Getting dizzy playing Doom

[Rudolph]

For about three months or so, I have been on a Doom hiatus. However, I have never stopped playing video games - including Quake II Remastered, which I have finished playing in early October, and The Last Exterminator demo - without any problem. But today, I tried resuming playing Classic Doom - specifically the Good Morning Phobos mapset - and things immediately felt off, as I started feeling dizzy after only a few seconds. I did not get sick or anything and I do not seem to have lost my reflexes, as I was able to make it to MAP03 on Ultra-Violence without too much trouble, but then I could not take it anymore. The last time I remember feeling that way, it was when I first played Descent II, over two decades ago...

 

What is even weirder is that only a couple days ago, I watched video playthroughs of Doom and Blood on YouTube, again without any problem.

 

Has this happened to you before? If so, was it only temporary or is it a worrying sign?

[HeatedChocolate]

This could be one of many, many things. Off the top of my head, dehydration, maybe something to do with temperature? Maybe the fact you're on a computer could have done something. Drink water, lie down, stuff like that. I'm the exact opposite of a medical professional, so take anything I say about the human body with a grain of salt.

[Doomkid]

If this isn't a regular occurrence, I wouldn't worry too much. It could have been everything from not limbering up enough throughout the day thus a lack of bloodflow, to dehydration (as HeatedChocolate said), or even the signs of something relatively minor like the onset of a common cold.

 

If it's persistent to any degree from here on, you absolutely should consult a GP. If it's a pretty damn rare occurrence, I think you can chalk it up to something very minor.

[Rudolph]

Like I said, I have been playing Quake II Remastered not too long ago without any issue, yet for some reason, Classic Doom feels so dizzying to me.

 

I do not know if it is because things move much faster in Classic Doom, especially with a source port that supports freelook, but it is such an unusual feeling. I mean, after a month or so spent on playing PS1 Doom on a Playstation Portable, going back to playing Doom on PC did take me a couple minutes to get used to it again, but it never made me dizzy like it does right now.

[Hellektronic]

Probably motion sickness, I get it sometimes depending on what I eat/drink.

If I play Serious Sam 3 after drinking a lot of caffeine, I get sicker than a dog and have to stop playing. Just something about the viewbob in that game.

[ETTiNGRiNDER]

I used to get mild to moderate headaches playing 3D games sometimes, but not as much any more.  It was always the worst with Wolf3D engine games it seemed like, possibly due to the chunkier/less convincing visuals.  I'm not sure how much the improvement for me is a change of getting older / more accustomed to that sort of thing, and how much can be chalked up to the transition from the old style CRT monitors to flatscreens (the old CRTs flicker, imperceptibly to the conscious observer but enough to be blamed for possibly causing problems to people, combine that with crusty old 3D engines and I guess it could make for a bad combination.  I definitely think they affect me a little which is one of the reasons, among others, that I generally don't bother with them any more even for vintage machines.)

 

When it comes to playing Doom engines, switching between something that has the 35 FPS cap and something that uncaps the framerate always feels weird, going in either direction from what I'm currently adjusted to, but not to the point of making me feel sick, just the game feeling kind of "off".  So it could be some sort of acclimation issue, if it doesn't persist too long.

[RDETalus]

Did you change your eyeglasses, contacts or something? Maybe you've worn out your contacts? The only time I ever got headaches playing vidya gaems was when my contact lenses started wearing out. It caused extra eyestrain, and it only happened with certain games like Fallout 4 or No Man's Sky.

 

Problem went away when I switched to glasses.

[Professor Hastig]

Other things that haven't come up yet:

 

What port are you using, what screen resolution and if using a hardware renderer, what setting for the texture filter?

The one thing immediately coming to mind what differentiates Doom from modern games is that on any normal setting aliasing is a lot stronger than in modern engines that were made for higher resolution assets and texture filtering.

 

Going from that to Doom where this is very prominent may actually cause some visual disorientation.

I'd recommend to play around with these settings to find out if anything makes it better.

 

 

[plums]

If you play in a port that allows it (GZDoom and maybe others) you could try playing with the FOV to see if that helps.

 

Or just take some Dramamine before playing lol (don't do this if you're not sure that there's nothing else going on.)

[AshtralFiend]

As others have said, it is probably motion sickness.

