Game engine recreations and source ports

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Sometimes a full system emulator is overkill. This is especially true when a developer only wants to get one game (or a number of games that use the same engine) working. In that case, reimplementing that game alone would save more time than implementing the platform it runs on. These kinds of projects are common when abandonware has large communities; when the original developer has disbanded and can no longer support or update it, an effort is then made to get it running natively on newer versions of-- and/or entirely different-- operating systems and platforms.

  • When the developer only has a binary to work with (and not the source code), they recreate the engine rather than port it, hence the term game engine recreations (or alternatively game engine re-implementations). How the developers go about this process depends on their philosophy; they may opt to decompile the original executable and have their own program rely on the original until all of its functions have been remade, at which point the original binary is no longer needed. Alternatively, they can be remade based on a clean room design, in which the project implements the abstract features without having to disassemble the original, going by how components are expected to be used rather than how the game uses them. Some engines come about simply because they were inspired by the original game, and the programmer felt confident enough that no reverse engineering was necessary to make an engine that does the same thing.
  • In rare cases, games are released as open-source by the publishers themselves, allowing developers to perform a source port of the code. This skips the step of figuring out how the game works. The most common example that's often used is id Software's release of Doom in 1997. It led to so many ports being released that the community began to joke about what devices haven't gotten it running yet.

Some projects are implemented in ways that the original developer did not intend; for example, for a platform other than which publishers marketed it for. And they're not just limited to game engines either; Webamp is a JavaScript application that reimplements Winamp in the web browser. These projects are almost always open-source which also allows new programmers to fix bugs that could have been difficult to track down during development (alternatively, the bugs may be emulated to allow old mods to continue to safely exploit them). When most of the effort is on programming, the project will usually require the original game's assets (such as files in the installation directory or ROMs) until those ever get remade. This lets the developers claim they aren't infringing the game's copyrights since the player must obtain the original to use it; if the game is still being sold, this could allow the publisher to even earn revenue from the project.

For the sake of brevity, most of these projects often refer to themselves under some variety of fan remakes. The External links section has lists for a number of known and available projects.

On Linux downloading and using game engines is easy with Luxtorpeda - a Steam Play compatibility tool (like Proton) that allows you to run games from Steam using various different game engines and reimplementations.

