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Doom3do: DOOM for the 3DO

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Re: Doom3do: DOOM for the 3DO

#11

Post by aardvark179 »

jonny_eh wrote: post #2

> I created two apps, one to draw the 3do logo and the other to show the logicware logo. After they executed, they were purged from memory and the main game could run without loss of memory. I believe Morrowind on OG Xbox does something similar when you transition from the main menu to the actual game. Very clever.

This was a fairly common technique in the 8 but days with disk based games, and Exile even did it on the cassette version - you loaded the game menu, loaded your saved fame, and then loaded the game.

Re: Doom3do: DOOM for the 3DO

#12

Post by bombcar »

netruk44 wrote: post #6
bombcar wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Didn't an Xbox game actually set it up so the entire processor would reboot and just appear to be loading a level?

That was also Morrowind. I believe they said it happened when the console was running low on memory, they would just reboot when you transition between areas. You would get the dreaded 'long loading screen' which was the console rebooting in disguise. You could set an image to display while the console rebooted, so they put up a loading screen and rebooted the console. When the console rebooted, the game knew it was…

I love that they did it, and I love that Microsoft knew it could happen and built in a custom image feature for reboots.

Modern problems require modern solutions, indeed.

The real snazzy way would have been to use an older chip in the HDMI processing pipeline somewhere, and let you play an older game on that chip. I believe Nintendo has used older generation chips as sub-chips now and then.

Re: Doom3do: DOOM for the 3DO

#14

Post by jonny_eh »

bombcar wrote: post #12
netruk44 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That was also Morrowind. I believe they said it happened when the console was running low on memory, they would just reboot when you transition between areas. You would get the dreaded 'long loading screen' which was the console rebooting in disguise. You could set an image to display while the console rebooted, so they put up a loading screen and rebooted the console. When the console rebooted, the game knew it was…

I love that they did it, and I love that Microsoft knew it could happen and built in a custom image feature for reboots. Modern problems require modern solutions, indeed. The real snazzy way would have been to use an older chip in the HDMI processing pipeline somewhere, and let you play an older game on that chip. I believe Nintendo has used older generation chips as sub-chips now and then.

> HDMI processing pipeline somewhere

The original xbox didn't even have an HDMI port.

Plus, I believe at that time Namco owned the patent on "games during loading screens".

Re: Doom3do: DOOM for the 3DO

#17

Post by lordfrito »

Wonderful to see this stuff online...

For those of you who don't know the utter sh*tshow that was the 3DO version of Doom, and the full story of Randy Scott and Art Data Interactive, here's an article that's well worth the read.

https://www.badgamehalloffame.com/doom-3do/

TLDR; Randy Scott knew nothing about software development, but that didn't stop him from getting people in his church to invest $100k to start Art Data Interactive and license source code from ID. He told 3DO he could do it, and would add new levels, new weapons, you name it. At the time Doom was a big deal, and 3DO heavily promoted it as the systems flagship title and the best version you could play. Knowing nothing about software development, Scott believed all that had to be done to put a new weapon into a game was to "provide a programmer a picture of what it was supposed to look like". Kept saying it was being worked on and "90% complete" but had nothing to show. As time ticked by, 3DO finally realized the mess they were in, but had to deliver something at launch, with their back against the wall they recruited an outside developer to "finish up some bugs and get the game ready for shipping and get it out in about a month or two". Turns out no work had been done, the programmer had to go directly to her contacts at ID, with many late night heroics to get the game done in 10 weeks for Xmas launch.

All that's missing from this story is having Randy twirling his mustache. Last I heard he was arrested a few years back for some stuff I won't mention here... You can't make this stuff up...

Re: Doom3do: DOOM for the 3DO

#18

Post by hd4 »

brianbreslin wrote: post #16

Why do people keep porting DOOM to different obsolete platforms or recreating it in Javascript? Is there some internal "cool" factor for doing this in super niche geeky dev communities?

Try actually reading, it's the original port.

Re: Doom3do: DOOM for the 3DO

#19

Post by tappdarden »

brianbreslin wrote: post #16

Why do people keep porting DOOM to different obsolete platforms or recreating it in Javascript? Is there some internal "cool" factor for doing this in super niche geeky dev communities?

This was made over 20 years ago. The 3do never had much success but it wasn't obsolete yet.

Re: Doom3do: DOOM for the 3DO

#20

Post by brianbreslin »

hd4 wrote: post #18
brianbreslin wrote: post #16

Why do people keep porting DOOM to different obsolete platforms or recreating it in Javascript? Is there some internal "cool" factor for doing this in super niche geeky dev communities?

Try actually reading, it's the original port.

When one sees the last commit as 29 days ago, or the previous commit as 8 years ago, one can easily assume it wasn't code from 1995. So again. Why is this even interesting?
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