium (default settings, 640X480) 63.7 fps
high (800X600) 50.3
high (1024X768) 37.1
High (800X600, vsync on) 36.2

deltas:
vsync on costs you 10fps
640 -> 800 costs 12fps
800 -> 1024 costs 9 fps
1024 -> 1600 costs 15fps

My favorite right now:
800X600, High
avg fps around 45 using fraps. Rarely dips below 30 fps. Very smooth at these settings and still looks fantastic. Make sure to leave vsync OFF. Even 640X480 doesn't look that bad.
- Best flashlight yet.
- There is no gamma adjustment in the traditional sense. Instead you get a brightness adjustment. This prevents you from gamma cheating (make all the dark areas super bright and washed out looking...yeah I'm known to do this in CS). This in combination with you can't have a flashlight AND a weapon equiped at the same time really heightens the tension...trying to decide to go into room with the flashlight or with a shotgun.
- save time is instantaneous, quick load about 3 sec, level load is about 1 min.
- Screenshots just don't do this game justice. You really have to see it in motion.
- Walk around about 30 min (maybe longer if you read/listen to everything). Just gawk and awe at the brilliant Carmack engine. The lighting, bump mapping, normal maps all just look amazing.
- When it gets going it really gets going. I think I just played about 45min of scariest gameplay in my life.
- There is no "use" key. Instead your crosshair changes to a mouse pointer when you can interact with different elements of the environment. It really works quite well and is very seamless. You see a monitor over there that looks like it has a menu on it? Well you can go over and click on it with additional nested menues. It works quite well and really keeps you in the game.
- I love the new Imps. They look great, scare the crap out of me, bodies do fade away like in blade (way cool), move FAST (not like the imps of old), and throw much faster fireballs (but you can still dodge them).
- The overall feel of the combat is great so far.

cheats (but please don't!!!):
add "+set sv_cheats 1" to desktop shortcut

ALT+CTRL+Tilde for console

god
give all
noclip

to show fps:
Type in the console: com_showfps 1

Also, beta doom 3 ATI drivers have been released that is suppose to boost performance a bit. I have not tried these.
http://www.ati.com/support/infobase/4547.html

[firstadopter]

I have a comparable pc/video card, how is the FPS at 1600x1200?

[arogan]

At 1600X1200 High quality it is about 15 fps.
Yeah so basically forget playing at native res on your 2001fp.

That's ok though since even at 800X600 it still looks great on my 2001fp.

[Rogue]

arogan,

Very Nice review and I agree with you on most of it. I still think Alien vs Predator was scarier, but that may have had to do with no saves/limited saves (after people complained).

This game is a thing of beauty. I'm getting 59.8 FPS at 1600x1220. all effects on (vsync off and no AA). Of course, I just upgraded my pc to a AMD 64 3400+, nVidia 6800 GT and 1Gig Crucial Ballistic RAM.

This game is very, very impressive.

[arogan]

6800GT = DROOL!!!!

just started Alpha Labs Sector 2. I'm still enjoying this game immensely, and it's still freaking me out.

I also tried some multiplayer. It's not bad but most of the games I've been in have been pretty laggy. The server list seems to be pretty delayed (refreshing doesn't help much and the sorting is screwed up). Many servers that don't show full actually are.

Many people are experience static sound ONLY when in surround mound (not stereo) AND you have a nforce2 motherboard.

I dropped sound HW acceleration to basic in control panel and I still get static once in a while. I just did
bind mouse5 s_restart
and now with a click of a mouse it restarts the sound system and fixes it for a while.

Also, if things are a bit too dark try:
r_gamma 1.3

I don't recommend cranking it up too high because you'll really ruin the mood.

Ok I've installed the beta drivers:
800X600 HIGH, vsync off
catalyst 3.7 - 50.3
catalyst 3.9beta - 52.1

I ran some additional benchmarks
1024X768 medium - 42.4
1024X768 medium, 8XAF driver setting - 32.3
800X600 medium, 8XAF driver setting - 46.0
800X600 medium - 58.2

[firstadopter]

6800.. total drool. I wish I could afford $599 video card right now. :(

[Rogue]

Notice 6800 GT not an Ultra (couldn't find one except on eBay or a X800 XT either). CompUSA had the PNY 6800 GT advertised this week for 399.99 (regular price). I debated about it for a day and picked one up Monday. Gotta say I am pretty happy.

