[Ninety-Six]

having a little fun with the title leave me alone


So very recently a friend of mine who was looking to get into Blood wanted to know what the best way to play it was. And in the process of trying and failing to answer, I realized I never really settled on one for myself. With Blood's rather infamous history with source ports, last I checked in on them they all had various issues. My usual default answer in that case is trying to set up the DOS version even if it's more work, but even the DOS version doesn't escape without a critical bug.


So instead I turn this question to the community here. And instead of asking the same question of what the "best" is, that's obviously very subjective, so instead I'm going to ask about the pros and cons of each, and since it's been a hot minute, this is going to be for me, too, as I'm not sure what's changed since the last time I tried to play (and it was a good few years ago).


What are all the advantages and disadvantages between using BloodGdx, NBlood, Fresh Supply, and we'll throw DOS in there too (just to be thorough)?

[Phredreeke]

NBlood: Has software and hardware rendering. Can emulate OPL3 if that's your thing. Has NoOne's customdude extensions which are used by a few addons, notably Spill's Eviction. Also an accepted port for speedrunning
NotBlood: Like NBlood with extra features
BloodGDX: Has software and hardware rendering but its software renderer is about 2.5 times slower than the above ports. Easiest port to load custom content in due to built in file browser. Runs in Java (though there's a download with a bundled runtime if you use 64-bit Windows and don't want a systemwide Java install). A few custom maps have problems running in GDX due to a lower XSprite cap.
Raze: Hardware rendering only. Single player only. Easiest port to use for Mac users. Could potentially have custom scripting in the future through ZScript. Just don't forget to turn on palette emulation.
Fresh Supply: Inaccurate port that even the creator disowns. Supports scripting through AngelScript. Most notable FS mod is Extra Crispy. Many custom addons have issues running in Fresh Supply. Has community made voxels bundled with it.
Dosbox: It's faithful I guess? I'd just skip it and use NBlood with software renderer.

My recommendation. Use Raze if you have a Mac. If you use Windows then it's easy to use any of them, I've used them all at some point. As for Linux I have no idea, but I think you'll have to build yourself or maybe use Proton