Doom Free Update 5 Adds Bots, "Infernal Run" Mode, and More

[ffronw]

Doom Free Update 5 Adds Bots, "Infernal Run" Mode, and More

//cdn.themis-media.com/media/global/images/library/deriv/1366/1366297.jpgThe latest free update for Doom brings in AI opponents, a new multiplayer mode, Snap Map tweaks, and apparently, even a change to the game's DRM.

Yesterday, id Software rolled out the latest free update for Doom. Titled "Free Update 5," it brings a number of new features to the game, including one that might have been slipped in under the radar.

First up is the addition of multiplayer bots. These AI opponents will be handy in helping you learn the maps and strategies you need in multiplayer, without requiring you to get your brains beat in playing against more experienced online players. There are a few limitations, as the bots can only be used in Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch modes, and only on the maps that shipped with the game at launch.

The update also includes "Infernal Run," a new multiplayer mode that challenges players to take control of a "ball" that looks like an eyeball and carry it to the opponent's goal and score it. Finally, it also raises the highest multiplayer rank to Echelon 11. Once you reach that rank, you'll be rewarded with the signature Doom Marine Armor (Praetor Suit).

Also included in the free update are a number of changes to SnapMap. These include the Doom Marine in Praetor Suit Armor, a number of new Lazarus lab-themed modules and props, a new first-person camera entity, single-player interactive objects, and more.


To celebrate, there's a double XP event going on now that runs through 12 PM ET on December 12. Shortly after that, on December 15, the third and final paid DLC for Doom - Bloodfall - will launch.

You can find all the info on the new update over at Bethesda.net. [https://bethesda.net/en/article/4dXT4XaiJi6AEuk4GS4igC/doom-free-update-5-brings-bots-new-mode-and-echelon-11]. But there's one thing you won't find mentioned there: the removal of the game's Denuvo DRM.

According to a thread on NeoGAF [http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1323084], this patch removes the Denuvo DRM from the game. If you aren't familiar with Denuvo, it's basically anti-tampering software that stops pirates from cracking the game. It also has the unfortunate side effect of preventing most mods from being created as well.

We've reached out to Bethesda to see if they can confirm the removal of the DRM, and what that might mean for the future of mods. We'll update this post with any response that we receive.

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[Barbas]

"You have the ball."

And what a cutesy-wutesy lil' ol' ball it is. Not since snarks has there been such adorability in something so utterly hellish.

 

[Arnoxthe1]

Holy shit. When did id turn into such awesome guys? It's like out of nowhere, especially compared to the modern asshattery of the industry.

 

[KoudelkaMorgan]

If only I could just delete all the multiplayer and snapmap stuff from my game. Then maybe Doom would only take up fraction of the 80GB+ it will if I ever bother to update it with this newest stuff. I love the support for the game, but eventually I'm going to just have to delete it off my PS4 because it takes up about 5 times as much space as any of my other games alone and several of the smaller ones combined.

I will not ever pay for PS+, and even if it were gifted to me I have zero interest in Doom apart from the campaign.

Now arcade mode is awesome, and if I allowed it to it might devour every bit of my free time for an extended period.

Currently though I'm actually playing No Man's Sky again, and its gotten way better.

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

Bethesda's whole rep is built upon the fans fixing their games, sorry, modding their games. Makes some sense that they wouldn't want to burn that bridge.

 

[MHR]

"You have the ball."

And what a cutesy-wutesy lil' ol' ball it is. Not since snarks has there been such adorability in something so utterly hellish.

Half-Life 3 needs to have snarks, dood. I'm replaying HL1 and these guys are da best.

 

[Barbas]

Half-Life 3 needs to have snarks, dood. I'm replaying HL1 and these guys are da best.

The best portrayal of the Carnivorous Land Grenade Shrimp in a video game.

 

[Extra-Ordinary]

If only I could just delete all the multiplayer and snapmap stuff from my game. Then maybe Doom would only take up fraction of the 80GB+ it will if I ever bother to update it with this newest stuff. I love the support for the game, but eventually I'm going to just have to delete it off my PS4 because it takes up about 5 times as much space as any of my other games alone and several of the smaller ones combined.

I will not ever pay for PS+, and even if it were gifted to me I have zero interest in Doom apart from the campaign.

Now arcade mode is awesome, and if I allowed it to it might devour every bit of my free time for an extended period.

