🚀 go-pugleaf

> True! An OS that cannot DOS Doom is total crap!! It is really pitiful to
> buy a supposedly state-of-the-art OS and find out later that it cannot
> run one of the most popular games in the world! I wouldn't want it even
> if it is given to me free along with U$1000.00 as incentive!!! BTW, I
> heard OS/2 cannot run DOS Doom too.

   This is pathetic!  OS's quality cannot be based on whether or not it can 
handle one particular program.  I far as NT is concerned, it just isn't
designed to be backward compatible.  As for OS/2, it can run it but only
with music, no digital sound.  There is a native version of Doom which is
due to be released but is being held back until IBM makes some enhancements
to the DIVE interface that will improve performance for all games. 

   It should be noted though that the lack of sound in Doom is strictly the
result of sloppy programming.  In order to get Doom out on time, Id hired an
outside company to work on the sound code.  Doom was at version 1.2 at this 
point and worked flawlessly under OS/2.  This other company modified the code 
and introduced their own and essentially "broke" the sound support by using
sloppy interrupt driven techniques.  Id has mentioned this publicly.

   For those of you interested in the upcoming game Quake from Id Software,
they have announced that the sound code would be done themselves and that it
would not rely on interrupts.  "This is a good thing", they said.  What this
means is that it should not have any problems running under most DOS
compatible platforms.  Id is also planning on porting the game to Windows 95
and OS/2 (and I believe Linux as well).

  Whaddayou know, this post had something to do with games!  Go figure!


Rob Vanden Heuvel

P.S. Just to avoid the question, Quake is due out on Dec 10/95.  There is NO
Beta available (and won't be for many months).  It is a Doom-like game but
will be true 3-D _including_ the characters themselves!  Check out 
alt.games.quake but don't ask any questions until you've read the "FAQ".