Source port

This article is about software ports that are not official. "Source port" can also mean network ports where packets are sent, e.g. a TCP port.

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

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

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

Notable source ports

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

• Fork (software development)

References

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. Archived from the original on 2018-06-30. Retrieved 2024-09-05.
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.