The Doom 3 Experience (Pics Inside)

[Brian]

EDIT: Warning, I am trying not to post any pictures or talk about anything too revealing, but beware that there might be some tiny spoilers, nothing too much though. Any pictures that do contain major spoilers will be linked to and not displayed within the thread.

I just got Doom 3 today from Best Buy, got home, installed it, installed DX and Cat 4.7 drivers for my 9800 XT. I started the game and got to the point where the first map loaded, and it froze at the end of the loading screen!

One of the owners over at POC said he had a problem with the game crashing due to his CPU overclock, but his crashed in-game. Instead of setting up my Intel system which has a 2.4c, I had decided to OC my AMD system from a 1700+ up to 1.8 GHz. Well, that was apparently the problem, because when I put it back to stock speed, the game ran fine. This is interesting though, because that CPU overclocked to 2800+ speeds (much more than it was OCed to) handled any game fine and was completely stable after a day of stress testing.

Anyway, so now I am playing Doom 3 on a 1700+ with a 9800 XT and a gig of memory on high settings. Man does this game look sweet, and it feels so alive and so delightfully evil. Just like every single other person who has gotten this game, I have been taking screen shots as I go along. However, in the midst of trying to flee from the horrible creatures that creep up on you and try to take my throat with a wrench, it is rather hard to get a good shot.

One very cool thing about this game that adds to the creepiness is the fact that you MUST use a flashlight. There is no other option. BUT, you cannot use the flashlight and hold a gun at the same time. So either you are slowly creeping around the facilities with your flashlight, looking for the horrid breasts that want to feast on my entrails, or whip out my shotgun in a fighting frenzy as a beast lunges out from a crevice and tears at me with it's claws as I thrash about and try to pull my head back in so I can aim at this mofo.

Haven't had this much fun, or crapped my pants as much, ever.

Oh, and, others post your reactions to Doom 3 as well. I will be back with pics later. For now... I need more... Muahahahaha... AHHHHHHHHH MY EYES OH GOD IT BURNS!

[Nick]

Who forgot the dam duct tape? You build an outpost on Mars and you didn't bring any duct tape so you can stick that flashlight on the end of your gun? Tape the dam thing to yer head even!

The game looks cool and all, but once you turn that flashlight off you cannot see whats hittin ya.

[Brian]

Here we go...


http://www.thetechlounge.com/random/doom3_images/shot00001.jpg


http://www.thetechlounge.com/random/doom3_images/shot00002.jpg


http://www.thetechlounge.com/random/doom3_images/shot00004.jpg


http://www.thetechlounge.com/random/doom3_images/shot00005.jpg


http://www.thetechlounge.com/random/doom3_images/shot00007.jpg


http://www.thetechlounge.com/random/doom3_images/shot00009.jpg


http://www.thetechlounge.com/random/doom3_images/shot00011.jpg


http://www.thetechlounge.com/random/doom3_images/shot00012.jpg


http://www.thetechlounge.com/random/doom3_images/shot00014.jpg


http://www.thetechlounge.com/random/doom3_images/shot00015.jpg


http://www.thetechlounge.com/random/doom3_images/shot00018.jpg


http://www.thetechlounge.com/random/doom3_images/shot00019.jpg


http://www.thetechlounge.com/random/doom3_images/shot00022.jpg


http://www.thetechlounge.com/random/doom3_images/shot00025.jpg

[Kurtis]

I just got Doom 3 today from Best Buy, got home, installed it, installed DX and Cat 4.7 drivers for my 9800 XT. I started the game and got to the point where the first map loaded, and it froze at the end of the loading screen!

One of the owners over at POC said he had a problem with the game crashing due to his CPU overclock, but his crashed in-game. Instead of setting up my Intel system which has a 2.4c, I had decided to OC my AMD system from a 1700+ up to 1.8 GHz. Well, that was apparently the problem, because when I put it back to stock speed, the game ran fine. This is interesting though, because that CPU overclocked to 2800+ speeds (much more than it was OCed to) handled any game fine and was completely stable after a day of stress testing...

