Anyone familiar with Doom 3 issues?

[SirPeale]

I bought a copy of Doom 3 at a flea market a couple days ago. 

Installing it was a big PITA.  It prompts for disk 2, but when you put it in it doesn't think it's in there.  Likely an issue with the installer.

So I did a manual install.  Did all the registry entries by hand so I could get the updates to install.

Before I employed any updates I verified that the software was working.  Got to play for a little while.

After installing the updates it seems to start okay, right until you go to play a game.  It doesn't freeze per se.  The mouse cursor continues to move around, and what looks like the beginnings of a menu screen (or at least a notification screen) are drawn on screen.

But that's it!  It stops there.

I suppose I could just *not* upgrade, but 1) I wouldn't mind playing some online deathmatch (and can't without the latest and greatest) and 2) there are a few mods that depend on the latest and greatest (Classic Doom 3 comes to mind).

I've already upgraded my video drivers to the latest version (Ati Radeon 9600).  I also unpacked all the .pk4 files for performance enhancement.

Any other hints?

[DaOld Man]

I bought Doom 3 when it first came out. Played it to the end, even best the end.
I havent played it in a long time, and I removed it from my computer to save space.
But I remember that it needs a very powerful computer, lots of ram, and a high end video card.
Just found the box. Here are the minimum requirements:
Full version of Doom3
Win 2000 or XP
P4 1.5 gig or better
384 meg of ram (It work work good on this much though, I upgraded to a gig).
Direct X 9.0
3D hardware accelerator card. (It gives a list 9 cards on the box.)
Wait a minute, this is the expansion pack I bought after I beat the basic game, so Im not sure about the requirements for the actual game. (Cant find the original box.)
But I do remember that I had 512 meg ram and it was very choppy, until I doubled the ram.
The video card is critical too. it wont work on all cards.
I like Doom, I have been playing it since the first dos versions.
Have you tried Serious Sam? I think I like it better than Doom.
I have yet to finish the final level of Serious Sam, The Second Encounter.

[SirPeale]

Like I said, it played fine until I installed the Doom 3 1.3 update.  Now it doesn't play any more.

I thought maybe it was a video issue, so I tried the newest ATI drivers.  No change.

Then I tried something called the Omega drivers.  Now it doesn't run at all, even the older version.   

I've been having a few issues for a little while, so I'm thinking I need to tear down and reinstall XP.

[EwJ]

Did you unpack the .pk4 files bofore upgrade?
If so, it's possible it may be causing some problems.

I've found this guide to be helpful. this is a link to the last page of the tweakguide with reference to unpacking then patching/upgrading.  The whole guide is good - where there isn't direct info (re: ati or nvidia , optimal bios settings, xp settings) there is links to other guides or other sources of reliable info.

Check info under 'Speed Up Load Times' (especially last sentence):  doom3tweakguide

[SirPeale]

I don't think my unpacking has anything to do with it.  Same results both packed or unpacked.

I'm definitely thinking it's an XP issue.  It's time to reinstall anyway.  I have a weird issue where if I close any media player (if it's been sitting around for a while) it crashes the whole computer and reboots.  I have no idea why it does that.

[EwJ]

Yeah, nothing like a fresh install.  It just takes time to install all the progs you need and drivers, etc.
(which reminds me to make a backup image of OS partition soon).
After your fresh install, according to that tweakguide dude, it might be better to do all patching and upgrades before unpacking the .pk4's. (he actually recommends against the unpacking, as little is gained and it might interfere with net play (and you mentioned you may be interested in doing some online gaming).  His guides are pretty good - even if a lot of it is pretty basic stuff, there is still a tip or two to be picked up.

[SirPeale]

When I do net play I'll just swap out the PK4 files.  It's easy enough, keep one dir for single games, one for netplay.

[SirPeale]

I think it's some kind of driver issue.  Likely related to OpenGL. 

I installed the latest ATI drivers, and now I can't get it to run at all.   

Not just Doom 3...but Half Life 2 now as well.

I wish I could find the disc that came with the video card.  Those worked just fine, IIRC.

[shardian]

I bought Doom 3 at a flea market for $1. I got it home and opened it to find only disc 1 was in the box.

[SirPeale]

Yikes!  That sucks!

I got it working.  Since I had unpacked all my other pk4 files (main install) the ones installed by the update were causing some kind of conflict.  Once I unpacked them as well, and then deleted the pk4 files, all appears to be well.  I've been playing Classic Doom 3 for the last hour.

[SithMaster]

If your interested in playing soon doom 3 online coop check out opencoop.  I still havent beaten the first campaign yet and then theres the expansion but i did finish quake 4 finally.  I dont find it as enjoyable as ultimate doom but it is still worth a play every now and then.