Modder gets ‘Doom’ running on ‘Doom’

Doom has been the go-to test for any hacked piece of software for a number of years, but now modder Kgsws has found a way to get Doom running on Doom.

Sharing the instructional video on his YouTube channel, Kgsws reveals there’s a code execution exploit inside the original DOS DOOM 2 executable, which can be used to run the more modern Chocolate Doom within the original (via Hackaday).

By manipulating the in-game memory, he’s able to insert whatever he likes into the game – including a second version of Doom, running independently from the first.

He then goes on to play Heretic within Doom before adding coloured blood, coloured lighting, palette-shifting, and fog to Doom.

“So umm… Isn’t this one of the biggest things to ever happen to vanilla Doom? Like, the biggest thing? How did this happen just like that? I cant believe this is real,” wrote one fan. “I remember that only a few short years ago we were making working calculators in Doom that displayed results in binary, and thinking how cool that was. Here we are, putting Doom inside Doom. Man, how far we’ve come. Doom mapping/modding community is nuts,” replied another.

The source code for some Doom on Doom action is available here.

Earlier this year, Doom designer and godfather of the first-person shooter, John Romero, announced that he will be releasing a memoir next year.

“To sum it up, it’s a positive story of gratitude for a life in games. Code and games changed the trajectory of my life. I cover everything in detail, including lessons learned,” said Romero. Doom Guy: Life in First Person is set to release January 10, 2023.

In other news, Dead Or Alive creator and Ninja Gaiden director Tomonobu Itagaki has announced the launch of Apex Game Studios, which will focus on NFTs and the Metaverse.