The Original DOOM and DOOM II See Relaunch on Windows with Crossplay and 4K 120 FPS Support

[btarunr]

The original DOOM and DOOM II were relaunched as a package deal by ZeniMax late last week. This sees the two games wrapped around a new Windows executable that includes high resolution texture remasters (though it still looks quite blocky), along with online multiplayer, Crossplay support, and a 16:9 viewport that supports 4K resolution with 120 frames per second. This wouldn't be the first such "re-launch" by Bethesda, the parent publisher of ZeniMax, the company re-launched DOOM and DOOM II as separate games on Steam and Microsoft Store in 2019, with a modern Windows executable with WASD controls, a 16:9 viewport, "HD" textures, and the original MIDI background score pre-rendered as PCM. Both the 2019 and this new 2024 re-releases are fully compatible with the latest Windows 11, and don't need any emulators.

The 2024 re-launch includes all episodes of DOOM, DOOM II, all public mods, and a new first-party DOOM episode called "Legacy of Rust," created by community members who worked at id Software. This episode also includes some new weapons, such as a flamethrower. You also get a new Remixed background score. You can select between this, a pre-rendered original soundtrack, a pre-rendered Yamaha OPL3 FM synth soundtrack, or get the game to use a MIDI device. The DOOM + DOOM II 2024 release is available on GOG, Steam, EGS, and Microsoft Store for $9.99.



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[Chaitanya]

I have 04 Doom and its expansion pack somewhere in house with whole bunch of mods on drive. Unfortunately it is one of those games that didnt play on Win vista and forward so hage retained Xp based hardware just for it. I just hope graphics get upgraded along with no cap on fps.

 

[Dr. Dro]

Milk, milk that cow dry~

Blatant and shameless cash grab, dust that old copy of Doom you've got somewhere because we all do and load it on gzdoom, it'll play better than this "port".

GitHub - ZDoom/gzdoom: GZDoom is a feature centric port for all Doom engine games, based on ZDoom, adding an OpenGL renderer and powerful scripting capabilities

GZDoom is a feature centric port for all Doom engine games, based on ZDoom, adding an OpenGL renderer and powerful scripting capabilities - ZDoom/gzdoom

github.com

The only other game that got exploited this bad is Duke Nukem 3D (which is not even the best Duke game, that'd be Zero Hour). First there was Megaton on Steam which was a decent port, then that got pulled from circulation due to "licensing expiry" and was replaced by a "World Tour" cash grab, basically Microsoft/Bethesda is pulling the same stunt here.

Don't bother, even if you're a massive fan of Doom.

 

[Zazigalka]

takes me back

it's 1993 & you startup DOOM shareware version #gaming

i486 dx2 66mhzMicrosoft Windows 3.11MS-DOS 6.22SoundBlaster 16 Isa sound card#gaming #90s #nostalgia #startup #linux #setup #desktop #vintage #asmr #retro

www.youtube.com

 

[PHrag]

Milk, milk that cow dry~

Blatant and shameless cash grab, dust that old copy of Doom you've got somewhere because we all do and load it on gzdoom, it'll play better than this "port".

GitHub - ZDoom/gzdoom: GZDoom is a feature centric port for all Doom engine games, based on ZDoom, adding an OpenGL renderer and powerful scripting capabilities

GZDoom is a feature centric port for all Doom engine games, based on ZDoom, adding an OpenGL renderer and powerful scripting capabilities - ZDoom/gzdoom

github.com

The only other game that got exploited this bad is Duke Nukem 3D (which is not even the best Duke game, that'd be Zero Hour). First there was Megaton on Steam which was a decent port, then that got pulled from circulation due to "licensing expiry" and was replaced by a "World Tour" cash grab, basically Microsoft/Bethesda is pulling the same stunt here.

Don't bother, even if you're a massive fan of Doom.

Naah, this was a free update for both of my Steam and Switch copies of Doom and now I can even play them both together in crossplay. Wouldn't call that a cashgrab. The update is great honestly, added achievements, the graphics are crispier and the remastered soundtracks rocks. Not mentioning a lot of QoL changes. I'm really pleased with what they released.

 

[azrael]

A little off-topic, but I thought ZeniMax was the owning entity, not Bethesda. And yes, I'm aware that Microsoft bought ZeniMax.

 

[Carillon]

10 bucks for a free game, I'm gonna buy 2!

 

[Dr. Dro]

A little off-topic, but I thought ZeniMax was the owning entity, not Bethesda. And yes, I'm aware that Microsoft bought ZeniMax.

They are one in the same, as I understand it, ZeniMax Media was created initially as a holding company for Bethesda Softworks (the primary publisher). As the company grew and acquisitions were made, game studios new and old were placed under the ZeniMax umbrella rather than under Bethesda Softworks - leaving that as only a publishing arm.

So you have Bethesda Game Studios as the flagship (this is Todd Howard and gang's studio), BGS's offices in Austin, Dallas and Montréal (which work on miscellaneous works related to BGS's primary franchises), ZeniMax Online Studios (which develop Elder Scrolls Online). id Software. Arkane Lyon and MachineGames, the other studios like Tango Gameworks, Arkane Austin, Roundhouse and Alpha Dog have folded and are now defunct.

