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Table of Contents
-------------------------------------------
1) What is DOOM 3?
2) What is the goal of DOOM 3?
3) Who is making doom 3?
4) Who is publishing doom 3?
5) What can you tell me about Doom 3's storyline?
6) Is the DOOM 3 engine a remake of the quake3 engine?
7) What makes this game different from all others in the past?
8) What about Doom 3 graphics?
9) What sound engine can we expect in Doom 3?
10) What type of soundtrack will be involved with DOOM 3?
11) What about modmaking and level editing?
12) What can you tell me about the doom 3 network code?
13) What about Doom 3 game code itself?
14) What about Doom 3 physics?
15) What can you tell me about game development and tools?
16) What about Doom 3 models?
17) What type of animation program was used for Doom 3?
18) What can you tell me about Doom 3 animation?
19) Will Doom 3 be available or ported to any consoles?
20) Will DOOM 3 have multiplayer?
21) What will DOOM 3's Multiplayer be like?
22) What will the gameplay in DOOM 3 be like?
23) What type of hit system will doom 3 use?
24) What weapons will be in doom 3?
25) What about Power-Ups?
26) How long will it take to complete DOOM 3 Single player?
27) How customizable is DOOM 3 be?
28) What are the system specs for DOOM 3?
29) What else can you tell me about graphics cards needed for Doom 3?
30) What other systems will DOOM 3 run on?
31) What is DOOM 3 rated?
32) Why should you not use the leaked version to test what Doom3
will be like?
33) What is in Doom3's HUD?
34) What about a Doom 3 demo?
35) What other facts can you tell me?
36) ID was planning on working on some other game instead of Doom 3?
What was all this about?
37) Will Doom III be on DVD also?
38) Where are the pictures of DOOM 3?
39) When will DOOM 3 be released?
FAQ Start
----------------------------------------------------------
1) What is DOOM 3 ?
--------------------
Doom III is the third version of the game that brought First Person Action
Shooters onto the map of the gaming industry, and introduced the world-
wide known online gaming experience known as death match.
John Carmack, head programmer, made a .plan update on June 1, 2000 that
announced the direction of the company in terms of what game was going to
be the next project. "Well, this is going to be an interesting .plan
update. Most of this is not really public business, but if some things
aren't stated explicitly, it will reflect unfairly on someone.
As many people have heard discussed, there was quite a desire to remake
DOOM as our next project after Q3. Discussing it brought an almost
palpable thrill to most of the employees, but Adrian had a strong enough
dislike for the idea that it was shot down over and over again.
Design work on an alternate game has been going on in parallel with the
mission pack development and my research work.
Several factors, including a general lack of enthusiasm for the proposed
plan, the warmth that Wolfenstein was met with at E3, and excitement about
what we can do with the latest rendering technology were making it seem
more and more like we weren't going down the right path.
I discussed it with some of the other guys, and we decided that it was
important enough to drag the company through an unpleasant fight over it.
An ultimatum was issued to Kevin and Adrian(who control >50% of the
company): We are working on DOOM for the next project unless you fire us.
Obviously no fun for anyone involved, but the project direction was
changed, new hires have been expedited, and the design work has begun."
DOOM 3 is the retelling, not sequel, or continuation, of the DOOM
Series, it is a revamped version of the original DOOM story, as if the first
two never happened. DOOM 3 is a first person action shooter, and a great
one at that, its original series set the
bar for the gaming industry, and introduced a cult classic. And now that
legacy has returned with its new revamped story, and
impressive graphics engine. DOOM 3 has once again set the bar for the
gaming industry.
It is described as an "over-the-top, story-based single-player
experience..." with multiplayer support.
June 1st, 2000 Press Announcement of DOOM 3:
MESQUITE, Texas - June 1, 2000 - id Software, an independent developer
of entertainment software, has started work on the next incarnation of
DOOM, one of the most popular computer games of all time. Employing an
entirely new 3-D graphics engine, the still untitled project will showcase
id Software's legendary ability to create an over-the-top, story-based
single-player experience.
"id Software forever changed computer games with the DOOM franchise,
and only id can carry on the cultural and technical tradition of the
original masterpiece," Todd Hollenshead, CEO, id Software, said.
