Category: DOOM

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Rip And Tear: How Archiact Remastered DOOM 3 VR Edition For PSVR

Today DOOM 3 VR Edition launches on PSVR for $20. We sat down for a chat with Ken Thain, Executive Producer from Archiact to talk about what it was like working with id Software to bring this iconic FPS into VR officially.

If you missed our DOOM 3 VR Edition review, that’s live to check out and we’ve got additional coverage as well, such as this graphics comparison with the Quest 2 modded version.

Here are the major excerpts from the interview:

 

Doom 3: VR Edition

DOOM 3 VR Edition Interview

 

David Jagneaux, Senior Editor at UploadVR: Okay so, just checking here: the official title is DOOM 3 VR Edition, is that right?

Ken Thain, Executive Producer at Archiact: It’s a VR edition because we were very particular. It’s not a port. It’s not we threw stereoscopic view on a DOOM game…When we were working with it, they [id Software] were actually quite passionate about the idea that it’s not just a port, let’s make this an adaptation, let’s make this a remaster for VR because we both recognized that Doom 3 is a fantastic game for VR just based on the fact that out of the DOOM franchise, it’s a bit more of a slower first-person shooter.

We as well recognize the possibility within VR and so we consider it an adaptation or remastering because we redid so much. We redid the weapons, we redid the audio, and we can talk about it later, but the VFX: the audio, uprezzing the graphics, uprezzing the weapons, a new diegetic UI. We did so much to it to make sure that it felt like it was for VR from the ground up and I have to say it came out really, really well.

When we first got [the weapon 3D models] it was like, yeah, there’s whole chunks missing because they never had to show them on-screen so you can reveal the weapons and re-texture them up and stuff and then all the additions of the laser target, the flashlights, redoing the sound, redoing the VFX. It really is a remastering and I think once everybody’s able to jump in and play it, they’ll really feel it.

Doom 3: VR Edition Review (1)

UploadVR: I remember when the game first came out there were lots of complaints about how the flashlight worked. How does it work exactly here? Were the weapons totally remade?

Thain: Yeah, it’s just depending on the weapons. We modified the weapons for those that either we had to put a flashlight on it, or we just keep it on your shoulder or it’s on your head where your aim and for VR is particularly good because with Doom 3 being so intense, like you literally playing where a door opens, it’s dark inside, you peek your head in, look around, put your gun in with the flashlight, check out all the dark corners, it feels totally different…The fact that your flashlight is still on a battery, it can run out, you can turn it off and on and you can look in one direction and have a flashlight going in another direction. So I think people will be really happy with that addition.

UploadVR: Can you talk a little bit about getting the lighting and all that, adapting it for VR, just right? How important is that sort of creepy atmosphere in a VR game like DOOM 3? As you said, it’s a slower-paced game, more horror-style than the others—I imagine it really helps amplify things tremendously.

Thain: First off, it was an advantage in the sense that games built back in 2004 were a lot less complicated rendering wise than they are now. So we’re able to bring the engine forward to update it, but like our team had a lot of Doom 3 fans, particularly, and there’s a group of us actually that were motors in an era of this.

Luckily enough, we uprezzed the environments, we uprezzed the weapons, we uprezzed all the UI and stuff. These additions feel really good. They feel really modern. You play the game, it’s super solid frame rates, 60 frames across. It feels really smooth. Everything’s really clear. It has this modern feel to it but yet this nostalgia of the style of graphics and the style of creatures and stuff from the original Doom. From there, it feels really good and then there was a few things we had to work on, like the original Doom 3 had a lot of strobing lights and that’s not good for VR because you are right in there.

We had to go through and do some modification, either tone down the strobing of some lights or leave them on full time. There was some atmosphere that we had to work around with that, but overall, based on all the additions that we did to it, the game itself stands out really well. I mean it’s id Software, they invented the first person shooter.

UploadVR: Have you looked into the Quest version of DOOM 3 at all? Is that something you’re aware of?

Thain: We’re aware of the Dr. Beef Quest 2 version. There’s also a lot of VR mods for DOOM 3 on the PC as well and we’re aware of these and it’s good. Overall, it’s good. We’re all contributing to VR. We’re all creating good content for VR players. There was never a moment we’d looked at it as competitive or anything like that. As far as Archiact is concerned, we support those mods and I’m sure Bethesda does as well as far as making sure that as many people get to play DOOM as possible.

