The Force Engine Version 1.0 Release

[lucius]

 

After 3 years of development, I am ready to announce the Version 1.0 Release of The Force Engine (TFE). The Force Engine is a project with the goal to reverse-engineer and rebuild the Jedi Engine for modern systems and the games that used that engine - Dark Forces and Outlaws. For version 1.0, Dark Forces support is complete but Outlaws is not yet playable. Full Outlaws support is planned in the future, for version 2.0.

 

For Dark Forces, the goal is for TFE to act as a viable replacement for DosBox and the original executable for most players, to be used to not only play the vanilla levels but also the many user mods developed for the original game - and I believe that goal has finally been met with the release of version 1.0. The Force Engine provides modern conveniences and control methods and removes the need to set up DosBox and deal with cycles-based bugs such as getting stuck on ice or having the missiles that the final boss fires move too fast or not move at all. While TFE supports modern GPU and high-resolution software rendering - the original 320x200 fixed-pointe renderer has been preserved - keeping the DOS experience for those who want it.

 

Like a traditional source port, you need the original game to play. TFE replaces the executable, not the game.

 

Update

Version 1.09.4 added several large features: bloom, colormap interpolation, smooth Vue animation, subtitles/closed captions for sounds and voices (beta).
Version 1.09 OPL3 and SF2 midi synth support.

Version 1.08 added Linux support (self-compile only for now).

Version 1.02 has been released that addresses additional quality-of-life issues, and many custom-level issues as well.

Version 1.01 has been released which addresses several issues in the initial release.

 

Upcoming Releases

Version 1.09.5 will add true color support and texture filtering options.

Version 1.09.6 will add dynamic lighting support.

Version 1.10 will add support for HD/True-Color assets.

 

Current Features

• Full Dark Forces support, including mods. Outlaws support is coming in version 2.0.
• Mod Loader - simply place your mods in the Mods/ directory as zip files or directories.
• High Resolution and Widescreen support - when using 320x200 you get the original software renderer. TFE also includes a floating-point software renderer that supports widescreen, including ultrawide, and much higher resolutions.
• GPU Renderer with perspective correct pitch - play at much higher resolutions with improved performance.
• Extended Limits - TFE, by default, will support much higher limits than the original game which removes most of the HOM (Hall of Mirrors) issues in advanced mods.
• Full input binding, mouse sensitivity adjustment, and controller support. Note, however, that menus currently require the mouse.
• Optional Quality of Life improvements, such as full mouselook, aiming reticle, improved Boba Fett AI, autorun, and more.
• A new save system that works seamlessly with the existing checkpoint and lives system. You can ignore it entirely, use it just as an exit save so you don't have to play long user levels in one sitting, or full save and load with quicksaves like Doom or Duke Nukem 3D.
• Optional and quality-of-life features, even mouselook, can be disabled if you want the original experience. Play in 320x200, turn the mouse mode (Input menu) to Menus only or horizontal, and enable the Classic (software) renderer - and it will look and play just like DOS, but with a higher framerate and without needing to adjust cycles in DosBox.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Links
The website has additional links to the forums, Discord channel, and GitHub repository.

• https://theforceengine.github.io/
• https://theforceengine.github.io/downloads.html
• https://theforceengine.github.io/Documentation.html
• https://theforceengine.github.io/blog.html

 

System Requirements
In early 2023, TFE will gain official cross platform support - both Linux and Mac. Until then Windows is required.

• Windows 7, 64-bit
• GPU with OpenGL 3.3 or better compatibility

Note that there are plans to lower the requirements for using the classic software renderer in the future. However, the minimum requirements for GPU Renderer support are here to stay. For now only OpenGL is supported, which might limit the use of some older Intel-integrated GPUs that would otherwise be capable. There are near-term plans to add DirectX 10/11, Vulkan, and maybe Metal render backends which should enable more GPUs to run the engine efficiently.

