While VR developers are busy working away on their projects, trying to deliver that mythical killer-app that everyone keeps talking about, modders are delivering updates to existing games that bring us all one step closer to the fully-immersive AAA game industry we’ve all been searching for. Earlier today we published a story reminiscing about Alien Isolation on old Oculus hardware and now we’ve caught wind of a project that has actually gotten DOOM 3: BFG Edition to run on the HTC Vive in full 3D, with motion controllers, roomscale tracking, and a functional UI. It’s basically the entire game in VR as if it were made to be played that way.
While DOOM 3 would never be regarded as the best game in the long-running series, it does hold a special place in people’s hearts. It was a bit of a deviation from the blistering fast-pace of DOOM 1 and DOOM 2, incorporating more horror-themed elements in place of the balls-to-the-wall action that the series was known for. id’s 2016 reboot, simply titled DOOM once again, remedies those differences and returns the series to its roots with wondrous results. But DOOM 3 is still a special game in its own right.
The BFG Edition of DOOM 3 is slightly improved and enhanced over the original release, including DLC, and the first two games in the franchise for good measure. DOOM 3: BFG Edition and the 2016 reincarnation of DOOM together, ultimately make the definitive DOOM collection.
Thanks to Reddit user AerowynX everything you need to know, including troubleshooting common problems, can be found in this Reddit thread. You can download the VR mod zip folder on GitHub here, and an upgraded texture pack on ModDB here to further enhance the visuals. Getting it working should be relatively painless, but if you have any issues, check that Reddit thread to see if anyone else has solved it already. In the video below you can see YouTube user SweViver VR with it in action.
Mods have tried getting DOOM 3: BFG Edition running on older Oculus hardware in the past, but this most recent Vive mod is the most feature-filled VR adaption of the full-length action title to date. Programs like vorpX do a decent job of faking it for some titles, but it requires a lot of tweaking to get running correctly. Worth noting as well, is that as far back as the original Oculus Rift Kickstarter, DOOM 3 was actually planned to be bundled with the Rift itself, before the deal fell apart. Perhaps this mod helps unlock a piece of that original vision from id.
Have you tried playing it on the HTC Vive yet? Which other existing non-VR games would you want to play in fully-functional VR next?