Hollenshead offered few other details.
"We expect to once again dramatically advance first-person gaming both
technically and artistically with this title," Hollenshead added. "Other
than that, id does not plan on issuing additional comments until the game
is ready to speak for itself.
The original DOOM was released to critical acclaim in 1993 as
shareware and has since been recognized as one of the most downloaded
pieces of software of all time. id later released DOOM and its sequels at
retail, where combined they have sold more than 4 million copies,
generating sales topping $100 million.
2) What is the goal of DOOM 3?
-------------------------------
To provide a single player game that focuses on the fear factor, instead
of the fast paced multiplayer game environment of a game like Quake 3.
3) Who is making doom 3 ?
--------------------------
The creators of the original doom series, doom and doom 2, and of course
the legendary ID Software!
The id Software Team :
Programmers:
* John Carmack
* Jim Dose
* Jan Paul van Waveren
* Robert Duffy
* Graeme Devine
Level designers:
* Paul Jaquays
* Tim Willits
* Christian Antkow
* Malvern Blackwell
Artists:
* Adrian Carmack
* Kevin Cloud
* Kenneth Scott
* Seneca Menard
* Fred Nilsson
Music / sounds:
* Chris Vrenna and Clint Walsh
Misc:
* Marty Stratton (biz guy)
* Eric Webb (intern / tech support)
* Todd Hollenshead (CEO)
* Donna Jackson (id mom)
4) Who is publishing doom 3 ?
------------------------------
Activison
5) what can you tell me about Doom 3's storyline?
--------------------------------------------------
To give the game a more in-depth feel, and to put the player into the
story, id Software hired Matt Castelo to write a more complex and dramatic
storyline for DOOM 3. Scripted sequences and cut scenes in the game will
play along with the story.
6) Is the DOOM 3 engine a remake of the quake3 engine?
-------------------------------------------------------
-On October 23, 2000 Jim Dose stated:
"The engine is being completely rewritten, just piece-by-piece. Currently,
the renderer, shader system, and game code are completely new. The cgame
and network code have been removed. The animation system is currently
being written from the ground up. The sound system and UI are still in
place, but will be rewritten by Graeme and Robert when they are finished
with the mission pack. At some point along the way, John will probably
write a new network system. So, even though we are not starting out with a
blank sheet of paper, the final result will be a full rewrite."
John Carmack said:
One of the primary functions of our next-generation technology is trying
to do everything with bump-mapping and dot products.
I am spending a huge amount of graphics horsepower to allow the engine to
be flexible in ways that game engines have never been before. I am hoping
that the absolute top-of-the-line system available when the game ships
will be capable of running it with all features enabled and anti-aliasing
on at 60hz, but even the fastest cards of today are going to have to run
at fairly low resolutions to get decent frame rates. Many will choose to
drop a feature or two to get some speed back, but they still won't be able
to get near 60hz.
The renderer is completely new, and very different in structure from
previous engines. Interestingly, the interface remained fairly close for a
long time, such that I was able to develop most of the DOOM renderer using
the rest of Q3 almost unmodified. It finally did diverge, but still not
too radically.
7) What makes this game different from all others in the past?
--------------------------------------------------------------
This engine will enable real time lighting effects to be rendered and will
include "moving lights" and "moving shadows"; something never seen before.
This technology also allows the lighting effects to be rendered per pixel
versus prior pregenerated lightmaps. Bumpmaps and 3d textures will be
used, instead of the previous bitmaps seen in earlier games.
8) What about Doom 3 graphics?
-------------------------------
Doom 3 will use an entirely new rendering engine. Possible features in the
new engine include things such as fully-dynamic lighting and '3D
textures'. Back in 2000 Carmack stated "one of the primary functions of
our next-generation technology is trying to do everything with bump-
mapping and dot products." Again in 2000 he seemed to confirm that there
will be support for bump mapping for both artist-produced bumpmaps and
procedural bumpmaps. In 2001 John Carmack introduced the Doom 3 engine for
the first time at the MacWorld expo.
9) What sound engine can we expect in Doom 3?
