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!

‘DOOM 3 VR Edition’ Releases Today on PSVR, Extended Gameplay Video Here

DOOM 3 VR Edition launches today on PlayStation consoles, bringing the 2004 classic horror-shooter to PSVR for the first time.

We haven’t gone hands-on with the refreshed VR port yet, however YouTube channel ‘GrizGaming‘ puts together a good look of the game in this no commentary video, which takes you from the very beginning of the game to about a fifth of the way through the main campaign.

In the video, GrizGaming plays on Veteran mode whilst using PSVR’s Aim controller. Veteran is just one step below ‘Nightmare’, which is unlocked once you beat the game on any difficulty. If you’re looking to skip the early giblets and head straight for the demon-slaying madness, skip to around the 15 minute mark.

At least from what we can tell from the video, the game appears to look fairly well realized; the studio also says its overhauled design, art, UI, and even sound effects. The video of course can’t tell the whole story though when it comes to viewing it in-headset.

Like many flatscreen shooters, DOOM 3 is all about classic ‘running and gunning’, but thankfully we’ve noticed a few things that ought to take the edge off eventual comfort issues. Cutscenes are rendered within a viewing window, which is less immersive but undoubtedly more comfortable than having your head tossed around like a camera. The game also includes hand and head-relative locomotion, smooth and variable snap turning, and variable turning vignette for more comfort—all of it intended to keep your lunch where it belongs. Still it’s sure to be an intense experience for VR users since it requires so much turning, fast movement, and artificial jumping and crouching.

One complaint that you can forget about with the overhauled PSVR version is gameplay length though. The 10+ hour campaign also includes the original expansions—the Lost Mission and Resurrection of Evil—although we haven’t seen that content just yet.

We haven’t played yet, so we can’t suggest you pick it up. Just the same though, you’ll find Doom 3 VR Edition on PS4 and PS5 (backwards compatible) for $20 on the PlayStation Store.

The post ‘DOOM 3 VR Edition’ Releases Today on PSVR, Extended Gameplay Video Here appeared first on Road to VR.

DrBeef: Half-Life 2 Port For Quest 2 Will ‘Probably Never Happen’

In an excerpt from our upcoming interview with community modder Simon ‘DrBeef’ Brown, he said that he would love to port Half-Life 2 to Quest but that it will “probably never happen.”

The reason is mainly practical — all of Team Beef’s ports are possible because the games’ original engines are open source, allowing them to be ported to Android for a Quest release.

Half-Life 2 runs on the Source engine, which is free to use for Steam users but not exactly open source (pun sorta intended) and therefore any Quest ports of the game would not be direct translations of the original. Open source engines also allow modders to port the engines in full without running into any issues.

Here’s DrBeef’s response in full:

UploadVR: I’m wondering if you decided to port something that was Quest 2-only how recent do you think you could go with a game. And is there a dream game that you would like to see ported? Or have you already gotten there?

DrBeef: The problem is there’s a dependency on the actual software being open source. As far as modern games go, I think Doom 3 is kind of — I’m quite happy to be corrected — but Doom 3 is probably one of the most recent well-known popular games that actually has its engine code open source. After that point, I think, id software stopped doing that. There’s not many games studios where they actually open source their engine software. It’s a bit of a shame.

The game I would most like to do, but I think will probably never happen is Half-Life 2. Because I’m slightly ashamed to admit I’ve never played all the way through it. And also I got halfway through playing it on the original dev kit, but never finished it. You know, it’s one of those games that we get asked about all the time. There’s somebody who’s managed to do some sort of Android port somehow. I don’t know how they’ve done it, but it’s, you know, it’s not like a truly open source engine port.

So I think there would be some risks entailed with trying to pick that up. So as it stands, I think that game is out of reach, but, yeah, that would kind of be the dream game to bring to the Quest, but I fear it’s probably never going to happen.

Keep your eyes open for our the rest of our interview with DrBeef, which releases tomorrow on our YouTube channel and here on the site as a transcription.

John Carmack Hopes For id VR Ports On App Lab With Microsoft Approval

John Carmack hopes there’s a path to getting the popular unofficial ‘ports’ of id Software games like Quake onto Oculus App Lab, with some help from Microsoft.

Facebook’s Consulting CTO for Oculus had a brief exchange with modder Simon “DrBeef” Brown on Twitter discussing the possibility of bringing the developer’s community-made VR ports of classic games to App Lab.

The exchange started with DrBeef stating that him and Team Beef “intend to get some of the ports listed on App Labs [sic]”, starting with Quake.

Team Beef are behind a plethora of VR ports of classic 90s games such as Quake, Doom, Wolfenstein 3D and many more. These run as standalone VR ports that can be sideloaded onto Oculus Quest.

