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[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

Doom 3 on the original OG Xbox is a port of the original PC game from 2004. However, just exactly how do you port a game from the PC that demanded lots of memory and a fast CPU and GPU, to an OG Xbox with a 733Mhz CPU and just 64Mb of RAM. In today's episode, I talk to an ex-Vicarious Visions developer who lets me know how it was done, and how Doom 3 on the OG Xbox could be a candidate for an impossible port. Please enjoy!

 

[joeygreco1985]

I remember buying this port on the day of release because my PC at the time was not powerful enough to run DOOM 3, and I was more than happy with how the Xbox version turned out. I was amazed at how it looked

 

[poodaddy]

I remember Doom 3 scaring the shit outta me when I was a teenager playing this. Incredible port for sure.

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

I remember Doom 3 scaring the shit outta me when I was a teenager playing this. Incredible port for sure.

Same lmao! I was scared shitless and could only play it in like 30 min sessions because I couldn't take the tension lol.

 

[Jadsey]

Same lmao! I was scared shitless and could only play it in like 30 min sessions because I couldn't take the tension lol.

Yep. That game was intense to say the least.

 

[Rusty Shackelford]

It worked because Carmack is a genius.

 

[MrTroubleMaker]

neat!

 

[Skifi28]

That and Half life 2 were absolutely insane ports at the time, couldn't believe I was playing said games on a console. Especially Doom 3 just blew me away at the time.

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

That and Half life 2 were absolutely insane ports at the time, couldn't believe I was playing said games on a console. Especially Doom 3 just blew me away at the time.

Doom 3, Half Life 2, Splinter Cell Chaos Theory and Chronicles of Riddick Escape from Butcher Bay -- the graphical GOATs of OG Xbox.

 

[Romulus]

Doom 3, Half Life 2, Splinter Cell Chaos Theory and Chronicles of Riddick Escape from Butcher Bay -- the graphical GOATs of OG Xbox.

This was the most impressed I've ever been by a console. It was already old by the time some of these ports came out and it was like the OG Xbox had an add on "32x" that made the games better looking all of a sudden, but it was simply being pushed with shaders or by PC devs. I played Riddick some months ago and was shocked that it looked better than some 360 games, not just early 360 games either.

 

[Fake]

I really hate Doom 3, but I confess when I played on the original Xbox was damn impressive.

 

[UnNamed]

Nah, HL2 on XBOX is better.
I played Doom 3 on XBOX first, I found it very good back in the day. I've played recently... WTF is this shit?

 

[DryvBy]

I beat this on PC then beat it again on Xbox. I like it on both.

 

[amigastar]

Graphically Doom 3 was on another level or should i say planet?

 

[Ronin_7]

OG Xbox & PS2 were basically my life every summer, that and going out with my buddies.

Good times, i remember playing this game on my teens

 

[fatmarco]

It worked because Carmack is a genius.

Carmack didn't work on the Xbox port as far as I know? / at least there's no mention to him in this video?

Shout out to Vicarious Visions, extremely underrated developer.

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

Same lmao! I was scared shitless and could only play it in like 30 min sessions because I couldn't take the tension lol.

Why???

Because the Baby Demons??? xDDDD

I liked it and I played it non-stop, because I rented it at Blockbuster.

I liked it when he used Berserker Mode with the chainsaw activated.

 

[ZehDon]

The OG Xbox version was a terrific port. The co-op was solid, but I loved that it included Doom 1 and Doom 2 in it. That disc spent a long time in my Xbox.

 

[Redneckerz]

If you upgrade the memory, then the game can output a native 720p resolution. On a OG XBox.

 

[Rusty Shackelford]

Carmack didn't work on the Xbox port as far as I know? / at least there's no mention to him in this video?

Shout out to Vicarious Visions, extremely underrated developer.

He laid all the groundwork

 

[Danknugz]

this is more evidence of the "dark ages" of PC gaming back in the early 2000s when consoles would be a lot more stable running newer 3D games due to the lack of standardization on the PC side with drivers, issues with direct x and win9x in general just being slow.

back then, you could buy a console and get way more stable and sometimes even faster performance in most 3d games outside of FPS than you would for building a state of the art PC.

 

[Romulus]

Fyi the Quest 2 version is this is great too. No PC required, runs completely standalone with 6DOF

 

[rapid32.5]

The days when devs actually coded and had the skill to push the hardware.

 

[Drizzlehell]

I never actually played that version, it's crazy to think that Xbox was able to run it as well as it did. I should give it a go someday, I already played every other possible version of this game, including VR, so why not, lol.

Doom 3 is fucking great.

 

[violence]

Make Doom 3-2

 

[simpatico]

PS2/XB/GC was really the final gen.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Never played any of the 3D games you guys mentioned above on Xbox OG. At that time of gaming, I had stopped buying game mags long time ago and I wasnt that big into gaming news on the net. I'd just check gaming stuff online here and there.

A couple buddies had an Xbox and I went over to try some games while we'd do hockey pools.

I couln't believe it. The games looked so good, their HDDs were filled with tons of pirated Genesis and SNES games and the EA Sports games (like NHL) ran super smooth like WTF it looks leagues better than the PS2 version I have. Since I didnt play their Xbox much over the years I could never get acquainted to the duke game pad. It was so big.

 

[Romulus]

PS2/XB/GC was really the final gen.

