Doom3 System Requirements

[job]

With all the hubbub floating around the net lately about what would and what wouldn't run Doom3, we decided to bring an end to the system requirement confusion and contact the main man, John Carmack, himself. Here is the official word on the minimum system configuration you'll need to run Doom3.

• *1GHz CPU
  *256MB RAM
  *GF1 or Radeon 7xxx series card

Don't expect to run it fabulous with that system setup , but everything will be playable at least.

http://www.3dactionplanet.com/doom/#PQN433439

Hey, maybe those 1Ghz eMacs will be able to run Doom3 afterall. Pffff...yeah right.

[Durandal7]

Damn. I knew the requirements would be hefty but still...

[MacBandit]

Originally posted by job
http://www.3dactionplanet.com/doom/#PQN433439

Hey, maybe those 1Ghz eMacs will be able to run Doom3 afterall. Pffff...yeah right.

ID's game engines have always been nicer to the less powerful systems. When you turn the graphic quality down on an ID game you get realistic frame increases unlike the Unreal Engine. If they are saying it will be playable with those specs I would say fully that even iBook will be able to play it.

[MacBandit]

Originally posted by Durandal7
Damn. I knew the requirements would be hefty but still...

That's a 1GHz Intel processor I would make a bet. Meaning that even a 700MHz G3 should be adequate.

[arn]

yep - these are likely PC specs...

so take with a grain of salt.

arn

[job]

Originally posted by MacBandit
Meaning that even a 700MHz G3 should be adequate.

Possibly. A case in point would be Shadowbane. The Mac Mhz requirement was less, but the VRAM was more.

[hvfsl]

Originally posted by job
Possibly. A case in point would be Shadowbane. The Mac Mhz requirement was less, but the VRAM was more.

The megahertz used to be less in the 604e time where you only needed 133Mhz to run Unreal, while you needed a 180Mhz Pentium to run it.

Now the needed mega hertz are the same on PCs and Macs, I know people don't want to know this but a P3 is the same speed as a G3 and an AMD Althon XP is the same speed as a G4 clock for clock (according to SPEC benchmarking).

While the game will run on a 1Ghz eMac/iMac, you will have to put all the settings down to min which means you might as well play UT2003 because the graphics will be better. I also heard it will only work on a G4 or G5 because it has AltiVec enhancements and it is too slow on the G3. Anyway it is the graphics card that makes more of a difference in this game, you need a Geforce 3/ATI Radeon 8500 or better to get the most out of the game. There is no way it will run on a ATI 7500M in the ibooks.

[aarond12]

I am truly surprised. I expected to see like a 2.0GHz Pentium 4, 512MB RAM, and a hardware-based OpenGL-compatible video card with at least 64MB RAM.

I wonder how much of the visual processing will be performed by the video cards rather than the CPU?

[Bendit]

processor wise that is.

These days Macs tend to need the same specs and sometimes even more. Probably because developpers aren't too worried about optimizing every last line of code in the mac version since it won't be used for benchmarks or even reviewed much. They just ride off the success of the PC version.

Another reason for needing equivalent processor speeds could be because the developers know that most mac users tend to have pretty crummy video cards (just look at what's offered in the new iMacs or eMacs) and depend more on the processor than the video card.

[bousozoku]

I would certainly hope that my dual G4/800 would be enough to play it, with an upgraded video card. The screenshots they've provided look great.

[Kwyjibo]

this is why I got an xbox, reliable sources say it will go there like a month after the PC drop.

[MacBandit]

Originally posted by Kwyjibo
this is why I got an xbox, reliable sources say it will go there like a month after the PC drop.

There's no way you will get full graphics quality with an XBox. It will be playable but it won't be as pleasing to the eye as a high end graphics card on a good computer.

[Dont Hurt Me]

not bad for minimum reqs, but if you really want to be in the game you need to double them. Doom3 is still going to make a lot of people cry,or rather their computers will be crying when they try to start crunching those numbers.

[Kwyjibo]

Originally posted by MacBandit
There's no way you will get full graphics quality with an XBox. It will be playable but it won't be as pleasing to the eye as a high end graphics card on a good computer.

i'm not a graphics freak at all.... playable is playable to me.

[Das]

Originally posted by MacBandit
There's no way you will get full graphics quality with an XBox. It will be playable but it won't be as pleasing to the eye as a high end graphics card on a good computer.

At the resolution that the Xbox runs at (crummy tv resolution) they should be able to get a good fps with all details. Really, D3 is more resolution scalable than options scalable. Really though, who wants to play with a controller over a mouse and board except a true sadist?

I'll probably be reserving this game for my PC, but if it turns out that my pb 867 can get a good fps, I might give it a go. Right now, I'm less worried about meeting the minimum specs and more about this game meeting the minimum gaming specs (i.e. plot, great action, etc...)

