Source port

third-party software port of a video game

A source port is a project that uses the source code of a game engine to make games run on different operating systems or platforms.

Description

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Source ports are not official but use officially released source code. If this is not available, the developers try to turn the game into source code again. Most source ports require the user to provide files from the game.

The phrase "source port" was created after Doom's source code was released. Only the Linux version of this was released because the creators of the DOS version's sound library would not have allowed it.[1][2] Because most players of Doom were using DOS, the first source port of the game (DOSDoom) was made for DOS.[3]

Many source ports improve the original game. They can add support for higher display resolutions, new aspect ratios, hardware acceleration, more input devices, 3D character models (for 2.5D games), more detailed textures, digital audio (e.g. MP3) where MIDI is used, online multiplayer and more.

For online multiplayer, some older games use obsolete protocols, such as IPX, or need users to know the IP address of other players. Because of this, some source ports, like Skulltag, use "lobbies" to make it easier to play with anyone, as players can say which games they are hosting or joining. Some newer games and services such as Valve's Steam, Blizzard's battle.net and GameSpy Arcade also have lobbies as an option.

Alternatives

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If the source code of a software is not available, emulation, remakes or static recompilation can also be used.

Notable source ports

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Original name Port
Aliens versus Predator icculus.org/avp
Arx Fatalis Arx Libertatis
Blake Stone: Aliens of Gold /
Blake Stone: Planet Strike
BStone, Blake4SDL
Blood BloodGDX, NBlood, Raze
Carmageddon Dethrace
Catacomb CatacombSDL
Catacomb 3D Reflection Keen, CatacombGL
Call to Power II Apolyton Civilization Site: Call to Power II: Source Code Project
Commander Keen Commander Genius
Descent /
Descent II
DXX-Rebirth, D2X-XL, DXX-Retro
Diablo/
Diablo: Hellfire
DevilutionX, Diablo 1 Mod (Belzebub)
Doom/Doom II PrBoom, ZDoom, Chocolate Doom, etc.
Doom 64 Doom64EX, Doom64Ex+
Doom 3 dhewm3, RBDOOM-3-BFG
Duke Nukem II Rigel Engine[4]
Duke Nukem 3D EDuke32, DukeGDX, JFDuke3D, Rancidmeat Port, xDuke Port, nDuke Port, hDuke Port, Rednukem, Raze
FreeSpace 2 FreeSpace 2 Source Code Project
Gloom ZGloom
Heretic Chocolate Heretic, ZDoom, Doomsday, GLHeretic for Linux, Heretic for Linux, HHeretic
Hexen Chocolate Hexen, ZDoom, Doomsday, GLHexen, HHexen, WinHexen
Hexen II jsHexen 2, UQE Hexen 2, Hammer of Thyrion
Homeworld Homeworld SDL
Ken's Labyrinth LAB3D/SDL
Jagged Alliance 2 Wildfire Stracciatella/SDL
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Ship of Harkinian
Marathon 2 Aleph One, Aleph One/SDL
Myth II Project Magma
PowerSlave PowerSlaveGDX, PCExhumed, PowerSlaveEX, ExhumedEX-Plus
Quake QuakeSpasm, QuakeDS, DarkPlaces, FitzQuake, GLQuake, Project: Twilight, Telejano, Tenebrae, WinQuake, QuakeWorld, ezQuake, fodQuake, FreeQuake, vkQuake
Quake II vkQuake2, KMQuake II, q^2, Q2PRO, Yamagi Quake II
Quake III ioquake3, Quake3e, OpenMoHAA, Q3Base, Quake III: Arena for FreeBSD, Spearmint
Quake 4 Quake4Doom, gbQuake4
Redneck Rampage RedneckGDX, Rednukem, Raze
Return to Castle Wolfenstein iortcw
Rise of the Triad WinROTT, GLROTT, icculus, rottexpr, NakedTriad
Savage: The Battle for Newerth Savage: Rebirth
Serious Sam: The First Encounter /
Serious Sam: The Second Encounter
icculus,[5] Ray-Traced,[6] Serious Sam Classic, Serious Sam Evolution
Shadow Warrior JFShadowWarrior, SWP, VoidSW, Raze, WangGDX
SimCity Micropolis
Spelunky Spelunky ClassicHD[7]
Star Control II The Ur-Quan Masters
Star Trek: Voyager – Elite Force (Holomatch) iostvoyHM,[8] cMod,[9] Lilium Voyager[10]
Star Wars: Dark Forces The Force Engine[11]
Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II /
Star Wars Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith
OpenJKDF2[12]
Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast /
Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy
OpenJK
Strife Chocolate Strife, Vavoom
Super 3D Noah's Ark ECWolf
Super Mario 64 Super Mario 64 PC Port
System Shock Shockolate[13][14]
System Shock 2 /
NewDark /
Thief: The Dark Project /
Thief II: The Metal Age
NewDark
Tomb Raider OpenTomb,[15] OpenCroft, OpenLara,[16] CroftEngine, TR1X[17]
'Tyrian OpenTyrian
Warzone 2100 Warzone Resurrection
William Shatner's TekWar BuildGDX, JFTekWar
Witchaven BuildGDX, JFWitchaven
Wolfenstein 3D ECWolf, NewWolf, Wolf4SDL, Wolfenstein 3-D Redux, WolfGL, WolfGL-3D
Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory ioWolfET, ET: Legacy

