[v0.5.3] ARGENT - The Streamlined Doom 4 Mod (2025)

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wtf is ARGENT?

In a nutshell, this modis Xaser's own spin on Neccronixis's nu-Doom weapon sprites. In contrast to the other big kids on the block (D4D, D4T, and Zion), ARGENT aims to be a bit more "old-school" in its goals, providing a slick set of smoothly-animated d44m weaponry without introducing a ton of game-changing mechanics. In addition, as of v0.4.x, it's powered by ZScript! Huzzah!

Some key features:

• All SP weapons from Doom-Notfour, quasi-faithfully translated and balanced for use against Doom's classic bestiary*.
• Weapon Mods!
• New powerups! Quad, Haste, and Regen are all toggle-able in the menu.
• Equipment! Rechargeable grenades! Eventually more stuff of the sort like siphons/holograms soon!
• A custom gib system for maximum "splooshiness"
• Several tweak flags for user customization, including the fabled "monsters always gib" setting.
• Gallons of polish (or litres if you prefer), particularly in the animation department.

[*all right, between this and the mods, you're a bit more powerful than standard Doomguy. But not gamebreakingly so.]

Stuff that's not yet done but on the list:

• Holograms n' Siphons -- Grenades are in, but that's not the end of it.
• Cool Crosshairs, complete with cooldown meters and all that jazz.
• Better Haste and Berserk powerups
• A lock-on indicator for the Rocket Launcher, which I keep forgetting to make for some reason.
• Misc tweaks and bugfixes (of course)
• A post-release expansion pack featuring reinterpreted versions of the MP-exclusive weapons... with mods!

Things that the mod does/will explicitly NOT feature:

• Glory Kills
• 100% new-Doom accuracy
• Enemy sprites or behavior changes (gibs being the exception)
• Randomization elements
• Incremental weapon/stat upgrades or currency systems
• Belching lava

As listed above, weapon mods (in the Doom 4 sense, not just the ZDoom sense) are a thing. To obtain, pick up a Mod Kit (replaces Backpack), use it from your inventory, and use your standard weapon select + fire/altfire keys to navigate the "menu". It's a pretty simple system that's designed to let you apply mods mid-combat without the stress of fumbling through a full-on menu; hopefully it's intuitive to match. ;P

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Hey, why should I play this instead of D4D/D4T?

'Cause you want to. Otherwise, play the other ones! :P

Seriously though, these guys have done a fantastic job, and I encourage folks to try out both mods and pick out which one they prefer. D4D and D4T are jam-packed with features and upgrades, while ARGENT carves out its own niche by focusing on keeping the gameplay a bit more old-school (hence "streamlined") with some ultra-smooth new animation work as the icing on the cake. Check out the videos at the bottom of this post if you're interested, or just give it a spin!

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Project Roadmap

The mod has mods now (... how meta), but there's still a few things to be done. Here's what we'll see on the near horizon:

• v0.1.x: Primary fires for all weapons; some things still incomplete (e.g. BFG ammotype).
• v0.2.x: One mod, chosen based on sprite availability and/or whim. Ha ha! I skipped this entirely.
• v0.3.x: Both mods, with a good ol' animated swap feature.
• v0.4.x: ZScript conversion. New SSG sprites. Bugfixes, because bugs happen!
• v0.5.x: Current version. Equipment system. Huzzah! Just the grenade for now, but there you go.
• v0.6.x: Kickass animated crosshairs. Also the rest of the equipment, probably!
• v1.0.0: Profit. /idgames release. Heat death of universe.
• v2.0.0: The Expansion, featuring the multiplayer-exclusive weapons (e.g. Static Rifle, Lightning Gun, etc.) included, with mod fires! Got some cool plans for these post-release... once the universe is rebooted, of course.

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Screenshots

These are slightly-dated, but still show off the goods:

The mapset shown is Back to Saturn X Episode 2. Ignore the purple plasma -- that's a palette thing thanks to my goofy choice of maps. :P

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Videos

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...Github?

Yep. I'm taking a page from Marty Kirra's book and doing something a little different this time: hosting the project on Github. Been using it a ton lately for various things and I figured it'd be a good way to let folks access the latest stuff without having to remember (i.e. always forget) to upload a new version every once in a while, plus I plan on using issue tracking and possibly pull requests -- handy stuff.

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Credits

• Hats off to Neccronixis, again, for his killer sprites. Without him this mod would be incredibly hard to imagine existing.
• Magic thanks to Kate for being awesome and catching a lot of silly bugs I made during testing n' development of a semi-secret thing. More on that in the future, perhaps... O:
• The D4D/D4T guys for making cool shit and being supportive of my own efforts. Keepin' the "rivalry" friendly. ;)
• Many more, which are mentioned in the credits.txt lump in the pk3. If I'm missing anyone, let me know!

That's all for now. Go forth and... uh... something!

Edited September 11, 2017 by Xaser: v0.5.3 update