DOOM 64 official PC rerelease from Nightdive Studios

[DalekFlay]

Either I'm retarded or these auto-jump ledge runs only work half the time.

 

[Generic-Giant-Spider]

Are you running too? You might not be used to having a dedicated run button. I think it's either space or shift by default.

 

[mck]

Bumping to complain about the heinous level design featured in level 6. Falling into a pitch black pit with invisible enemies and an invisible staircase and janky platforming bullshit. I'm furious.

I have NO idea how anyone ever did this on a N64 controller. This ruined my week

 

[Sceptic]

So how does this official release compare to running the ROM WAD into the latest free version of EX? I saw a list of differences someone linked a couple of pages ago, but it's quite technical and not indicative of how noticeable the changes are (or how important the bugfixes). The official release does seem pretty cheap, which is tempting. And what's the quality of the new episodes (Lost Levels or whatever it was called) compared to the original Doom 64?

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

So how does this official release compare to running the ROM WAD into the latest free version of EX? I saw a list of differences someone linked a couple of pages ago, but it's quite technical and not indicative of how noticeable the changes are (or how important the bugfixes). The official release does seem pretty cheap, which is tempting.

Negligible. I went on some Doom autism a while back and part of that included comparing different versions of 64, and the end result is the official release is best with minor caveats. Like it doesn't allow mouselook, even though EX does. Then there are some finer grain differences like shadows looking a tiny bit different between versions, but since I haven't got a Nintendo 64 version around I couldn't tell you which is closer to the actual thing. The TLDR summary though is EX and official release are almost identical because they're made by the same nerds, and the official release is just the ever so slightly newer version of it with the largest potential drawback being no mouselook, but if you don't want to mouselook anyway then you're golden.

Never played far enough into the official release to check out the new levels so I can't weigh in on that personally. I do know the official release goes on sale regularly so if you want to pick it up for $2 or whatever just so you're legit it shouldn't be a long wait.

Spoilered comparison screenshots to protect the innocent:
Note that these were in May of 2020 though so if shit's changed in that span of time, I dunno. And the fucked up walls in EX are/were a bug with ultrawide resolutions. Retribution's the worst of the lot, then EX, then official. Retribution could very likely be tweaked in gzDoom to improve it more but I was talking more base experience.

Spoiler

EX:

Official:

Retribution:

EX:

Official:

Retribution:

EX:

Official:

Retribution:

EX:

Official:

Retribution:

 

[samuraigaiden]

Differences between Doom 64 EX 2.5 versus the official remaster

Apparently I’ve been seeing this question pop up pretty damn frequently so I will be posting a list of the more significant differences to be found in the official remaster compared to EX 2.5. Please feel free to share this, as I am tired of having to answer this question myself!

I apologize in advance if some of these things sound too technical. Because most of them are.

• Uses the newest version of Kex Engine for its framework. It was necessary since it’s already scalable across multiple platforms. This does not affect the game in any way and the game logic for Doom 64 remains intact.
• Up/down look and jumping removed. The goal was to keep this release of Doom 64 as ‘Vanilla’ as possible, plus it saves the issues when having to deal with the sky and player getting stuck in levels.
• Switched to a shader pipeline-based renderer. Again, this was something that was necessary as modern graphic APIs now do not support the features that Doom 64 EX relied on (legacy OpenGL features like texture combiners, etc). All effects are now driven by pixel shaders.
• Depth buffer is no longer used and instead now follows how the original game rendered the scene. This means that sprites will no longer be cut off by floors or walls depending on the order of subsector draws. Additionally, sprites are now fragmented based on the subsectors they overlap
• Better awareness for widescreen aspects
• 3-point texture filtering emulation
• The way clouds were rendered is now correct
• Demos now work, including the hidden hectic demo and intro map (there are some side-by-side comparison videos on youtube)
• The timings of some executed scripted events were off by 1 frame. This is now corrected in the official release. Good examples are the blue key door in Breakdown and the scripted areas in Main Engineering. Compare the two and you’ll see what I mean.
• Non-player objects have slower gravity (they fall down %25 slower than the player)
• The entire original collision detection is now retained in this release, this includes all bugs (was needed for demos to sync correctly)
• Projectiles fired from the player will immediately explode if the player is ~5 units away from a wall (not sure why Midway did this, but was needed for demos to work)
• Monsters are now able to trigger linedef specials flagged as ‘death trigger’. Flag seemed to be multi-purpose, but monsters are now able to trigger the dart traps in Even Simpler
• Logic for light strobing and glow effects were wrong – corrected in this release – also needed to make demos work
• Logic for doors and platforms were wrong – ‘RaiseToNearest and RaiseAndChange’ were suppose to move at half the speed
• Logic for perpetual platforms were wrong – Used a different randomization logic – needed to make demos work
• Additional brightness setting in addition to the game’s original brightness setting. It applies an additive layer over the screen to increase the brightness even further
• Automap controls is now idential to the original (hold use button to pan around)
• Wav files are now used for sfx playback instead of MIDI

 

[randir14]

I've been playing a newer mod called Doom 64 CE. It's mainly a graphics mod that adds stuff like better lighting, PBR reflections and Smooth Doom-like interpolated animations for monsters and weapons. It also comes with multiple campaigns in addition to the original one.

