Doom 3: Phobos

[Koko Ricky]

Canon is contingent on what the owners of the IP say is canon.

[hardcore_gamer]

54 minutes ago, Arl said:

 

 

The books are official cannon? to me cannon is what is exposed in the game.

 

It sort of is cannon because it's basically the same story written by the exact same person who wrote the plot for the game. It's basically just Doom 3 in novel form made by the writer of Doom 3. I guess you can call it "soft cannon" if you will. 

 

And I like the Doom 3 novel version of the future much more anyway, since it's more in line with the crappy way of life depicted in Doom 3. The future in this universe is suppose to be shit, and this is reflected in both the Doom 3 game as well as the novel. I don't like it how the Phobos mod depicts earth as being this awesome future where the whole world is living in harmony and basically everything is just happy and great. It's like the exact reverse of what is depicted in Doom 3 and the novel where mass poverty is rampant and the earth is a giant shithole. 

Edited December 4, 2018 by hardcore_gamer

[kristus]

Just noticed that I wasn't credited for the models that I made that are in the game. EDIT: And concept art. Oops.

 

Edited December 5, 2018 by kristus

[Arl]

Very depressing, I didn't know the earth and the future in general were so miserable in Doom 3 universe.

 

Anyways, surely the mod developers can be forgiven for not reading or caring for consistency with pseudo-official periferal media of the game they develop their mod for.

[hardcore_gamer]

1 minute ago, Arl said:

Very depressing, I didn't know the earth and the future in general were so miserable in Doom 3 universe.

 

Anyways, surely the mod developers can be forgiven for not reading or caring for consistency with pseudo-official periferal media of the game they develop their mod for.

 

It's not a major deal or anything, it's just something that I noticed. 

[Megalyth]

Damn, my computer kicked the bucket just in time for a major release that I've been anticipating for years.

 

A sincere congratulations on the release. I've waited over a decade, I can handle a few more months of waiting.

[Caffeine Freak]

5 hours ago, kristus said:

But I really wish that I could skip the scenes of the player talking to a Samantha

 

You can. Anytime you're talking to her, walk out of the room and the convo will end. (Obviously, this doesn't apply to the situations where you're locked in a train car.)

[Scuba Steve]

What the fuck, Minnesota didn't join the Commonwealth!?

[Tetzlaff]

On 12/4/2018 at 8:01 AM, Yhe1 said:

 

It was the Bloom, disabling it make my game work correctly. Thanks!

 

How to I disable bloom in autoexec.cfg?

 

Same here. Bloom somehow totally messes up my POV and aspect ratio. But now I have to reset bloom every time I start the game. What is the console command to permanently disable bloom?

 

I am currently stuck at the St Amber Hospital flashback scene. After I enter the dark corridor that opens behind the elevator door, I hear the GUI "click" sound and the environment turns black, leaving me immobile. I can still see my crosshair and hear the ambient soundtrack, but nothing else happens.

 

So far I really like it (except the bugs of course). Incredible attention to detail in the levels. Mars City really feels like a Mars city this time arround.

[Caffeine Freak]

1 hour ago, Tetzlaff said:

I am currently stuck at the St Amber Hospital flashback scene. After I enter the dark corridor that opens behind the elevator door, I hear the GUI "click" sound and the environment turns black, leaving me immobile. I can still see my crosshair and hear the ambient soundtrack, but nothing else happens.

 

The lights are supposed to go off, but the light in the waiting room should still be on. If you turn around, you should be able to see it clearly.

[Tetzlaff]

Ah, thanks! Stupid me... Though that scene is a bit counter-intuitive. Maybe trigger a sound effect (phone ring from the front desk or something like that) to give the player a hint.

 

Love it so far. Mars City with a touch of Blade Runner.

Edited December 5, 2018 by Tetzlaff

[DooM_RO]

4 hours ago, Caffeine Freak said:

 

The lights are supposed to go off, but the light in the waiting room should still be on. If you turn around, you should be able to see it clearly.

