[OpenMaw]

I've always had at least one version of Duke3D installed. Whether it was the DOS version or Eduke32. But I've never really explored other ports. Is there a lean and mean port akin to Chocolate Doom that I could use?

I'm working on a Duke Nukem project, and I want to be kept within the limits of the original game, but not have to run it through DOSBox to get that effect.

[Jimmy]

There is a Chocolate Duke port but my first instinct would be to suggest RedNukem.

[gibfrag]

There's this, but it appears it is no longer being worked on and has since been archived.

If you want things to be faithful to the DOS game but want something that is still updated regularly then you ought to try Rednukem.
edit - Jimmy got to it as I was typing !

[Phredreeke]

Keep in mind that while Rednukem is as close to vanilla as we got, it still has extended limits compared to DOS Duke. This should have no consequence for simply playing the game, but if you're mapping and want to ensure the map runs in DOS you still have to test there.

[NY00123]

For the ones who don't know, Chocolate Duke3D was originally started as a fork of xDuke, the latter being created as a fork of Rancidmeat's Duke3d_w32. Duke3d_w32 itself was originally a derivative of Icculus' port.

A side-effect of this is that Chocolate Duke3D's demo compatibility should be inherited from xDuke, at least originally; And the latter isn't fully compatible with the original 3 demos from Duke Nukem 3D: Atomic Edition v1.5.

As far as I know, Rednukem and DukeGDX are the only ports to modern platforms which should be compatible with these demos. Additionally, you can grab Duke3D v1.5's DOS game code, along with reconstructed Build Engine sources that match this version.

[jkas789]

Yeah Rednukem should be the way to go

[NightFright]

There's also this:
https://github.com/G...ChocolateDuke3D

Seems to be a fork of the original Chocolate Duke3D which was last updated in mid 2020. Dunno how good it is since there doesn't seem to be a compiled build on that Github page, but looks like you can even make an x64 build from it.

*UPDATE*
Link updated. Looks like there IS a build now since 2022. Seems it's playable, besides flawed demo playback and crashes with DNCLIP.

[Hendricks266]

This thread got linked on the Discord. Somehow I missed it until now.

"Chocolate Duke" should not be named what it is. The author overstepped a whole lot by taking that label despite the port not actually living up to Chocolate Doom. Recommending it or one of its forks to people asking for a "Chocolate" experience is basically misinformation in itself. As mentioned above, they are close descendants of ports that are not really "Chocolate" and then they don't add much on top of that, not even demo compatibility.

[MrFlibble]

Hendricks266, on 01 March 2025 - 04:16 AM, said:

"Chocolate Duke" should not be named what it is. The author overstepped a whole lot by taking that label despite the port not actually living up to Chocolate Doom. Recommending it or one of its forks to people asking for a "Chocolate" experience is basically misinformation in itself.

Does a more faithful alternative exist though? Rednukem apparently implements a lot of vanilla things right, including restored demo playback, but it is still based off EDuk32 with its enhancements like the swishy menu animations and other heterodox stuff.

[Phredreeke]

Are we really that eager to be forced to use a separate app to configure resolution and keybinds though?