BStone
An existing game or its source code brought to another platform.
Original game imageAbout
Blake Stone: Aliens of Gold and its sequel Planet Strike are early-1990s first-person shooters developed by JAM Productions and published by Apogee Software, built on id Software's Wolfenstein 3D engine. BStone is an actively maintained, unofficial source port of the Blake Stone series (Aliens of Gold and Planet Strike) supporting the shareware and full/retail releases of both games. It adds high-resolution and true 3D rendering (software, OpenGL, OpenGL ES, and Vulkan renderers), texture upscaling, customizable controls, positional 3D audio via OpenAL, and support for replacing the game's textures with external files. Since the original game data isn't free, players must supply their own copy of the game.
How it differs from the original
Compared to the original DOS engine, BStone adds modern rendering backends (OpenGL/OpenGL ES/Vulkan) and widescreen, high-resolution display alongside the vanilla software renderer, plus 3D positional audio and external texture replacement — none of which existed in the original DOS release.
Getting started
After placing the port's files alongside a legally-owned copy of the game data (or a GOG/Steam install, which it can detect automatically on Windows), running the port's executable launches the game; add-on content can be loaded by pointing the port at a separate folder holding the add-on's files via a command-line option.
History
BStone has been developed by Boris I. Bendovsky since 2013, building on Apogee's original Blake Stone source code (originally copyrighted 1992-2013 by Apogee Entertainment), with active development continuing through at least 2024 per the project's copyright notice.
Known issues & limitations
- audio: OpenAL runtime v1.9.9 causes a crash in non-MinGW-W64 build; update OpenAL runtime to fix.
What you need to run it
Features
- It offers high-resolution vanilla rendering and 3D rendering.
- It supports an upscale texture filter and external textures.
- Control bindings can be customized.
- It provides 3D audio and separate volume controls for sound effects and music.
- External textures can replace walls, sprites, flooring, and ceiling textures.
How to install
- Download the latest release.
- To use an add-on, put its files in a separate directory without overwriting original files, then launch with `--mod_dir` pointing to that directory.
Controls
- Enter J, A, M, then Enter to get all keys and weapons and restore health to 100%; this zeroes score points and is unavailable in shareware.
- With `--cheats` enabled, Backspace+R shows the full map.
Summarised from the project's README.
Additional notes
- Easter egg
- A hidden cheat sequence (pressing J, A, M, then Enter) grants all keys, all weapons, and full health while zeroing the score; it's unavailable in the shareware version.
FAQ
- What is BStone?
- BStone is an open-source port of Blake Stone: Aliens of Gold and Blake Stone: Planet Strike. An existing game or its source code brought to another platform. The original game ran on Windows, Linux and macOS.
- Do I need the original game files to run BStone?
- Yes. The project does not include the original game's assets, so you need your own copy. Requires original Blake Stone game files (specific .BS1, .BS6, or .VSI files depending on the version).
- How is BStone licensed?
- project: GNU General Public License version 2 or later (program). The repository itself is the authoritative source.