UploadVR: What are your thoughts on DOOM VFR?

Thain: I don’t have any thoughts on Doom VFR.

UploadVR: I didn’t know if that was one you had played or not.

Thain: Well, definitely looked at it. We looked at actually a lot of shooters in the VR space just to see what was working, what doesn’t. Even our experiences ourselves with Evasion, we knew what worked and what doesn’t and the good thing is with id Software, they were very supportive of when we came up with the features and we prototyped them and we had them try it out. We had some collaboration back and forth of exactly the placement of flashlights or even the art. Like, with the double barrel shotgun we have the flashlight taped on because it feels a bit more visceral. Yet the modern machine gun, which is very sci-fi looking, we built the flashlight into it.

Let us know what you think of DOOM 3 VR Edition down in the comments below!

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Doom 3: VR Edition vs Doom3Quest – Graphics And Feature Comparison

Today’s launch of Doom 3: VR Edition on PSVR isn’t actually the only way to experience id Software’s seminal horror shooter in VR. Ever since John Carmack showcased a version of the game running in a prototype Oculus Rift at E3 2012, the title has been something of a pet project for modders. There’s some mods available for PC but, last year prominent Oculus Quest modder team, Team Beef, brought it to the standalone headset.

So, which is better?

Well the answer varies as you look across the various aspects of Doom 3, but you’ll find the Doom3Quest mod fighting back quite often. We’ve put together a video highlighting the differences that you can see below.

PSVR’s main benefit is the ability to play with the ever-excellent Aim Controller. As I said in this week’s review, the integration isn’t brilliant across every weapon, but the iconic shotgun works like a dream, as do several others. Developer Archiact has also gone a great job natively integration Doom’s UI organically into the game where it now rests. It’s also just a more solid experience than that on Quest, where I encountered some bugs when I died or tried to get height settings right.

Overall I think the team did a serviceable job of porting that game to PSVR, even if I don’t think Doom 3 itself suits VR well. But, while the Quest version has some shortcomings, it also has areas where it beats out the new, official release.

Graphically the PSVR version is actually a little blurrier than what I saw on Quest 2 (I haven’t tried it on Quest 1), but the design differences go deeper than that. Yes, PSVR’s built-in UI is better than the existing floating elements on Quest, but Team Beef’s port turns the oft-used PDA into an actual in-game item you can read and navigate in 3D space, not just access on a 2D menu. You also get the choice of targeting system on each weapon whereas VR Edition has different, fixed solutions for each type of weapon.

Of course it’s a little more hassle to get the Quest mod up and running and you do miss out on the excellent Aim controller but, when you factor in the other obvious benefits like the full 360 degrees of wireless tracking on standalone VR, Doom3Quest actually ends out coming out on top.

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Wolfenstein 3D Now Available On Oculus Quest With QuestZDoom

Popular sideloaded Oculus Quest game launcher QuestZDoom has been updated to include Wolfenstein 3D, now playable on wireless standalone VR.

QuestZDoom released back in May last year, created for Oculus Quest by community modder Simon ‘DrBeef’ Brown and others. The app is a launcher that lets you play free versions of DOOM and other iconic 90s games in VR, using an adapted engine that brings the games to life in full roomscale VR. Users who legally own the original games are also able to transfer their original WAD files  into QuestZDoom, to use the original assets and get the proper authentic feel.

At launch, QuestZDoom included the original DOOM from 1993, as well as DOOM II, Heretic and Hexen. There’s also support for a bunch of games mods as well, such as Brutal Doom and more.

This week, QuestZDoom was updated to include support for Wolfenstein 3D, a first-person shooter originally released by id software in 1992 for DOS. Much like the other included games, this version of Wolfenstein 3D is a “careful fan recreation/mod”. It will be included with the latest version of the QuestZDoom launcher and engine, so all you need to do is update via SideQuest if you’ve already got the QuestZDoom installed.