See also

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References

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  1. Carmack, John (1997-12-23). "doomsrc.txt". Doom source code release notes. id Software. Archived from the original on 2015-12-02. Retrieved 2008-10-23.
  2. Wilson, Hamish (2022-03-14). "Building a Retro Linux Gaming Computer - Part 16: We Are All Doomed". GamingOnLinux. Retrieved 2023-02-02.
  3. "Source Ports". Doom Wiki. Retrieved 2008-10-23.
  4. "LGR plays Duke Nukem II in widescreen". Retro Refurbs. 2021-08-04. Retrieved 2023-12-18.
  5. Larabel, Michael (2016-04-04). "Open-Source Serious Engine 1 Now Running On Linux". Phoronix. Retrieved 2023-12-18.
  6. Battaglia, Alex (2021-09-09). "Serious Sam gets a fully path-traced RT upgrade - and it's beautiful". Eurogamer. Retrieved 2023-12-18.
  7. SpelunkyClassicHD on github.com
  8. Middleton, Zack (2019-11-02). "ioEF preservation". ZTM's World of Wonder. Retrieved 2023-04-04.
  9. Procter, Lewie (2020-08-13). "Star Trek: Voyager Elite Force Holomatch Gets Free 20th Anniversary Re-Release". wePC. Retrieved 2023-03-25.
  10. Middleton, Zack (2019-11-02). "Lilium Voyager 1.40 released". ZTM's World of Wonder. Retrieved 2023-04-04.
  11. Bailey, Kat (2022-12-19). "Dark Forces: Classic Star Wars Shooter Gets 4K Overhaul Thanks to Fan Remaster". IGN. Retrieved 2023-12-18.
  12. Litchfield, Ted (2024-05-19). "Nothing is too niche for modders to remaster, not even a '90s Star Wars FPS expansion pack where you play as Luke Skywalker's weird non-canon wife rescuing my favorite Expanded Universe dork". PC Gamer. Retrieved 2024-05-19.
  13. Wawro, Alex (April 6, 2018). "Nightdive shares source code for System Shock on Mac". Gamasutra. Retrieved April 6, 2018.
  14. Logan Booker (2018-06-16). "'Shockolate' Is A Cross-Platform System Shock Built On The Original, Open-Sourced Code". Kotaku.
  15. Alexander, Julia (2017-04-24). "Modders bring original Tomb Raider to browsers with new open-source project". Polygon. Retrieved 2023-12-18.
  16. Larabel, Michael (2017-04-24). "OpenLara: Open-Source Engine Remake For Tomb Raider, Including WebGL Version". Phoronix. Retrieved 2023-12-18.
  17. Dawe, Liam (2023-11-21). "Open source re-implementation of Tomb Raider 1 'TR1X' gets Linux builds". GamingOnLinux. Retrieved 2023-12-18.