You can now play Doom 3 with dynamic shadows on your Quest 3
The Meta Quest 3's new chipset renders Doom 3 smoothly in high resolution with dynamic shadows.
A few days ago, Team Beef reported that their VR ports benefited greatly from the new headset, running smoothly at 30 percent higher resolution out of the box.
The team's first VR port to receive dedicated enhancements is Doom 3, which now supports dynamic shadows, a visual feature the original PC game was famous for.
The following settings are enabled by default on Quest 3:
- Dynamic shadows, 72hz, SS1.1 (1848x1848) MSAA 1
Team Beef says that there are very few noticeable frame drops. Alternatively, you can turn off dynamic shadows and play at Quest 3's maximum resolution of 2,064 by 2,208 pixels.
On time for the scary season, we will unlock dynamic shadows TODAY in Doom3Quest on #MetaQuest3! Doom 3 never looked better on Standalone VR!
Also keep an eye open for the Quest3 update for Prey by Lubos.@DrBeef @grantjbagwell @LubosVon @Flat2VR pic.twitter.com/iQLAld4EN5
- Team Beef VR ports - JK:Academy, Quake4 in EA NOW! (@neitey) October 15, 2023
On Quest 2, the shadows are disabled by default. However, you can turn them on under VR Options > Performance Settings. This should be done before starting into a level. With the shadows enabled, Doom 3 runs on the following settings:
- 60hz, SS 1.0 (1,500 by 1,500 pixels)
The team writes that frame drops may occur with these settings, but that the game is still playable.
New optimization techniques and bug fixes have made it possible for dynamic shadows to run smoothly on both systems.
More improvements to come
In the future, Doom 3 could get even better. A modder named Defunkt is working on manual reloading, improved shaders, dismemberment, and support for the Resurrection of Evil and Lost Missions expansion packs.
You can download the VR port of Doom 3 via Sidequest. You need to own Doom 3 (not BFG Edition) on Steam and transfer the data to your Meta Quest 3. Instructions can be found on the official website of Doom3Quest.
This and other VR ports for Meta Quest can be found on Sidequest. You can support Team Beef on their Patreon page.
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