Doom3world

Well, Tomes of Mephistopheles coder pondering the idea of trying out Doom 3 engine (since the game is all dynamic and requires no lightmaps, Doom 3 is the engine to use for it)

One question that popped right away was 4-player limit in multiplayer. Can someone tell me why is that and how easy would it be to expand it to at least 8 players multiplayer limit ?

Another question if there is a limit for entities in Doom 3 ?

Can we spawn level dynamically (models with collision hulls), in the void outside of the level made in DoomRadiant ?

Can we spawn lights dynamically ?

Where to get comprehensive documentation on C++ game code ?

Thanks a bunch!

You can but the D3 engine has a really high server resources requirement compared to Quake1/2/3 engines. The biggest "problem" with D3 isn't what it can't do but what it can: physics, lighting, shadows, etc. are all synced with the server & clients. Other engines don't bother with that. I wouldn't suggest more then 4 players unless you get an ETQW/Brink style MP setup.



It's high but could be changed in the code, just like the other id engines (I want to say 16 or 32k, but it includes all particles, projecticles, etc)



It's already been done, can even be done via scripts. However, scripts need to sync over network and that makes it more difficult (by default D3 doesn't sync everything to save bandwidth).



Via scripts/triggers, yes.

For ToM I'd say stay with Darkplaces, it seems to work very well. Plus it has the nice deferred lighting, that looks sweet.

Deferred lighting makes no difference for the looks

ToM uses a lot of rt lights, and DP can't handle it well. Doom 3 way more optimized for rt lights.

I was certain that all network syncing is done using SDK code, not scripts. Correct me if I am wrong

If there is a lot of C++ code involved, most likely ToM will not be moved to ID Tech 4. One of the reasons to keep SS2 is much simpler in terms of gameplay is to dedicate more time to art assets and level design, and not worry about finding C++ coder.

One thing that have been puzzling me greatly is why there are only handful of mods (I am not counting small, tweaky mods) for Doom 3. Is it such a pain to add new gameplay mechanics to C++ game logic or very small community of skilled coders?

I'm not sure if you need the SDK to change MP (Oneofthe8Devils worked a lot with the MP code for the D3 engine, he knows more then I do) but not all scripting events/level events are sent over network. AKA in Quake 2 I made a REALLY cool MP map with a bunch of traps and mechanics, not possible in stock D3 (to my knowledge).

I'd say ToM would need to do a lot in the D3 engine C++ wise, right now. SS2 wouldn't if it's a "basic" shooter (by that I mean you use what the engine offers and don't plan on coding whole new systems, replace the physics, etc).



D3 got a bad rep right from the get-go. Several "big name" mods stopped work/switched (Q4TF and the Mech mod come to mind). Didn't run as well as other games at the time (namely HL2). Got a lot of bad press (monster closets may be annoying but HL2 had baddies who spawned behind you when you turned around, go figure). Lack of documentation compared to other games (a big thing was the md5 system. You could look at the originals but there was no info on proper bone order, how the AF editor worked, etc). Didn't stop the dedicated people though.

There's lots of opinions on why this happened, it always leads to an argument.

I figured ToM would need C++ code due to RPG aspect and random dungeons needed to be saved / loaded (probably won't work with standard savegame system).

SS2 is basically standard shooter, just faster paced and with huge bosses / sub-bosses, some NPCs and objectives. Vehicles are still desired, but until I create terrain in Doom 3 and test the performance / scale of it, I am not really sure about vehicles (if there is no wide open terrain, there is no need for vehicles). I am hoping implementing all that in script won't be an issue. After all, look at the Binding of Isaac game. IMO it's total crap from technological pov and from artistic pov, but it's sold like hot tamales