If you’re new to the world of sideloding and QuestZDoom, be sure to check out our guides on how to sideload content onto the Oculus Quest and how to install and use the QuestZDoom launcher and engine. Following those guides should get your Quest ready to go with Wolfenstein 3D and the other included games.

QuestZDoom is just one of many ports from DrBeef and other community modders that bring classic game titles to wireless VR on Oculus Quest. Some of the other ports include Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Doom 3 and the original Half-Life, all of which are available to sideload via SideQuest.

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New id Software VR Game Listed By Australian Classification Board

A new listing from the Australian Classification board may have leaked a new id Software VR game.

The listing (pointed out to us by Twitter user GamerToTheEnd) for a project codenamed ‘Project 2021A’, was awarded an R 18+ classification for ‘high impact violence’ and ‘online interactivity’ on January 22nd, and has a ‘Year of Production’ listing for 2021. The listing confirms Bethesda Softworks as the publisher and id Software as the author, and the filing was made by the Australian branch parent company Zenimax (which itself is now owned by Microsoft).

New id Software VR Game Spotted

This wouldn’t be id Software’s first VR game. In 2017 the studio released Doom VFR which tied into the 2016 series reboot, reusing some of its assets and levels along with all-new content. 2020 saw the studio release the next full sequel, Doom Eternal, so it’s possible this project could again remix content from that campaign.

Then again, the mention of ‘online interactivity’ might suggest the game has a multiplayer component. Doom Eternal had no multiplayer to speak of, but perhaps this could link to Quake, Doom’s sister series also developed by id. 2018’s Quake Champions was online-only, after all.

Of course, it could be entirely unrelated to either franchise and either be a new original project or tied to the Rage series. Either way, it’s encouraging to see Bethesda releasing new VR content – despite early support with Doom VFR, Fallout 4 VR and Skyrim VR — all of which sold ‘really well‘ — it’s been a while since the publisher’s last VR releases, which included the underwhelming Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot and optional VR modes for Prey. Curiously, though, this new title couldn’t release on Microsoft’s new Xbox consoles in their current form, as they don’t support VR headsets. Hopefully, that may one day change.

We also have to wonder if this game might release on Facebook’s VR platforms. Zenimax famously took the social networking giant to court over a dispute about the involvement of id’s John Carmack, who went from the company to a CTO role at Oculus. Bethesda even claimed it made the first VR headset, the prototypes for the Oculus Rift, during one E3 presentation. Could the Microsoft acquisition help patch things up between the two?

Need more VR Doom? A new mod recently brought Doom 3 to Oculus Quest, and it’s really rather great.

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Community Download: Which Non-VR Games Would You Most Like To Play In VR?

Community Download is a weekly discussion-focused articles series published (usually) every Monday in which we pose a single, core question to you all, our readers, in the spirit of fostering discussion and debate. For today’s Community Download, we want to know which non-VR games or series do you most want to see adapted for VR?

Some of the biggest and best VR games on the market are ports or remakes of non-VR games. Examples like Superhot VR and Skyrim VR immediately come to mind. Others may be new VR entries in existing franchises like Half-Life: Alyx, or in the case of Hitman 3, popular VR support for a popular series.

Going a step further, we’ve also got plenty of examples of intrepid modders adding VR support to otherwise non-VR games, such as in the case of DOOM 3, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Alien Isolation, the original Half-Life, and more. Or sometimes the actual developers going back to add VR support to older games, like System Shock 2.

And before you angrily tell me in the comments about VorpX, a 3D injector that can add stereoscopic visuals and head tracking to non-VR games, that’s not the same thing. I’m talking about true, complete VR support here.

Point being: players love to revisit their favorite worlds from new perspectives. Playing something fresh and new is great, but there is something truly special about that feeling that you’re setting foot inside of a familiar place with the added immersion of VR to really enhance the experience even further.

There are lots of franchises out there that feel like a perfect fit for VR that still haven’t gotten the treatment though. Dishonored is an example I keep coming back to personally, especially after the extensive VR experience Bethesda has paired with Arkane’s work on the Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot game. Recent releases like Cyberpunk 2077 or even Kingdom Come Deliverance are other great examples.

What about you? Which non-VR games do you most want to see get new entries with VR support  or get adapted for VR for an existing game? Let us know down in the comments below!