 

[Baron Dupek]

Played Absolution already but this one looks decent.
Except the music. Just. Why.
All I need is weapons animations and maybe new maps but some new additions in these projects are questionable.

 

[randir14]

Played Absolution already but this one looks decent.
Except the music. Just. Why.
All I need is weapons animations and maybe new maps but some new additions in these projects are questionable.

The music is just for the trailer, the mod uses a higher quality version of the Doom 64 soundtrack.

 

[Infinitron]

Hmmm:

First Person Shooters? Chainsaws? Satanic Panic? Let's talk Doom64!

Featuring:
John Carmack
John Romero
Tom Hall
Sandy Petersen
Josh Fairhurst
Stephen Kick

Support First Person Shooter: The Definitive FPS Doc on Indie GoGo:

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/first-person-shooter-the-definitive-fps-doc#/

Hurry now, the campaign ends on May 28th!

 

[Infinitron]

Released on GOG: https://af.gog.com/game/doom_64?as=1649904300

 

[Zurat-Yarkuch]

Released on GOG: https://af.gog.com/game/doom_64?as=1649904300

Oh hell yeah, I'm buying this. Was one of my favourite games for the N64. I didn't play through Doom 1+2 until the early 2010's so it came as a surprise to me how different they were in tone from Doom 64 and Doom 3.

 

[toughasnails]

Released on GOG: https://af.gog.com/game/doom_64?as=1649904300

Oh hell yeah, I'm buying this. Was one of my favourite games for the N64. I didn't play through Doom 1+2 until the early 2010's so it came as a surprise to me how different they were in tone from Doom 64 and Doom 3.

PSX version of Doom was sorta precursor to Doom 64 with its use of moody colored lighting and ambient music. There are zdoom recreations of it available, it's worth checking out if you want something closer in tone to Doom 64 (it also feels different enough from the PC originals).

 

[oddech_wymarlych_swiatow]

It's free on Epic.

 

[Non-Edgy Gamer]

Are people actually buying the rerelease of the crappy Doom port?

I remember playing it on the N64 back in the day and thinking it was garbage compared to the original.

How much soy do you have to ingest to think this is worth your money? Are you just mainlining it straight into whatever is left of your scrotum? Is nostalgia that important to you?

It's free on Epic.

Still too expensive.

 

[Wunderbar]

Are people actually buying the rerelease of the crappy Doom port?

it's a different game, not a port.

 

[Generic-Giant-Spider]

I still stand by that Doom 64 is tight as fuck.



This is exactly how my stomach feels after Taco Bell.

 

[oddech_wymarlych_swiatow]

Are people actually buying the rerelease of the crappy Doom port?

it's a different game, not a port.

It's Doom 3 done right, do not confuse with that 2004 crap.

 

[Wunderbar]

Nah, Doom 3 is OK too.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

doom was never good

 

[Bigg Boss]

doom was never good

FALLOUT 76 THOUGH? BEST GAME EVER!!!!!!

 

[rusty_shackleford]

doom was never good

FALLOUT 76 THOUGH? BEST GAME EVER!!!!!!

why are you obsessed with me, chen?

 

[Bigg Boss]

doom was never good

FALLOUT 76 THOUGH? BEST GAME EVER!!!!!!

why are you obsessed with me, chen?

I'm not but I always see you saying dumb shit about video games (I guess you post a lot because I am not looking) that I feel the need to call out so people know you should be ignored. Doom is fine. Baldur's Gate is fine. Other games you say are shit are fine. Fallout 76 is not fine. Don't worry I won't go on a retard sperg rating spree (that is gay) because I think you are cool, but have some weird taste in games that I have not figured out yet.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

doom was never good

FALLOUT 76 THOUGH? BEST GAME EVER!!!!!!

why are you obsessed with me, chen?

I'm not but I always see you saying dumb shit about video games (I guess you post a lot because I am not looking) that I feel the need to call out so people know you should be ignored. Doom is fine. Baldur's Gate is fine. Other games you say are shit are fine. Fallout 76 is not fine. Don't worry I won't go on a retard sperg rating spree (that is gay) because I think you are cool, but have some weird taste in games that I have not figured out yet.

baldur's gate is indeed not good

 

[Leechmonger]

doom was never good

FALLOUT 76 THOUGH? BEST GAME EVER!!!!!!

why are you obsessed with me, chen?

I'm not but I always see you saying dumb shit about video games (I guess you post a lot because I am not looking) that I feel the need to call out so people know you should be ignored.

His PoE avatar performs that function with perfect consistency.