It should use 41 cells then at least - the big bubble comes for free! The weird part of the counting is that 40 cells are consumed the moment the *ball* comes out - so the gun is basically depleted when tracers activate. It looks like the ball magically channels all 40 units back into the gun - this also explains why tracers activate the very moment ball explodes, no matter how far it went.
It seems that all later versions of BFG use the ball impact coordinate as the source of secondary damage. Your wish is granted :))) To an extent... I'd rather wish a mod that leaves wall-hit marks; clearly the original engine could handle it without slow-down - it's the same count for green radiation effect sprites. Tracers math is a bit ... redundant and computationally obusive. To emit 360 degrees you need to do 4 times the described procedure - which is the most (I guess) obusive part of the game to begin with. That's why explosions are usually computed as simple distance check per target, not the tracer intersection. In other words, the original BFG design isn't just weird and non-intuitive to wield. It was also extremely ineffective to compute - which isn't typical of the Doom optimizations genius.
@@MidnightMechanic In Legen Doom mod,there's actually a BFG that shoots BFG Projectile and instead the tracers coming from the player,it actually comes from the projectile itself when it made contact on something.
Arsaja Check out the classic X-Mas Doom 2 WAD by Simply Silly Software. Actually, there a couple of Christmas themed WADS and Megawads for Doom out there.
As a hardcore Doom player, I confess I already knew how the BFG worked, but I was so sure that your explanation would be awesome that I simply couldn't skip this video. Totally worth it.
Yeah I was always really confused when I could hit a baron point-blank and kill them, but the same projectile from far off did nothing. I figured that it was some sort of severe damage fall-off, but turns out the BFG just has 40 invisible death-lasers that you just have to be close enough to take advantage of. 😆
But Decino already showed his hand...twice. Once during Hell Revealed 2's MAP 09: The Siege II (ruclips.net/video/AowGAIRHVEQ/видео.html), the other when he was playing Serious Sam: The First Encounter - 10: Metropolis (ruclips.net/video/KDQ3zXsimVM/видео.html).
I used to think this gun was severely underpowered. Then I realized that this was not the "fire and forget" kind of weapon. I was not a strategic FPS player back in the day. Didn't know about the angling tracers though, I was wondering how people one-shotted the Spiderdemon. Nice homage to it in the Doom 2016 final boss fight.
Just to be clear, the origin for the BFG rays is chosen based on the position the player has when the big blob hits its target or a wall, but the general direction of the rays is calculated from the direction the player had when initially firing the BFG. No matter what direction you're facing after firing the weapon, the base direction of the rays is already decided, but you can still manipulate the final origin of the rays. Taking this into account, that's how you can manipulate the ray direction to your advantage. I really wish other more modern games had weapons with as interesting mechanics.
I think that 'mechanic' existed because of limitations back then? They couldn't make the tracers originate from the ball and lock on to targets. Whereas now that is possible in the modern games.
@@L3ON360Z The way it works in classic Doom is way more strategic and interesting than the super rocket launcher they turned it into in all of the later Doom games.
@@meyes5671 it's more like a super rocket launcher in the original games. There was so much ammo with the backpack that you could spam 15 of them. Pretty much no one knew about the 40 tracers that Decino explained. In Eternal especially the ammo is very scarce and the best way to use it is to fire not at enemies, to let the tendrils obliterate everything in line of sight.
@@L3ON360Z Just because some people didn't know about the mechanic doesn't mean it never existed. You need more opportunities to fire the BFG in classic Doom because it requires some precision and planning to use effectively. It isn't just a screen nuke.
@@asabovesobelow1362 exactly, it's the same as shooting a rocket and then switching to SSG. Only the damage calculation is different. Also, the way tracers are locked to the initial direction that the player faces upon firing makes no sense. I feel it was a very roundabout way of making a large AoE that wouldn't hurt the player.
@PLEASENINTENDONT that rules! i was wondering how the video was for ppl who didn't already know how it works & it looks like what happens is you become an expert on the gun in 5 minutes or less
There's another way that the silent BFG trick can be activated, too: by dropping off a ledge, and hitting the ground, Doomguy makes the same "oof" sound, which also silences the startup sound. So if you don't have a wall to push on nearby, but you can drop off a ledge (and you know what you're doing), you can use the trick to your advantage in this way, as well.
In classic doom, the BFG also to me is a "Get Out Of Hell Free Card." And so I'd never actually use it as no doubt something even more dangerous might be around the corner...
A shotgun that is for some reason activated by its previous projectile hitting a wall. Really feels like a bug that they just went with because it was cool.
Banned? It's not cheating. If the server is vanilla, that's their problem, most multiplayer-oriented ports have more robust sound systems where the silent BFG trick doesn't work.
Are you fucking kidding me? Sounds like parts of the multiplayer community have become worse than I expected when I left zdaemon in 2007. Sure, lamers will call the BFG unfair and overpowered, but once you do your homework (like watching this video) and keep up one will largely appreciate the dynamic the BFG adds to most maps.
The strategy I love the most is at 3:17 which I use all the time when I have the BFG. To plan ahead and to know which direction to face, bring up the automap.