 

Bugs and Issues
Like any project of this nature and any new release - there will still be bugs. Some of these bugs will be DOS bugs that can be reproduced in the original game - these bugs are unlikely to be changed anytime soon. Other bugs will be TFE related. For those, please report them on the forums or GitHub.

 

Previous Thread

 

 

Edited August 2, 2023 by lucius

[ReaperAA]

YES!!! Finally the engine has reached 1.0 status. I had been holding out on buying and playing the game for this moment.

[Mr Masker]

Dark Forces has been in my Steam Library for AGES, and yet I've never bothered to play it because of its old resolutions and stuff. Seeing this released is great, hopefully I'll get around to finally playing this game.

[Wyrmwood]

Awesome, in honesty I was 100% happy with your previous version but I'll upgrade now. I presume saves are compatible, but only on the 4th mission so no problem if it's not. Fantastic source port and congrats on full release.

[lucius]

Saves are still compatible. They are properly versioned so they should stay compatible in future versions unless otherwise announced.

[RataUnderground]

FINALLY! this is absolutly great! Thank you very much for your effort. And waiting for the Outlaws support.

[Martin Howe]

1 hour ago, lucius said:

In early 2023, TFE will gain official cross platform support - Linux ...

Great work to get to 1.0; though for me, the above is the best news of all :) 

 

I have tried it on WINE but it crashed; I didn't expect it to be perfect when run on WINE, so that's not as bad as it sounds. Have attached the crash dump for what it's worth. This is WINE 7.0 installed as a flatpak on Linux Mint 21. I'll try it in a Windows VM next, then see how it is when I dual-boot into the small Windows installation that I have polluted my computer with :P

crashdump.zip

 

EDIT:

 

Works OK in Linux in VMWare Player, albeit a bit slowly, but that's to be expected.

 

On bare metal windows with an average GPU (GT1030) it's a bit slow at 1920x1080 but again, that's to be expected as it's early days yet.

 

The point is it's playable :D

Edited December 19, 2022 by Martin Howe

[kwc]

Congrats on seeing it through, lucius!

This project has been a constant stream of serious achievements and your work has helped breathe new life into a great-but-often-overlooked FPS.
Happy Holidays :)

Edited December 19, 2022 by kwc

[Murdoch]

I have no interest in the games but still like to give praise to good work. A most impressive accomplishment. Well done.

[Kityn]

Awesome! Congratulations!

 

Is there a way to cap FPS (apart from Vsync)?

[lucius]

45 minutes ago, Martin Howe said:

Great work to get to 1.0; though for me, the above is the best news of all :) 

 

I have tried it on WINE but it crashed; I didn't expect it to be perfect when run on WINE, so that's not as bad as it sounds. Have attached the crash dump for what it's worth. This is WINE 7.0 installed as a flatpak on Linux Mint 21. I'll try it in a Windows VM next, then see how it is when I dual-boot into the small Windows installation that I have polluted my computer with :P

crashdump.zip

 

EDIT:

 

Works OK in Linux in VMWare Player, albeit a bit slowly, but that's to be expected.

 

On bare metal windows with an average GPU (GT1030) it's a bit slow at 1920x1080 but again, that's to be expected as it's early days yet.

 

The point is it's playable :D

Have you tried the GPU Renderer? Or is that slow as well? (The default is the software renderer)

 

Also, it is a known issue that TFE doesn't work well or at all with WINE. But with upcoming native Linux support, WINE support is not a priority.

Edited December 19, 2022 by lucius

[lucius]

11 minutes ago, Kityn said:

Awesome! Congratulations!

 

Is there a way to cap FPS (apart from Vsync)?

Currently, VSync is the only way to cap render FPS. It would be a good idea to add a general cap as well though.

[taufan99]

Congrats on v1.0 release! Looking forward to Outlaws support on v2.0.