----------------------------------------------
Doom III's sound engine will be EAX compatible. In other words, Doom III
will have cinematic surround sound.
As early as September 9, 2000, John Carmack said, "Graeme's primary task
is going to be a completely new sound engine. Coupled with the fact that
this will be the first project where I am comfortable using threads
(previously the cross-platform issues have nixed it for me) for required
background streaming, we should have quite literally an order of magnitude
more audio richness than in our previous games."
"When you hurl a fire ball, as it passes you, it hits you in the back
speakers." -- Christian Antkow
10) What type of soundtrack will be involved with DOOM 3 ?
-----------------------------------------------------------
At first Trent Reznor with Nine Inch Nails was working on the sounds &
music for DOOM 3 but later left the project over unknown issues. Currently
Chris Vrenna and Clint Walsh has been doing the sounds & soundtrack for
DOOM 3, However, DOOM 3's soundtrack is unique from what it was in the
past, The music is not the general type of music, it is more of ambient
sounds and noises mixed together to give the maps and the singleplayer at
type of rhythm that goes with the game.
Unlike past id Software games, Doom 3 will have a programmer specifically
dedicated to the sound code. Which in short will most likely give the audio
in doom 3 a crisp sound, and make it unique apart from their past games.
In a interview in 2000, John Carmack let the following information out
regarding the new sound code:
Graeme's primary task is going to be a completely new sound engine.
Coupled with the fact that this will be the first project where I am
comfortable using threads (previously the cross-platform issues have nixed
it for me) for required background streaming, we should have quite
literally an order of magnitude more audio richness than in our previous
games.
John Carmack said:
We offer full dynamic 5.1 channel sound mixing, and multichannel playback
of studio sounds. It isn't clear that the market is really there for it
yet, but DOOM should be a poster child for surround-sound gaming. We have
a nice sound system set up for our demonstration, and I wouldn't be at all
surprised if quite a few people go buy one based on the experience.
In 2001, Jim Dosé said the following about the sound system in the Doom 3
engine:
"We hope to go really far with the sound in Doom. Probably the best thing
about FAKK's system was the fact that it gave the sound designer a lot of
control over sound in the game and we want to have the control and editing
support in Doom to be just as good, if not better. Graeme is spending a
lot of time developing a robust sound system and Robert is developing a
user interface that allows us to quickly setup in-game editing facilities,
so I think we should be able to give Doom's sound the justice it
deserves."
11) What about modmaking and level editing?
--------------------------------------------
All the editor tools you need for doom 3 are built within the game itself.
With the purchase of the game, you will be given the full modding kit.
Mod coders should start to prepare themselves with a decent knowledge of
C++, and other programming code, and custom mappers can start to dream of
level scripting, animated map objects and the absence of time consuming
lightning stages while precompiling the maps.
DOOM 3 will come with its own tools built right into the game's main
executable for making levels. This will include everything that you need
to build your own maps for doom 3 or any mods your creating for doom 3,
create graphics, sounds and even scripts. id Software is using the same
machines to make DOOM 3 as you will use to play it, Meaning some of the
tools (ie map editor) are the same tools used in the development of the
game.
12) What can you tell me about the doom 3 network code?
--------------------------------------------------------
Doom 3 will be on the past style client/server TCP/IP networking code.
There will not be a peer2peer connection anymore, as this was scraped by
id Software prior to the Quakecon 2003 Event.
John Carmack stated in 2001 when asked about exploiting a broadband-only
design target:
"The biggest thing that broadband will do is just save a lot of twitchy
programmer time spent optimizing for the modem straw. This will increase
flexibility and let developers concentrate on making the environment and
game play more fun. Clearly, that is a good thing all by itself.
Voice (probably with several optional vocoders) is a no-brainer once we
get more bandwidth, and even talking-head webcam video becomes a useful
possibility.
I'm not sure of the exact utility of it, but it becomes feasible to send
and receive packets from multiple sources on a real-time basis, which you
can't afford to do with a modem. This may enable some architectures that
are more clustered instead of the binary boundary of client / server."
13) What about Doom 3 game code itself?
