Digital Foundry Retro Discussion [2018 - 2020]

Oops, didn't see it between all the ResEvil pics and talk.
 
Loved messiah, played it on a P2 450mhz and a diamond viper and a a3d aureal audip chip. Pretty nice graphics for the time, i thought. Abit of a different game playing as an angel :p
 
Loved messiah, played it on a P2 450mhz and a diamond viper and a a3d aureal audip chip. Pretty nice graphics for the time, i thought. Abit of a different game playing as an angel :p
which gpu was that? I had the Voodoo 3000 16MB at the time, also the Matrox G400 MAX -true 32bits color, but performance was always lower than Voodoo 3, which was so difficult to beat when developers used Glide-
 
which gpu was that? I had the Voodoo 3000 16MB at the time, also the Matrox G400 MAX -true 32bits color, but performance was always lower than Voodoo 3, which was so difficult to beat when developers used Glide-

It's a TNT2, viper v770. Had a voodoo2 before that. Both where great GPU's. I remember being gobsmacked by HL1 graphics, the monorail ride and all :p
 
which gpu was that? I had the Voodoo 3000 16MB at the time, also the Matrox G400 MAX -true 32bits color, but performance was always lower than Voodoo 3, which was so difficult to beat when developers used Glide-
I had a Voodoo 3 3000 for way too long. I replaced it with a Power Vr Kyro (not a Kyro 2) for maybe a year and then moved on to a Geforce 3. I basically had that Voodoo 3 from it's launch until the Geforce 3 released. Even with it's limitations, it was fast enough to run everything I threw at it. And it's lack of support for high res textures meant that it's limited vram wasn't an issue for most of it's life. I only upgraded because No One Lives Forever ran poorly on it. Or maybe it just looked bad, I can't remember.
 
https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2020-retro-extra-doom-64-analysis

Perhaps a little overlooked back in the day, Doom 64 stands as one of my favorite installments in the series. With its reworked art, atmospheric score, solid frame-rate and foreboding environments, it's an N64 game that still holds up beautifully today - 23 years after its initial release. However, for those without retro Nintendo hardware, it's a slice of Doom history inaccessible to many - a situation that changed for the better with the recent release of Doom 64 for all current-gen platforms, developed by Nightdive Studios.

We can't think of any developer better suited to the task. Nightdive specialises in sympathetically restoring classic games for today's hardware and has delivered superb work in the form of Turok: Dinosaur Hunter and its sequel, Forsaken, Blood and other. Lead Engine Developer Sam Villarreal is also responsible Doom 64 EX and Doom 64 Absolution - two earlier attempts at bringing the classic original to PC but this official port goes further, seeking to replicate the game with extreme accuracy.

Doom 64 EX was an attempt to implement N64's extra functionality and bespoke assets into a version of the game playable on modern PCs. The new game sees Doom 64 itself more thoroughly reverse-engineered and then re-coded into Nightdive's own KEX engine (more accurately, a frame-work - it has no renderer) and supports higher resolutions and 60fps. This process brought about near-perfect accuracy and for the first time, the in-game demos would run just as they should - a factor of Doom 64's object motion and collision detection being correctly modelled for the first time.


Available as a pre-order bonus for Doom Eternal, Nightdive Studios' conversion of Doom 64 is also available as a standalone game on all systems. Typically priced at £3.99/$4.99, we'd highly recommend it. For starters, beyond the technological improvements it enjoyed at the time, you're getting different Doom content - in its day, its levels were brand new and this new conversion features an entirely new episode as well. Secondly, you're seeing an evolved version of the game - 3D acceleration, more colours, better sprites, plus Doom tricks and tweaks unseen in the original id games (traversal bridges, for example). But then on top of that, there's the level of care and attention Nightdive has poured into the port. There's no need for later patches or revamped code to correct flaws or improve performance - the studio got everything right out of the gate.

And if you're an Xbox One S user hooked up to a 4K screen? Well, it's the only game we're aware of that'll actually push beyond 1080p rendering - not just icing on the cake for this particular version, but also an example of the kind of across-the-board attention to detail that is the signature of this extremely impressive conversion.
 
https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2020-retro-extra-doom-64-analysis

Perhaps a little overlooked back in the day, Doom 64 stands as one of my favorite installments in the series. With its reworked art, atmospheric score, solid frame-rate and foreboding environments, it's an N64 game that still holds up beautifully today - 23 years after its initial release. However, for those without retro Nintendo hardware, it's a slice of Doom history inaccessible to many - a situation that changed for the better with the recent release of Doom 64 for all current-gen platforms, developed by Nightdive Studios.

We can't think of any developer better suited to the task. Nightdive specialises in sympathetically restoring classic games for today's hardware and has delivered superb work in the form of Turok: Dinosaur Hunter and its sequel, Forsaken, Blood and other. Lead Engine Developer Sam Villarreal is also responsible Doom 64 EX and Doom 64 Absolution - two earlier attempts at bringing the classic original to PC but this official port goes further, seeking to replicate the game with extreme accuracy.

