How to Get Doom 3 to Run Under Windows 7 64 bit?

[meeshu]

I'm trying to get Doom 3 to run properly under Windows 7 64 bit.

 

This is the 2004 retail/boxed version of Doom 3. Running under Windows 7 64 bit SP1.

 

Previously ran Doom 3 under Windows XP (SP2 or SP3) without any (major) issue.

 

Doom 3 is presently completely uninstalled.

 

There are two questions.

 

1)  Actually, I've managed to get Doom 3 running under W7 64 bit by applying the "1.3.1" version patch which supposedly allows later operating systems (after XP) to run Doom 3. Otherwise Doom 3 does NOT run on my system without the patch applied!?

 

However, there are many posts on the internet which suggest that Doom 3 does run fine under Windows 7 (32 bit and/or 64 bit?) without applying any patches. Problem is that these posts do not detail how exactly they got Doom 3 to run under Windows 7, and whether they were using 32 bit or 64 bit versions of Windows 7!?

 

The question is, is it possible to run Doom 3 (retail version) under Windows 7 64 bit SP1 WITHOUT applying any patches? If so, how please?

 

2) Editing weapon parameters.

 

I successfully managed to modify weapon parameters previously when running Doom 3 under Windows XP. But I tried again to modify weapon parameters under Windows 7 64 bit and after applying the 1.3.1 patch, but these modifications  seemed to cause issues with Doom 3 with commands/cheats unable to be entered via console (brought up by pressing keys Ctrl Alt ~). Also I could no longer fire weapons and couldn't even start a new game!?

 

The question is, is it still possible to edit (weapon) parameters and have Doom 3 run without issue under Windows 7 64 bit?

 

Thanks for any and all constructive comments!

Edited April 1, 2022 by meeshu

[meeshu]

Correction!

 

I can't seem to get Doom 3 running under Windows 7 64 bit (anymore)!?

 

Doom 3 will usually start after a delay of around 20~30 seconds(!?), splash screen loads, then followed by the main menu.

 

Problems are -

 

No sound at all!

Mouse cursor stuck at top left of main screen and can't be moved!

Some keyboard commands not recognized!?

 

Have to Ctrl-Alt-Del to run Task Manager and end Doom 3 program, or have to reset the computer by pressing the reset button.

 

I have Doom 3 2004 retail version. The installation of that seems to go without any issue.

 

There are two patches for Doom 3 that I'm aware of, Patch 1.3 and patch 1.3.1.

 

According to various online sources, there appear to be two variants of these patches? One variant is for Steam/BFG version of Doom 3, and the other variant is for the retail version of Doom 3.

 

Again, according to online sources, in order to get Doom 3 to work under Windows 7 (64 bit) and Windows 10 as well(?), apparently requires the use of the patch named DOOM_3_1.3.1_Patch_Fixed_v4.2.

 

However there appears to be conflicting information regarding the installation of subsequent patches to get Doom 3 to run under Windows 7 (and Windows 10). Some say patch version 1.3 should be applied first, followed by patch 1.3.1. But others say that only patch 1.3.1 is required!

 

I have tried several combinations of patches (after uninstalling Doom 3 and then re-installing it), but Doom 3 will still not work properly!

 

Again, according to online sources, some people claim to have gotten Doom 3 running successfully under both Windows 7 and Windows 10. But they didn't elaborate how exactly they got Doom 3 to run (with or without patches)!?

 

So, has anyone got Doom 3 to run fine under Windows 7 (and/or under Windows 10)? If so, how exactly did you manage to get Doom 3 to run? What patches (if any) were used? Anything else?

 

Thanks!

[Edward850]

Doom 3 simply needs the 1.3.1 patch to run on Windows 7. You can find this here: https://www.quaddicted.com/files/idgames/idstuff/doom3/win32/

You may need to install the 1.3 patch first (located in /old) depending on the retail version you have and the behavior of the 1.3.1 patch.

 

The version of Doom3 on steam is prepatched and runs on 7/10/11 out of the box, no changes need to be made, nor can be made. The executable it supplies is bounded to Steam which is why it's technically a different build.

 

BFG edition is a different version of the engine altogether which none of this applies to at all.

Edited April 13, 2022 by Edward850

[meeshu]

Thanks for the very informative reply!

 

Downloaded all patches, including patch 1.1 from the linked website.

 

There were three attempts to get Doom 3 to run correctly on my Windows 7 system.

 

On each attempt, there was a delay of around 30 seconds before the id splash animation loaded, then followed the loading of Doom 3 main menu.