----------------------------------------
Doom 3 will use the standard DLLs for the game code much as Quake 2 &
Quake 3 have. John Carmack has mentioned his interest in creating a sort
of 'Quake' simplified coding language which would make mods an easier
affair than in the Quake 3 engine.
Also the standard file format for DOOM 3 is .pk4
14) What about Doom 3 physics?
-------------------------------
The physics in DOOM 3 will be 'real-time' physics, by this, meaning if not
all, a great majority, of the objects in the world will be able to be
pushed around and altered by the player, and the players themselves along w/
the creatures in the singleplayer, will have a 'rag-doll' effect put upon
them.
In 2000, Jim Dose had talked about a handful of popular 3D engines:
"By this time next year, most, if not all, of the games made with these
engines will use a fully featured physics engine, if not developed
internally by the developer, then licensed from someone like Havoc or
MathEngine.
While not a hard-and-fast proof of any sort, this seems to strongly
indicate that the Doom 3 engine will have a realistic physics model."
15) What can you tell me about game development and tools?
-----------------------------------------------------------
Unlike earlier id games, Doom 3 was developed on the same machines it is
intended to play on. In short, a good set of tools (not all but some)
which where used in the development of DOOM 3 will be in the game when you
get it, with no need for specific hardware. The development tools are
integrated with the game code. In other words, there embeded with the
executable file for doom 3.
The decisions to integrate all tools (editor and map developing) directly
into the executable, make DOOM 3 by far the easiest to create content for.
Everyone that has the game installed edit the game.
Also, I have banished the last of the binary file formats, so everything
(except standard data files like .wav and .tga) is now in easily explored
and understood text files.
- John Carmack
16) What about Doom 3 models?
------------------------------
The following below is speculated comments made by people in regards to
the doom 3 models.
2001 statement by "Wrath" ex lead animator at Ion Storm:
"Ayup...that's 500,000 poly models. I saw them, they were in game though
probably not the way you think. The high poly version of the models were
being used as the reference for all the cool lighting effects...the self-
shadowing, bump mapping, displacements, etc. That info was being projected
onto a much smaller version of the model, maybe 1500 polys or so. The high
poly versions were untextured, the low poly models were using 3 or 4
256x256 skins I THINK. They were very hush hush about specifics."
"I dunno how exactly the magic was working, all I know is that they're
starting with insanely detailed models, using them for all the lighting
info, and passing that info on to the decimated skinned model that's
actually running about in game. Not that you would be able to tell. You
get close enough to a model, you can see the creases in fingers. All
looking incredible."
2001 statement by Zaldron in the Doomworld forums:
"I know this is a long quote, but it sounds to me that this trick is on
par with the initial realization in the Quake engine of calculating
lighting information beforehand and storing it in the map data, so I think
such a long quote is warranted.
Now, you have 2 models. One of them is the one you made for the game, it
contains only mesh structure for the FIRST frame AND skinning parameters
(that is the X, Y, U and V coordinates for every triangle).
If you wanna know what X, Y, U, V, H, X, 545, Hoolapalazac, etc etc are.
It's quite simple : A "skin" is made from several images. Artists prefer
to use one whole image for the head and neck, the other one for the torso
and arms, and the other one for the pelvis and legs. Anyway, each triangle
is painted with several pixels of those pics, how? Simple, choose the X
and Y coordinates on where it starts borrowing from the pic, and then the
U and V numbers tell the engine the horizontal and vertical percentaje of
the pic being used.
Anyway, the thing is that X, Y and Z coords for EVERY vertex, the joined
edges, the skinning parameters, the normals data and the sub-materials
values mean a LOT of SPACE = LOT OF RAM.
That's why the 500k one is untextured. Otherwise it would occupy several
megs.
Traditional animation says : 1 frame = one different mesh. This is a
horrible, horrible waste, because the size required to store "mesh form"
is enlarged as many frames there is. That's why id moved to skeletal. Both
the low poly and the high poly versions contain only one frame of
animation, commonly the shape of the creature in a non-complex gesture, as
standing with both arms stretched.
Now, the hi-poly is user for shadow/bump calculations. Since it's not
being rendered, it doesn't need all that skin data, but the model keeps
eating a fair amount of RAM.