 

I thought that was a bad design choice. I actually thought my game had crashed. There is no indication that you are supposed to look back.

[OpenMaw]

14 hours ago, hardcore_gamer said:

 

 cannon?

 

 

Canon, guys. Canon.

 

Cannon shoots. Canon is the collective lore. 

 

 

Doom 3 : Phobos; 

 

Well, what can I say? Congratulations to the team. You guys did what many fail to do. You finished something you set out to do years and years ago. It's a reality. Good job. So many projects die on the vine and don't make it even half as far as you guys did.

 

Well designed levels, very much in line with what the official Doom 3 environments look like. In that regard you could probably put this stuff side-to-side and nobody would be able to tell the difference. Some of the environments are even better looking than the base game. It's obvious lots of polish went into this aspect. Lighting was very nice, with one exception where combat was involved, I found it a little too dark. Though, you eventually do power up the lights in that particular area, that's after you've already fought the battle. It might have been more foreboding to have the player traverse that spot in the dark and then activate the power. 

 

The story on the other hand is too front heavy, and the performances are not that great. The leading voice is not entirely convincing. In terms of the story and the way it's being played out, less is more. Say more with fewer words. People in day to day life don't tend to talk in this overlong form that's going on here, Screenwriters will normally tell you to keep away from using too many words. There's a reason Doom 3 leaned on the PDA for a lot of the story elements, and why Doom 2016 continues that trend with the Codex and data entries. Keeps the expository aspect contained and allows the player to play the game first and foremost. In the world of games, especially in a first person shooter like Doom, not everyone is going to appreciate the story you want to tell. I don't have anything against the particulars of the story, just maybe a few minor flaws in the delivery. 

 

I also agree that the stylistic inconsistency with the portraits on the screens was a little disconcerting. I understand certain concessions have to be made with a mod to get things done, but a more true-to-the-look style would have been more appropriate.

 

Combat encounters are pretty good, and the difficulty curve seems very organic. 

 

All that being said I look forward to the next episode, and I hope t his group actually stays together and continues to evolve creatively on a new project. Maybe something on the Unreal Engine next?

[Tetzlaff]

19 hours ago, kristus said:

The profile picture of Samantha's communication thingy sticks out like a sore thumb. I dunno why you're using them, it would have been better to not have any visual at all for immersion sake. If you wanted to make sure characters didn't get confused by using voice alone. You should've found someone who could closer resemble the art of Doom3, or have someone photoshop model shots off of characters from Doom3. Something that looks less like fanart on deviantart.

 

I made myself a little mod :)

https://imgur.com/a/P6LxkBr

Edited December 5, 2018 by Tetzlaff

[OpenMaw]

17 minutes ago, Tetzlaff said:

 

I made myself a little mod :)

https://imgur.com/a/P6LxkBr

 

*Gives the B5 salute* Brother...!

[Touchdown]

2 hours ago, DooM_RO said:

 

I thought that was a bad design choice. I actually thought my game had crashed. There is no indication that you are supposed to look back.

 

A truly disastrous design decision, the player might have to move a mouse a little. Ehh, kids these days.

 

Anyway, I'll post my thoughts after I'm done with the second playthrough - I feel like I need to play it again to really absorb it in. But a little technical tip for people who haven't played it yet: turn off the Bloom. While it looks neat on some lights it generally seems to make the whole scene really blurry for some reason. It's seems sharper without it.

[DooM_RO]

How do I take screenshots? I want to take a few to illustrate some points for my review.

[kristus]

I fell into a hole and I couldn't get out!

 

 

[Archi]

There's a bug right at the start, if you try to close the very first door. Surprised no one noticed it yet (or am I missing it).

[geX]

17 minutes ago, kristus said:

I fell into a hole and I couldn't get out!

 

Look around and you'll find a ladder ;)

 

45 minutes ago, DooM_RO said:

How do I take screenshots? I want to take a few to illustrate some points for my review.

