About
Doom 3 is id Software's 2004 horror/action first-person shooter, a reimagining of the original DOOM; it was later remastered as DOOM 3: BFG Edition in 2012. dhewm 3 is a GPL-licensed source port of Doom 3, running on Windows, Linux, macOS, and FreeBSD. It replaces the original's OS-specific backends with SDL and OpenAL (including OpenAL EFX for EAX-style reverb), adds a 64-bit port, gamepad support (without rumble), better widescreen support, and a mod-independent settings menu, while aiming not to alter the original gameplay. It does not include game data — the original game must be patched to version 1.3.1 and supplied separately.
How it differs from the original
dhewm3 is a 64-bit, SDL/OpenAL-based engine rewrite rather than the original 2004 codebase, with added gamepad support, adjustable widescreen/resolution options, and a unified settings menu (F10) not present in the original; it explicitly avoids changing original gameplay while fixing identified bugs. The DOOM 3: BFG Edition is not supported.
Getting started
Players need to own and patch the original Doom 3 (and optionally Resurrection of Evil) to version 1.3.1 — available via Steam — and place the game data alongside a compiled or downloaded dhewm3 build. A built-in settings menu (opened with F10) covers gamepad and display configuration.
History
Doom 3's original GPL source release omitted the 'Carmack's Reverse' stencil-shadow rendering technique; dhewm3 restored it in version 1.5.1 after the underlying Creative Labs patent expired, without changing the game's visual appearance or measurable performance.
Media
Additional notes
- Contribution policy
- The project explicitly does not accept code, bug reports, or issue/PR comments produced with AI assistance (e.g. Copilot, Claude, ChatGPT), and says doing so may result in a ban.