Anyway, we have 2 models. The hi poly model is being hit by the lightrays
in the game, resulting in both shadow/highlight pixel values, and bumpmap
results.
Have you ever seen a really good texture job in a model? It generally
makes up for the jaggy edges. Now, taking this data in account, the
textures will be upgraded by both the shadows and the bumpmaps in real
time, as I explained in my article. But this time the position data comes
from a MUCH MORE ACCURATE model, meaning that the result will not match
the low poly mesh, but actually looking better.
Hard to understand? Imagine a 3 faced finger. Bleh. Anyway, a bumpmap over
that finger would look horrible, because you can clearly see how the
bumpmap takes in consideration that mesh, and draw some accurate results
FOR A 3 FACED FINGER, NOT A NICE ONE. With id's method, the bumpmap will
come from the NICE FINGER, and skinned over the CRAPPY FINGER, will make
the CRAPPY FINGER look like the NICE FINGER -IN THE INSIDE-
Why did I added that "IN THE INSIDE"? Hard edges are still there, and
that's why I'm saying 1500 is way too low. Because the 500k poly will make
shadows and bumpmaps look real-like, but the low poly is the one being
rendered, and it still has those hard edges.
It's like rendering the 500k poly with all the textures and lighting and
shit, but then cutting the shape of the low poly one all around it."
17) What type of animation program was used for Doom 3?
--------------------------------------------------------
Maya.
According to an interview on February 20, 2001, Fred Nilsson also said:
"We have a great pipeline in place already.. I can import a model from
Lightwave or 3DSMax. Set it up with bones.. Adjust the deformations. Then
export it right into the game.. We can even do cameras etc. So.. Making
cinematics should be a blast.. "
18) What can you tell me about Doom 3 animation?
-------------------------------------------------
It is known that id Software has been using Maya for their Doom 3
modelling/animating work as well. What sort of system will be required to
play Doom 3?
"Early indications suggest that the target system for Doom 3 will be a 700
mhz system with 128 megabytes of RAM and a "high-end" video card
(assumably GeForce-level or higher). However, these specs are very
tentative and will probably change multiple times. There will probably be
versions released for Windows, Linux, and Mac."
John Carmack Explains how the DOOM 3 engine will run:
"I am spending a huge amount of graphics horsepower to allow the engine to
be flexible in ways that game engines have never been before. It is a
little scary to drop down from the ultra-high frame rates we are used to
with Q3, but I firmly believe that the power of the new engine will enable
a whole new level of game content.
I am hoping that the absolute top-of-the-line system available when the
game ships will be capable of running it with all features enabled and
anti-aliasing on at 60hz, but even the fastest cards of today are going to
have to run at fairly low resolutions to get decent frame rates. Many will
choose to drop a feature or two to get some speed back, but they still
won't be able to get near 60hz."
John Carmack said,
"For the game's human characters, the team has decided that motion capture
is the most appropriate technique. The game's monsters will pretty much
all be animated by hand, but the humans--most of whom you'll encounter in
the early part of the game, before the portal to hell is opened--will use
motion data to enhance the realism of their movements.
Along with many new monsters that will appear in DooM³, most of the
original cast from DooM and DooM II will be making a return with a
complete overhaul and updated design. Among the known creatures returning
include: Imp, Pinky Demon, Revenant, Arch Vile, Mancubus, Cyber Demon,
Spider Mastermind, Hellknight, and Lost Soul."
19) Will Doom 3 be available or ported to any consoles?
--------------------------------------------------------
The only console system DOOM 3 is being developed for is Xbox, currently
being developed by Vicarious Visions, and will supposedly be out October,
2004.
John Carmack mentions the following regarding DOOM 3 and console systems
"Depending on how our next project actually turns out, I certainly
wouldn't rule out a Dreamcast version, but at 16MB of memory, whatever we
do, our next project is going to be more linear in nature so it should be
easier. It might be a matter of turning every mission into a half-point or
something like that, but that involves much more work. It's going to be a
matter of going back in and actually redesigning some of the levels. And
that would be a significant undertaking--it would require new content,
significantly new code architecture, and all that. Now PlayStation2 is a
more interesting question, because it's halfway in between the Dreamcast
and Xbox on memory, and it's got a good processor, but there are some
sticking points with the graphics that are just really, really
unfortunate. PlayStation2 took the tack of having the simplest graphics
rasterizer that it can get and because it's all embedded DRAM it's
blazingly fast on there, but there's some capabilities that just aren't
there.
