Published On Aug 20, 2023
GZDoomVR: https://github.com/hh79/gzdoomvr/rele...
The 3D gun mod I used: https://forum.zdoom.org/viewtopic.php...
Unpack GZDoomVR, put your WAD files into the same folder, Drag and drop the gun mod file into the GZDoomVR.exe to attach it, and you're ready to boot. Requires Steam VR setup also. I find that you need to refocuse GZDoom after getting into vr for it to work right, a little fiddly but you should hopefully get it.
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1993's Doom taught me that most of life will be spent alternating between fighting my demons and wondering where the heck my keys are.
We're about three generations deep into VR at this point but the amount of good shooters are still fairly thin on the ground. I guess developing for a platform that only has ten people on it isn’t as lucrative as it sounds.
So when I found out that using your existing .WAD files from Doom gets you about 90% of the way toward a solid VR title I was stoked. Not only that but after playing it I honestly believe that the Original Doom in VR is the best way to experience the classic in 2023 or whatever year you have the temerity to watch this video in.
Doom has a simple premise. Give Master Chief a set of ice skates and a shotgun and let him loose on twisty rooms of demons. It revolutionised games in 1993 and it did it again in 2016 when it inspired indy devs to send Steam to hospital for overdosing on Boomer Shooters.
Demons aren't enemies, they're handy sign posts for where you haven't been yet as you scrabble around looking for coloured key cards to progress. The rest of the game is spent rubbing yourself on walls grunting lightly as you look for secret holes. Isn’t that life. Tim Rogers summarised it succinctly when he took One hour twenty minutes and five seconds to describe the game as Search and destroy. or in my own head I always call it Hunt and Seek. Hunt Monsters, seek the exit.
Doom seems to be a game that ages like a McDonald’s Cheeseburger. It’s been 30 years and it’s still just as delicious as the day it was made. You can decide for yourself where I’m going with that one.
Doom one and two are games that seem to age like wine. The advance of tech and a loving community has only made them better with time.
For the quarter of my audience that was alive for it. Do you remember how good it felt finally controlling Doom with a mouse? Now imagine that feeling again except you're going from a mouse to a brick strapped to your head sending all your most intimate secrets back to Zuck the Cuck. Doesn’t that sound incredible?
VR Brings a couple big things to the table. Being able to look independently of where your shooting feels rad and it really compliments with how fast Doom guy slides around. Why turn around to shoot the demon behind you when you can just blind fire directly behind yourself? It’s the closest you’ll ever come to feeling like a bad arse walking away from an explosion while putting sunglasses on, except in this case It’s an explosion of guts and a sprite showing you it’s butthole. There’s too many buttholes in Doom by the way, why don’t we talk about that more, we need to address the buttholes. Hello buttholes.
But shooting like that is just something you can’t do in pancake mode and trust me people tried unlocking camera from the view. Have you played the original control configuration for medal of honour or Goldeneye recently? It feels like your controlling a Doberman controlling the Mars rover.
In comparison going back to playing desktop mode Doom is like opting to put on a neckbrace while making love. Consequently a neckbrace is exactly what you’ll need if you play more than half an hour of Subnautica in VR. The last time my head got thrashed around that much I was a baby being held by my mum’s boyfriend.
My only critique at all is that the flickering scenes are real tough on the ol eyeballs and the few text heads up dialogues that crop up are gone long before I can read them. But it does incredibly well for a game that released before pogs were released as christmas stocking stuffers for landfills.
I’ll do a proper blow by blow in the description for anyone who’s actually gonna give it a go. But all you need to know is grab the .WAD file from wherever you installed Doom, chuck it into GZdoomVR and you’re ready to lock and load. This works for any .WAD btw so you have a near infinite number of experiences waiting for you in this.
Diving in raw will give you PNG guns to hold, which is hilarious but not great. Im not Kubo and the two strings. I'm not gonna go round killing dudes with origami. But you can mod this out for 3D weapons which only takes a second.