Good they have moved away from that multiple colored blasts seen in pre-release versions. It was hard to see the enemies and it wasn't that really über weapon we know, more like an upgraded plasmagun. Going technically makes really more sense of this weapon usage. JC is a genius we are lucky to have. Thanks for the video.
GREAT explanation! WOW. I'd always simply understood it as being "After projectile hits, things within your field of view will also be hit" but your explanation is so much better and more useful.
3:55 The BFG projectile spread would be later used in many Doom mods, including Complex Doom Clusterf- The BFG 2704's alternate fire would use this kind of attack aside from the regular primary BFG attack in this mod.
Really enjoy these analysis videos. Doom is a perfect example of a game that's easy to pick up and difficult to master, as there are so many intricate details with the weapons, armor, enemy behavior, etc.
I’ve watched this video so many times. I don’t know why I’m just so in awe of how this thing works. Thanks for your videos. They’re entertaining, informative and your voice helps me sleep for some reason
Didn't know the math behind the tracers before, so that's a fun fact to learn today. Oddly enough, it was actually in Doom 3 that I first learned how the targeting system works specifically, since they have a PDA file on the weapon. Previously in classic Doom, I just presumed the BFG was merely scattershot but replaying it after 3, I noticed the mechanics were the same.
I am a Doom veteran, I started in 1993 and have never stopped. I have played just about every version of Doom in existence. From the original 1993 PC release to the Snes, 32X, Jaguar, 3DO, Sega Saturn, Sony PlayStation, Gameboy Advance, countless wads, Original Xbox *Doom 3 collectors, XBLA (Xbox 360, Xbox One, Xbox One X), Doomsday Kickstarter, Brutal Doom, and so on. So when I say I am a veteran I truly mean it. I found this video to be very well made and it actually taught me something new. I have never really understood how the BFG works, I had somewhat of a grasp on it but not at the level shown here. Very thorough and enjoyable throughout, thank you. I did know about the neat tricks you can do with the BFG especially popping someone as they round the corner. That my friend is one of my favorite things to do. Especially when you're playing someone that has no idea what you did. After I use it on someone, I teach them afterwards. I do have one question that has me scratching my head. How did you get the BFG to fire off rapid shots like that? I know you can send out a few successive shots but you made it look like an automatic weapon. Sure the cyclical rate was slower than the plasma but wow...I want to do that. ;) Subscribed!
No need for a silencer for your BFG9000 in Doom Deathmatches when you can "uhn" your way through people with it! I wish I knew that a few years back... Nice video as always, Decino!
I like to think of the silent bfg trick in a real life situation. I like to imagine a marine yelling really loud to try and mask the sound of the giant gun hes holding firing. Like yelling to cover a shotgun going off.
Very well explained, awesome video! One of my favorite BFG tricks is when going for 100% kills on Alien Vendetta Map 17: Nukefall. The ending room is filled with two lines of Archviles facing away from you. So you can shoot several BFG projectiles straight down the middle while they can't hear you, then run into the room to hit them with the tracers.
on "unorthodox damage calculation" It seems that intention was to have 40*15 traces, but instead 40 angles deal 1 to 8 damage 15 times, as if you fire that 15 small damage traces instantly on the same line I imagine there might be some thought like, "we can double the angle amount but halve the number of damage ticks on the line" or maybe some other logic was intended
This is a really helpful video. The BFG can be very confusing to use, and this helps a lot, especially the precise timing of when the tracers are emitted, and how their angle is determined.
10/10 video, a while back I thought the BFG just made a huge explosion killing nearby demons. edit: the sprite of the bfg ball flying through the air to annihilate hell itself is beautiful
Your editing has always been great in your videos, especially when you make your own "cutscenes" for skits or gags, but this video in particular still feels the best to me, like a special early video for a youtuber you like having a specific episode that holds up no matter how old it gets
Interesting that the tracers coming from the player’s view for the classic BFG morphed into the “energy tendrils” originating from the projectile itself for every iteration of the BFG from Quake 2’s BFG 10K onward. Definitely more intuitive to understand and logical given the fact that the extra damage should come from the projectile and not the player’s eyes. lol
Ive always wondered if that was the original intention. Like the blast was supposed to come from the impact point but they uses the character's location instead and just decided to roll with it in the end.
@@danielpope6498 Well the original BFG 9000 was supposed to fire 80 individual plasma projectiles in a massive wave, but that was scrapped both because it significantly slowed down performance and also "looked like Christmas" since it was a bunch of green and red projectiles. So it was modified into a single projectile, though the idea of a spread of projectiles coming from the player probably lived on in the form of the "tracers" coming from the gun. Then that was modified into the tendrils seen in later BFG projectiles.
