Doom 3 fans are eagerly waiting for the VR port of the game releasing later this month, but did you know that numerous VR ports of the game have been available for some time?
The Doom 3 VIVE Mod, which released in 2016, introduced full room and motion tracking, along with mods to improve textures. The mod also boosts the game to 90fps, providing the smooth gameplay needed in VR to limit motion sickness. It’s an impressive mod that almost makes Doom 3 look like it was designed with VR in mind.
More recently, Doom 3 VR support also landed on the Oculus Quest. The mod, created by Teem Beef, features fully tracked VR weapons, an immersive IK body system, VR optimised menus and a vast variety of VR options.
Both mods enable users to play the entire Doom 3 experience in VR, meaning you can quite literally go to hell, and back again. Sounds great, right? Here’s how you can install both mods and start playing today!
Doom 3: BFG Edition HTC VIVE
Firstly, you’ll need to own a HTC VIVE in order to run Doom 3 in VR, and you’ll also need the BFG edition.
With Doom 3: BFG Edition installed, you’ll want to download the latest version of the mod which you can find here.
Once the mod has downloaded, you’ll need to extract the mod files into your install folder, which should look something like this:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\DOOM 3 BFG Edition\
If you really want to amp up your experience, you can also install the Hi Def mod, which reworks the game’s assets, increasing overall visual fidelity. This is especially useful in VR, because older textures can look incredibly blurry if the internal resolution is subpar.
Similar to the VR mod, you’ll need to download the Hi def pack and extract it into the Doom 3: BFG directory.
Once the texture pack is installed, it’s time to launch the game. Look for the file, RBDoom in the game’s file, and run that. If everything is in the place it should be, you can now play Doom 3: BFG Edition on your HTC VIVE.
Doom 3 Oculus Quest
The Oculus Quest port of Doom 3 takes a little more tinkering to get working, but it’s definitely worth the effort. This mod works off the original version of Doom 3 rather than the BFG Edition, but the great news is that the original version is only £3.99 on Steam.
Before you can go installing any VR mods on the Oculus Quest, you’ll need to install SideQuestVR. You can find the download on SideQuest’s website here. Next you will need to go to dashboard.oculus.com and register your Oculus Quest headset as a developer unit, which will allow you to download the drivers needed.
With the drivers downloaded, you’ll want to go into the Oculus app on your smartphone or tablet and enable the Developer mode. This will enable you to hook the Oculus Quest up to your PC and enable debug mode. You should get the option to tick a box which will always allow you to connect to the computer, which should stop any it popping up each time you connect.
Now it’s time to install the mod itself. To start with, you’ll want to download the mod itself, which you can find here. Once the mode is downloaded, you’ll want to install it through the SideQuest program we just downloaded.
Once the game is installed on your Oculus, you’ll want to run it. The game will look like it launched, but will instead return to the Oculus menu. This is great, as all the files and folder structure should be exactly where you need them now.
Next you will need to find the install of the base Doom 3 game on your PC. If you installed it through Steam it should be here:
You’ll need to locate and copy the following files to your Oculus Quest while it’s plugged into the PC. Copy the files listed below in the /Doom3Quest/base folder:
game00.pk4game01.pk4game02.pk4game03.pk4pak000.pk4pak001.pk4pak002.pk4pak003.pk4pak004.pk4pak005.pk4pak006.pk4pak007.pk4pak008.pk4
With those files correctly copied into the /Doom3Quest/ base folder, you should be able to play Doom 3 in VR on your Oculus Quest.
Even though the official Doom 3 VR release is just around the corner, we couldn’t wait to start shooting demons in the most immersive way possible.
