Text Mode Doom

One of the features of SMMU is its text mode rendering feature. I used to have a different page here with some decent pictures but unfortunately it got lost. I took these pictures with my digital camera so the quality isnt too good unfortunately:

Doom II Titlescreen
An Imp
80x50 mode is a bit clearer than 80x25 mode
Some of the monsters come out better than others. This demon is quite nice for example.
To win the game you must kill me..

New! A video of SMMU in text mode is available on Youtube. It can be viewed below.

FAQ

What?
This is Doom running in DOS text mode.
You mean like aalib?
Well, not really. Aalib uses normal ascii characters. This uses the extended ascii mode "gradient" characters. Also, aalib is mono only. This is in colour.
How does it work?
The engine renders into a 320x200 internal buffer like it would normally. This then gets converted into either an 80x25 or 80x50 text mode display. The text colour is selected based on the hue of the colour (text mode has 16 different colours) and the gradient character to use is selected from the lightness value.
How can I play this?
First download SMMU. You need to use the DOS version, though. Then run like this:
smmu -textmode

WARNING : The characters on the text mode screen have a tendency to blink and flash a lot. I have managed to give myself a headache after playing for a while. If you are epileptic or have some other condition where you may be affected by this then do _not_ play it. At the same time, you use this at your own risk. If you have a fit and die after playing my port, it's not my fault.

Simon Howard