Here is something you are not likely to read in the mountains of amazing reviews of Doom III – a $60 game should not take 2 hours of battle to install.
Like legions of other fans, I waited patiently the arrival of a new level of experience in PC games. I even avoided the rush of the first couple of days in a video game store and get my copy from a well supplied store. I finally got home with the precious box in my hands, opened and ploped the CD into my drive and…. nothing.
Two seconds into the installation sequence, Windows installer decides this game is too evil for me and just rolls over… dead. Windows soon follows and begs for a reboot.
Second attempt – I disable Norton Anti Virus in case it was the source of my problems… same result.
Third attempt – the README file on the CD make a vague reference to the fact that the windows installer will detect if the PC has an older version and will install a new version automatically. Like that was going to happen… An installation and a reboot later, I finally get past the first CD. This time, the installation hangs on the second CD. Back to the drawing board…
Fourth attempt – Copied all three CDs in separate directories (Disk1, Disk2 and Disk3) on my harddrive only to find out the installer cannot find the other folders after taking care of Disk1.
Fifth attempt – Copied all CDs in a single folder, disabled Norton AntiVirus just in case and…. finally ! The installation went through… that is, until it reminded me that I had to install DirectX9b.
A last reboot later, I can finally watch with anticipation Mars Station coming to life on my screen in all glorious colors, shadows and nightmarish screams.