[HorseJockey]

Congrats on this release, really exited to see your progress on this. Going to give Dark Forces another play through on the new updated engine.

[Arno]

Congratulations with this big milestone!

It's really impressive how well organized and determined you've been running this project so far. The Force Engine has become a source port with the quality of a commercial remaster.

[Martin Howe]

1 hour ago, lucius said:

Have you tried the GPU Renderer? Or is that slow as well?

That was the GPU; but it was FHD resolution and my GPU isn't going to set the world on fire; plus I appreciate TFE is in early days yet. I quite understand about WINE, just grateful for your hard work and that you'll support Linux eventually. Also looking to play that copy of Outlaws I bought in the late 1990s and still haven't played fully :D

Edited December 19, 2022 by Martin Howe

[JBerg]

Insanely cool stuff! Congratulations!

[Womp the Cat]

This looks awesome! congrats on release.

[Z0k]

grats on release! i was expecting this version hope it fixes some of the bugs i have with a previous  version where menu buttons on que original User Interface Menus  have a different position than the displayed of the buttons and also the sourceport menus didnt worked too. going to download to check it out

[Kroc]

Thank you *so* much. Finally able to comfortably delve into the mods for the game. As a data point, the game is running swimmingly at 1366x768 on a basic i5-7200U @ 2.5GHz / Intel HD 620. Please consider also automatically detecting GoG versions of DF; the install location can be read from the registry based on a unique app-id that GOG uses.

[lucius]

34 minutes ago, Kroc said:

Thank you *so* much. Finally able to comfortably delve into the mods for the game. As a data point, the game is running swimmingly at 1366x768 on a basic i5-7200U @ 2.5GHz / Intel HD 620. Please consider also automatically detecting GoG versions of DF; the install location can be read from the registry based on a unique app-id that GOG uses.

It should autodetect GOG installs already. It sounds like it failed in your case for some reason.

 

Glad it is running well. Are you using the GPU or software renderer?

Edited December 19, 2022 by lucius

[Kroc]

59 minutes ago, lucius said:

It should autodetect GOG installs already. It sounds like it failed in your case for some reason.

 

Glad it is running well. Are you using the GPU or software renderer?

GPU. Actually I had neither Steam or GOG version installed (although I thought I did) and the game assumed the Steam paths; however it crashes if you try to launch without any Steam/GOG install -- perhaps a sanity check there :P. I installed the Steam version because, by the default paths, I assumed that was the only version supported. Glad to hear it detects GOG, thanks.

[Dweller Dark]

Congrats on the release! Another victory for the Rebel Alliance! (TFE works perfect so far)

[lucius]

33 minutes ago, Kroc said:

GPU. Actually I had neither Steam or GOG version installed (although I thought I did) and the game assumed the Steam paths; however it crashes if you try to launch without any Steam/GOG install -- perhaps a sanity check there :P. I installed the Steam version because, by the default paths, I assumed that was the only version supported. Glad to hear it detects GOG, thanks.

Yeah, I thought I fixed that crash if no proper source data path is set up. So I will need to figure that out. But TFE should support any valid (DOS) Dark Forces install, though it will only auto-detect Steam and GOG for now.

Edited December 20, 2022 by lucius

[lucius]

Thanks, everyone, I'm glad TFE is working well for most people (even though there are some hiccups here and there). :)

[markanini]

Congratulations on the big 1.0!

The VSync feel very snappy to me.

[david_a]

Very excited that this is a reality!

 

Looking forward to the Mac version since my Windows machine is ancient. I assume there will also be an Apple Silicon native version?

[Kinsie]

Congratulations on finally slaying your white whale!

[aRottenKomquat]

Dark Forces is one of my favorite games of all time. Glad to see it's being given this treatment, and I hope it gains a new modding community.

[LexiMax]

An amazing effort in making one of the harder to appreciate classics (due to there being no viable alternative to the DOS version) accessible to all!  Congratulations on the release!