Naah, this was a free update for both of my Steam and Switch copies of Doom and now I can even play them both together in crossplay. Wouldn't call that a cashgrab. The update is great honestly, added achievements, the graphics are crispier and the remastered soundtracks rocks. Not mentioning a lot of QoL changes. I'm really pleased with what they released.

Andrew Hulshult's DOOM and Rise of the Triad soundtracks are pretty much the finalized deal for me. I like the pre-rendered Yamaha option, if it sounds faithful to the original, but it only reminds me we had competent MIDI support before Vista and WASAPI, and Microsoft never brought that back. I still have a copy of S-YXG50 for Windows XP here... beats any MIDI engine ever made since.

 

[TheDeeGee]

Milk, milk that cow dry~

Blatant and shameless cash grab, dust that old copy of Doom you've got somewhere because we all do and load it on gzdoom, it'll play better than this "port".

GitHub - ZDoom/gzdoom: GZDoom is a feature centric port for all Doom engine games, based on ZDoom, adding an OpenGL renderer and powerful scripting capabilities

GZDoom is a feature centric port for all Doom engine games, based on ZDoom, adding an OpenGL renderer and powerful scripting capabilities - ZDoom/gzdoom

github.com

The only other game that got exploited this bad is Duke Nukem 3D (which is not even the best Duke game, that'd be Zero Hour). First there was Megaton on Steam which was a decent port, then that got pulled from circulation due to "licensing expiry" and was replaced by a "World Tour" cash grab, basically Microsoft/Bethesda is pulling the same stunt here.

Don't bother, even if you're a massive fan of Doom.

It's free for those owning the game digitally, so no milking there.

Also you can just grab the WADs from the game's archive and run them with any source port. The new Lagacy of Rust works just fine in GZDoom.

 

[phints]

Hard pass on this, I own all these on Steam (even though I bough them back in the day) and it still wants to charge me $10.

gzDoom is the way to play Doom. "120fps support"? Lol gzDoom already runs at 1000fps engine cap.

 

[chrcoluk]

This game sold a lot of cirrus logic cards.

 

[Lycanwolfen]

Meh Brutal still the best remade doom one and 2 ever.

 

[oxrufiioxo]

It's free and can run at above 120fps and at UW resolutions decently for me that's a win.

For owners on Doom 1 or 2 anyways which shouldn't everyone own these at this point loo.

 

[QuietBob]

I appreciate the extra content of this all-inclusive edition, like the new episode and re-worked soundtrack. But it still looks like a low effort cash grab from the publishers. And another failed opportunity to bring this classic to modern audiences. Most new players will be immediately put off by the archaic pixelated graphics.

I've posted these screenshots in another thread, but this is how E1M1 looks in GZDoom with a 2K texture pack made by a single guy:



Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of OG Doom. I consider it one of the most influential games in the history of the medium. And its gameplay holds up well even 31 years later. But so much more can be achieved here using free content made by Doom's passionate fans.

 

[oxrufiioxo]

I appreciate the extra content of this all-inclusive edition, like the new episode and re-worked soundtrack. But it still looks like a low effort cash grab from the publishers. And another failed opportunity to bring this classic to modern audiences. Most new players will be immediately put off by the archaic pixelated graphics.

I've posted these screenshots in another thread, but this is how E1M1 looks in GZDoom with a 2K texture pack made by a single guy:

View attachment 358622View attachment 358623View attachment 358624

Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of OG Doom. I consider it one of the most influential games in the history of the medium. And its gameplay holds up well even 31 years later. But so much more can be achieved here using free content made by Doom's passionate fans.

While I find the efforts of the modding community amazing I've never been a huge fan of any of the way these fan interpretations look and while I'd be on board with an RTX remix version like Quake 2 I'm glad these sort of updates exist. I'm also a huge fan of nightdive studios and their KEX engine. I've actually purchased this on my secondary account just to support their efforts. Love their work on Turok and Quake as well.

This feels like an update squarely aimed at console gamers and people who already own the originals on steam. It doesn't really stop anyone from still using the originals or continuing to play the various mods out there.

A proper remaster might be cool so I get your sentiment but I'd prefer a RTX remix varient over that.

Found this interesting but too rough around the edges.

 

[Synthwave]

Milk, milk that cow dry~

Blatant and shameless cash grab, dust that old copy of Doom you've got somewhere because we all do and load it on gzdoom, it'll play better than this "port".

GitHub - ZDoom/gzdoom: GZDoom is a feature centric port for all Doom engine games, based on ZDoom, adding an OpenGL renderer and powerful scripting capabilities

GZDoom is a feature centric port for all Doom engine games, based on ZDoom, adding an OpenGL renderer and powerful scripting capabilities - ZDoom/gzdoom

github.com

The only other game that got exploited this bad is Duke Nukem 3D (which is not even the best Duke game, that'd be Zero Hour). First there was Megaton on Steam which was a decent port, then that got pulled from circulation due to "licensing expiry" and was replaced by a "World Tour" cash grab, basically Microsoft/Bethesda is pulling the same stunt here.