 

F12

 

Quote

There's a bug right at the start, if you try to close the very first door. Surprised no one noticed it yet (or am I missing it).

 

Thanks for posting bugs. Other people pointed it out on moddb already. We'll fix it for a later release. It's a button we missed. It doesn't really do anything other than close the door again when working.

Edited December 5, 2018 by geX

[kristus]

2 minutes ago, Archi said:

There's a bug right at the start, if you try to close the very first door. Surprised no one noticed it yet (or am I missing it).

It's been mentioned by a few people already. 

[snapshot]

Got lost a little in Chapter 2 because I didn't know I had to interact with the console to get a keycard, I like what you did to the shotgun, faster and more accurate, feels very satisfying to use.

[86232and]

23 hours ago, Tetzlaff said:

 

I made myself a little mod :)

https://imgur.com/a/P6LxkBr

Fine! I also want to remove this stupid picture of Samantha's.

Please, tell me where in pak000.pk4 this fix file is located?

 

EDIT: Thank Tetzlaff!
Ha-ha: this is my Samantha Miles (ex Dr. Elizabeth McNeil):

Spoiler

 

Edited December 6, 2018 by 86232and

[Tetzlaff]

guis/assets/radio/samantha.tga

[DOOMGABR[RU]]

Does Phobos Ep1 has 4 maps only? It's a little weird. Or bug?

[DOOMGABR[RU]]

And now I will share my opinion. Sorry for the bad english. No time to check the translation.

Positives:
+ Gag at an acceptable level
+ A different view of the story, against the famous statement of Carmack
+ Speed and dynamics (the main character is even too fast, it would be a little slower)
+ Level Design. Large and high locations.
+ Attention to all sorts of stuff
+ Humor and irony
+ Sound design, including the sounds of weapons.
+ Stunning optimization, much better than the original Doom 3 (my main specs: i5-6600 | GTX 750 Ti | 8GB RAM | SSD)
+ Behavior and AI of monsters. Finally, the monsters do not yell six months before the attack.
+ Great interactivity
+ Different models of zombies with different weapons in their hands
+ Pain Elemental
+ Automatic pistol shooting, added spread.
+ Fixed shitty vanilla spread of the shotgun.
+ Good balance (except the pistol ammo)
+ Beige gloves. They are sexy.

 

Negatives + suggestions, if possible:
(I hope at least some of the nuances will be included in the final version)
— Forced firing in aiming mode [pistol]. It's blocking view. Why not introduce an alternative fire, or at least turn off force to aim (new cvar). Shooting from the hip is better, as in the original Doom 3.
— Capacity for 12 bullets (I suggest 15). I didn’t have enough of this, personally, I don’t know how for others [pistol]
— Too many ammo for pistol.
— Reloading shotgun severely blocking the view. This is even in the original game had been taken into account. Despite the weird shotgun design, it didn't block the view. [shotgun]
— 8 shells capacity is small for such a dynamic gameplay. 10-12 will do, I think. [shotgun]
— Machinegun is not felt when firing. There is no pitch and other nuances. In the original Doom 3, it is felt, despite the poor sound of a shot from a player. [machinegun]
— Chaingun has very very (!!!) high fire rate. It's real crackle. Honestly, it fucked my ears. This is just fucked up. [chaingun]
— There is no flashlight at the same time with the weapon. I'm shocked! :D It’s so uncomfortable to play. In the original Doom 3, this decision is more or less justified, but not here, in my opinion. It may be worthwhile to insert the yafm-hl mod and allow flashlight to be turned on only after it has been found. You may even reduce the original model to the level of a headlamp.
— A bug that does not change the screen resolution. I have already released a fixed cfg that fixes the problem. If you figure it out and fix it, it will be fine.

 

Suggestions separately:
- Ability to run in "unarmed"?
- Alternative fire for most weapons?
- Hand grenade bounce and weight like in Realistic Weapons Mod?
- Sounds of lost souls from Doom 3, instead of current sounds forgotten ones?

