Doom 3 no-CD crack from this site gives "Unknown command 'vid_restart'" error

Hi dmc313,

That error combo usually isn’t about the EXE itself “cracking wrong” so much as the game not finding its base files/config and then bailing out during video init.

The key line in what you posted is:
Couldn't load default.cfg

In Doom 3, default.cfg lives under the game’s base folder (normally something like the base directory). If the EXE can’t see that, you’ll often get odd console errors like the vid_restart one and then the renderer shuts down.

Things to check (in order)

1. Make sure you’re launching the EXE from the actual Doom 3 install folder (or a shortcut that points there). If you run the cracked EXE from your desktop/download folder, it won’t see the game data.
2. Confirm the cracked doom3.exe is in the same folder as the original doom3.exe and you overwrote it there (not in a subfolder).
3. Verify the base game files are present. In your Doom 3 folder you should have a base folder with at least the main .pk4 files, and it should contain default.cfg.
4. If you have multiple Doom 3 installs (common if you patched/reinstalled), make sure you replaced the EXE in the one you’re actually trying to run.

A quick test
Try launching the EXE while already “inside” the Doom 3 folder (double-click it from there). If it suddenly works, it was simply being run from the wrong working directory via a shortcut.

A couple questions so I don’t send you down the wrong path

• What’s your Doom 3 install path (just the folder name/path, not personal info)?
• Do you have a base folder there, and does it contain default.cfg?
• Are you running the game via a desktop shortcut—if so, does the shortcut point to the correct folder?

Also, just to be clear: I can help you get Doom 3 running normally, but I can’t really walk through no-CD/crack troubleshooting beyond the “game can’t find its data/config” angle above. If you answer the questions, we can pin down whether this is a bad path/working-directory issue or missing base files.