Securitron Doom/Linux Blog.

 

Doom 3 on Mars.

I am updating the code for the New Linux Doom project and it is looking a lot better than it originally was. With the sound now working and dosdoom v0.64 features included, it is working quite well indeed. Having it only working on DOS limits its useful-ness, it deserves to run on a better OS than a outdated lame CLI.

I am testing and developing it on Debian unstable and it is working very well with ALSA and OSS sound output.

I am very much liking the dos-doom features and cheats and once I get the new HUD working I will have a game that will rival other competitors like X-doom. I am hoping I can get the new HUD working as I am planning a unique design for this game and it will look quite cool when it is finished. The health value echoed to the HUD shows the real value, so when you die horribly it shows for example -5 health or -10 % health instead of 0. I need to find out the variables to echo to show armor and ammo. Hu_stuff.c does not have access to these variables, so maybe I should add another source file and write another function to create the HUD. It should be easy. I would like to be able to fix the random seg-faults, especially in TNT MAP30, but I am not sure what causes it except it only happens when the sound is enabled. Maybe I need to change the settings concerning sound sample size or maximum sounds playing at once. There must be a way to debug this. I have made the game more stable by re-compiling the sound server, but I might need to re-write the sound code to better work with the sound server code. Or use SDL. That would be more efficient. I tried that before and it should work again, only problem is static linking to the SDL library.

Ultimate Doom support is now working. I have re-coded the game to detect the Ultimate Doom IWAD and show the fourth episode. Works fine.

I need to get the Boom support working, but that would require a total re-write to allow the fog effects to work. It would look stunning in 16bit color. And the translucent deep water effects. But that would take a long time to implement. I just want to add features of my own.

Maybe new lighting effects taking advantage of the existing code like new pulsating lights and sector effects. I do not need to add BOOM support just because everyone else does. I want to make something new and useful for the doom community.

I might support for a new lump that will identify levels, instead of using W_GetNumForName() to check whether a IWAD is Doom or Doom2, but I think it is a little late for that. But the idea is good. You could have am lump that could identify the level and then it could print the name of the map and the author at the start just like Unreal. That would not be hard to do and would add to the ambience of Doom. It could be named WADINFO for example and greatly add to the coolness factor of creating wads for this source port. Despite the bugs, which I am ironing out, it is quite a good version of dos-doom and it will be quite worth playing.

The recent release of more information about the Doom movie is concerning, considering it might be just another Hollywood blood & gore film. But considering the amount of violence in Doom, it would not be out of place.

I agree now that a movie based on Mars would be quite good. I hope they present a more realistic portrayal of Mar’s dangerous atmosphere than they did in Total Recall. That was one of the worst movies ever, the scene when Arnie is exposed to the frigid and thin Martian atmosphere is totally unrealistic. If that happened in reality, you would be dead in about 1-3 seconds since the Martian atmosphere is as thin as the atmosphere in Earth at about 100.000 feet altitude and is very cold. It would be impossible to increase the density of the atmosphere by the rate shown in the movie. It would take about 100.000 years to do that and I doubt that the planet could hold onto a dense atmosphere like that with it’s low gravity. But you could have oceans of water if you made the planet warmer. Just imagine the planet with enormous oceans and sailing ships on the water. Rivers and lakes and trees dotted over the planet.

It would be a beautiful planet to inhabit and well worth the expense of terraforming it. I would like to go there and see it, but it may not happen in my lifespan. Or maybe we could travel out farther and inhabit Ganymede or Europa. Although the Monolith Aliens in 2010 warned us about that moon, but in reality I do not think they would mind. Despite the danger of living so close to Jupiter, I would really enjoy waking up every morning and seeing giant Jupiter looming large in the sky.
¶ 10/11/2005 12:39:00 PM Links to this post