Watch On Despite the relatively powerful computer compared to the 1992-era Intel 486 machines that originally ran Doom, the software environment was still limited. The team couldn't just upload every software dependency needed to build the game. Additionally, each hacking team had limited time slots to push and run code on the satellite, making attempts very precious and precluding any real-time input. This also meant that the team had to use Doom time demos of the first level.
Running Doom took two tries, with the first using Chocolate Doom , a source-faithful port that uses SDL as its graphics and sound backend, an OS-agnostic library with very few dependencies. It worked well enough, but it produced no graphical output, as the satellite didn't have a screen. And as Waage put it, even if it did, you'd need a really good telescope. At this point, all the team had was the final level text output with the percentage complete and enemies killed. It was nevertheless a good check that the code was running smoothly and unaffected by cosmic rays.
Since Waage and his imps wanted some graphical output, they pivoted to doomgeneric , a port of Doom designed to make porting to other systems easier. They then assigned graphical output to a virtual video card and took screenshots of the game. But then, how do you proudly display to the world that this particular Doom was in space? By using the satellite's camera images of Earth for the game's outdoor background, of course.
This clever idea came with a few problems of its own, as the really nice camera onboard the satellite produced images with far more resolution and bit depth than the game engine would take, so the team had to turn to an onboard AI model from another team that would resize and color-reduce the photographs to 8-bit files with relatively little color loss.
Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox.
Key considerations
- Investor positioning can change fast
- Volatility remains possible near catalysts
- Macro rates and liquidity can dominate flows
Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/video-games/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/video-games/doom-can-run-just-about-anywhere-including-space-hacker-recounts-tale-of-running-the-game-on-an-orbiting-satellite#main
- https://www.tomshardware.com
- AI-Powered Mobile Clinics Deliver Breast Cancer Screening to India’s Rural Communities
- Apple Mac Pro and Mac Mini clones launch with AMD Ryzen CPUs — perfect mini-PCs for those who love Apple's aesthetics but still need Windows or Linux
- Elon Musk’s SpaceX will reportedly receive $2 billion for Trump’s Golden Dome project — system to include up to 600 satellites to track fast-moving airborne tar
- NVIDIA Launches Open Models and Data to Accelerate AI Innovation Across Language, Biology and Robotics
- Early Black Friday PC and hardware deals — sales and deals on components, accessories, and 3D printers already live
Informational only. No financial advice. Do your own research.