Contents

Multi game engine

Name Operating System(s) Latest Version Libretro Core Active Recommended Supported game(s)
Action-adventure (3rd-person)
OpenTomb       git Tomb Raider 1–5
OpenLara[N 1]             git ~ Tomb Raider 1–4
Adventure
ScummVM Multi-platform 2.8.1 Adventure games and RPGs (LucasArts, Sierra, Activision, Humongous & more. Over 250 games.)
FPS
BuildGDX       Website Blood, Duke Nukem 3D, Shadow Warrior, Powerslave/Exhumed, Redneck Rampage, Redneck Rampage Rides Again, Witchaven, Witchaven II, TekWar, Legend of the Seven Paladins
openDarkEngine     git Thief 1-2, System Shock 2
Raze       git Duke Nukem 3D, Blood, Redneck Rampage, Shadow Warrior and Exhumed/Powerslave, Nam, WW2 GI
EDuke32
VoidSW [N 2]
        Website EDuke32: Duke Nukem 3D, Ion Fury, NAM, World War II GI
VoidSW: Shadow Warrior
RedNukem     git Duke Nukem 3D, Duke Nukem 64, Redneck Rampage, Redneck Rampage Rides Again, NAM, World War II GI
Metaforce       Dev builds
git
(WIP) Metroid Prime 1–3
XLEngine     git Star Wars: Dark Forces, Daggerfall
Later: Outlaws, Blood, Shadow Warrior
ZDoom       2.81 [N 3] Doom I–II, Final Doom, Heretic, Hexen: Beyond Heretic, Chex Quest I–III, Strife: Quest for the Sigil, Hacx: Twitch 'n Kill
Platform
Commander Genius         3.0.0 Commander Keen in Invasion of the Vorticons, Commander Keen in Keen Dreams, Commander Keen in Goodbye Galaxy, Commander Keen in Aliens Ate My Babysitter
Racing
OpenNFS       git ~ Need for Speed I–III, Need for Speed: High Stakes, Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2
RPG
EasyRPG Multi-platform 0.8 RPG Maker 2000/2003 games
Falltergeist     git (WIP) Fallout 1-2
GemRB           git Infinity Engine
(Baldur's Gate series (1998–2001), Planescape: Torment, Icewind Dale series (2000–2002))
JoiPlay   1.01.701 RPG Maker XP/VX/VA/MV/MV games/Ren'Py/TyranoBuilder/HTML based games
Neko RPGXP Player   2.01 ~ RPG Maker XP/VX/VA/MV games
xoreos       0.0.6 (WIP) BioWare's Aurora engine & derivatives
(BioWare's 7 PC/console RPGs, Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, The Witcher)
RTS
openage         git ~ Age of Empires, AoE II (HD), Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds
OpenRA           git Early Westwood games (Command & Conquer, C&C: Red Alert).
Soon: 2nd-gen C&C (C&C: Tiberian Sun).
Vanilla Conquer         git Early Westwood games (Command & Conquer, C&C: Red Alert, Dune 2000).
Based on the official source code release by EA, with the goal of serving as a portable drop-in replacement for the original executables as well as a platform for mod developers.
OpenSAGE       git (WIP) EA's Command & Conquer games
(C&C: Generals, C&C: Generals - Zero Hour)
Soon: The Battle for Middle-earth series (2004–2006), C&C 3 & expansion.
Stratagus[N 4]         3.2.0 [N 5] [N 6] Wargus (v3.2.0): Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness + Beyond the Dark Portal, Aleona's Tale
War1gus (v3.2.0): Warcraft: Orcs & Humans
Stargus (v2.4.1): StarCraft (partially playable)
Games natively made on the Stratagus engine: Aleona's Tale (Wargus), Astroseries, Bos Wars, Wyrmsun
Shoot 'em up
ReC98 Multi-platform git (WIP) Touhou 1–5 (PC-98)