I can play Doom just fine. But if I watch someone play it for too long (and at a higher fps) I get really dizzy.

Edited October 18, 2023 by AshtralFiend

[natashanightmare]

Hmmm this has only happened for me when playing doom64, it made me dizzy and all of a sudden i felt like exploding headache or like getting hit in the head, i have seen others get the same with doom64 in particular. All in all i liked doom64 tho, weird :/

[Rudolph]

4 hours ago, Professor Hastig said:

What port are you using, what screen resolution and if using a hardware renderer, what setting for the texture filter?

GZDoom, 960 x 540, no texture filter for maximum performance.

 

Those have been my settings for several years already, so I do not understand how they would cause motion sickness all of a sudden.

[Jerem]

I think Doomkid said it best! 

Also, Plums brings up the one thing I would've added which is FOV. Console-style horse-blinder fov often makes me quite queasy. Higher the better for me!

[Rudolph]

Okay, so I tried increasing the resolution to 1920 x 1080 and the FOV to 110 (from 90). The game seems easier on the eye for now.

 

Thanks for the tips, everyone! It would really bum me out to find out that I can no longer play Doom. :S

[magicsofa]

This happens to me occasionally, sometimes it helps for me to play in a window instead of fullscreen or to change the lighting in the room.

[Hellektronic]

You could possibly counter this by removing weapon bob when moving, it helps. Doesn't fix it completely, but might make it more tolerable.

Games now are starting to occasionally have motion sickness countering options.

[Shepardus]

I like to disable view bobbing in source ports that support it such as dsda-doom, or reduce it in source ports that allow that such as Woof and Crispy Doom. The default is honestly rather excessive, and feels especially weird paired with freelook. GZDoom doesn't seem to let you disable it without also disabling the weapon bobbing (which feels wrong to me, like you're moving a camera around in an editor rather than actually playing), but it is possible to mod it in.

[Lofwyr]

Could be tension in the neck, head and shoulder and back muscles.

Could be something in your ears, perhaps you have developed some grains in there, which is just something that can happen.

It happened to me before and it threw me off, and while I didn't connect it to videogames specifically, I did notice it more, ironically, when I was absorbed in something.

 

Luckily, there is an actual working method to lessen/get rid of this phenomenon if you have it, that does no harm (unless you wrench your neck or something) if you don't have it.

The epley maneuver.

Anyway, it can happen, if it does happen, the grains are hanging out in a bad spot and throw ones balance off, by performing this maneuver they get shoved into a space where that doesn't happen and then they eventually get reabsorbed/melted.

 

Edit: This happens on its own too, btw...can just take some weeks or months.

 

 

 

Edited October 22, 2023 by Lofwyr

[Patrick_Plays_Doom]

On 10/17/2023 at 11:01 PM, Rudolph said:

and things immediately felt off

weed experience 

[OliveTree]

doom has consistently given me headaches like forever and it dumbfounded me until i realize it was just bc the low fov hurt my head lol

[Master O]

On 10/17/2023 at 3:31 PM, Rudolph said:

For about three months or so, I have been on a Doom hiatus. However, I have never stopped playing video games - including Quake II Remastered, which I have finished playing in early October, and The Last Exterminator demo - without any problem. But today, I tried resuming playing Classic Doom - specifically the Good Morning Phobos mapset - and things immediately felt off, as I started feeling dizzy after only a few seconds. I did not get sick or anything and I do not seem to have lost my reflexes, as I was able to make it to MAP03 on Ultra-Violence without too much trouble, but then I could not take it anymore. The last time I remember feeling that way, it was when I first played Descent II, over two decades ago...

 

What is even weirder is that only a couple days ago, I watched video playthroughs of Doom and Blood on YouTube, again without any problem.

 

Has this happened to you before? If so, was it only temporary or is it a worrying sign?

 

If you are having any dizziness or vertigo, start drinking a lot of water and limit your salt intake.

 

Also, check on the internal humidity in your house, apartment, or wherever else you live.

 

If the humidity is too low, it will dry out your sinuses and mess with the balance in your inner ear.

 

Also, go outside for about 15 - 30 minutes to get moisture back into your sinuses.

 

If you are still having these problems, see a medical professional to get a diagnosis.

[TheSlipgateStudios]

Nah it's a skill issue