With the release of the Duke3D source code on April 1st 2003, the game was quickly ported to Linux by Ryan Gordon (Icculus) and a host of others, and in short time Jonathon Fowler (JonoF) had similarly released a somewhat lesser functional Win32 port (JFDuke3D), which about a year later was labelled the winner of the User's Choice Competition from the now defunct Duke3D Source Portal. With lovely OpenGL rendering and true-colour, hi-res texture support (thanks to Ken Silverman's contribution of his Polymost renderer), Duke Nukem 3D never looked so spiffy. By the end of June 2004 the port had support for MD2 models (later MD3 as well) to replace those nasty old 2D sprites, and the Duke3D modelling effort began. That, in addition to hi-res texture replacement effort, has rejuvenated the game and added years to its shelf life.

Other popular ports of the time included Rancidmeat's Duke3d_w32 port which provided (and still does) decent support for multiplayer games, although xDuke - an extension of the Rancidmeat port, is the multiplayer port of choice these days, offering the most stable Dukematching experience. It has no fancy OpenGL support however, and looks and plays quite like the original game.

Of course, the single player aspect of the game remains as strong as ever, and thanks to the hard work of Richard "TerminX" Gobeille we now have EDuke32, a fork of the JFDuke3D port and the earlier work done by Matt Saettler on EDuke. In short, EDuke32 is the port to use if you're to be taken seriously. This is where it's at, if indeed any of the plethora of Duke3D ports have any sort of spatial property. Port-set topology aside, EDuke32 has been designed primarily with game modders in mind, allowing for almost limitless customisation of the game through enhanced CON scripting. With great EDuke32-based mods such as Deeper Thought's DNWMD and DukePlus available, and the upcoming WGRealms 2 utilising EDuke32's many features, it's little wonder 9 out of 10 tigers prefer tiger brand coffee to real meat the port's popularity is high amongst Dukers. EDuke32 also comes bundled with Mapster32, the level editor of choice for anybody making Duke3D maps these days.

The High Resolution Pack homepage is the place to go for the latest texture/model pack released by the Duke community, an ongoing project to bring Duke3D at least part way into the new century. The HRP is compatible with the latest releases of both the JFDuke3D and EDuke32 ports. The HRP FAQ covers any installation woes you might encounter.

Offered below are mirrors to some of the more popular ports (latest stable binaries and source, where available), with links to respective home pages. Support queries should be directed to the authors of respective ports. Latest development snapshots generally won't be made available here.

EDuke32 Port - Homepage
Recommended - (latest snapshot): eduke32_current.zip

EDuke32 1.4.0 beta 2 (Windows installer): eduke32-1.4.0_beta_2.exe, DNR Mirror
EDuke32 1.4.0 beta 2 (Windows zip): eduke32_20060718.zip, DNR Mirror
EDuke32 1.4.0 beta 2 source code: eduke32_src_20060718.zip, DNR Mirror

JFDuke3D Port - Homepage
JFDuke3D binaries 20051009 (Windows installer): jfduke3d-20051009-setup.exe, DNR Mirror
JFDuke3D binaries 20051009 (Windows zip): jfduke3d_20051009.zip, DNR Mirror
JFDuke3D source code 20051009: jfduke3d_src_20051009.zip, DNR Mirror

Rancidmeat's Duke3d_w32 Port - Homepage
Duke3d_w32 binaries b19.1: duke3d_w32_b19.1_bin.zip, DNR Mirror
Duke3d_w32 binaries and source b19.1: duke3d_w32_b19.1.zip, DNR Mirror

xDuke Port - Homepage
xDuke V19.7.1 binaries (Windows installer): Duke3d_Binary_Only_v19.7.1.Self_Extract.exe, DNR Mirror
xDuke V19.7.1 binaries (Windows zip): Duke3d_Binary_Only_v19.7.1.zip, DNR Mirror
xDuke V19.6 source code: Duke3d_w32_Source_Code_v19.6.rar, DNR Mirror

Top of the page