Doom 3 Secrets

[BonciuADV]

What secrets have you found in Doom 3 that nobody seems to know about?

Here's one in Delta Labs 1 involving stepping on top of a crate (trigger_once_25) that makes an imp spawn (da_monster_demon_imp_7) after 0.1 seconds. Extremely specific for some reason. Thing is, you can't normally get on that crate without using an object, and the closest one is this mop bucket.

More secrets include an invisible small medkit that you can get through a crate in Communications, the 5 imps seemingly stuck in each other and the bugged "dancing" trite in Recycling Sector 1 and the 6 cherubs in Recycling Sector 2. 

[BonciuADV]

I found another one!

Why can't there be any useful secrets in this game?

[GuyMcBrofist]

I don't know how well known this is, but I never understood it until this year. At the end of mars city underground in the security office where you unlock the locker with the machine gun, you can also unlock a storage room outside, but it's on the other side of the cavern with no catwalks to access it. I always thought it was strange, until I noticed there's a wire that connects from your location to it, and you can walk across it. It has plasma ammo along with some other pickups.

[BonciuADV]

Yes, that is MCU Storage and it's a great secret, too bad there aren't many like that.

You can also go on the wire at the beginning of the level and move the crane, piss off Daniel Young and then climb it, where you will find some early shells and two armor shards. If you come here after the invasion the crane will be locked, but you can also find an armor shards on the boxes there. All other secrets are listed on my guide.

[Arl]

Some could be uncleaned editor WIP stuff.

[NaliSeed]

The lack of a secret counter and more secret areas was a bit (but just a 'lil bit) of a letdown for me, although understandable given the game's less 'arcadey' nature and more focus on ambiance and horror. Still, way better than 2016's Doom (and by extension Doom Eternal) in my opinion. 

 

As for the secrets, I remember this one in one of the Alpha Labs levels, forgot which one, in which you have to shoot the floor and a tile comes loose giving access to a hidden area. There's a weird radio feedback as you go through a small tunnel or something, that leads to a section with an imp, an exploding barrel and a few goodies. I'm still intrigued by what that strange radio transmission could mean, though. 

[Caffeine Freak]

@NaliSeed Yeah, one of my favorite secrets in the game. Took me YEARS to stumble across. From that area, you can see the elevator shaft you take down to the next section, and the place where the Maggot breaks through the section of wall to come after you. 

 

Anyway. I posted about this years ago: https://www.doomworld.com/forum/topic/95105-easter-egg-in-delta-labs-4/

 

The original image links no longer work, so I'll post it here:

 

 

 

 

 

'you laugh

it works'

Edited September 6, 2022 by Caffeine Freak

[BonciuADV]

Quote

There's a weird radio feedback as you go through a small tunnel or something

It is heavily implied that the weird radio feedback is the same survivor in storage room C4, and perhaps the room at the end of the tunnel is indeed that storage place!

The first transmission is titled alpha2_mystery_radio_1 and is the one you get in the lavatory vents (Hello, hello, is this reaching anyone? I'm broadcasting on a very low frequency. If you can hear me, I'm not far. Please help me!).

The second one is interestingly called alpha2_mystery_radio_2, pretty much confirming that it's the same person. You don't get to see his body, but you can hear very unsettling whispers nearby (st_clutter_02, which you can listen to yourself to remove your ability to sleep).

21 minutes ago, Caffeine Freak said:

@NaliSeed Yeah, one of my favorite secrets in the game. Took me YEARS to stumble across. From that area, you can see the elevator shaft you take down to the next section, and the place where the Maggot breaks through the section of wall to come after you. 

 

Anyway. I posted about this years ago: https://www.doomworld.com/forum/topic/95105-easter-egg-in-delta-labs-4/

 

The original image links no longer work, so I'll post it here:

 

 

 

 

And you also get a neat rare secret achievement for that! I also love the party hat on one of the sawyers. I wonder how do you actually spawn one with it, it uses his regular model in the editor. But these are just more secrets that aren't particularly useful, at least they don't spawn an imp for uncovering the most obscure secret in a doom game so far. 

Edited September 6, 2022 by BonciuADV

[Salt Miner]

If you go through the level pages in the Doom 3 wiki here: https://doomwiki.org/wiki/Doom_3 you can find heaps of secrets including all the ones already mentioned here. There was actually a fair bit to Doom 3 that people could miss during a casual first time run through of the game. I really dig the attention that had been paid to all of the levels.

