After launching the two highly popular FPS games, DOOM from the mid-90s in July on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, iOS, and Android, Bethesda has put a large update on Doomguy.

„Add-on Support: Add-ons can now be downloaded and played from the main menu. We will continue to add content that is a mixture of official DOOM and DOOM II add-ons, as well as some of the best community episodes and megawads released for the original DOOM games. We’ve curated the initial list and will be asking you guys for your picks for best community-made wads soon! Check out the FAQ here for more info! Add-ons refers to the free content we’re to rolling out to our latest releases of DOOM and DOOM II. These are some of the best professionally made and community content created for these games over the last 25-plus years, all available to you, for free, on all six supported platforms. First thing is log into Bethesda.net. Once you’ve done that, go to Add-ons. Browse through what’s available and hit the Download option. Then press the Toggle Activation button to enable it. When you go back to the main menu, you’ll notice things have changed and you’re playing the new Add-on.

At launch, we have some exciting ones for you. On both DOOM and DOOM II you’ll find TNT: Evilution and The Plutonia Experiment, the two map packs that constituted the retail Final DOOM release. Together those alone represent over 60 levels of gameplay! On DOOM, you’ll see SIGIL, an original campaign created by legendary designer John Romero. And with DOOM II you’ll also find No Rest for the Living, a map pack created by our friends at Nerve Software for the original Xbox Live Arcade release,” Bethesda’s announcement starts. So: mods on consoles, too? Not bad! The sixth platform would be the PC. You can find DOOM and DOOM II on Bethesda.net’s launcher, that’s how you can get a hold of these updates.

Let’s see what else is new: „60 Frames Per Second Support: For the first time, DOOM and DOOM II now run at 60 frames per second on all platforms, instead of 35 frames per second as in the original releases. Added Aspect Ratio Option: Stretches the display vertically to match the original 4:3 aspect ratio that the game was intended to be played in. Added Quick Save and Load: Pause the game, and press R / R1 / RB to immediately save where you are, and unpause the game. Load your quick save by pausing the game and then pressing L / L1 / LB. Added Level Select: Pick an episode, map, and difficulty of your choosing, and immediately play on it without having to clear the previous levels first. Added Weapon Carousel: You no longer need to cycle through every weapon to get to the one you want. Press Previous or Next Weapon to highlight the weapon you want, and it will swap immediately to the selected gun. Added Quick Weapon Select: The Directional Pad can now be used to quickly swap between weapons. (Up: Shotgun and Super Shotgun, Right: Chaingun, Down: Rocket Launcher, Left: Plasma Gun) Added Overall Brightness and Level Brightness: Turn up Overall Brightness to make the colours brighter, but if that isn’t enough, you can also raise Level Brightness to change the brightness of the lights in the world. Added Random SFX Pitch Toggle: Turn off randomized sound pitches during playback, which was a feature present in early versions of the original DOOM release. New split screen HUD: A minimal HUD will be used when playing split-screen multiplayer. The bottom status bar is removed, allowing more room for the game to be displayed in.” By pitching, Bethesda means the sound effects playing on a higher on a slower tempo. 60 FPS is a good addition, the quicksave/load is for the beginners, and the weapon swap makes sense on consoles – we already got used to it on PC.

They made a few changes, too: „Changed Health Graphics: The pill has been changed into a green plus, making the graphics closer to their original appearance. Changed Wolfenstein Secret Level: Enemies in the Wolfenstein level have been restored to the original DOS release. The original textures and enemy audio have been re-added to the level, but with [censored] references removed.” They mean that Austrian guy’s references with that party in Germany between 1933 and 1945.

There is some performance optimization as well: „Several optimizations to DOOM‘s software renderer have been made to better support 60 frames per second and increase battery life. Game rendering resolution on the Switch version now displays at 640×400 to support 60 frames per second and improved battery life. Improved behaviour when starting the game out of sleep mode. There still may be cases that cause the game to lock up after awakening. Sped up various UI animations to make navigating through menus quicker.” So they cared about the Switch port, while openly confirming there are still a few issues…

Finally, Bethesda fixed a few bugs: „Fixed an issue from the original DOS release where map objects would not correctly track the player after loading a saved game. This also fixes an occasional crash with loading a save game with an active BFG projectile. Fixed an issue where the game would skip ahead several tics after unpausing. Fixed an issue where attract mode demos would desync, causing demo playback to deviate from the original DOS release. The trophy for When I’m With You for beating every level on Nightmare in co-operative mode has been fixed and will now be awarded properly.” (Attract mode is where you either see the background behind the menus showing the game playing itself, or leaving it on the title screen for too long. It’s been a common thing in games. Even 1985’s Super Mario Bros. had it!)

These are some fine improvements.

Source: Gematsu

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