Excellent video! I've long wondered this myself. The only thing I wish could've been a little bit clearer is in the strats section, that the tracers are not emitted based on the player's line of sight, but along the original projectiles trajectory. I know you mention it briefly in the beginning but it's easy to miss, so at the part where you kill enemies behind your back I had to go back in the video in order to make sense of it, so maybe a small visual aid could've been really useful. I'm aware the video is from 4 years ago, but I thought I'd still offer my 2 cents xD
BFG is a great weapon with interesting mechanic, this video helped me understand it - no doubt. I don't know what is more satisfying killing bunch of weaklings with occasional gibing of them or make those tracers hit one big asshole and annihilate him with precision. So much more depth than you would think to this ultimate weapon... But man ...my heart belongs to other weapon. You know what i hate? bullshit hitscanners. You know how i love to deal with them ? With bullshit hitscan. Chaingun for the win. Amazing sniping weapon, solid DPS, stuns targets, cool sound and animation, killer fire rate and the ammunition is almost always there thanks to bullshit hitscanners that you can obliterate. And there is also SSG. Aaaaand plasma.... You know what? It might be shocking but i think Doom weapons or awesome guys....
Personally, my main weapon would be the original Shotgun. Tight spread, great for sniping over long distances and uses less ammo overall than the Chaingun which requires a lot of clicking for those accurate snipes. Super Shotgun is way too scattered for reliable snipes.
Yeah, all Doom's weapons are unique and useful in their own way! ... Except for the pistol. Nobody loves the pistol. After playing some Eviternity, I find the normal one unbearable, lol.
@Agent 005 Isn't there a Pokemon more useless than Magikarp and it doesn't get any better over time? Because the Fists are definitely Magikarp... saying the pistol is that without the evolution is... I dunno...
Just gaming and not knowing much about what was happening, I imagined that ball zapping enemies as it went by, and the delay was like the samurai cliche but sci-fi plasma coming from the inside.
Definitely one of the better explanations I have seen for the BFG. I especially like the hallway of Imps at the end to highlight how the BFG rewards understanding its mechanics.
Great stuff! Also, using the "umpph" to silence BFG with falling and landing is very valuable tactic since it is not as obvious to your opponent as wall push. It works very well when you make your opponent chase you through a place where you can perform this trick while the chase is on. You can then turn around and fire BFG at your unexpecting opponent's face (pikachu face). Dwango 5 Map 1 is probably the best map to utilize this trick since it has so many ledges with enough height for the "umph" to trigger. Surprisingly, it is also a lot more stable to perform the fall "umph" than wall press since you don't have to worry about screwing it up as long as you time the shooting just before you land on the floor. With the wall push however, if you are not precise, will easily bleed the sound. The wall push is easier said than done when you are running and dodging full speed simultaneously. Some of the modern source ports used to be more lax with wall push precision compared to the original doom2.exe. As for the video itself, unless this was obvious to everyone, I think you could have showed a top-down animation to demystify the fact that the angle where the beams will fly forward is not related to the current player viewing angle in any way (or maybe there's some more nuances in the code!). Instead, the angle of the beams get locked when the projectile spawns. 3:18 shows this in effect.
I love your channel. I learn something new every video. You have no idea how glad I am to have found somebody who shows such love and detail to every aspect of one of my favorite games ever. Thank you!
Hey there- a few days back I watched this and said my thanks. And then today when I did the Wolfenstein secret levels for Doom 2, I decided to try out the BFG the way you desrcibed in the vid. Totally worked! The cyberdemon went down in 3 hits actually, but that's way better than the 6 or so hits I did in that one level of Ultimate Doom, Ep.4, and there the BFG didn't even kill and I had to resort to other weapons. Thanks once more for the vid!
This vid gives me new understanding (and apprecistion) for the BFG. Well done :). Also; i 100% agree with Romero saying it would've looked like Christmas with 40 projectiles.
Wow... :O That part when BFG started to take down Imps even without shooting I thought you PRO triggered some type of glitch but watching later to be sure I understood properly I understood... I never have come to it to shoot several BFG balls to cause several massacres in the other room because of all those hits of BFG in another room. Your videos may help me to become a real PRO in my own country where anyone barely even plays some old Doom stuff. :D
I just love you videos, they're always so interesting and cool and well put together! Also your accent and voice is super smooth and that matters quite a bit! Also also, when you go through the coding is my favorite part of every video, I just love the explanations. Keep rocking on and make sure to stay safe okay!
Neat! I always wondered how that gun worked. The semi-random damage explains why I always thought the BFG was lackluster. But I guess I was just using it wrong the entire time. lol
Neat. I watched your "demo" on your webpage a while ago, which tried to explain the tracer logic, but it didn't really "click" until now, great explanation. As a programmer, I like when you reference and examplify the source code. That very last gameplay video that highlights the tracer's "delayed effect", is that from a real map, or did you create it to show how it can be used? Anyway, happy to be a supporter, keep up the great work!
Honestly I find that the bfg is really temperamental in original doom if you’re playing a vanilla port (due to the rng and block map oversight), sometimes it will clear half of a room in one shot, other times it hardly seems to do anything, when I play it, the bfg is mostly becomes the archvile gun.
Great explanation really raising my doom skill, thank you! Two things I still deduct by personal observation: a) I believe that a BFG spray ray is absorbed by the first target it hits. It won't damage more than one enemy. b) Naturally the center direction of the spray triangle is identical with the direction of flight of the green BFG orb, not the direction the player looked in while pulling the trigger.