 

First attempt was to apply patch 1.3.1 to my original Doom 3 installation. On running Doom 3 after applying patch 1.3.1, again there was no sound, mouse cursor stuck at top left of main menu, and some keyboard inputs still not being recognized.

 

Second attempt (after uninstalling Doom 3 using a third party uninstaller (Revo Uninstaller)), first applied patch 1.3, then applied patch 1.3.1. But again Doom 3 didn't run properly with no sound, stuck cursor, and limited keyboard input!

 

Third attempt (again after uninstalling Doom 3 using Revo Uninstaller), applied patch 1.1, then applied patch 1.3, and finally applied patch 1.3.1. Unfortunately Doom 3 still failed to run properly with no sound, stuck cursor and limited keyboard functionality!

 

So what is wrong here? Why will Doom 3 not run properly on my Windows 7 system?

 

Any further suggestions?

[Edward850]

So your problem you're actually experiencing is different than the issue you are refrencing. Doom3's problem with launching on 7 without the patch actually originates from an issue with Doom3 launching at all on Vista, as in the game just straight up didn't even start. 7 naturally experienced the same issue, and the 1.3.1 patch fixed this (or may have been 1.3, not sure which). This is exhibited if you try to run the demo version.

 

The problem you're actually experiencing, your inputs/mouse being stuck, isn't related to any of this at all. Instead this seems to be some kind of system specific issue you are having, one that I have not witnessed or heard of regarding Doom3 on any system. This may be an extremely rare issue, or something specific to you due to some software conflict you have with other installed software or drivers. There is no advice I can give for that, but I could suggest running a source port instead, such as dhewm3 (Information, Download), as it changes the input subsystem completely and may be able to work around this weird issue you're having. You can also try BFG edition as that has more standardized support for modern systems.

Edited April 13, 2022 by Edward850

[CoolerDoomeR]

33 minutes ago, Edward850 said:

Doom3's problem with launching on 7 without the patch actually originates from an issue with Doom3 launching at all on Vista, as in the game just straight up didn't even start. 7 naturally experienced the same issue, and the 1.3.1 patch fixed this

Years ago, i played Doom 3 in Windows 7 without the patch, so I think this problem is related to this person's windows, maybe???

[Edward850]

The problem they are having isn't even the described issue the patch was designed to fix, as I explained. They are having a system specific issue from their system alone.

[meeshu]

Thanks for the comments.

 

I wiped my operating system drive clean and reinstalled just the operating system (Windows 7 64 bit) and Doom 3 retail version.

 

This time Doom 3 worked, with no patches added yet!!

 

Pulled down Doom 3 console and found the retail version of Doom 3 I have is 1.0.1.

 

I then applied patch 1.1. But Doom 3 crashed to the desktop when trying to start!

 

Applied patch 1.3 next. This time Doom 3 loaded fine. I played about 5 minutes of the game without issue, so far!

 

There might have been an audio software conflict previously which might have caused the issues I had with running Doom 3?

 

My internal sound card just recently failed, so I removed it, and I thought I had removed the drivers for this card as well. Then I used the motherboard's integrated sound chip for the audio, and installed the associated drivers for this chip also. However, although the integrated sound chip seemed to work for other applications, there might have been remnants of the previous sound card drivers still remaining. There was no obvious (sound) issue with other applications, but Doom 3 might have been more sensitive to the presence of both audio drivers which in turn caused a conflict and issues with running Doom 3? This is just speculation though.

 

On reinstalling Windows 7 operating system, the installation automatically installed integrated sound chip drivers! I wasn't expecting that! I didn't have to install (additional) sound chip drivers. So I ran Doom 3 anyway to see what would happen and to my surprise Doom 3 ran fine without any patches applied!

 

So the issue of Running Doom 3 under my Windows 64 bit system seems to have been resolved, at least for the moment.

 

So the talk about having to apply patches (1.3 and/or 1.3.1) to get Doom 3 running under Windows 7 64 bit is still a bit of a mystery. The requirement for having to use patches might depend on what video and/or audio hardware and associated drivers are being used on the host computer, maybe?

Edited April 14, 2022 by meeshu

[Alex S.]

I’ve got it running fine under Windows 11 Pro. Most times if there’s a library missing or a DLL problem then Doom will crash either immediately at launch or right before the main menu. Sound and stick mouse cursor sounds more like you have a config that stinks. If it’s any help I can copy my config file and have you try it since it is from 1.3.1 on a known-good install of the retail game. 

[meeshu]

Noted, thanks.

 

Running Doom 3 with patch 1.3.1 applied, and Doom 3 and all mods are all working OK so far!