Single game engine

Name Platform(s) Latest Version Libretro Core Active Recommended Supported game(s)
Action-adventure
OpenJK       Build
git
~ Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast, Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy
Ship of Harkinian   git The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64 debug)
Adventure
The Ur-Quan Masters         0.8.0 Star Control II
Fighting
Ikemen GO       git Remake of the Ikemen engine that supports Mugen resources.
FPS
Aleph One       1.4 Marathon 1–2, Marathon Infinity
BStone       git Blake Stone: Aliens of Gold, Blake Stone: Planet Strike
Crispy Doom
Crispy Heretic
    git Crispy Doom: Doom I–II, Final Doom
Crispy Heretic: Heretic
D2X-XL
DXX-Rebirth
      1.18.76
git
Descent, Descent II
dhewm3         git Doom 3 (Original)
Doom64 EX       2.5 Doom 64 (Original)
Descent Wii   1.12
git (forked)
Descent
DXX-3DS[N 7]   git Descent, Descent II
DXX-Retro[N 7]     git Descent, Descent II
DXX-Switch[N 7]   git ? Descent, Descent II
ECWolf         1.3.3 Wolfenstein 3D, Spear of Destiny, Super 3D Noah’s Ark
EDuke32 Wii   Website Duke Nukem 3D
Freespace 2 Wii   beta 3 ? Freespace 2
Hammer of Thyrion       1.5.9 Hexen II
Heretic Wii[N 8]   0.5 ? Heretic
Hexen Wii
HHexen (Wii)[N 9]
  1.0
0.5
? Hexen
HHeretic[N 8]   0.2.3 ? Heretic
HHexen[N 9]   1.6.3 ? Hexen
ioquake3       1.36 Quake III: Arena
iortcw       git ~ Return to Castle Wolfenstein
Linux Hexen[N 9]   0.6.0 Hexen
NBlood     git Blood
OpenMoHAA     [3] Medal of Honour: Allied Assault
OpenXRay     git S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat
PCExhumed     [4] Powerslave (PC)
Powerslave EX       git Powerslave (Console)
PrBoom         git ~[N 10] Doom 1–2, Final Doom
Quake GameCube/QuakeGX[N 11]     0.0.5-2 (GX) ? Quake 1
Quake Rev PAK[N 12]   release 4 ? Quake 1–2, ThreeWave CTF mod for Quake 2, QuakeWorld
Quakespasm
vkQuake[N 13]
      0.94.2
git
Quake 1
RBDOOM-3-BFG     git Doom 3 (BFG Edition)
Rise of the Triad for Linux       git Rise of the Triad: Dark War
rottexpr     git Rise of the Triad: Dark War
Shockolate         git System Shock 1
The Force Engine   0.02.001 (WIP) Star Wars: Dark Forces, Outlaws
Tyrquake         git Quake 1
vitaQuake II         git, PS Vita Quake 2
WiiDoom
WiiDoom-Fork (music support)
  0.4.5
Fork
Doom I–II, Final Doom, Chex Quest I–II (forked version only but with some conversion issues)
Wii-DOOM
Wii-HERETIC
Wii-HEXEN
Wii-STRIFE
  r33 Wii-DOOM: Doom I–II, Final Doom
Wii-HERETIC: Heretic
Wii-HEXEN: Hexen
Wii-STRIFE: Strife: Quest for the Sigil
Wolfenstein 3D Wii   1.31 Wolfenstein 3D, Spear of Destiny
Xash3D       0.99 ~ Half-Life 1
Yamagi Quake II         8.00 Quake 2
Horror
FNaF 1 3DS -old/obsolete-
FNaF 1 3DS -remastered-[N 14]
  0.2.3
0.3.1-pre1
Five Nights at Freddy's
FNaF 2 3DS[N 14]   beta 1.0 Five Nights at Freddy's 2
FNaF 3 3DS[N 14]   beta 0.1.3 Five Nights at Freddy's 3
FNaF 4 3DS[N 14]   beta 0.3 ~ Five Nights at Freddy's 4
FNaF 1 PSP[N 14]   1.3.1 Fix 1 Five Nights at Freddy's
Platform
Abe's Amazing Adventure Wii   r3 ? Abe's Amazing Adventure
Abuse Wii   0.8.684.2 ? Abuse
Jazz² Resurrection         git Jazz Jackrabbit 2
Jump 'n Bump   0.3.1 ? Jump 'n Bump
Maze of Galious 3DS   1.0 ? The Maze of Galious remake
MazeOfGaliousWii   0.63.3 ? The Maze of Galious remake
NXEngine
nxengine-evo
      1.0.0.6
git
Cave Story
OpenHCL         git ~ Hydra Castle Labyrinth
OpenJazz              git ~ Jazz Jackrabbit 1
R.E.L.I.V.E.     git Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee, Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus
rawgl       git Another World/Out of This World
