Xbox Live Doom 3 BFG Edition Compatibility? How does this work?

Let me first say that was a bit surprised that after buying and installing D3BFGED to my XB360 Slim HDD, I was given a special message when I selected Doom or Doom 2 from the game menu telling me that I must first uninstall the game from my HDD and play it off the disc to use these 2 games.

Let me also state that before BFG Edition came out I owned and still do own the XBL Arcade versions of Doom (before they had that lawsuit and got rid of it for a year I still had it all that time) and Doom 2.

Now seeing as how the BFG Edition of Doom 2 is now censored worldwide or something due to Germany Govt? This raises some questions about compatibility between games.

If someone owns the Arcade version of Doom 2 is that person going to be even using the same game or servers or have any compatibility at all with the other person using BFG Doom 2 off the disc? Can the two games even sync up with the levels being different? (MAP31, MAP32)

I deleted my XBLA versions. If you keep them installed what happens when you play the BFG versions? I admit the first disc I bought of BFG Edition was corrupted brand new out of the box and had to be returned to Walmart for a replacement. It actually froze on the copyright screen and not just the game but froze my whole Xbox. Returning the game and replacing the disc with a working one fixed this. I'm simply explaining why I uninstalled the XBLA versions in the first place - to try and get the corrupted disc to play not knowing what the issue was at the time.

So in general I guess the question is: are these games compatible (Doom 1 as well) online or is it going to make it even harder than it already was to fill up a game lobby online? Major confusion here on my part!

julz_d said:

If someone owns the Arcade version of Doom 2 is that person going to be even using the same game or servers or have any compatibility at all with the other person using BFG Doom 2 off the disc? Can the two games even sync up with the levels being different? (MAP31, MAP32)

No, it will desync. If it were just changes in the textures, it wouldn't be a problem; but they have replaced the enemies too. They're nazis in the old XBLA port, and zombiemen in the newer BFG port.

All other levels should stay in sync; so you can play coop with an XBLA and a BFG version, as long as you do not visit the secret levels.

And of course, Ultimate Doom is perfectly compatible across both versions.

Gez thank you, but how do we even know if the two different Doom 2's actually seek each other out when searching for games? Seems if I try using a different Doom2.wad other than 1.9 on any online ports on PC it usually desyncs before the game even starts and tells me I'm using a different version of doom2.wad than the server. The xbox ports would somehow do otherwise?

The two Xbox versions will happily play with each other. Ledmeister demonstrates the desync in this video:

julz_d said:

Gez thank you, but how do we even know if the two different Doom 2's actually seek each other out when searching for games? Seems if I try using a different Doom2.wad other than 1.9 on any online ports on PC it usually desyncs before the game even starts and tells me I'm using a different version of doom2.wad than the server. The xbox ports would somehow do otherwise?

The different versions of the Doom II IWADs have had several changes in the levels. Here, they are strictly identical -- except for MAP31 and MAP32.


Here's a series of vids that shows some of the differences:

Since we were spared this kind of fancy this time outside of the secret levels, you'll be fine.

Interesting stuff in those videos. Thanks guys.