I forget where I read it... but Carmack did talk about the fact that many people would experience problems with their overclocked / tweaked systems when trying to play Doom3. The reason apparently is that the game utilizes parts of your hardware that no game has ever utilized before. Anyways, Carmack did say that this sort of thing would happen, so it's nothing to worry about, just a little inconvenience.

[Brian]

Yeah, I've talked to a few people who had similar problems.

[Dyrewolph]

From looking at your screen shots, it appears to have the same look (as in the style of graphics) as Unreal 2 had... and I quite liked Unreal 2, despite how short it was. What I'd like to see in these games is a greater variety of weapons that you can use.. why not do what Farcry did with their weapons, except enable a character to hold up to 10... and stick in about 20-30... nah... make it 40 different weapons to pick up?

[Brian]

I played Far Cry and loved it. There are too many games with that futuristic robotic industrial look to it, but I assure you, it doesn't take away from the feel of this game. You're too busy shitting your pants to worry about anything else ;-)

Oh, and if you were a fan of the original Doom, you will definitely notice a lot of small things that they did in Doom 3 that has a lot of nostalgia.

[Dyrewolph]

I did finish Doom and Doom II... but was only about 10 at the time... I also went and bought the collectors pack of Doom 1, 2 and final doom... but had a lot of trouble getting back into it... as... if you remember... there is no mouse support (at least I can't get it to work).

DW

[Brian]

Here are some more pics. I'll try not to show any that give away anything.

http://www.thetechlounge.com/random/doom3_images/shot00026.jpg


http://www.thetechlounge.com/random/doom3_images/shot00027.jpg


http://www.thetechlounge.com/random/doom3_images/shot00030.jpg


http://www.thetechlounge.com/random/doom3_images/shot00035.jpg


http://www.thetechlounge.com/random/doom3_images/shot00043.jpg


http://www.thetechlounge.com/random/doom3_images/shot00047.jpg


http://www.thetechlounge.com/random/doom3_images/shot00048.jpg

[Dyrewolph]

what? did you run out of ammo for the shotgun or something?

[Brian]

Clip ran out :-P

Just downloaded the Catalyst 4.9 Beta drivers. About to give them a spin and see if there is any improvement.

[Brian]

Man, creepy stuff.

You're in a dark corridor, when you hear a faint woman’s voice saying "follow me." Footsteps of blood appear on the floor along with more spooky audio saying "follow me. They took my baby."

I won't even get into how you're introduced to those flying heads you see in screenshots... oh man...

[Brian]

Ok, BEWARE, I have linked to the following pics as to not ruin it for anyone who does not wish to see anything major. The following links are to pics of the first "boss" you encounter. They ARE SPOILERS!!!

http://www.thetechlounge.com/random/doom3_images/shot00051_spoiler.jpg
http://www.thetechlounge.com/random/doom3_images/shot00053_spoiler.jpg
http://www.thetechlounge.com/random/doom3_images/shot00054_spoiler.jpg
http://www.thetechlounge.com/random/doom3_images/shot00055_spoiler.jpg


I thought this part was interesting so I posted some pics of it. You know those kids machines that have the robot claw that you have to control to pick up a prize and try to drop it in the hole? Well... I guess that along with the pics pretty much say it all :-P


http://www.thetechlounge.com/random/doom3_images/shot00049.jpg


http://www.thetechlounge.com/random/doom3_images/shot00050.jpg

[Kurtis]

Hey Brian I have good news and some bad news.

The good news is FedEx just dropped off the X800 Pro on my doorstep.

The bad news is they woke my ass up at 8:30 AM...

[Nick]

Anyone try those new 4.9 catalyst beta drivers? See any difference in performance?

[Brian]

I got about a 1 FPS performance advantage with a 9800 XT, but it is most likely limited by my 1700+.

I am setting up the intel test bed today or tomorrow which will have a 2.4c and we also just got an x800 pro.

Will give updates.