Hello all.
I'm a long time Doom and id Software fan, and with the recent announcement of the BFG Edition finally felt compelled to actually register here. I've followed these forums for a long time... always lurked about.

But, the revival of Doom 3 is awesome news to me. I've always loved the series, and thought Doom 3 was a fantastic game. So, id re-releasing the game with some updates got me all excited for Doom all over again.
And with news on the small changes/updates they are making to the game got me thinking about the personal little "annoyances" I've had with Doom 3. So... for no valid reason what so ever... I've decided to list them.
Now, I know that id are already addressing some of these with the BFG Edition, but these are just the things I'd liked to see changed all together.

- Proper 5.1 surround sound support. Doom 3's sound design is fantastic, and the chance to hear it in true, full 5.1 and higher surround sound would add so much to the atmosphere and feel of the game. (Yes I know this is something id have already commented on)
- Proper widescreen support. While you can tweak the cfg files and get widescreen working, true 16:9 and 16:10 support from the in game menu would be a great addition.
- Improved lighting. I love Doom 3's look. But even I will admit that black on black is a bit much. I know it was an engine limitation, and a product of the shadow/lighting used. But... some of the areas are really well designed and should be seen and appreciated. I know id have said they are updating the lighting and adding more lights to the game, so I'm very excited to see these updates.
- Shotgun spread tighter. As Doom's "staple" workhorse, it feels way too weak in Doom 3. Extremely powerful and effective up close, but even at a slight distance it's basically worthless. Get even a few feet away from an enemy and it's almost as effective as tossing wet paper at them.
- Ammo count lowered. Seriously? Do I need 320 shotgun shells? 600 rounds of machine gun ammo? No. Doom had it right. 50 shotgun shells, find a backpack.. 100. We need to get back to this. Smaller ammo count, a feeling of scavenging for ammo. This could greatly increase to feeling of tension while playing.
- Difficulty actually... difficult. Doom 3 is pathetically easy. A Doom game needs to be challenging. Difficult. On the normal skill there should be areas that make you work a bit. But playing Doom 3 on hard is way too simple. Also, Doom 3 being this easy takes away from the "fright" of fighting the demons. It's hard to be afraid of something when it doesn't pose any threat.
- Shotgun Z-Sec enemies. These enemies are annoying. They aren't difficult or challenging, but the balance feels off. With their shotguns having a tighter spread, faster firing... a punch strong enough to knock you back, even when firing from a distance. Since they drop the exact same shotgun the player uses, why is there such a huge difference between them using it and the player using it?
- Enemy gibs. Human enemies shouldn't gib from shotgun shells... or pistol rounds. Or anything that isn't explosive. I understand the memory limitations of 2004 and the reasoning behind the decision. But these days, it would be great if this could be changed. As for the demons, I like the "burn away" effect... but a slight delay could be cool. Let the body sit for a few seconds before burning away. Also... gibbing Imps would be awesome.


These are my own little personal wishes for Doom 3. I know some of them have been touched on, and I know most of them won't be changed. But... it's fun to dream.
Also, some behind the scenes stuff from Doom 3 and such as a "bonus" menu would be really cool.
So, anyone else have any "personal" wishes for changes they'd love to see?

Actually, the gibbing from a shotgun is realistic. So long as it's not a solid slug, that is.

Now, if the whole body gibs from a shotgun, that's not realistic. But a limb or head? Perfectly real.

5.1 support and widescreen are already announced.
I disagree on lowering the ammo count, but agree on making the game more difficult.

Yes, dismemberment... that would be fine.
But, the full body gib, then fade away from a shotgun blast... or one too many bullets... no.


Yeah, I knew 5.1 and widescreen were already announced, but listed them anyways.
Personally, I think the ammo counts are way too high. There's no reason to have or need 320 shotgun shells or 600 rounds for the machine gun. Cut em back to the limits they were in Doom 1 and 2... be perfect.
But, last I read, they are planning to increase the ammo counts for the BFG edition.

Also, Willits did say the difficulty was one of many things they were going to focus on with the BFG Edition.

Willits, eh? I guess after seeing how easy his game Rage was, he's decided it's time to make things difficult, lol.

I thought Doom 3 supported 5.1 since launch? At least on the PC with a patch, you can achieve 7.1 through hardware acceleration.