I know pretty much every single bit of Doom mechanics but I can't stop watching your videos, they are so amazingly well made. Thank you so much for putting such a great amount of work into these. Keep it up ❤️
![BLACK BAG - Official Trailer [HD] - Only in Theaters March 14](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Du0Xp8WX_7I/mqdefault.jpg)
I erroneously used i=1 for the first angle calculation. i=0 results 45, not 47.25.
This is unforgivable
Just learning about this stuff in my CS class and it hurt me to see that lol
#HackFraudry
Makes sence, actually, because of 90 degrees FOV
@@AzrielPSX lol
The green ball is just a distraction for Doomguy to unleash his secret technique: 40 exploding mind bullets.
Nani?
That’s telekinesis, kyle
I second this
Piss bullets
NO ONE CAN JUST DEFLECT THE BFG SPLASH
"Lets take a step back"
[steps back in the game]
Little things like that, I appreciate.
i like the flashback to the RNG
I added a time stamp for it.. oh well I wasn’t original
0:46
I hate it but it's so good
I appreciated the "chizzled bum" line
Also makes sense why it takes 40 cells per shot. It's an energy shotgun, that's a lot more precise.
It should use 41 cells then at least - the big bubble comes for free!
The weird part of the counting is that 40 cells are consumed the moment the *ball* comes out - so the gun is basically depleted when tracers activate.
It looks like the ball magically channels all 40 units back into the gun - this also explains why tracers activate the very moment ball explodes, no matter how far it went.
@@ПавелКорешков-ь4г I'd like to see a mod that makes the energy ball the tracer source instead of the player, seems a lot more believable.
It seems that all later versions of BFG use the ball impact coordinate as the source of secondary damage. Your wish is granted :))) To an extent...
I'd rather wish a mod that leaves wall-hit marks; clearly the original engine could handle it without slow-down - it's the same count for green radiation effect sprites.
Tracers math is a bit ... redundant and computationally obusive. To emit 360 degrees you need to do 4 times the described procedure - which is the most (I guess) obusive part of the game to begin with. That's why explosions are usually computed as simple distance check per target, not the tracer intersection. In other words, the original BFG design isn't just weird and non-intuitive to wield. It was also extremely ineffective to compute - which isn't typical of the Doom optimizations genius.
@@MidnightMechanic In Legen Doom mod,there's actually a BFG that shoots BFG Projectile and instead the tracers coming from the player,it actually comes from the projectile itself when it made contact on something.
69 likes
that 'lets take a step back' made me laugh more than it should have
Susanoomon Uses A BFG Blast In Digimon Battle Spirit 2!It Murders Cherubimon Evil IN ONE SHOT!!!!
Romero: It looked like Christmas.
Fair point Romero, fair point.
Your photo hit me with nostalgia.
"Christmas" and "Doom" are two words that should never be used in one sentence XD
Arsaja Check out the classic X-Mas Doom 2 WAD by Simply Silly Software. Actually, there a couple of Christmas themed WADS and Megawads for Doom out there.
@@Arsaja if "Christmas" and "Doom" weren't ever meant to coincide, they wouldn't have added the Megasphere.
no wonder why Doomguy yelled fucking christmas when Caco appeared
0:46 Let's take a step back
*Literally takes a step back*
Masterful.
I Am even more unoriginal
Haha!
IM THE SAME PERSON HOW DARE YOU
When you see that yellow thumbnail you know some knowledge is about to be dropped
My thoughts exactly xD
Fax bout to be dropped
N O L E G E
I'm making all my thumbnails from now on yellow
Yeah but where will this info take you in life?
i kinda expected an explanation of the mechanical marvels of the BFG, teaching me how to build my own. But this video still didnt disappoint.
As a hardcore Doom player, I confess I already knew how the BFG worked, but I was so sure that your explanation would be awesome that I simply couldn't skip this video. Totally worth it.
*breaths in* neRd
Yea
Yeah I was always really confused when I could hit a baron point-blank and kill them, but the same projectile from far off did nothing. I figured that it was some sort of severe damage fall-off, but turns out the BFG just has 40 invisible death-lasers that you just have to be close enough to take advantage of. 😆
0:51 hand reveal everyone. 0/10 Was expecting an imp behind the screen
If only that RGB keyboard lighting was green, like the BFG projectile. :)
He's wearing a hyperrealistic human hand glove.
Decino's not Doom Guy? Mind blown.
Nice monitor, my cheapo 144hz club buddy.
But Decino already showed his hand...twice. Once during Hell Revealed 2's MAP 09: The Siege II (ruclips.net/video/AowGAIRHVEQ/видео.html), the other when he was playing Serious Sam: The First Encounter - 10: Metropolis (ruclips.net/video/KDQ3zXsimVM/видео.html).
“Let’s take a step back” nearly killed me.
Love the vids dude - keep em coming :)
Wow I've been playing Doom for 15 years and I never realized that I actually never knew exactly how the BFG worked
It's very counterintuitive!
I used to think this gun was severely underpowered. Then I realized that this was not the "fire and forget" kind of weapon. I was not a strategic FPS player back in the day.
Didn't know about the angling tracers though, I was wondering how people one-shotted the Spiderdemon. Nice homage to it in the Doom 2016 final boss fight.