[Bendit]

Originally posted by MacBandit
There's no way you will get full graphics quality with an XBox. It will be playable but it won't be as pleasing to the eye as a high end graphics card on a good computer.

As someone already pointed out, the very low resolution will make the game much faster, and also allow for some detail to be stripped away that wouldn't even be seen anyways, or atleast mess arround with the variable level of detail.

Games on consoles tend to look better then their pc counterparts (at equivalent specs, in this case p3 700mhz and a GeForce 3/4) because it is made for that specific hardware.

Right now in the graphics subroutine there are a ****load of logic paths depending on what kind of video card you have, and each videocard results in a slightly different output.

The xbox only has one video card. And it's a fairly modern one, and it will be used 100%. For example Doom 3 will probably not (atleast not depend) on features that are exclusive to a GeForce 3 or 4, or 5. Because only a few people have them, it takes a couple of years before people start taking advantage of their features.

On the xbox they can use the card to its full potential from the get go.

I think a doom3 port to the xbox is possible with a minimal decrease in graphics quality.

[couch potato]

yeah, the minimum

the thing is, all id talks about are the graphics, and how great and ground breaking they are. they almost NEVER talk about the gameplay. there is no multiplayer? they must have concentrated on single player, then, rriiight?

but a quote from carmack says that Doom 3 will be shorter than most single player game today. sounds like they concentrated on graphics. so basically the game will be awesome if you can experience the nice visuals. back to reality- a good percentage of the population cant afford a G5 system, or a 2Ghz P4 with a nice radeon 9800 or a geforce fx. so basically, if you ask me, its gonna suck.

but ill just have to wait and see

[iJon]

xbox is a very powerful machine. with the game being optimized just for xbox i would expect it to play very well. and xbox will play doom 3 much better than any ibook or powerbook, probably many old powermacs as well.

iJon

[bousozoku]

Doom on the Atari Jaguar was very, very playable compared to other platforms. I'd expect the same for xBox. Now, if they would do it for GameCube...

[job]

Originally posted by couch potato
the thing is, all id talks about are the graphics, and how great and ground breaking they are. they almost NEVER talk about the gameplay. there is no multiplayer? they must have concentrated on single player, then, rriiight?

I'll be the first to admit, there were parts in the leaked alpha build that scared the everliving **** out of me. Think Resident Evil in first person.

The only other games that have ever made me jump were Clive Barker's Undying (a vastly underrated game IMO) and RtCW (the catacombs at midnight with no one else home and the sound maxed out ).

[iJon]

no kidding, i couldnt play that game at night, so freaking scary.

iJon

[MacBandit]

Originally posted by couch potato
...........the thing is, all id talks about are the graphics, and how great and ground breaking they are. they almost NEVER talk about the gameplay. there is no multiplayer? they must have concentrated on single player, then, rriiight? .................

I think multiplayer is being reserved for Quake4Arena which should be released next year. I saw a bit of info on it yesterday. It's based on the new Doom engine and it looks totally awesome. Makes UT2003 look like the DoomII.

[LethalWolfe]

Originally posted by Das
At the resolution that the Xbox runs at (crummy tv resolution) they should be able to get a good fps with all details. Really, D3 is more resolution scalable than options scalable. Really though, who wants to play with a controller over a mouse and board except a true sadist?

My thoughts exactly. FPS w/a controller? No thanx. You'd think MS would release a KB&M for the Xbox. Heck, the dreamcast had a KB&M.


Lethal

[Jimong5]

Originally posted by LethalWolfe
My thoughts exactly. FPS w/a controller? No thanx. You'd think MS would release a KB&M for the Xbox. Heck, the dreamcast had a KB&M.


Lethal

I think goldeneye for the N64 worked great with a controler.... It just felt naural, admitadely, it was hard to look up and down, but all the basic functions you needed were there. I actually prefer the N64 controller over a KB and mouse, im just too cheap to get something to hook it up and make it work..

[Pancake]

Originally posted by Jimong5
I think goldeneye for the N64 worked great with a controler.... It just felt naural, admitadely, it was hard to look up and down, but all the basic functions you needed were there. I actually prefer the N64 controller over a KB and mouse, im just too cheap to get something to hook it up and make it work..

Man, Goldeneye was a good game. I played that so much I got to the point where I could take on three people at once and not get killed while killing each of them at least 10 times in a 10 minute game. I'll take a controller over a mouse and keyboard anytime. It all depend on what you played the most on.

These are the Thumbs that Mario built.

I remeber reading that Carmack said that if he optimised Doom 3 for the xbox it would run 30% better than pc with the same specs or something like that. He also mentioned it would come to ps2 or gamecube because they are powerful enough.