New 'Doom 3' Mod Successfully Ports It Into Virtual Reality (vice.com)

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New 'Doom 3' Mod Successfully Ports It Into Virtual Reality (vice.com)

Posted by EditorDavid on Sunday November 27, 2016 @12:34AM from the virtual-frags dept.

When it comes to VR ports of popular games, "Doom 3's fluid weapon handling, interactivity, and general creepiness put it in a different class entirely," writes Motherboard. An anonymous reader quotes their report: Using the graphically enhanced "BFG" version of 2004's Doom 3, the mod from "Codes4Fun" skillfully ports to game to the HTC Vive, generally making it look as though it was designed for the platform all along. Swedish YouTuber SweViver recently posted a video showing off his first spin with it... SweViver walks and runs about naturally using only the Vive controller's touchpad...the video shows him jumping and using the mod's impressive hand-tracking to handle his gun and flashlight separately as they float before him in place of the controllers in his hands. At one point, he even whips out virtual fists that let him pummel things with the controllers' left and right triggers.
His conclusion? "This is probably the first AAA game that actually works on the Vive."

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Motion Sickness Ahoy! by Anonymous Coward · 2016-11-27 01:16 · Score: 1

I'd be barfing like a landlubber doing what he does in that vid.
VR is fake news by PopeRatzo · 2016-11-27 01:32 · Score: 1

What proof do we have that any of this is real?

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1. Re:VR is fake news by JaredOfEuropa · 2016-11-27 01:48 · Score: 1
  
  Crowd says: "real!"
  
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  If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
2. Re:VR is fake news by new_01 · 2016-11-27 01:51 · Score: 1
  
  It's ok. We've run this story through the Ministry of Truth Internet Submission Suite servers. Since every internet post now has to originate from the government servers, we know this is real.
3. Re:VR is fake news by PopeRatzo · 2016-11-27 02:47 · Score: 2
  
  It's ok. We've run this story through the Ministry of Truth Internet Submission Suite servers. Since every internet post now has to originate from the government servers, we know this is real.
  That's exactly what a purveyor of fake news would say.
  
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  You are welcome on my lawn.
4. Re:VR is fake news by PopeRatzo · 2016-11-27 06:01 · Score: 1
  
  Stop already. The fake news joke was tired weeks ago, now it's just lame.
  That's just what someone who spreads fake news would say. Interesting.
  
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  You are welcome on my lawn.
5. Re:VR is fake news by Ranbot · 2016-11-28 03:10 · Score: 1
  
  What proof do we have that any of this is real?
  The article provides links where you can download the mod to try it yourself. HTC Vive, not included.
6. Re:VR is fake news by PopeRatzo · 2016-11-28 04:15 · Score: 1
  
  The article provides links where you can download the mod to try it yourself. HTC Vive, not included.
  
  That's what they want you to believe.
  
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  You are welcome on my lawn.
Nausea. by Fragnet · 2016-11-27 01:55 · Score: 1

Seriously, come on. FPS in VR is fucking awful. I'd need a bin liner-sized sick bag strapped to my face.
1. Re:Nausea. by Anonymous Coward · 2016-11-27 02:23 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  The solution to this is to slow the fuck down to realistic levels in FPS games.
2. Re:Nausea. by oic0 · 2016-11-27 03:38 · Score: 1
  
  Going slow helps a little, but what would help me the most would be having some sort of collision before the characters nose. Scraping sideways along walls turns my stomach faster than a falcon punch.
3. Re:Nausea. by MindPrison · 2016-11-27 03:55 · Score: 1
  
  Maybe it's fucking awful for you, but it's fine for a lot of people. When I first got my Vive, I'd say I suffered an average level of motion sickness from FPS type stuff, but after a few months of (not much) training, I don't get sick at all anymore. It can be trained out.
  
  He ain't kidding...
  
  I got motion sick as HELL when I got my vive and made my own Unity games in VR, and it felt like I wouldn't get over it.
  Then Google Earth VR came, and I turned off the safety "blurring" and was just a little weirded out in the beginning, after a while - I could "fly" for hours without getting any motion sickness.
  
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Re:Doom 3 continues to be overrated one decade lat by hcs_$reboot · 2016-11-27 03:21 · Score: 1

Played it when it was released around 2005. One of the scariest game ever. And, at the time, one of the most realistic. Must agree however that, despite the many robots, devices and other originalities, the story/objectives were limited to shoot and kill. Nothing elaborated enough, story wise, to keep the fun high.

