I had a bit of fun (and experienced some frustration) while trying to get the old DOOM code (released in 1997) from the id-software repository to run on my modern system. I managed to get it somewhat operational as a 32-bit executable on Linux, but I had to use Xephyr to emulate a display that's suitable to run this version of DOOM. I experienced severe graphical anomalies as you can see in this screenshot:
Despite the weird graphics and lack of audio (see John Carmack's comments on that here), it's still functional. Maybe I'll investigate those things further someday.
Build DOOM with the following commands:
git clone https://github.com/Diordany/DOOM.git
cd DOOM/linuxdoom-1.10
mkdir linux
make
To clean the object files and binaries, run:
make clean
You can run DOOM with:
./linux/linuxxdoom
In order to run this version of DOOM, your display has to support the 8-bit PseudoColor mode. Alternatively, if your display does not support this, it can be bypassed by connecting it to a nested X server like Xephyr.
Make sure to have the DOOM assets in your working directory, valid wads include:
| doom.wad | Original registered version of DOOM |
| doom1.wad | Shareware version of DOOM |
| doomu.wad | The Ultimate DOOM |
| doom2.wad | DOOM II: Hell on Earth |
| doom2f.wad | French version of DOOM II |
| plutonia.wad | Final DOOM: The Plutonia Experiment |
| tnt.wad | Final DOOM: TNT Evilution |
If you want to store the assets elsewhere run DOOM with:
DOOMWADDIR=/path/to/assets ./linux/linuxxdoom
First create the display with:
Xephyr -br -noreset -screen 320x200x8 :1 &
Refer to the Xephyr documentation for more details. Leave out the & if you don't want to push the process to the background.
Then attach DOOM to the display with:
./linux/linuxxdoom -disp :1
The screen resolution can be set with the options:
| Option | Resolution |
|---|---|
| -2 | 640x400 |
| -3 | 960x600 |
| -4 | 1280x800 |
Note that the -4 option is broken.