Don't bother, even if you're a massive fan of Doom.

Nah, bro, GZ is for casuals who, for one reason or another, doesn't care about authenticity one bit, and I'm not talking about capped frame rate, low resolutions or the lack of some well-needed QoL upgrades. GZ at this point is a(n awesome) game engine that only happens to run Doom, but it has different physics and game logic (no wonder it absolutely chugs on bigger slaughter maps), with version-dependent demo playback (which are desyncing on doom2.exe anyways). It's nice for some total conversions and (G)Z-specific releases tho.

tl;dr: DSDA-Doom with Portmidi FTW, especially with the 'new' Indexed OpenGL renderer, which looks daaaarn close to the original software mode, just more responsive and can have massively better frame rate due to the GPU acceleration. If you don't play Boom, MBF or MBF21 WADs at all, then Crispy Doom is a cool cat too. Or Chocolate Doom, if you want a vanilla-like experience, and you don't care about limit-removing stuff either. : >

Btw let them cash grab (at least there's a new episode), the more people get to know the game, the better it is for it in the long run. And as mentioned above, it's free if you already have the Steam version.

QuietBob:

And another failed opportunity to bring this classic to modern audiences.

Dude, you do realize that this game in its meaningful core is not for the 'modern' audiences, right?

Uber-high resolution textures and similar stuff just feels alien and completely out of place, totally ruining the atmosphere imo (same with looking up/down and jumping/crouching). Well, Voxel Doom is cool, but that's a different breed, and still wouldn't even want it on all the time.

 

[oxrufiioxo]

Nah, bro, GZ is for casuals who doesn't care about authenticity one bit, and I'm not talking about capped frame rate, low resolutions or the lack of some well-needed QoL upgrades. GZ at this point is a(n awesome) game engine that only happens to run Doom, but it has different physics and game logic (no wonder it absolutely chugs on bigger slaughter maps), with version-dependent demo playback (which are desyncing on doom2.exe anyways). It's nice for some total conversions and (G)Z-specific releases tho.

tl;dr: DSDA-Doom with Portmidi FTW, especially with the 'new' Indexed OpenGL renderer, which looks daaaarn close to the original software mode, just more responsive and can have massively better frame rate due to the GPU acceleration. If you don't play Boom, MBF or MBF21 WADs at all, then Crispy Doom is a cool cat too. Or Chocolate Doom, if you want a vanilla-like experience, and you don't care about limit-removing stuff either. : >

Btw let them cash grab (at least there's a new episode), the more people get to know the game, the better it is for it in the long run.

This was the first game that made me think pc gaming was cool. I was like 9-10 and had a Sega Genesis/SNES at the time. Prior to that I thought pc games were clunky but still liked OG Oregon trail the apple ii version no less in all it's green/black screen glory.

 

[Dr. Dro]

Nah, bro, GZ is for casuals who, for one reason or another, doesn't care about authenticity one bit

If someone truly cares about authenticity when it comes to DOS games, they're keeping a 486 or Pentium with DOS 6.22/Windows 95 around

 

[oxrufiioxo]

If someone truly cares about authenticity when it comes to DOS games, they're keeping a 486 or Pentium with DOS 6.22/Windows 95 around

I was gonna say the same thing I prefer to play it on a dos or w95 system lol with an old-school monitor if given the choice, But this is a nice bundle which is probably free for the majority of people I think I paid 1 usd for Doom/Doom II can't remember how long ago on steam and this popped up in my Library.

 

[TheDeeGee]

 

[oxrufiioxo]

My only issue is due to these basically being fan projects and damn impressive comsidering they always tend to end up pretty rough around the edges.

 

[Cheeseball]

Milk, milk that cow dry~

Blatant and shameless cash grab, dust that old copy of Doom you've got somewhere because we all do and load it on gzdoom, it'll play better than this "port".

GitHub - ZDoom/gzdoom: GZDoom is a feature centric port for all Doom engine games, based on ZDoom, adding an OpenGL renderer and powerful scripting capabilities

GZDoom is a feature centric port for all Doom engine games, based on ZDoom, adding an OpenGL renderer and powerful scripting capabilities - ZDoom/gzdoom

github.com

The only other game that got exploited this bad is Duke Nukem 3D (which is not even the best Duke game, that'd be Zero Hour). First there was Megaton on Steam which was a decent port, then that got pulled from circulation due to "licensing expiry" and was replaced by a "World Tour" cash grab, basically Microsoft/Bethesda is pulling the same stunt here.

Don't bother, even if you're a massive fan of Doom.

This was a free update.

 

[Dr. Dro]

This was a free update.

Yes a bunch of people told me already... although it'd be nice to see this important information which is omitted in the OP

 

[Lew Zealand]

Naah, this was a free update for both of my Steam and Switch copies of Doom…

For completeness sake, it's also free on GOG if you bought there.

 

[mechtech]

4k or original?