You have to push the shot in with some weapons in Doom. SSG is the same deal. The closer you score the more you score.
@@1pcfredhey how are you, it’s been 3 years
Just to be clear, the origin for the BFG rays is chosen based on the position the player has when the big blob hits its target or a wall, but the general direction of the rays is calculated from the direction the player had when initially firing the BFG. No matter what direction you're facing after firing the weapon, the base direction of the rays is already decided, but you can still manipulate the final origin of the rays. Taking this into account, that's how you can manipulate the ray direction to your advantage.
I really wish other more modern games had weapons with as interesting mechanics.
Some shmups have got to have this
I think that 'mechanic' existed because of limitations back then? They couldn't make the tracers originate from the ball and lock on to targets. Whereas now that is possible in the modern games.
@@L3ON360Z
The way it works in classic Doom is way more strategic and interesting than the super rocket launcher they turned it into in all of the later Doom games.
@@meyes5671 it's more like a super rocket launcher in the original games. There was so much ammo with the backpack that you could spam 15 of them. Pretty much no one knew about the 40 tracers that Decino explained.
In Eternal especially the ammo is very scarce and the best way to use it is to fire not at enemies, to let the tendrils obliterate everything in line of sight.
@@L3ON360Z
Just because some people didn't know about the mechanic doesn't mean it never existed.
You need more opportunities to fire the BFG in classic Doom because it requires some precision and planning to use effectively. It isn't just a screen nuke.
god this gun is so hard to explain concisely, great job man
It works like a big powerful shotgun.
@@asabovesobelow1362 exactly, it's the same as shooting a rocket and then switching to SSG. Only the damage calculation is different. Also, the way tracers are locked to the initial direction that the player faces upon firing makes no sense. I feel it was a very roundabout way of making a large AoE that wouldn't hurt the player.
@@katherine2596 Yeah, I too think it was a "safe AoE" effect. Couldn't they just... make another explosion type?
@PLEASENINTENDONT that rules! i was wondering how the video was for ppl who didn't already know how it works & it looks like what happens is you become an expert on the gun in 5 minutes or less
I remember Joel asking about this a lot during his Doom mapping contest. Someone should send this video to him.
4:21 lol cyberdemon shot in the cyberballs
Lmao
HEY I HAD TO STAY IN THE HOSPITAL
@@gipsydanger5802 then don't mess with a big fucking gun
@@WeeGail6 yeah in Hdoom
@@gipsydanger5802 do not mention that you do not get to have heaven
There's another way that the silent BFG trick can be activated, too: by dropping off a ledge, and hitting the ground, Doomguy makes the same "oof" sound, which also silences the startup sound. So if you don't have a wall to push on nearby, but you can drop off a ledge (and you know what you're doing), you can use the trick to your advantage in this way, as well.
When you think about it, the BFG is a kind of shotgun. It promotes riskier play rather than the get out of jail free card that it is in Doom2016.
In classic doom, the BFG also to me is a "Get Out Of Hell Free Card."
And so I'd never actually use it as no doubt something even more dangerous might be around the corner...
A shotgun that is for some reason activated by its previous projectile hitting a wall. Really feels like a bug that they just went with because it was cool.
well, in doom2016, atleast you only have 3 shots instead of 15 (with backpack)
It's always been like that though. The catch is it's limited ammo in both instances.
@@Sonicracer100 Ammo rune 2 drops a whole lot of BFG ammo
That keyboard light turning on while talking about the bgf trigger was asmr af! Great analysis as all of them.
also oofing when firing BFG is easy way to get banned from Doom multiplayer server, hehe
Banned? It's not cheating. If the server is vanilla, that's their problem, most multiplayer-oriented ports have more robust sound systems where the silent BFG trick doesn't work.
@@Xeotroid Zdaemon has an option for silent BFG in server settings I think.
@Laki Zandronum does too.
Are you fucking kidding me? Sounds like parts of the multiplayer community have become worse than I expected when I left zdaemon in 2007.
Sure, lamers will call the BFG unfair and overpowered, but once you do your homework (like watching this video) and keep up one will largely appreciate the dynamic the BFG adds to most maps.
I don't think sounds are overrided now, most source ports have separate channels and, I am really sure, can handle more sounds at once.
The strategy I love the most is at 3:17 which I use all the time when I have the BFG. To plan ahead and to know which direction to face, bring up the automap.
"It looks like christmas."
Cries 'SPREAD THE BLOOD ACROSS THE WALLS, FALALALA LALA LA!' as he murders demons
#Deck the halls with the bowels of the unholy, falalalaa, la la la laaa#
DECK THE HALLS WITH BLOODY CORPSES, FALALALALA LALA LALA!
Tis the season to be gory
Good they have moved away from that multiple colored blasts seen in pre-release versions. It was hard to see the enemies and it wasn't that really über weapon we know, more like an upgraded plasmagun.
Going technically makes really more sense of this weapon usage. JC is a genius we are lucky to have.
Thanks for the video.
Andy Makhauser guess what that gun is used in other mods and it’s op I think it called BFG2704
Gumi megpoid K9 2704 was the original number set that was gonna be used for the BFG, also!