 

Questions:
? - In the first episode, you laid out only 4 levels at the moment of 5th December? After it, I saw the inscription "To be continued". Just do not say that there will be only 12 levels.
? - Is the shotgun charge of 2 shells saved with the aim of not reducing the dynamics?

Good luck to the developers. You are great fellows. The negative sides are painted in order to help improve the modification, and not pour out my bile.

Edited December 6, 2018 by DOOMGABR[RU]

[Tetzlaff]

Finished it today. The long wait for the release was well worth it! There is some excellent level design here. In the main game you visit the labs and industrial areas of Mars City, but here you can see where the colonists actually live and work. There are living quarters, malls, hospitals, recreational areas... though you added a lot of new stuff it feels right in place, as part of the Doom 3 universe. Some really memorable architecture: the mall atrium, the office complex, the Y-bridge room. Sometimes the architecture looks more stylish and memorable then what you see in the main game.

 

Really liked the more non-linear parts, but you could have added more alternative routes when you give the player an objective. For example, when the player needs to find that bridge only to see it is broken, you let him backtrack exactly the same way. This is a missed opportunity for creating an alternate route and giving the player more choice. Most times non-linearity just came from looping layouts and some dead-ends branching off. But it's more non-linear than what we see normally in custom levels, so I am not really complaining.

 

Faster run speed, no stamina and better shotgun are very welcome additions to the gameplay. Apart from that it stays very true to the Doom 3 formula, and since I like Doom 3 I also like this.

 

The only part I didn't like was that unbalanced massive monster attack where you first pick up the shotgun. Others already mentioned it above in this thread. I was only armed with a pistol, a freshly picked up shotgun with 4 shells and the grabber and had to fight of imps and heavily armed Zsecs while the melee zombies pretty much prevented evasion. I died a dozen times and it was pure trial and error to survive this part. After that all the follwoing fights were okay, much more balanced.

 

So after all this years, you got this first major release of your project done! I hope you have a party to celebrate it!

 

 

[DoomUK]

First of all, huge congrats on the release guys. All those years spent toiling on this have really paid off. I finished it literally moments ago, and I'm going to post my thoughts while it's still fresh in my mind. No spoilers.

 

Combat: Superb work, I had a really fun time. You clearly took a few cues from Doom '16 without trying to replicate it. The difficulty is just right [played it on HMP], I love the way the weapons sound and behave, I love the enemy variety, I love the brand new stuff. My only criticism here has nothing to with the mod per se, but it's that annoying screen shaking thing when you get hit. I *HATED* it in Doom 3 and I kind of wish you could dial it back a little, or remove it completely. Maybe there's a simple command line to adjust it, it's been so long since I played Doom 3 that I can't remember.

 

Visuals/atmosphere: Again, excellent work on this front. Obviously the game/engine is showing its age, but it's a very pretty mod once you get over that. It's nice to see my own work in there, but that's the tip of the iceberg. Reminded me of SOMA in many places. 

 

Story: Intriguing, leagues ahead of the nonsense in Doom 3, and delivered in a way that both drives the gameplay but never intrudes upon it, which is exactly how the story in an action game should be.

 

Dialogue/voice acting: With all due respect to the writers and voice actors, this is definitely the mod's weak spot. The girl who plays Lee does a decent job, but everyone else sounds a little b-movie-ish. But I fully understand that you couldn't hire the best, so it is what it is I guess.

 

All in all, you've done a really great job. I'm REALLY looking forward to Episode 2, though I wouldn't blame you if you wanted to take a little break from working on this thing.

[DoomUK]

Oh and look at all those easter eggs! :D

[Bottomsup]

56 minutes ago, DoomUK said:

I *HATED* it in Doom 3 and I kind of wish you could dial it back a little, or remove it completely. Maybe there's a simple command line to adjust it, it's been so long since I played Doom 3 that I can't remember. 

g_doublevision 0 

should remove screen jerking and leave only red tint.