REminiscence     0.4.9 Flashback (Another World's spiritual sequel)
Rigel Engine         git Duke Nukem II
RSDK             Sonic 1 & 2
Sonic CD
Sonic the Hedgehog 1–2, Sonic CD
SDLPoP       git Prince of Persia (1989)
Sonic 3 A.I.R. (Angel Island Revisited)             git Sonic 3 & Knuckles
Super Mario 64 Port Multi-platform Depends on port Super Mario 64 (N64)
xrick           #021212 Rick Dangerous
Puzzle
Jewels   1.01 ? gljewel
Lemmini     git Lemmings
Racing
CannonBall           git OutRun
CannonBall (Wii)   git OutRun
NFSIISE         git Need for Speed II: SE
OpenC1       1.4
git
Carmageddon
OpenLGR       git Lego Racers
OpenMC2     (via Wine) git Midnight Club II
OpenSWE1R       git (WIP) Star Wars Episode 1: Racer
RoadFighterWii   1.0 Road Fighter
RVGL           21.0930a-1 Re-Volt
REDriver2     git Driver 2
stuntcarremake[N 15]       Build 08 Stunt Car Racer (Amiga / AtariST)
RPG
Arx Libertatis         git Arx Fatalis
Daggerfall Unity       Beta 0.13.2
git
The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall
DevilutionX             git Diablo
OpenGothic     git Gothic II
OpenVIII     git Final Fantasy VIII
OpenDiablo2       git Diablo II
OpenMW       0.47.0 The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
OpenTESArena       git (WIP) The Elder Scrolls I: Arena
REGoth     git Gothic, Gothic II
reone     git (WIP) Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 1-2
Riiablo         git ? Diablo II
Undertale Mobile Mod for iOS and Android     [5] Undertale
RTS
OpenDUNE         git Dune II: The Building of a Dynasty
TA3D       git ~ Total Annihilation
RTT
FreeSynd       0.7.5 Syndicate (1993)
Syndicate Wars Port       0.3 Syndicate Wars
Sandbox
OpenRW         git ~ Grand Theft Auto III
re3[N 16]       [6]
reVC
Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
RE3 3DS[7]   wip ~ ~[N 17] Grand Theft Auto III
re3-nx[N 16]
reVC-nx[N 16]
  ? ? Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
re3-vita[N 16]
reVC-vita[N 16]
  1.4
1.1
? Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
re3-wiiu[N 16]
reVC-wiiu[N 16]
  2021-02-01
?
? Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
San Andreas Unity         git ~ Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Minecraft PSP   3.3.0 Minecraft
PSP Minecraft   3.0.0 Minecraft
Wiicraft (2020)   git ? ? Minecraft v1.2.5
WoxelCraft   git ? 3D Voxel Engine (Minecraft)
Shoot 'em up
OpenTyrian       git Tyrian
OpenTyrianWii   1.7 ? Tyrian
Sim - City-building
CaesarIA           0.5 (2016) Caesar III
Julius
Augustus (Gameplay changes)
          1.7
3.0.1
Caesar III
Sim - Construction/Management
CorsixTH         git Theme Hospital
OpenLoco       git Chris Sawyer's Locomotion
OpenRCT2             git RollerCoaster Tycoon 2, with RollerCoaster Tycoon and expansions from both games being importable
OpenTTD       git Transport Tycoon Deluxe
OpenTTD (Wii)   1.3.2 ? Transport Tycoon Deluxe
Sim - Flight Combat
terminal-recall       git
Nightly Builds
Terminal Velocity, Fury3
TBS
civctp2         git
(ctp2 for Linux/Pandora/Pyra)
~ Call to Power II
CivOne       git (WIP) Sid Meier's Civilization
DopeWars     [N 18] 1.1 ? DopeWars (Palm OS)
fheroes2           git Heroes of Might and Magic II
OpenXcom       git UFO: Enemy Unknown (X-Com: UFO Defense), X-COM: Terror From the Deep
VCMI         git Heroes of Might and Magic III
TPS
max_vita   git Max Payne
Visual Novel
DDLC-LOVE           1.2.3 (PSP, Vita)
1.1.9 (PS3, 3DS, Switch)
[N 19] Doki Doki Literature Club!
Doki-Doki-Literature-Club-Vita   git ~ Doki Doki Literature Club!
NitroSharp     git ~ (WIP) ChäoS;HEAd NoAH

