Posted November 19, 2020
high rated
As with other Build games, there are several source ports available for the PC version of Powerslave, allowing you to play in higher resolutions, widescreen and with modern controls. All of these require that you own the game already.
PCExhumed
This is the closest you'll get to a "chocolate" port. Saving is done after each level like the DOS version and menus are limited to what was in that version (keybindings have to be configured with console commands or editing the config file). It supports both software rendering and the Polymost renderer (with true vertical look)
The downside is that if you don't use a Windows OS you have to compile the port yourself.
https://github.com/nukeykt/NBlood/releases
PowerslaveGDX
This is part of BuildGDX (supports all major Build engine games except Ion Fury), and is more feature rich than the other ports, most notably allowing you to save in-level.
As with PCExhumed both software and Polymost renderer are available, although performance in software mode is lower than PCExhumed. Widescreen sprites are bundled with the port.
There are two downloads available, one for 64-bit Windows users that uses it's own JRE, and one with just the JAR file for operating systems with a Java runtime installed (only x86 and x86-64 systems, other CPU architectures such as ARM are not supported)
https://m210.duke4.net/
Raze
This is forked from PCExhumed by the GZDoom devs, and as with BuildGDX supports several games. Features are similar although there's no software renderer. It also has slightly higher system requirements than the two other ports. As with PowerslaveGDX there are widescreen sprites bundled.
The devs build for MacOS in addition to Windows, so this is a good choice for Mac users not wanting to compile the port themselves
https://github.com/coelckers/Raze/releases
Neural network upscale pack
I'll finally take the opportunity to plug my mod (supports all three ports) - it upscales most of the game's graphics to 2x resolution.
https://www.moddb.com/games/powerslave/addons/powerslave-upscale-pack-v12
PCExhumed
This is the closest you'll get to a "chocolate" port. Saving is done after each level like the DOS version and menus are limited to what was in that version (keybindings have to be configured with console commands or editing the config file). It supports both software rendering and the Polymost renderer (with true vertical look)
The downside is that if you don't use a Windows OS you have to compile the port yourself.
https://github.com/nukeykt/NBlood/releases
PowerslaveGDX
This is part of BuildGDX (supports all major Build engine games except Ion Fury), and is more feature rich than the other ports, most notably allowing you to save in-level.
As with PCExhumed both software and Polymost renderer are available, although performance in software mode is lower than PCExhumed. Widescreen sprites are bundled with the port.
There are two downloads available, one for 64-bit Windows users that uses it's own JRE, and one with just the JAR file for operating systems with a Java runtime installed (only x86 and x86-64 systems, other CPU architectures such as ARM are not supported)
https://m210.duke4.net/
Raze
This is forked from PCExhumed by the GZDoom devs, and as with BuildGDX supports several games. Features are similar although there's no software renderer. It also has slightly higher system requirements than the two other ports. As with PowerslaveGDX there are widescreen sprites bundled.
The devs build for MacOS in addition to Windows, so this is a good choice for Mac users not wanting to compile the port themselves
https://github.com/coelckers/Raze/releases
Neural network upscale pack
I'll finally take the opportunity to plug my mod (supports all three ports) - it upscales most of the game's graphics to 2x resolution.
https://www.moddb.com/games/powerslave/addons/powerslave-upscale-pack-v12
Post edited November 17, 2023 by phredreeke