No, it was actually stronger in its original design and more versatile and easier.
Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas, everywhere I shoot
GREAT explanation! WOW. I'd always simply understood it as being "After projectile hits, things within your field of view will also be hit" but your explanation is so much better and more useful.
0:46 🤣👍 Love you're sense of humor
rattle head I missed that!! Smooth lol
Better than nobody memes.
I love your profile picture
3:55 The BFG projectile spread would be later used in many Doom mods, including Complex Doom Clusterf-
The BFG 2704's alternate fire would use this kind of attack aside from the regular primary BFG attack in this mod.
Really enjoy these analysis videos. Doom is a perfect example of a game that's easy to pick up and difficult to master, as there are so many intricate details with the weapons, armor, enemy behavior, etc.
I’ve watched this video so many times. I don’t know why I’m just so in awe of how this thing works.
Thanks for your videos. They’re entertaining, informative and your voice helps me sleep for some reason
Didn't know the math behind the tracers before, so that's a fun fact to learn today. Oddly enough, it was actually in Doom 3 that I first learned how the targeting system works specifically, since they have a PDA file on the weapon.
Previously in classic Doom, I just presumed the BFG was merely scattershot but replaying it after 3, I noticed the mechanics were the same.
Extremely over-simplified: “The True Super Shotgun”
I am a Doom veteran, I started in 1993 and have never stopped. I have played just about every version of Doom in existence. From the original 1993 PC release to the Snes, 32X, Jaguar, 3DO, Sega Saturn, Sony PlayStation, Gameboy Advance, countless wads, Original Xbox *Doom 3 collectors, XBLA (Xbox 360, Xbox One, Xbox One X), Doomsday Kickstarter, Brutal Doom, and so on. So when I say I am a veteran I truly mean it.
I found this video to be very well made and it actually taught me something new. I have never really understood how the BFG works, I had somewhat of a grasp on it but not at the level shown here. Very thorough and enjoyable throughout, thank you. I did know about the neat tricks you can do with the BFG especially popping someone as they round the corner. That my friend is one of my favorite things to do. Especially when you're playing someone that has no idea what you did. After I use it on someone, I teach them afterwards. I do have one question that has me scratching my head. How did you get the BFG to fire off rapid shots like that? I know you can send out a few successive shots but you made it look like an automatic weapon. Sure the cyclical rate was slower than the plasma but wow...I want to do that. ;)
Subscribed!
God I love these videos where you go in depth of Doom's mechanics. So much fun to learn how everything works.
"His chiseled bum," wigging out surrounded by pinkies, and dancing Doomguy: high-points.
the virgin decino the chad cyberdemon
No need for a silencer for your BFG9000 in Doom Deathmatches when you can "uhn" your way through people with it!
I wish I knew that a few years back...
Nice video as always, Decino!
The "Oomph!" sound better be in DooM Eternal.
I like to think of the silent bfg trick in a real life situation. I like to imagine a marine yelling really loud to try and mask the sound of the giant gun hes holding firing. Like yelling to cover a shotgun going off.
@@ManDudeMcHumanGuy or coughing to hide a fart
Honestly, seeing classic, 16 bit Doom behind that nice monitor and glowing keyboard made me appreciate how timeless it is.
Doom isn't 16-bit unless you're playing on the Super Nintendo.
Very well explained, awesome video! One of my favorite BFG tricks is when going for 100% kills on Alien Vendetta Map 17: Nukefall. The ending room is filled with two lines of Archviles facing away from you. So you can shoot several BFG projectiles straight down the middle while they can't hear you, then run into the room to hit them with the tracers.
"You got the BFG9000! Oh, Yes!"
My cause is just ... my will is strong ... and my gun is very, very large!
fail...
@@1pcfred
The Bullets are white liquid.
@@Marvin_Aethos and large means long
lol a year later and I get a heart❤
I already know. But there is no way I'm missing out on hearing your voice/explaination.
Top quality explanations of how it works down to the code and even wild demonstrations of the tracer calls with the parallel long hallway of imps
These analysis videos really help out. I've played a decent amount of DOOM, but not enough to know high level skills or tricks like those shown here.
I look at Decino's videos the same way the Doomguy from the Comic (and Videogame too btw) looks at his Bfg: it's always a joy to find a new one
on "unorthodox damage calculation"
It seems that intention was to have 40*15 traces, but instead 40 angles deal 1 to 8 damage 15 times, as if you fire that 15 small damage traces instantly on the same line
I imagine there might be some thought like, "we can double the angle amount but halve the number of damage ticks on the line" or maybe some other logic was intended
It rather seems like it's an attempt at faking a bell curve with regards to the damage value.
@@StefanReich with non-true random? I mean yeah, probably, but why?
@@TheNethIafin Yeah, and with limited CPU time too... and without another lookup table
This is a really helpful video. The BFG can be very confusing to use, and this helps a lot, especially the precise timing of when the tracers are emitted, and how their angle is determined.