Now for the game update. I've had to enable Vsync. I encounterd some tearing without it. Even with it on, I am getting 40 FPS @1600x1200., so no complaints. But Dang those Imps are fast and the guys with guns are a PITA - LOL....

[TheAngryIntern]

ok, got the game this afternoon. Read some very conflicting posts on a fileplanet forum about a tweak, decided against trying it for now.

My specs:

Asus P4C800-E Deluxe
P4 3.2 northwood (standard clocked)
2 GB Geil PC3200 dual channel
ATI Radeon 9800XT (overdrive on)

I'm running it at 1280x1024 with settings on High. Everything is running very smooth for me. The Graphics are mindblowing!!! This game was definitely worth the wait. WOW!!! creepy to the max, the shadows are freakin' unbelievable. I've had so many times already where something just popped out of nowhere behind me and started wailing on me. I too, just reached the Alpha Labs Sector 2. I agree, the flashlight is the best one in a game to date. My only complaint is that it isn't mounted on a gun so you can see what you are shooting at. I hate it when I see a guy, then have to switch to the gun, and then I'm just shooting in the dark, hoping i hit the bad guy. That is really my only complaint so far, that and those stupid things that jump out from nowhere throwing flame balls at you. I HATE those stupid things!!!! All in all, I HIGHLY recommend this game to any FPS fan. By far the best FPS to date, except for maybe Far Cry!!

edit: I haven't bothered with the benchmark time demo thing, cuz I've been reading that it really doesn't give an accurate reading of actual gameplay. lots of people have been reporting their demo scores, which have been low, but then say the game runs really smoothly. Oh yeah, one more minor gripe: the load times in between levels are really long, at least for me. Anyone else notice this???

[arogan]

Duct Tape Mod:
http://ducttape.glenmurphy.com/

I for one won't use it until I finish the game first. (well maybe just for a quick test)

[TheAngryIntern]

thanks for the tip, arogan. I'll have to give a shot see how it works!!

[firstadopter]

I just picked up Doom 3 at Target. Loading it now. ... anticipation...

[Rogue]

Rendition,

Some advice. Turn off the lights and watch out for those %$#%#%#%%$$ .........

[firstadopter]

I played for like 30 minutes. 25 minutes of boredom walking around getting lost. And then 5 minutes of zombie killing fun. :) I have a headache now.

As said before 1600x1200 is slow on my computer (2.6ghz, ATI 9700). Ahhh... time to upgrade I guess.

The game still looks good at 800x600 and 1024X768. I'm going to try the duct tape mod now. It IS a pain switching to a flash light constantly.

[CAG]

...at GoGamer.com here (http://www.gogamer.com/cgi-bin/GoGamer.storefront/SESSIONID/Product/View/001DOO3)

[firstadopter]

I found that disabling shadows in the advanced option area adds a lot to FPS performance.

[arogan]

FINISHED!!!!

I estimate about 22 hrs (over 10 days). I played the game pure (no mods).
Great game overall, some slight pacing issues after hell (but still not bad), pretty good ending, jaw dropping gorgeous all the way until the end.

Now I'm ready for counter-strike source.

lots more mods:
http://www.fileplanet.com/section.aspx?s=99136&v=0

[Blunt]

my computer consists of dual opteron 64 bit processers running at 1.4 ghz each...2 gigs of pc 2700 regestered ecc memory...gforce fx 6800....defeniatly doom 3 aquired....half life 2 will run like pong......fo sho....lot of time building this bad boy

[sHAZBOT!]

P4 2.8HT Northwood
Gigabyte GI8EP1000 pro 800FSB
1GB Kingston Hyper-X PC4000
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB w/Omega drivers

Run at 1280x1024 on high with 34FPS. Infrequent choppiness in sketchy situations. No chop in medium settings.

Spooky sounds creep me the F%^& out. Guys with guns never miss...no matter how you move. Imp fireballs are easy to evade.

Fun for a while to get the adrenaline going. Great graphics and sound, but gameplay is only interesting for an hour or so.

Can't wait to try it out on my 2001FP next week.

I mapped the flashlight key to my right mouse button. Just click right mouse again to toggle back to weapon. It works better than scrolling mouse wheel.