The games’ engines are ported over into VR and shipped with community-made “shareware” versions of the original assets for legal reasons, so that the content can be legally distributed online. Users who want the authentic experience can transfer in the original textures and assets on their own, using a purchased version of the original games for PC.

App Lab is Oculus’ new method for easy distribution and installation of non-Store Quest content, providing an easier method than traditional sideloading and with less strict content restrictions. That being said, the nature of Team Beef’s VR ports might make an App Lab listing legally complicated.

DrBeef said on Twitter that the App Lab listings for these classic ports would use the shareware versions of each title and tagged Carmack asking him what he thought. You can read his response below:

In another follow-up tweet replying to Carmack, DrBeef indicated that he would “postpone the App Lab application for now and hope that things progress in our favour.” DrBeef and Carmack are referring to Microsoft’s acquisition of ZeniMax Media, which includes the studio behind the Quake franchise, id software.

Microsoft could hypothetically give their blessing for the ports to be listed as App Lab apps once the acquisition is finalised. However, until then, it looks like we’ll be installing the ports through traditional sideloading methods.

Many of Dr Beef’s port are available to install through using SideQuestYou can read more about how to get started with sideloading here. 

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.

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.

Mysterious Bethesda VR Title Appears on Australian Government Rating Site

Evidence that a new VR game published by Bethesda Softworks, the studio behind The Elder Scrolls and Fallout series, has appeared in an online listing by the Australian government’s media classification board.

According to the listing, the game is codenamed ‘Project 2021A’, and will be developed by Bethesda subsidiary studio id Software. It’s unclear what to make of it since there’s no name attached to the game itself, although the listing does hold a few scraps of info.

The game, which is is solely listed as supporting VR, carries an ‘R 18+’ rating for “high-impact violence, [and] online interactivity,” which could point to any number of id Software regulars, including franchises such as Doom, Wolfenstein and Quake.

Notably, id Software’s DOOM VFR (2017) was also rated ‘R 18+’ by the Australian government, which restricts the game to users 18 years and over; that was for the game’s “high impact violence, blood and gore.”

Bethesda’s Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot (2019) was rated ‘MA 15+’, which restricts it to 15 years and above for its “strong violence, [and] online interactivity.” Whatever it is, it’s probably going to be more intense than killing Nazis from the relative safety of a giant mech.

Could we be looking at a wholly new VR-only game in the vein of Doom VFR, or possibly a retread of an older, non-VR game from the studio? It’s difficult to say with so little information, although the codename and preemptive media classification would suggest we’ll be hearing about it sometime this year.

The next likely announce windows are E3 2021 in June and GDC 2021 in July. Both events are still being held in-person, albeit with heavy emphasis on a “digital-first” component.

The post Mysterious Bethesda VR Title Appears on Australian Government Rating Site appeared first on Road to VR.

id Software VR Title Appears in Australian Classification

DOOM VFR screenshot

Usually, big videogame developers try fairly hard to keep projects under wraps until they’re at a stage to fully roll out their marketing strategy. But occasions do occur where this can come undone by simple business requirements, job listings for example. Another looks to have come to light recently thanks to the Australian Classifications website detailing a virtual reality (VR) title by Doom developer id Software called Project 2021A.

DOOM VFR screenshot

As this is just a simple listings page there aren’t many details other than an
R 18+ rating because of its ‘high impact violence’. Another interesting detail to note is the ‘online interactivity’. Instantly, it’s easy to jump to several theories considering this is an id Software production published by Bethesda Softworks, the first being a new Doom.

Doom Eternal launched last year to great success across PC and console. Alongside its blistering campaign, there’s a multiplayer element as well, so it could well be possible that Project 2021A brings the franchise back into VR in some form. Let’s not forget that id Software dipped its toes into VR back in 2017 with Doom VFR and Bethesda has released several VR videogames as well.

Or then there’s the longshot which would probably make a lot of gamers happy, Quake. id Software’s online multiplayer is just as legendary as Doom, so it would be great to see this particular title get an immersive makeover. The only issue on that front would be whether the studio considers VR to have a big enough user base to warrant development.

DOOM VFR screenshot

The Project 2021A codename suggests development may still be in the early stages so VRFocus would expect to hear more concrete details regarding the project later in the year.

Back in September 2020, it was announced that Bethesda Softworks and its parent company Zenimax Media were being acquired by Microsoft, bringing them under the Xbox banner. They join the likes of inXile Entertainment which was acquired in 2018 and recently released online multiplayer Frostpoint VR: Proving Grounds.

The possibility of a new Doom or Quake in VR is certainly exciting. As further details emerge, VRFocus will let you know.