One of the primary functions of our next-generation technology is trying
to do everything with bump-mapping and dot products, and that math just
isn't there on the PlayStation2...I'm not sure if it's going to be able to
do the full-impact stuff we can do on the Xbox. We could certainly do a
cut-down version that will run on the PlayStation2 and Dreamcast, but it
won't have the incredible next-generation graphics look that we're going
to see on the next generation of PC chips. Carmack said a Xbox port would
be pretty much of a no-brainer if (yes, the big if-word) the development
for the Xbox is as close to the PC work as thinks it could be."
20) Will DOOM 3 have multiplayer ?
-----------------------------------
Yes DOOM 3 will have multiplayer, with a support of 4 players, this
however is not limited in the engine, it is just the limit id Software
desired to put due to the construction of the maps in the multiplayer.
Out of the box, the four game modes that will most likely be played are
tournament mode, TDM, FFA, and a clan arena type mode initially. The
modding community will be able to raise the player limit up to however many
the engine & current hardware can handle (estimation 16 to 18 players ?).
Splash Damage, the company who worked on RtCW mutliplayer expansion, Enemy
Territory, has been hired to develop a variety of different multiplayer
modes & maps including last man standing and, as mentioned before, four-
player Deathmatch.
21) What will DOOM 3's Multiplayer be like ?
---------------------------------------------
DOOM 3's multiplayer will be different from others in the past, this time
you will be able to use the environment to your advantage, use shadows for
cover, etc. The physics engine will also contribute to how you play the
game, the objects in the map can be altered from your movement
-so if you're trying to sneak around and you bump into an object and it
knocks over, your cover is blown!-
You will also have the ability to shoot rockets out of the sky, if you
have the aim and the skill, you will be able to knock those puppies out
before they hit you. Strafe jumping is also in multiplayer, as is the
ability to rocket jump. And the classic berserker power up from the old doom
is in there, where your vision changes to something 'chaotic' as you run
through and destroy everything in your path! Reactions to gunfire are
different with armor than without, more without armor, and less of course
with armor.
The movement and speed however, is notched down from other id software
titles like quake 3 (a fast action multiplayer game), It's not incredibly
slower, but still slower enough to notice the difference.
22) What will the gameplay in DOOM 3 be like?
----------------------------------------------
The gameplay in Doom III is slowed down to enhance the frightening fear
factor of the single player experience. 30 fps will be all that is needed
to comfortably and smoothly run the game and according to Todd
Hollenshead, the game will be capped at 60 fps. You will be able to trick
jump ramps and stairs, and the strafe jumping will give you a boost here
and there when you need it. In multiplayer, BFG will be left out and there
will not be a Soul Cube.
Tim Willitis, lead level designer said in an interview on October 28,
2000, "Giving players information. We need to find better ways of giving
players the information they need to advance through the game. Sidekicks
and computers have been done before. As developers, we need to find more
creative ways of giving players the information they need to progress as
they play the game, and that's what we're hoping to do in DOOM."
John Carmack in a Q&A at E3 2003:
The team is debating the way that DOOM 3's save system will work... it may
be significantly different from what players have seen in previous id
games.
This could mean there will be a limit on game saves, or saving between
missions only.
The old-style DOOM where you would run into a room and have to fight off
10 or more monsters is not going to be present in Doom 3. This will be a
game of fear where you will (hopefully) be too afraid to look around a
corner for fear of what is there. Shadows are going to play a big part in
this, which will be calculated in real time. This means that a lot of the
time you will see a monster's shadow moving around before you see the
monster.
There will be enough enemies on the screen for you to get excited, but
with high poly models and amazing graphical improvements, there will
definitely not be 20+ monsters running around on your monitor at the same
time like the original doom.