Currently though I'm actually playing No Man's Sky again, and its gotten way better.

I basically came in here to say the same thing.

I'm only into DOOM for the single-player, I think it's cool that support and new content is thereand it's free for the people that like that (even though some single-player DLC would be awesome(which I know we're never getting)) but goodness gracious great balls of fire, why are updates so f*ck*ng big nowadays?

I upgraded my PS4 to a 1TB hard drive and just had to clear space for this sucker (I was gonna sell Destiny anyway) and I've had to make space twice for this game. It's not like I own a huge library for my PS4 (I checked, I own twenty-one games on disc and a handful of downloaded games) and my hard drive is freaking full. Well, it's got about fifty gigs left which is room for, what, two more updates for... anything?

I know I kinda strayed off-topic but I wanted to get this out and this seemed as good a place as any since DOOM shares a good chunk of the blame. Seriously, though, am I missing something about why games are so huge or am I in the right here?

 

[Vigormortis]

"You have the ball."

And what a cutesy-wutesy lil' ol' ball it is. Not since snarks has there been such adorability in something so utterly hellish.

Heh. So I wasn't the only one to be reminded of the hellish cuteness of the Snarks.

Holy shit. When did id turn into such awesome guys? It's like out of nowhere, especially compared to the modern asshattery of the industry.

They were always pretty 'awesome'. It's just that they burned more than a few people with their rather lackluster (by their standards) efforts with Rage.

Half-Life 3 needs to have snarks, dood. I'm replaying HL1 and these guys are da best.

And a Hornet Gun.

Yeah, I know. It was almost always a useless piece of shit, especially on the higher difficulties. But, I still loved it.

 

[Kahani]

Wait, a shooter released after the '90s didn't already have bots?

goodness gracious great balls of fire, why are updates so f*ck*ng big nowadays?

Because games are big. This comes up a lot, and it seems to be down to a fundamental misunderstanding of how updates work. Game files are (mostly) compiled and compressed, which is why you can't just open up every file in a text editor and see the source code. That makes it almost impossible to edit the files, in order to update them you need to completely replace them. If you have a 1GB data file that has a bug caused by a single character in one line being misplaced, you can't simply send a couple of bytes to users to correct it, they'll have to download a whole new 1GB file.

As for why games in general are so huge, it's as simple as there being lots of data in them. Higher resolution textures, bigger worlds, more and higher quality sound, and so on, all take up more space. There are still games around that only need a few tens of MB, but if you want a big 3D game that looks as good as Doom 4, you have to accept the need for the data required to describe it.

 

[Arnoxthe1]

They were always pretty 'awesome'. It's just that they burned more than a few people with their rather lackluster (by their standards) efforts with Rage.

Don't forget the Carl on Duty clone of Doom we almost got before Bethesda took a look at it and immediately started clearing house.

 

[Vigormortis]

They were always pretty 'awesome'. It's just that they burned more than a few people with their rather lackluster (by their standards) efforts with Rage.

Don't forget the Carl on Duty clone of Doom we almost got before Bethesda took a look at it and immediately started clearing house.

I remember seeing early concepts for Doom 4, but I'm not sure it was Bethesda that forced id to change the game. I was under the impression that, internally, id's design team decided their original concepts were garbage, so they started over completely.

Maybe I'm wrong, though.

 

[Arnoxthe1]

I remember seeing early concepts for Doom 4, but I'm not sure it was Bethesda that forced id to change the game.

It was. Pretty much, anyway. New goals were set. Some left. Some most likely got fired. But here's the story: http://www.polygon.com/2015/6/24/8839643/bethesda-doom-4-call-of-duty

This is one of the scant few times a publisher overriding the developer was an incredibly welcome decision. What it sounds like though is that id, after its founders left one by one, probably began to fall into a state of disrepair. And with John Carmack's almost laser focus on the purely technical side of things, I imagine before he left id, he started to just give less and less of a crap about id and let it slide to where it was.

Then Bethesda bought them. Then they came in, saw what the hell was going on and basically overhauled the entire studio, letting in new blood and restructuring the goals for Doom 4.

Or at least, that's my theory anyway. If you start the interview video with Pete Hines somewhere at the 12 minute mark, when he starts talking about the Doom that could have been, you can just kind of tell he was one of the people at Bethesda who were super unsatisfied with what they saw.

 

[TheUnbeholden]

No heres the story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkH78CGsjhc