10/10 video, a while back I thought the BFG just made a huge explosion killing nearby demons.
edit: the sprite of the bfg ball flying through the air to annihilate hell itself is beautiful
The demonstration on 3:42 is really cool. Thank you very much for making this, I love your videos
I didn't know it was this crazy. Wow. Now all the crazy speedruns make more sense when the BFG destroys everyone in a room.
Your editing has always been great in your videos, especially when you make your own "cutscenes" for skits or gags, but this video in particular still feels the best to me, like a special early video for a youtuber you like having a specific episode that holds up no matter how old it gets
Interesting that the tracers coming from the player’s view for the classic BFG morphed into the “energy tendrils” originating from the projectile itself for every iteration of the BFG from Quake 2’s BFG 10K onward. Definitely more intuitive to understand and logical given the fact that the extra damage should come from the projectile and not the player’s eyes. lol
Ive always wondered if that was the original intention. Like the blast was supposed to come from the impact point but they uses the character's location instead and just decided to roll with it in the end.
@@danielpope6498 Well the original BFG 9000 was supposed to fire 80 individual plasma projectiles in a massive wave, but that was scrapped both because it significantly slowed down performance and also "looked like Christmas" since it was a bunch of green and red projectiles. So it was modified into a single projectile, though the idea of a spread of projectiles coming from the player probably lived on in the form of the "tracers" coming from the gun.
Then that was modified into the tendrils seen in later BFG projectiles.
Excellent video! I've long wondered this myself.
The only thing I wish could've been a little bit clearer is in the strats section, that the tracers are not emitted based on the player's line of sight, but along the original projectiles trajectory.
I know you mention it briefly in the beginning but it's easy to miss, so at the part where you kill enemies behind your back I had to go back in the video in order to make sense of it, so maybe a small visual aid could've been really useful.
I'm aware the video is from 4 years ago, but I thought I'd still offer my 2 cents xD
0:46 - Groan. But also, nice. But also, groan.
Such an awesome feeling to go back and re-watch these older videos of yours. Absolutely love your channel!!
0:51 that was a neat visual
Really good video for people who often misunderstand how the BFG actually works.
BFG is a great weapon with interesting mechanic, this video helped me understand it - no doubt. I don't know what is more satisfying killing bunch of weaklings with occasional gibing of them or make those tracers hit one big asshole and annihilate him with precision. So much more depth than you would think to this ultimate weapon...
But man ...my heart belongs to other weapon. You know what i hate? bullshit hitscanners. You know how i love to deal with them ? With bullshit hitscan. Chaingun for the win. Amazing sniping weapon, solid DPS, stuns targets, cool sound and animation, killer fire rate and the ammunition is almost always there thanks to bullshit hitscanners that you can obliterate. And there is also SSG. Aaaaand plasma.... You know what? It might be shocking but i think Doom weapons or awesome guys....
Personally, my main weapon would be the original Shotgun. Tight spread, great for sniping over long distances and uses less ammo overall than the Chaingun which requires a lot of clicking for those accurate snipes.
Super Shotgun is way too scattered for reliable snipes.
Yeah, all Doom's weapons are unique and useful in their own way!
...
Except for the pistol. Nobody loves the pistol. After playing some Eviternity, I find the normal one unbearable, lol.
@Agent 005
And the Pistol is the Joke Character?
Fists are the Lethal Joke Character. You just need to find the right powerup item for that member.
@Agent 005
Isn't there a Pokemon more useless than Magikarp and it doesn't get any better over time? Because the Fists are definitely Magikarp... saying the pistol is that without the evolution is... I dunno...
@Agent 005
There you go. The Pistol is the Farfetch'd.
Fists are Magikarp :D
0:42 nice shout out to Sunder's "The Furnace." What an epic map...
shout-out*
0:46 "Let's take a step back."
*proceed to backpedal in E1M1*
*groan*
I always get shivers when I use the BFG it's the best weapon in gaming history in my opinion
Either weapon is awesome!
3:42 I would’ve wished to see the end of this clip cuts out before we can see the entire hall of demons become and entire Hall of bodies
Oh my god I just realized... 40 ammo for 40 tracers, I never put that together until now.
THE SCIENCE! Behind my favorite weapon of all time......Beautiful
Just gaming and not knowing much about what was happening, I imagined that ball zapping enemies as it went by, and the delay was like the samurai cliche but sci-fi plasma coming from the inside.
I'm impressed for how this work, and it's so smart! I've never thought the BFG work this way, I think was like a radius action or something
what?
I think this was the best explanation of the BFG I've seen so far. Really informative and nicely done video, good job man!
That's why i always used the Plasma rifle against Cyberdermons when they were far and surrounded by other monsters.
Even knowing all this beforehand, what you did with the imp room at the end was clever and surprising!
Really thought you'd do how infighting works after you said it a few videos ago. But this is great tho props for explaining the bfg in layman's terms
I wonder how many people will notice your wallrun to outrace the BFG ball at 1:00.
I don't think there's another in-game weapon way too complex as the BFG 9000 and still being badass
Definitely one of the better explanations I have seen for the BFG. I especially like the hallway of Imps at the end to highlight how the BFG rewards understanding its mechanics.
3:19 - uncannily reminds me of Yoda's entrance into Palpatine's chambers in Revenge of the Sith.
