EDuke32 – Duke Nukem 3D (Open-Source)

2026-02-2120:1021178www.eduke32.com

It's time to kick ass and chew bubble gum, and I'm all outta gum! Per-pixel dynamic lighting and realtime shadows... groovy! Polymer renderer requires a bad-ass video card. More Polymer greatness.…

It's time to kick ass and chew bubble gum, and I'm all outta gum!

Per-pixel dynamic lighting and realtime shadows... groovy! Polymer renderer requires a bad-ass video card.


More Polymer greatness.

Hollywood Holocaust with classic textures

Come get some!


EDuke32 is an awesome, free homebrew game engine and source port of the classic PC first person shooter Duke Nukem 3DDuke3D for short—to Windows, Linux, macOS, FreeBSD, several handhelds, your family toaster, and your girlfriend's vibrator. We've added thousands of cool and useful features and upgrades for regular players and additional editing capabilities and scripting extensions for homebrew developers and mod creators. EDuke32 is open source software that is completely free to use for all non-commercial purposes.

Created by Duke4.net community leader Richard "TerminX" Gobeille and a team of elite ninja programmers including Evan "Hendricks266" Ramos, Pierre-Loup "Plagman" Griffais, and Philipp "Helixhorned" Kutin (based on work by Todd Replogle/Ken Silverman/Jonathon Fowler/Matt Saettler), EDuke32 is the undeniable king of Duke Nukem 3D ports.

EDuke32 is licensed under the GNU GPL and the BUILD license.


EDuke32 is the technology that powers Ion Fury, created by Voidpoint, which was founded by EDuke32's authors.


Join our community


Join us on Discord or visit our forums.


Questions?


Once you've downloaded EDuke32, you'll probably want to read our wiki page on installation and configuration, as well as the FAQ if you have any problems.

Come get some!

Packed with features—"shake it, baby!"


  • EDuke32 runs natively without relying on emulation of any kind
  • EDuke32 runs at crazy screen resolutions like 10240x4320.
  • EDuke32 allows you to choose between two different hardware-accelerated OpenGL renderers, or the classic, warped software mode you grew up with
  • EDuke32 fixes an insane amount of programming errors which were harmless in the days of DOS but are fatal with modern protected memory models; translation: EDuke32 crashes less
  • EDuke32 includes VoidSW, a fully-fledged port of Shadow Warrior with all the same benefits. Who wants some Wang?
  • EDuke32 is the only Duke3D port to be actively developed and maintained for more than twenty years
  • EDuke32 features Plagman's incredible "Polymer" renderer with powerful hardware-accelerated capabilities
  • EDuke32 has a huge number of new extensions to the game's scripting system, allowing gameplay mods that rival even modern games.
  • EDuke32 runs the HRP with support for all features, most of which require EDuke32; no other port can run the HRP with all features enabled
  • EDuke32 adds a full-featured console, including Quake-style key bindings, command aliases, advanced tab completion, comprehensive command history, colored text and more
  • EDuke32 has hundreds of code rewrites, optimizations and fixes for rare or annoying bugs in the original code
  • EDuke32 adds tons of optional new features that make the player's life easier including modern status display/HUD, support for loading mods from the startup window, and modern, WSAD-based controls with thoroughly reworked mouse aiming
  • EDuke32 supports Ogg Vorbis and FLAC sound and music
  • EDuke32 is developed by people who have been in the Duke3D scene since the beginning
  • EDuke32 lets you play that game called 'NAM' you saw at the dollar store back in the 90s
  • EDuke32 makes sandwiches!

BUILD engine technology originally created by Ken Silverman, non-GPL rendering and engine technology used in EDuke32 available under BUILDLIC.



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Comments

  • By nness 2026-02-2123:442 reply

    Blast from the past — I made the EDuke32 logo when I was teenager back in 2004. (I still have the PSD sitting around somewhere...) Back then there was quite an active community on the now defunct 3drealm's forums and I spent a lot of time contributing icons, logos, or web dev help to different Duke Nukem projects.

    I don't think I ever properly played Duke 3D until recently, picking up the "Cursed Randy Version" version on Switch. But as a kid I was hooked on the level editor (and pixelated nudity.) Duke 3D's custom maps scene never eclipsed the popularity and duration of Doom or Quake, but there were some fantastic creations that really stirred the imagination and kept me in that editor for hours.

    (There is also a port of the Duke Nukem 64 version, which whilst almost identical, does have a few interesting variations which makes it worth the try for a series fan.)

    • By ciroduran 2026-02-2123:52

      That early 2000's web design style, love it!

    • By davidguetta 2026-02-2222:111 reply

      Which ones where you favorite maps :) ?

      • By nness 2026-02-239:40

        Probably the best Duke3D ever got was the ROCH series. They really pushed what was possible with the engine, and must've been so slow on the Pentium 100.

        (Hard to remember the names from 20 years ago, but that one certainly sticks out.)

  • By vunderba 2026-02-2121:073 reply

    Duke Nukem 3D was probably one of the earlier FPS games that really encouraged modding because of Ken Silverman's Build Engine.

    Even the enemy AI could be modified (albeit relatively limited) by editing the text CON files.

    Anyone else remember playing over LAN with friends, dropping a Duke hologram in an elevator along with a bunch of pipe bombs hidden at its feet?

    • By LanceH 2026-02-2121:213 reply

      It was a wonderful collection of rage inducing weapons: pipe bombs, laser trip mines, shrink ray (then step on them for the kill), freeze gun (any hit shatters for the kill), and the BFG.

      We had LAN parties and would play for hours on end with custom maps we had built or downloaded.

      • By vunderba 2026-02-2121:24

        Same! We used to host "Jetpack Freeze Ray" duels which ended when somebody was frozen causing them to plummet out of the sky and shatter when they hit the ground~~

      • By jayknight 2026-02-2123:331 reply

        > then step on them for the kill

        I heard the sound effect of that when I read you're comment.

        • By nurettin 2026-02-220:48

          Yeah it sounded like what I imagine pressing on a cardboard of eggs would.

      • By fragmede 2026-02-2121:55

        Hail to the king, baby!

    • By latchkey 2026-02-2121:221 reply

      Back when I worked at the AG Group (famous for etherpeek) we'd play late at night we could hear each other screaming from our offices, and I'd walk out of my office terrified. The laser trips were the best. This game truly holds a special place in my heart.

      We also had a really good LAN there.

      • By vunderba 2026-02-2121:42

        Nice. The laser-trip alarm effect that would play right before it detonated in your face is forever emblazoned in my memory.

    • By Postosuchus 2026-02-224:06

      Indeed, they made Level Editor available. In fact, there was even a friggin' book on level design: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0782118690

      Blast from the past indeed. Many many moons ago, I came up with a "bright" idea of designing a mod for Duke3D that modeled the office of my then-employer (large fintech company). At least I had enough sense not to boast about it - several months later a crazy guy brought a shotgun to HIS former employer and made national news, I don't think people would have taken my creation as lightly as I did back then. Still, working on it was fun.

  • By JamesLeonis 2026-02-2123:55

    Doom, Duke Nukem 3D, and Dark Forces are my triumvirate of that era. Of all of them, Duke Nukem felt the most interactive. There are times I would clear a level of enemies, then play with all the gizmos the level designers put inside like the jail cell block doors of Death Row. The security cameras were so advanced at the time too! They rendered their view, in real time, on a wall TV. I wouldn't see that effect again until the 2000s. The levels felt intuitive too, at least the Earth levels, that I felt like an urban explorer in a way that Deus Ex would later capture.

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