There are objectives the you need to complete to get you through the game,
but you may also need to use the much simpler "kill anything that moves"
method of getting to those objectives. And the objectives can be complex,
like using the map to your advantage, or having a character in the world
help you (ie scientist, marines).
23) What type of hit system will doom 3 use ?
----------------------------------------------
The hit system is a new hitscan system, call the 'per-polygon' system.
Essentially every polygon on a monster can take damage. there will be
headshots and you can target areas of the monster when shooting.
24) What weapons will be in doom 3?
------------------------------------
The same classic weapons from the original doom series will be in DOOM 3
with the exception of the Combat Shotgun (super shotgun) Along with
several new weapons. The Chainsaw, pistol, shotgun, assault rifle,
Chaingun, Rocket Launcher, Plasma Gun, BFG 9000, Soul Cube (which should
give things a twist).
25) What about Power-Ups?
--------------------------
There will be ammunition pickups, berserk packs, and medical kits, among
other things.
26) How long will it take to complete DOOM 3 Single player?
------------------------------------------------------------
DOOM 3's Single Player experience is estimated to take 20 - 40 hours
depending on the player, with 30 maps, and a hell infested base, you'll be
forced to take your time with this puppy!.
27) How customizable is DOOM 3 be ?
------------------------------------
In DOOM 3 itself, several things are locked from the multiplayer aspect
such as shadows and picmip, but the general things are customizable to an
extent, server side settings are still in text based format (.cfg files)
And there are a wide variety of things that can be changed in the text files,
such as how weapons behave, disable and enable reloading for the weapons
(sort of like quake 3 where you never reload, just unload all the ammo that
you can) and much more!.
As for a modding aspect of DOOM 3, an sdk is planed to be released prior
to doom 3 if not at the same time doom 3 hits the shelf, to allow the
modding community to take advantage of the game, and its features.
28) What are the system specs for DOOM 3?
------------------------------------------
Windows 2000 or XP for the PC
Minimum requirements -
P4 1.5ghz or AMD Athlon 1500+
384MB Ram
GeForce MX 440 or ATI Equivalent w/64MB RAM
8x CD-ROM
2.2 GB of HD space
Broadband for multiplayer
Recommended requirements -
p4 2.5 ghz or AMD 2500+
1.0 Gig DDR Ram
Nvidia FX 5900 128mb or ATI 9800 128mb
5.1 surround sound audio
Live inside the game specs -
3.0 ghz or AMD Athlon 64 3000+
2 gigs DDR Ram
Nvidia 6800 Ultra or X800XT
6.1 surround sound audio
Supported 3D Graphics chipsets:
ATI: Radeon 8500, 9000, 9200, 9500, 9600, 9700, 9800, x800
NVIDIA: GeForce 3, GeForce 4MX, GeForce 4 Titanium, GeForce FX, GeForce 6
29) What else can you tell me about graphics cards needed for Doom 3?
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The Current line of graphics cards needed for doom 3 are as followed.
ATI: Radeon 8500, 9000, 9200, 9500, 9600, 9700, 9800, x800
NVIDIA: GeForce 3, GeForce 4MX, GeForce 4 Titanium, GeForce FX, GeForce 6
For a deeper view on this, the way the quality works w/ doom 3 , and with
the graphics cards are as follows.
512 Vid Mem card = Ultra Quality (textures require 512 megs of video
memory for the transfer)
256 Vid Mem card = High Quality (textures require 256 megs of video memory
for the transfer)
128 Vid Mem card = Medium Quality (textures require 128 megs of video
memory for the transfer) - and it still looks good
64 Vid Mem card = Low Quality (textures require 64 megs of video memory
for the transfer) - and of course is low quality but still looks somewhat
good.
Most recent benchmarks with the final build of doom 3 tested by hardOCP
http://www2.hardocp.com/article.html?art=NjQy
Hardware guide by HardOCP prior to their benchmark testing
http://www2.hardocp.com/article.html?art=NjQ0
30) What other systems will DOOM 3 run on?
-------------------------------------------
DOOM 3 will be available on Mac os x & Linux
31) What is DOOM 3 rated ?
---------------------------
DOOM 3 is rated M for mature by the ESRB
32) Why should you not use the leaked version to test what Doom3 will be
like?
