When it comes to Doom Eternal id Software is going big, with glorious 4K visuals and, apparently, a frame rate that maxes out at 1,000 frames per second – if you have the right hardware, of course.
In a recent video with IGN, id Software’s lead engine programmer, Billy Kahn, explained that big improvements with the id Tech 7 engine have made Doom Eternal’s “bigger explosions” and “vibrant-looking particle effects”, as well as this high frame rate, possible.
According to Kahn, with Doom Eternal “if you have the hardware right, it could hit 1,000 frames per second”.
Smooth visuals
He goes on to say that there’s “really no upper limit”, adding “I’ve had some hardware here locally that we built just for testing, where we had scenes running in the 400 frames per second."
That’s a big improvement on the 250 frames per second Kahn says was reached by the developer's id Tech 6 engine used in the development of Doom 2016.
The benefit of this maximization is that not only does it make Doom Eternal look good now, it means it’s future-proofed for years to come, allowing players to take the game along with them as they upgrade their hardware.
“It will scale with the hardware that you have,” Kahn says, “all the way from very old hardware all the way to the newest that may not even be on the market”.
This kind of scalability is great for those playing on PC, as it means they should see a performance boost with each upgrade they make. But it bodes well for console users too. id Software has previously said in an interview with Metro that it’d be “logical” for it to look to push into the next generation of consoles, Xbox Series X and PS5.
Kahn initially addresses the Xbox One X and PS4 Pro enhancements that have been made possible with id Tech 7 in the video, but he also adds that “id Tech 7 will run really nicely on the next-gen platforms“, hinting at some “really cool plans” for the future, without wishing to say anything too concrete.
Doom Eternal will be released on consoles and PC on March 20, so there’s really not long to wait. In our hands-on time with the game we were left thrilled by its “pure energy” and “frenetic action”, marking it as one of our most highly-anticipated games of 2020.
