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wes2666

Doom64 cart too dark on LCD TV

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Has anyone had problems playing doom64 on an HDTV? I have the n64 hooked up to a samsung 1080 LCD tv via the n64 composite cable. This setup works fine with other n64 carts but not doom. I've heard there's a S-video n64 connector cable. Maybe this would solve the problem?

Any help?

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Hm, not sure if this belongs in doom general. In this case your problem is impossible to solve due to the hardware and res of the console. I also don't think it is wise to link to emulators on this forum.

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Thought it would be okay to discuss em since I own the original cartridge as well. I'll attempt to edit or move my original post.

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There's a brightness option in the menus. You can change it in the N64, or I imagine your TV probably has a brightness setting too. Personally, I love turning down the down the brightness and turning off all my lights with the volume cranked to get the right atmosphere for the game.

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i have an N64 plugged into the HDTV in my room through the RF aerial (which this computer is also hooked up to), which is 1080i and 21". the brightness doesn't bother me when i play doom 64.

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Doom64 is just absurdly dark. When I was a kid, I thought my cartridge was somehow defective and exchanged it for another one, only to find that it was the same way. I ended up having to turn the brightness way up on my TV itself, as well as in the game settings, to be able to see anything.

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caco_killer said:

Have you tried adjusting the brightness and contrast settings on your TV?


Adjusting the brightness/contrast on a TV just for one game is terrible idea, and probably won't work at all if the television is properly calibrated in the first place. Chances are if you turn up the brightness on the TV, you'll just end up with the picture being greyed out and you STILL won't be able to see the game worth a damn. Contrast? I doubt that'll help either, you'll probably just end up making your picture all tutti-fruity.

I'm not sure what to suggest in this situation. Doom 64 is a very dark game and it's been known to cause problems on many TVs (HD or not). I got lucky with my old TV and it worked fine with the game, but I can't see a damn thing on my new LCD TV. You might have better luck using a higher fidelity s-video cable, but that's hard for me to say as I don't have one.

EDIT: Just realized I had an s-video cable for Gamecube which uses the same connector, so I tried it out. Didn't make any noticable difference. :(

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Yea, looking back, I remember bumping up the brightness on the TV a few notches and turning off all of the lights when my friend and I played that game. That's just how the game is I suppose. Although I think my friend's TV was a piece of shit, so that didn't help matters.

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Thanks for the tips. I'll try the in game brightness settings, I understand that doom is supposed to be on the darkside but as is it's not playable. I just picked up the N64 s-video cable so maybe that will improve things.

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Yeah adjusting the brightness and contrast did nothing (and gave me hives because I spend hours calibrating the TV for every new piece of equipment). Trying the sVideo cables but I have little hope. Might have to go retro and pick up another tube trinitron off Craigslist or something.

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AgentSpork said:

Doom 64's brightness option ranges from pitch fucking black to can't see shit.

Ha, ha. This is so true. I don't know what they were thinking. This is why I loved the TC. For once I could see the game.

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Technician said:

Ha, ha. This is so true. I don't know what they were thinking. This is why I loved the TC. For once I could see the game.

Aye, and Doom 64 EX also has an additional Gamma setting. :)

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Yes, Doom64 EX is fantastic :) I love it. Just need someone to port it to Linux and It'd be perfect! hehe.

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Switched to the n64 s-video cable, turned the in-game brightness setting all the way up, switched off every light in the neighborhood and it worked! Still dark but playable.

Thanks.

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I remember when I rented doom64 a long time ago, and could only get to level 2 in the week I had it before having to return it. I owe that to not being able to see anything. Particularly having no fucking clue what to do in those really dark hallways in "The Terraformer"

Though I'm really relieved that we have Doom64 TC, and Doom64ex. So nicee...

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(Hmmm, where have I heard this before? Oh yeah.)
Try a different TV. Or, turn all the brightness settings to max, and close the blinds.
Or just try Doom64 EX. :)

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Technician said:

Ha, ha. This is so true. I don't know what they were thinking. This is why I loved the TC. For once I could see the game.


Fuck the TC. Oh we're gonna port this so more people can play it. But while we're at it we're gonna change it. Get the EX, it's much more true to the original game.

I never had problems with Doom64 being too dark on several different older TVs. I also have tried it on my Samsung plasma using the component cables with no problems. I think some people's eyes are just shot. I saw lots of people bitching about Doom 3 being too dark to see anything too, but I had 0 problems here either. In neither game did I have to adjust the brightness either, in-game or on my tv/monitor.

Shut your curtains, sun glare can really fuck up a game :-p

Edit: As far as changing your tv's settings, alot of newer tvs have seperate picture settings for each source. For example my brightness/contrast/sharp etc for my component source is different from my HDMI 1 & 2 settings. Unless you have a bunch of stuff that hooks up via component, you can just adjust it to whatever crazy settings that make the game look ok and then whenever you switch back to the source that you use for tv/movies etc they should retain their settings. Assuming your tv has this feature.

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