Doom 3: Redux mod

I know it took longer than expected to have a release date for the first version of the mod and I was a bit quiet for the past month, so I thought I might briefly explain what has been up recently, what has been added to the mod and what's going to happen next.

First about the status of the mod: It's ready. In fact it already was by the beginning of March, only a few strings needed to be translated in order to release a proper english version. So why the delay ? Well, most of it was because of personnal issues. I had exams requiring my attention but also a worsening of a genetic skin disease that has affected my hands quite badly, which of course is a bit problematic for things such as writing and modding. I did managed to upload an unfinished and mostly untranslated version for some friends some weeks ago however, but I just couldn't manage to finish what whas needed to make a proper release here on ModDB. (Cleaning up the mess that are are my working archives and complete the translation among other things) Again, sorry for that delay.

So what's going to happen, now ?

First, I'm going to upload the version 0.95b of the mod on april 15. The mod is perfectly stable and polished in it's current state but while a few friends have already tested it, I know from experience that a first release never comes without its share of unexpected bugs. Therefore, that version of the mod will be online for a few weeks and will eventually be replaced by the 1.0 version, which will add some features that I won't be able to finish right now and also fix any potential issues.

One of these features is the overhaul of the audio logs which is still being worked on. My biggest issue with the audio logs in Doom 3 is that while they are well acted and written, they also sound completely bland with absolutely no background noises or mixing whatsoever, to put it in Ken Levine's words:

"It amazed me when I played Doom 3 that they didn't mix their recordings into the ambient space of the world. The people sound like they're in a recording booth."

With that in mind, I have attempted to improve the existing audio logs so that they sound like they are actually coming out of the speakers of your PDA, I also tried to add various background noises which are consistent with the working environment of the NPC. For example, the recording of someone working in the lower levels of Mars City will have various machinery playing in the background while you will hear computers or sometimes doors closing/opening in the recording of someone who's working in the administrative levels. System Shock 2 was the main inspiration in that process:

And of course, I have also added or replaced more textures since the last update. For example Wulfen's rendition of Mars City's floor and bathroom's wall textures (Which are also used in various other parts of the game) have been replaced with completely new textures which are more faithful to the original art style. Other props that were previously left untouched have been retextured as well.

And that's all for today. I will now make more regular updates to keep you informed on the progress of the mod and give you more details as the 1.0 version (Which probably won't be the last) is getting closer. Right now my priorities are to write the readme, F.A.Q and organize the mod's folder in the best way possible so that it would be ready for the upload as of tommorrow.

In the meanwhile, if you want to see what is the mod going to look like without revealing too much of the game, you can watch the "Before/After" screenshots of the very first level that I've posted a few days ago. Thanks for you support !

Cheers