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Re:Dear Teens by hcs_$reboot · 2016-11-27 03:23 · Score: 1

:

The initials composing the weapon's name stand for "Big Fucking Gun", and in Irish, it is often called the "Big Fecking Gun"; it officially stands for "Bio Force Gun" in the 2005 movie. Alternatively, it also stands for "Big Friggin' Gun".

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Re:Here's your participation trophy! by Hortense+Yaya · 2016-11-27 04:39 · Score: 1

I believe this version was used because it's open source.
Exactly. Terrible idea. by popo · 2016-11-27 05:00 · Score: 2

We already know what works and what doesn't work in VR.
In general, vehicular games are awesome. Flying, driving, magic carpets, etc.
Running games are pretty weak as it never feels like you're running.
And worst of all are "twitch" games which involve high velocity turns and mouse-looks.
Doom 3 is a twitch game, and a running game. It's a terrible idea for a VR port.

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1. Re:Exactly. Terrible idea. by Anonymous Coward · 2016-11-27 05:27 · Score: 1
  
  While it's true that the original Doom 3 requires high velocity turns and mouse looks, and while it's true those can be the worst in VR, you're ignoring the fact that this is for Vive roomscale VR. There is no mouse looking; you look where you look, which your stomach is fine with. The high velocity turns are real turns with your real body in your real space, which your stomach is also fine with. The controller motion is only forward, backward, and strafe, which a lot of people can handle just fine in VR.
  Don't write off a whole genre of games for VR simply because a few first attempts didn't work out well. Developers are getting much better at understanding what players' stomachs can handle comfortably, and the future of VR FPS is a good one.
2. Re:Exactly. Terrible idea. by WaffleMonster · 2016-11-27 07:12 · Score: 2
  
  We already know what works and what doesn't work in VR.
  In general, vehicular games are awesome. Flying, driving, magic carpets, etc.
  Running games are pretty weak as it never feels like you're running.
  And worst of all are "twitch" games which involve high velocity turns and mouse-looks.
  Doom 3 is a twitch game, and a running game. It's a terrible idea for a VR port.
  I used to think this. Now I'm convinced it is mostly a load of bunk.
  Twitching is replaced not with stick inputs but people actually moving their heads and looking around. Pointing at things where they want to shoot with their own appendages. When you decouple look/movement/firing the result is an experience that agrees enough inertially with reality to actually be fun and work naturally without making you sick if you can keep the framerate up.
  What is making people sick in current VR FPS games is the genius who figured it was a good idea to artificial couple motion with head position so where you look is always the direction your character is moving. This is a vomit fest constantly inducing unnecessary changes of direction that don't correspond with the real world.
  The trick for FPS in VR is decoupled movement and maintaining 90FPS at all costs.
3. Re:Exactly. Terrible idea. by Namarrgon · 2016-11-27 08:56 · Score: 1
  
  It really isn't. While some people are fine with any decoupled motion, moving the camera sideways or backwards in VR is the easily fastest way to make a lot of people immediately queasy. Restricting it to forward & occasional rotational movement (with an "instant spin 180" button) is significantly more tolerable, particularly if you ensure all accelerations are low, but many will still find that uncomfortable before long. Putting a static frame around the view helps a lot (like a cockpit, or Google Earth VR's "tunnel vision" approach), but a few can't even handle that much. A teleport mechanic is the only way I know to get more or less universal acceptability.
  It's interesting to note that Doom 3 BFG was originally promised as a bundled game with the Oculus Rift DK1, but that deal fell through. No word if that was due to the movement issue or the current Zenimax lawsuit, however.
  
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4. Re:Exactly. Terrible idea. by Namarrgon · 2016-11-27 10:58 · Score: 1
  
  Oh absolutely some people are fine with it, and I agree many can build good tolerance, with graduated regular exposure. I'm certainly not arguing that decoupled motion should never be offered even as an option. I've been playing FPS games since the late 80s and I've built some tolerance, but I've seen people manage both more motion and a lot less, when playing in VR. There's been a great deal of research into this over the last couple of year, and susceptibility can vary widely.
  Comes down to the fact that if your FPS game uses the same instant accelerations & strafing that FPS games traditionally love to do then you're going to significantly limit your customer base in VR, unless you can also provide a scheme that lets them start playing comfortably and get used to more over time.
  
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  Why would anyone engrave "Elbereth"?
Re:Doom 3 continues to be overrated one decade lat by PingSpike · 2016-11-28 05:28 · Score: 1

I actually felt the games initial levels had some clever scares and settings, but by the time you got the "Even More Delta Labs 97" it was clear the level designers had lost interest in the same way as the player had and they were just looking to get this over with. I feel like the overall experience would have been improved if a lot of those levels were edited out. Obviously there were some unique levels at the end but that huge slog in the middle did them no favors.