Notes

  1. OpenLara was inspired by OpenTomb
  2. VoidSW is included with EDuke32
  3. ZDoom has been discontinued. However the development of its replacements, GZDoom and LZDoom, is still active.
  4. Stratagus is an open-source real-time strategy game engine. Some standalone games like Aleona's Tale (included in Wargus's installation), Astroseries, Bos Wars, and Wyrmsun were built on the Stratagus game engine. Source ports for Warcraft: Orcs & Humans (War1gus), Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness + Beyond the Dark Portal (Wargus), and StarCraft (Stargus) were also built on the Stratagus engine.
  5. Stargus is in pre-alpha but development has been halted. Stratagus, Wargus, and War1gus are being updated regularly.
  6. StarCraft is only partially playable in Stargus in Stargus's current stage. Warcraft games for Wargus & War1gus work well if installed correctly.
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 DXX-Retro, also known as DXX-Rebirth-Retro, requires files from DXX-Rebirth version 0.58.1 to be able to use. DXX-Switch is a port of DXX-Retro for Nintendo Switch and DXX-3DS is a Nintendo 3DS port of DXX-Switch, but they have technical issues that make them less playable.
  8. 8.0 8.1 HHeretic is an open source game engine of Heretic for Linux. Heretic Wii is a Wii port is based on HHeretic 0.2.
  9. 9.0 9.1 9.2 HHexen, also known as Hacked Hexen, is a Hexen source port was created by Dan Olson and maintained by the Hammer of Thyrion (Hexen II). It is a more advanced and portable version of the Linux Hexen source port and effectively replaced it. Hexen Wii and HHexen (Wii) are both Wii ports of Hexen based on HHexen 1.6.1.
  10. PrBoom-plus is still active
  11. QuakeGX is a Wii port of Peter Mackay's GameCube Quake port. Both are available on the same website. A forked version of QuakeGX called Quake Wii was later merged with QuakeGX.
  12. Quake Rev PAK (or QRevPack for short) is a collection of game engines of the Quake series that merges Q1Rev (Quake 1), [1] (Quake 2), Q2CTFRev (ThreeWave Capture the Flag mod for Quake II), and QWRev (QuakeWorld) in one. All by the same developer Izhido.
  13. vkQuake is based on Quakespasm, but uses Vulkan instead of OpenGL for rendering
  14. 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 14.4 Five Nights at Freddy's 1 3DS -remastered- is an updated version of Five Nights at Freddy 1's 3DS by the same developer FreDev, also known as BumboDEV and BaseDEV. The developer also attempted Nintendo 3DS ports of Five Nights at Freddy's 2, 3, and 4 but development stopped after the developer lost the source code for Five Nights at Freddy's 2 and would have to reverse engineer it again.[2] Those ports were only in a state of demonstration and were not fully playable, having incomplete A.I., gameplay, and missing screens. Download links to the latest version of these 3DS ports and the PS Vita port can be found on the old Discord server.
  15. Based on Stunt Car Racer Remake for Windows
  16. 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 16.4 16.5 16.6 re3 and reVC have been taken down by Take-Two again. This also includes GaryOderNichts's Wii U ports, Graber's Switch ports, and the PS Vita ports of re3 and reVC.
  17. RE3 3DS is only playable on New Nintendo 3DS/2DS but even then, there will be occasionally graphical issues and frame drops.
  18. DopeWars PC port's download link is currently not working.
  19. DDLC-LOVE is a DDLC! port programmed in Lua. Even in its final release, there may be issues DDLC-LOVE may not have been able to fix but it's still playable. The developer recommends PS Vita users to use Doki-Doki-Literature-Club-Vita for the full DDLC! desktop experience including mod support.

See also

Game engine recreations and source ports specifically for:

External links

Curated Lists:

Specific gaming systems

News:

  • GamingOnLinux.com (For the latest news on releases and updates of game recreations and source ports that work on Linux)
  • Reddit feed (Aggregation quality is a little bit spotty. You have to wade through the news posts a bit for the relevant software.)
  • List of Open Source Games on Reddit (Thread by u/AMD_CEO. Wed Jul 1, 2020. Had added recommendations to links also seen above.)