It supports a sort of "form" of 5.1, but it's not true surround sound.
And the patched in EAX setting sounds terrible. They just made everything echo like mad...

I guess Tim Willits wants to make D3 easier, not harder. Increased ammos, less monster closets, brighter areas, armor-mounted flashlight, etc...

Lol, while I still think Willits is cool (knowing his past and getting into idSoftware), I can't help but think he's not very good at games. It's like, he sees that he struggles, so he assumes everyone's that bad.

EAX is far better in Quake 4. Either way, it can be left out without sacrificing hardware surround sound.
I just checked, and Doom 3 does indeed not support software 5.1, so I guess this is a handy feature.

Ammo for the shotgun and machine gun were way high, but if memory serves me correct, I was always low on ammo for the plasma rifle and gattling gun. And yes I also agree the game was to easy, that's why I became bored with it, so increased difficulty would be welcome. I also would like the option to play with Trent Reznor's soundpak, id probably would have to get his permission for that though.

I always had an overabundance of ammo for the Plasma rifle. Mostly because there were little to no actual reasons to use it. You can get past the majority of the game with the shotgun and machinegun alone. And even with relying on them exclusively, it's almost impossible to run out of ammo for them.

As for Trent's sounds... I personally hate them.
Yes people complained about the weapon sounds in the released product sounding weak and pathetic. I actually liked that, and felt it worked with the feeling of isolation and being overpowered. Sure, some of the weapons could've sounded a bit beefier. But Trent's weapon sounds were just bad. The pistol sounds like a cannon instead of a handgun... and his chaingun sound was awful.

Nice to see someone who thinks the same.
I've played with a mod with Trent's sounds, and they just felt weird in the game.

Yes I agree there, the Trent Reznor pistol sounded like they used to in old 80's action movies. But everything else I loved, the chaingun, the imp sounds, the zombie commandos especially. I never used the pistol again after getting the machine gun so yeah, I still would like the option to play with the Razor Man's soundpak. I can't remember did any of the other demons have different sounds with the pak? If not, maybe they could get Rez to make some new sounds for the rest of them before the game ships. That would be cool.

Yeah, the Pinky demon also had Trent sounds. The roaring is different, and so are the footstep sounds, they sound more clinky like rusty metal, which I guess is pretty cool.

I don't think the sounds are bad, it's just after being used to the vanilla Doom3 sounds I just didn't digg Trent's sounds. But yeah, the pistol sound just flat out svcked, it screams "BOOM" but since the pistol is weak as hell it's just silly, lol.

Yeah, the pistol is loader then the shotgun... but it does about as much damage are a wet rag.
While not all the sounds are as bad as the pistol or chaingun, the majority of them just don't fit with the atmosphere id were crafting.

Personally, I'm glad Trent dropped off the project. It just wasn't working.

hmmm... Rage probably was easy because it was aimed for the console crowd and although even they wanted it to be more difficult, the game must have been considerable easier because id doesn't have too much experience with dealing with this new crowd. And the PC version was pretty much the same.

BFG needs to be more difficult but I really don't want and armor mounted flashlight. or it should have a battery charge. So that you can only use it for a few seconds. This way you can't just see everything and everyone coming from everywhere. I hated the duct tape mods because I felt they ruined the experience and made the game easier for me. True it wasn't like the original DooM's but I wanted to play it like how DooM 3 was meant to be played not with everything lit up.

Also now that machines are more capable I wan't to see at least one or two monsters extra in each combat situation. Just to make it feel crowded and also amp up the challenge a bit.

I seem to remember reading somewhere that the new flashlight will have a battery charge, so that bit should be covered.

BFG needs to ne more Scary I think. Any confirmed release dates?

October 16 release in North America, don't know about other regions.

Agreed.

yea never got used to the trent sounds. IMO everything sounded great on default. Except the pistol. That's it that one weapon. Right after doom 3 when I played HL2 I was like damn this HL2 pistol sounds great. I only want to use this lol.

No need for Trent sounds but a slight improvement in the default sound would be great just to make it not sound like a squirt gun.

You know what's gonna be a little funny and cool at the same time. BFG might look almost comparable to games release in recent years. Just because the game has aged well.