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It's not a demo, its just what they used to show off the game/engine at
E3. The engine was coded for an ATI R9700 on a Mac, and it doesn't run
well on any other card. It will not give you a true rendition of how the
full optimized game on your OWN PC when you play the full version. You
can't change details in game, the game has been in a constant state of
change since then, and there have been a lot of code changes and updates.
The full version is very different from the leaked one.
33) What is in Doom3's HUD?
----------------------------
There are 9 things in single player that make up the HUD:
1. PDA/VIDEO disk indicator - When you pick up a new PDA or video disk,
icons will appear. Hit PDA key (default TAB) to view your PDA and examine
the new information.
2. Armour - Displays how much armour you have on. The maximum is 125. When
you're shot or damaged, some of the impact is absorbed by the armour you
wear. When armour is over 100 in Multiplayer, it slowly reduces itself to
100.
3. Health - The amount of damage you can take. You are completely healthy
when the number reads 100. As you're shot or injured, this number
decreases. If the number reaches 0, you will die and the demons will feast
on your lifeless body. Picking up health packs or using health stations,
increases your health.
4. Stamina - The orange bar indicates how much stamina you have left. As
you sprint, your stamina decreases. If your stamina is completely
depleted, you will not be able to sprint. When you stop sprinting, your
stamina slowly replenishes.
5. Area Name - As you walk through the UAC facility on mars, this
indicates your location.
6. Clip Ammunition - The amount of ammunition in your current weapon.
Reload (default R) to fill it from your reserve ammunition. This indicator
is either on the weapon, or in the lower-right corner.
7. Reserve Ammunition - The amount of additional ammunition you're
carrying for the selected weapon. Reloading depletes this reserve. This
indicator is either on the weapon or on the lower-right corner.
8. Weapons Carried - The blue dots indicate which weapons you're carrying.
9. Crosshair/Cursor - Your crosshair generally assists in aiming. However,
as you approach other UAC personnel, your weapon lowers and your crosshair
indicates that you can talk to the person. Their name appears near to the
crosshair. When you approach a computer panel or other graphical
interface, your weapon lowers and your crosshair becomes a mouse pointer
you can use to interact with the information on-screen.
34) What about a Doom 3 demo?
------------------------------
There will be a demo for DOOM 3 however it is unknown if that demo will be
out before or after the game hits the shelf. id Software has always felt
of giving the community a test of a game before they buy it.
35) What other facts can you tell me?
--------------------------------------
According to a 2000 interview with Mr. Elusive
* One of his tasks with the Doom 3 engine will be working on the
scripting.
* Mr. Elusive said that while all the monsters would probably share a
common basic AI, they would have different individual characteristics and
personalities.
Tim Willits said the following about an area he would like to explore in
Doom 3:
Giving players information. We need to find better ways of giving players
the information they need to advance through the game. Sidekicks and
computers have been done before. As developers, we need to find more
creative ways of giving players the information they need to progress as
they play the game, and that's what we're hoping to do in DOOM.
36) ID was planning on working on some other game instead of Doom 3? What
was all this about?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
What game you might ask? (Back)
At first, id Software was planning on creating a MMORPG type game "Quest."
Graeme Devine described the game this way:
Quest would have combined the RPG massively multiplayer ideas of an game
like Everquest with the multiple server features of a Quake-style game.
Devine said Quest would have a small party of five, like a fighter,
barbarian and magic user, and the players could sign on to a Quest server
and have it be a different server with different missions and quests. "You
were there on your own," Devine said, "You and your five buddies against
the world."
Each server would have been run by a person akin to a Dungeon Master in
Dungeons and Dragons who would have been in control of the environments the
players found themselves in, right down to the rats crawling around on the
ground.
37) Will Doom III be on DVD also?
----------------------------------
No, id Software decided that it would be a costly and unnecessary decision
to sell DVD versions of the game.
38) Where are the pictures of DOOM 3?
--------------------------------------
In our gallery section
39) When will DOOM 3 be released ?
-----------------------------------
The 4-year wait has come to an end and DOOM 3 will release Aug. 3rd, 2004!
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