Why is the modding scene for doom 3 not as popular as classic doom or doom eternal?

[Consistent-Money-990]

With the release of official mod tools for the highly critically acclaimed Doom Eternal. I predict doom eternal is gonna see a bit of resurgence in popularity, especially with the hype surrounding doom the dark ages. No doubt in my mind eternal is going to live a new life with endless amounts of custom made content. 

 

 

However with doom 3, I notice a strange lack of  popularity or notoriety with its modding scene. Doom 3, to my knowledge, wasn't a flop like many of its detractors have led me to believe. It sold pretty well for it's time. It just garnered a mix reputation later on in its life. But as someone who has known and played doom 3, I am just finding out that this game has mod support. I even just found out that its whole source code has been leaked as well! Which is crazy to think how this game never caught on  a HUGE modding scene like the classic dooms have. 

 

I don't know if people are even still creating modded content for doom 3 to this day. But it seems to me that this is an aspect of Doom 3 that is often forgotten about. Which is a shame. 

[Metal_Slayer]

No it isn't, there are extremely popular mods like Phobos, Dark Mod, CTF, Shambler's Castle and Edge of Chaos et cetera. You probably don't know about them because you haven't been around until last month. Meanwhile, what does Doom Eternal have? Master Level that spans buffed super heavys and a mod that replaces the Slayer's skin with the funny meme?

I have high but realistic hopes for Doom Eternal modding, it's going to be niche, specially because the game requires high end hardware, we probably will never get something on the level of Dark Mod for example, because we don't have the source code unlike Doom 3.

[Metal_Slayer]

Some other things to consider, Doom 3 mods aren't just download, run and play like Doom II, a few mods are, but not all of them. Each Doom 3 port requires different files and patches, and something like Freedoom is virtually impossible. The Dark Mod is the only one that is free and standalone.

And last, I don't think there's a single space dedicated to post Doom 3 mods, here in Doomworld it is mixed with all the other stuff like discussions.

[Arl]

On 8/12/2024 at 10:51 PM, Consistent-Money-990 said:

I am just finding out that this game has mod support. I even just found out that its whole source code has been leaked as well! Which is crazy to think how this game never caught on  a HUGE modding scene like the classic dooms have. 

 

I don't know if people are even still creating modded content for doom 3 to this day. 

 

 

Just google "Doom 3 mods".

[D4NUK1]

The work needed for mod within id4tech may not be most easy for the conventional modder, when options at the time like Source was more appealing for work in a big project.

 

Even then, there's a few epic mods and changes to revitalize Doom 3 that spike from their first years to now,.my favorite it's Phobos mod it's a epic campaign remind me of Doom with some System Shock design from the urban areas.

[SpartaKiss]

The nature of modding is erratic and down to the tastes of the people making them. The popularity of a game helps the modding scene, unfortunately. The relevant example I can think of would be the Legend of Doom mod on GZD remaking quest 1 of LoZ1 having taken decades to complete and being a fusion of multiple mods to achieve the full effect presented. 

 

For Doom 3 you are dealing with a neat engine that was never popular and only resulting in one well known game of Doom 3. And it has the unfortunate history of showing up during a time period when 3D engines were exploding in different fully functional variations, and not having the same historical effects like QUAKE and Doom 1 engine. Yes Doom 3 engine was awesome but so was Monoliths FEAR engine as well even though Doom 3 released earlier. Suffice it to say that DOOM 3 engine probably has better longevity than the engine used in FEAR1, but that is mainly due to the source code release and general commercial leniency surrounding Doom modding in general. I have no idea about the state of FEAR modding, but suffice it to say that it is generally less popular than even Doom 3 modding. Frankly the one engine that is as popular to mod for as anything ID related is the other Bethesda titles like Elder Scrolls and Fallout simply because of the commercial viability that it offers the games, and culture inherent in the products. 

 

Another factor that is positive in modding of all sorts is the true open source avenue. Doom 3 does benefit from this angle and definitley added to its longevity since while Linux gaming is not overly popular, it does exist and contributes sometimes absolute mountains of material. 

[famicommander]

Doom 3 was only notable at the time for its graphics and sound design. The actual gameplay is far behind shooters that released the same year, let alone those that have released in the 20 years since. And, obviously, Doom 3's technical appeal doesn't really apply when you stack it up next to Doom 2016, VFR, and Eternal.