Went out with a bang at least. 360/ps3 gen was fine but it's slowly died since the 6th gen.

 

[Futaleufu]

this is more evidence of the "dark ages" of PC gaming back in the early 2000s when consoles would be a lot more stable running newer 3D games due to the lack of standardization on the PC side with drivers, issues with direct x and win9x in general just being slow.

back then, you could buy a console and get way more stable and sometimes even faster performance in most 3d games outside of FPS than you would for building a state of the art PC.

Try playing any console port of Max Payne. My Celeron/TNT combo ran the game better than an Xbox.

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

Why???

Because the Baby Demons??? xDDDD

I liked it and I played it non-stop, because I rented it at Blockbuster.

I liked it when he used Berserker Mode with the chainsaw activated.

I was just 12 or 13 back then and I didn't really like games with horror aspects but still wanted to play it. Even those demons crawling out of the vents (those you first encounter at the start of the game) scared me.

 

[GamesDontSuck]

Great game and port just like Half Life 2 og xbox.

In my opinion, its topics like Doom 3 xbox that remind me that generation (xbox, ps2 and gamecube) was the best time in video game history. Thanks to my older brother I was able to experience all three consoles at the time. Nothing compares.

 

[SkylineRKR]

Doom 3 was one of the most impressive games I had played on the OG Xbox. I enjoyed it more than the BFG remaster. HL2 I found worse but I had already played the PC version before it on a good video card so that might've been a factor.

 

[YeulEmeralda]

It worked because Carmack is a genius.

And then he made Rage.

 

[simpatico]

Went out with a bang at least. 360/ps3 gen was fine but it's slowly died since the 6th gen.

PS3 and 360 felt nearly identical compared to PS2 and XBX in terms of library.

 

[VN1X]

Wait it had 4-player co-op?!

That's insane lol. Especially considering some flagship titles can't even get that to work for two people these days...

 

[SantaC]

It worked because Carmack is a genius.

Id software did the port?

 

[Honey Bunny]

Shame about the game!

 

[Krappadizzle]

I remember being stunned by the port on the original xbox. I loved the co-op campaign too. Would love to do another playthrough of that co-op campaign. I wonder how hard that'd be to set up on PC these days.

 

[The Alien]

There may be better tech now, but the way they used lighting in Doom 3 hasn't been matched.

 

[fart town usa]

Hell yea. Fans got XBL 1.0 up and running again (Insignia), Doom 3 is supported. My buddy and I were playing the coop campaign a few months back. I love that it's vanilla Doom 3; no flashlight on gun. It's either flashlight or gun, makes encounters so intense. Game is unbelievably dark.

 

[fart town usa]

I remember being stunned by the port on the original xbox. I loved the co-op campaign too. Would love to do another playthrough of that co-op campaign. I wonder how hard that'd be to set up on PC these days.

It's not too tough. I got set up with Insignia on actual hardware, my buddy did it via emulation. Lots of good YouTube tutorials.

 

[Guerilla Munch]

Doom 3, Half Life 2, Splinter Cell Chaos Theory and Chronicles of Riddick Escape from Butcher Bay -- the graphical GOATs of OG Xbox.

Also DOA and Ninja Gaiden. OG Xbox was a monster

 

[nkarafo]

This game took so long to be released, it jumped from being a showpiece for the (upcoming then) Geforce 3 to requiring at least a Geforce 4 Ti to run at medium-low settings with a playable frame rate.

 

[Trunx81]

Always great to hear from the OG developers, that´s why I love this board, you learn so much about projects from the past and how they came to be.

PS Vita port is also quite impressive, even if it still needs some work.

 

[Tazzu]

In before Nintendo morons start claiming the GameCube was more powerful.

 

[FoxMcChief]

Make Doom 3-2

Haha. I’d be down. It really was its own type of game, compared to the rest in the series.

 

[Bry0]

I’d love to see a video like this on half life 2. The Xbox version runs like garbage but honestly the experience isn’t far off from the pentium 4/fx5200 pc I had at the time (was terrible). I tried the Xbox port for the first time only a few weeks ago and it’s just super impressive it works at all, even with all the visual cuts.

Doom 3 port is next level with the co op. Amazing that they fit in new features like that.

 

[diffusionx]

I’d love to see a video like this on half life 2. The Xbox version runs like garbage but honestly the experience isn’t far off from the pentium 4/fx5200 pc I had at the time (was terrible). I tried the Xbox port for the first time only a few weeks ago and it’s just super impressive it works at all, even with all the visual cuts.

Doom 3 port is next level with the co op. Amazing that they fit in new features like that.

lol I played through HL2 on the same """""""""rig"""""""", 640x480 15-20fps low settings with pauses (not stutters) any time a physics event happened

 

[Beer Baelly]

Cant remember if I played it on the og Xbox but Riddick was the shit

 

[MadchesterManc]

I’d love to see a video like this on half life 2. The Xbox version runs like garbage but honestly the experience isn’t far off from the pentium 4/fx5200 pc I had at the time (was terrible). I tried the Xbox port for the first time only a few weeks ago and it’s just super impressive it works at all, even with all the visual cuts.

Doom 3 port is next level with the co op. Amazing that they fit in new features like that.

DF did a video on Half Life 2 playing Xbox & PC (also PS3) side-by-side. Worth a watch but its like an hour long