Great stuff! Also, using the "umpph" to silence BFG with falling and landing is very valuable tactic since it is not as obvious to your opponent as wall push. It works very well when you make your opponent chase you through a place where you can perform this trick while the chase is on. You can then turn around and fire BFG at your unexpecting opponent's face (pikachu face). Dwango 5 Map 1 is probably the best map to utilize this trick since it has so many ledges with enough height for the "umph" to trigger. Surprisingly, it is also a lot more stable to perform the fall "umph" than wall press since you don't have to worry about screwing it up as long as you time the shooting just before you land on the floor. With the wall push however, if you are not precise, will easily bleed the sound. The wall push is easier said than done when you are running and dodging full speed simultaneously. Some of the modern source ports used to be more lax with wall push precision compared to the original doom2.exe.
As for the video itself, unless this was obvious to everyone, I think you could have showed a top-down animation to demystify the fact that the angle where the beams will fly forward is not related to the current player viewing angle in any way (or maybe there's some more nuances in the code!). Instead, the angle of the beams get locked when the projectile spawns. 3:18 shows this in effect.
Killing enemies behind your back, oh BFG!
Its a lifesaver on after that elevator you showed.
I love your channel. I learn something new every video. You have no idea how glad I am to have found somebody who shows such love and detail to every aspect of one of my favorite games ever. Thank you!
Hey there- a few days back I watched this and said my thanks. And then today when I did the Wolfenstein secret levels for Doom 2, I decided to try out the BFG the way you desrcibed in the vid. Totally worked! The cyberdemon went down in 3 hits actually, but that's way better than the 6 or so hits I did in that one level of Ultimate Doom, Ep.4, and there the BFG didn't even kill and I had to resort to other weapons.
Thanks once more for the vid!
This vid gives me new understanding (and apprecistion) for the BFG. Well done :). Also; i 100% agree with Romero saying it would've looked like Christmas with 40 projectiles.
Wow... :O That part when BFG started to take down Imps even without shooting I thought you PRO triggered some type of glitch but watching later to be sure I understood properly I understood... I never have come to it to shoot several BFG balls to cause several massacres in the other room because of all those hits of BFG in another room. Your videos may help me to become a real PRO in my own country where anyone barely even plays some old Doom stuff. :D
I just love you videos, they're always so interesting and cool and well put together!
Also your accent and voice is super smooth and that matters quite a bit!
Also also, when you go through the coding is my favorite part of every video, I just love the explanations.
Keep rocking on and make sure to stay safe okay!
My FBI agent is either happily watching along with me, or wondering why the fuck I’m watching this for probably the 56th time.
Neat! I always wondered how that gun worked. The semi-random damage explains why I always thought the BFG was lackluster. But I guess I was just using it wrong the entire time. lol
Neat. I watched your "demo" on your webpage a while ago, which tried to explain the tracer logic, but it didn't really "click" until now, great explanation. As a programmer, I like when you reference and examplify the source code. That very last gameplay video that highlights the tracer's "delayed effect", is that from a real map, or did you create it to show how it can be used?
Anyway, happy to be a supporter, keep up the great work!
It's a map I quickly made for the video.
I just love so much that you dig deep into the code to explain how things really work. Great job sir, you are making the world a better place.
That massacre of imps using just the tracers was so delicious!
There's nothing quite like plasma roasted Imps gibs for breakfast
"How does the BFG work?"
I thought it was a lore video but, this is just as good.
1:14 deep into the code?
Honestly I find that the bfg is really temperamental in original doom if you’re playing a vanilla port (due to the rng and block map oversight), sometimes it will clear half of a room in one shot, other times it hardly seems to do anything, when I play it, the bfg is mostly becomes the archvile gun.
I would really love to try out that original idea of the BFG. I wonder if there are any mods for it
MBF source ports restore it.
These videos are the most nerdy thing I've ever seen, but I'm so happy they exist. I'm watching them all.
You know you're a man of culture when you read the title as "The Big F***ing gun 900"
Excellent explanation and showcase of the weapon. Cheers mate. :)
The "pro strats" Doomguy animation was about 10 times funnier than it had any right to be.
Okay, I thought this was gonna be like those how do trains in GTA V work videos but when you actually went into the code, I loved it
4:00 Can you give me the link to the interview please.
5years.doomworld.com/interviews/johnromero/page3.shtml
Great explanation really raising my doom skill, thank you! Two things I still deduct by personal observation: a) I believe that a BFG spray ray is absorbed by the first target it hits. It won't damage more than one enemy. b) Naturally the center direction of the spray triangle is identical with the direction of flight of the green BFG orb, not the direction the player looked in while pulling the trigger.
I have developed a pavlovian reflex for this yellow background at this point
I know pretty much every single bit of Doom mechanics but I can't stop watching your videos, they are so amazingly well made. Thank you so much for putting such a great amount of work into these. Keep it up ❤️
Hey, u cant trick me, i watched Civvie's Doom movie review, there were no invisible BFG beams there >:-3
:3
The new movie sucked
They didn't even expload
This game is WAY deeper than I thought! Great video!
Wanna play Minecraft