[BonciuADV]

I am reviving this thread not for a secret, but for the most underused feature in idtech4: func_spawner

Most demon encounters in Doom 3 are either a wall dropping down revealing a monster closet or a line trigger spawning an imp around the corner or in front of you. This, by design, makes you very wary of where you step, knowing that every room you cross could spawn a monster. Standing still isn't safe either, as seen in Alpha Labs 1 and 3, where you will get ambushed if you spend too much time in a room.

 

But what if you wanted more action in your Doom game? Introducing the revolutionary func_spawner, where moving fast and blasting demons is encouraged. As far as I know, it isn't used in the base game, but it's used for a third of the encounters in Quake 4. Let's see how it's used there:

You enter a room, there are a few enemies there already. More enemies will enter the room continuously. If you stand behind cover or around a corner as you probably will in Doom 3, more Strogg will come for you, again indicating that Quake 4 isn't a generic cover shooter. The best strategy is getting close to the spot where the enemies spawn and getting in their face, where a trigger is, removing the spawner. So if you want to make a more combat focused Doom you can do this dynamically by using this feature. But wait, there's more!

func_spawner even has a wave function! You can probably make wave-based mods for Doom 3, and the UAC Base seems perfect for a zombie survival game. 

[CFWMagic]

On 11/9/2022 at 1:00 PM, BonciuADV said:

-Snip-

Good post.

Introducing, sikkmod: https://www.moddb.com/mods/sikkmod I actually never checked if it uses specifically func_spawner, but it sounds like it does from your description. Now, there's a very specific feature within sikkmod. "Random encounters". So far, what I have observed this feature do, is scan the level for monsters, then spawn copies of those monsters at vanilla spawn locations but also randomly around levels.

It seems to keep the roster in memory, because it will spawn z-secs post hell if you've done that in one sitting, for example. But it'll only spawn heavies if you pop yourself immediately in CPU complex. In fact, I've built Doom 3 Custom (shameless plug: https://www.moddb.com/games/doom-iii/downloads/doom-3-custom-community-edition1 ) on top of sikkmod specifically because it has a plethora of tools that aren't necessarily used out of the box (such as locational damage on the player, randomization of health/ammo/armor amounts, aforementionned spawner, a toggle for cyberdemon killability with regular weapons and more).

If you've ever played System Shock 2 ... Give it a try, you might like it. It tends to be more methodical and tactical yet faster paced than Doom 3. And it has a few old community Doom 3 mods baked into it. Which, if people actually play this thing and there are requests ... Should be quite doable to port into the coop mod. Sikkmod has a very comfy set of .pak files which you can also take apart to learn from.

Edited November 13, 2022 by CFWMagic

[Rampy470]

On 9/6/2022 at 7:05 PM, Caffeine Freak said:

@NaliSeed Yeah, one of my favorite secrets in the game. Took me YEARS to stumble across. From that area, you can see the elevator shaft you take down to the next section, and the place where the Maggot breaks through the section of wall to come after you. 

 

Anyway. I posted about this years ago: https://www.doomworld.com/forum/topic/95105-easter-egg-in-delta-labs-4/

 

The original image links no longer work, so I'll post it here:

 

 

 

 

 

'you laugh

it works'

Maybe I'm dumb but I always wondered what that phrase actually meant in this context. Like what significance does it hold or what is it a reference to.

[Trar]

1 hour ago, Rampy470 said:

Maybe I'm dumb but I always wondered what that phrase actually meant in this context. Like what significance does it hold or what is it a reference to.

If I had to guess, it's the demons' psychological warfare stuff that looks cheesy to us players but was probably utterly terrifying for all the game characters.

[Caffeine Freak]

8 hours ago, Trar said:

If I had to guess, it's the demons' psychological warfare stuff that looks cheesy to us players but was probably utterly terrifying for all the game characters.

 

Pretty much what I always assumed.

 

Either that...

 

...or it's a reference to the main portal in the chamber, which activates promptly and precisely when Betruger begins his evil laugh in the cutscene. I.e., 'to make that teleporter work, just laugh'.

 

Hmmmmm, my noodles are cookin', the plot thickens. 🤓🧐

Edited November 16, 2022 by Caffeine Freak