Doom feature v2

DOOM & DOOM II latest update adds official 16:9 widescreen support & few other features


It appears that Doom and Doom II PC games have just received an official 16:9 widescreen support, which comes as a surprise considering the original Doom was released 27 years ago in 1993. Both of these original Doom games already received a 60FPS update earlier this year.

To quote Bethesda,

“For the first time in an official port, the original DOOM renderer has been modified to natively render 16:9 without any letterboxing”. “The FOV has been increased to reveal more image on the side instead of chopping off the top and bottom. All new 16:9 versions of the titlescreen, intermission, and ending screens have been added. Many of our Add-Ons have also had widescreen support added, so download the latest version from the Add-Ons listing to check it out!”

Apart from this feature, this new update also includes QOL improvements, performance optimization, and more! It’s good to know Bethesda is still offering support for a 27-year-old game, which shows this classic PC first-person shooter is still adored by many PC gamers to this day!

Coming to some other improvements, we also have some added STEAM support for these games, and anyone who already owns either The Ultimate DOOM or DOOM II: Hell on Earth on Steam will automatically receive this new re-release in their libraries. The engine now can load ‘DeHackEd’ patches, which is a popular tool for the original release that modified the game in order to support more advanced behavior. Some add-Ons can now use new weapons, change enemy behavior, and more!

Bethesda has also added Deathmatch 3.0 support in split-screen multiplayer, including an added optional crosshair, which can be disabled in Gameplay Options, and will also change colors when targeting an enemy. This means less guessing if firing a rocket is going to aim at the enemy above you, or fire directly into your face, bringing about an untimely death. Enabling the crosshair may also help reduce motion sickness by giving you a fixed point to focus on.

The update also adds Gyro Aim support, which when enabled by default, will allow you to look left and right by either turning the controller, or rolling the controller left or right. Gyro Aiming is only supported when using a DualShock 4 controller on the PC. Aside from this feature, a millisecond accurate timer has also been added to the minimap, and to the end of level intermission, for anyone looking to ‘speedrun’ levels. Most importantly, this new update now allows for the Keyboard entry of cheat codes, such as iddqd, idkfa, idclip, and other cheat codes can now be entered from the keyboard, in addition to the Cheats menu, as in the original 1993 release.

Lastly, Bethesda has added Ultra-Violence+ Skill Level support, “Ultra-Violence+ is a twist on our existing Ultra-Violence skill level. Deathmatch/Co-op only weapons will spawn in, and enemies are fast like in Nightmare mode. In DOOM II, this means you get the BFG and Rocket Launcher right from the start, but in Final DOOM: Plutonia you’ll have a Spider Mastermind staring you down as soon as you spawn in on the first level. It cuts both ways.”

Full update/patch notes can be found here.

Enjoy!