Doom 64 EX was an attempt to implement N64's extra functionality and bespoke assets into a version of the game playable on modern PCs. The new game sees Doom 64 itself more thoroughly reverse-engineered and then re-coded into Nightdive's own KEX engine (more accurately, a frame-work - it has no renderer) and supports higher resolutions and 60fps. This process brought about near-perfect accuracy and for the first time, the in-game demos would run just as they should - a factor of Doom 64's object motion and collision detection being correctly modelled for the first time.


Available as a pre-order bonus for Doom Eternal, Nightdive Studios' conversion of Doom 64 is also available as a standalone game on all systems. Typically priced at £3.99/$4.99, we'd highly recommend it. For starters, beyond the technological improvements it enjoyed at the time, you're getting different Doom content - in its day, its levels were brand new and this new conversion features an entirely new episode as well. Secondly, you're seeing an evolved version of the game - 3D acceleration, more colours, better sprites, plus Doom tricks and tweaks unseen in the original id games (traversal bridges, for example). But then on top of that, there's the level of care and attention Nightdive has poured into the port. There's no need for later patches or revamped code to correct flaws or improve performance - the studio got everything right out of the gate.

And if you're an Xbox One S user hooked up to a 4K screen? Well, it's the only game we're aware of that'll actually push beyond 1080p rendering - not just icing on the cake for this particular version, but also an example of the kind of across-the-board attention to detail that is the signature of this extremely impressive conversion.
it got my attention that they mention that this is the first game running at 2k -1440p- on the Xbox One S. Sincerely, no one is going to notice it.

Then there is the comparison between 2k and 4k and to me both images look identical. We are talking here about Super Mario Bros at 4k vs 1080p.

Additionally, I loved how they joined a little dream team of developers in the video. DF is getting better by the day.

Doesn't one of the best games ever deserve a DF video? I mean Gran Turismo 4. A game that generated tough and passionate discussions in the forums between Xbox 1 -original- fans who played Forza and PS fans who had this game, and how both games compared.

Always had the impression that the game missed the 60fps target at times, but maybe it's just me. Judging by the video, the PS5 should run this game at 5k -the guy in teh video uses a 5700, worse than the 5700XT which is also not as capable as the PS5, and got the game running at 5k 60 fps-.

 
it got my attention that they mention that this is the first game running at 2k -1440p- on the Xbox One S. Sincerely, no one is going to notice it.

Then there is the comparison between 2k and 4k and to me both images look identical. We are talking here about Super Mario Bros at 4k vs 1080p.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2K_resolution

You are not the only one confusing 2k as 1440p, many phone reviews do it too. 2K is close to 1080p
 
it's working !

jCJ2ym.jpg


I'm still waiting for a DF retro about the Lynx...
 
An amazing thing about the Lynx was they considered it for left handers, and it could be inverted. Yet it turns out handedness doesn't come into game control and all left and right handers seem happy to have direction on the left, buttons on the right (even if some games allow 'south paw' controls). I guess the coordination of the fingers isn't part of handedness, such that a pianist can play with both hands, fingers independently when trained, but will still write with either left or right hand.

Or did the Lynx get it right and every platform has been holding left-handers back?
 
He directed it, so guess it was easy enough for him to persuade himself to be in it.

Firefox is responsible for my childhood love of canard foreplanes and low flying jets. I won't hear a bad word said against it!

You probably love all the Euro-canards then. Too bad most people don't understand their more typical purpose in combat aircarft and just tend to see them as just a control surface.
 
And if you're an Xbox One S user hooked up to a 4K screen? Well, it's the only game we're aware of that'll actually push beyond 1080p rendering - not just icing on the cake for this particular version, but also an example of the kind of across-the-board attention to detail that is the signature of this extremely impressive conversion.
4k looks great on a PS4 Pro, but I’d argue that the coolest feature of the XB1 version that John mentioned is keyboard and mouse support. I hate playing FPSs with a controller, even if it’s appropriate for an N64 game.
 

Join John Linneman and Audi Sorlie as they break open a vintage 2000 sealed copy of Shiny Entertainment's Messiah. Lauded in its day for its groundbreaking tech, but not exactly renowned for classic gameplay, DF Retro revisits the game on period appropriate PC hardware.​


Poor John. First thing he should have done was rebound the keys. The game is much easier using a KB/M configuration with custom key binds. Even back then I was already using my RDFG cluster for movement. The default key binds for the game were pretty bad.

Good to see this again. I owned and played all the 3D Shiny Entertainment games. I couldn't quite get into the Earthworm Jim games.

While not made by Shiny Entertainment, my favorite game from those developers was Citizen Kabuto. Made by the same team members that made MDK. They had left Shiny to form their own studio, Planet Moon Studios.

So great seeing retro videos by DF on older PC games.

Regards,
SB
 
John Romero playing classic Doom and mentioning this -video's title says it all-

 
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