The Dark Mod 2.09 Released With New OpenGL Rendering Backend

The Dark Mod that began as a total conversion mod for Doom 3 but evolved into a standalone game making use of the open-source id Tech 4 game engine is out with a big update. This is one of the few open-source games making use of the public id Tech 4 code-base and with today's v2.09 update is a large rewrite to its graphics back-end.

This open-source id Tech 4 game has a new OpenGL 3.3 renderer that replaces the existing graphics back-end, which will be removed moving forward. ARB shaders have been gutted from the new back-end, an effort made to minimize driver overhead, and supporting other "newer" OpenGL features like bindless textures, multi-draw indirect, UBO streaming, and more. The graphics support is still dated compared to the latest commercial games, but a step forward for open-spurce games and again The Dark Mod being one of the few active open-source projects atop id Tech 4.

Besides performing better thanks to its new graphics back-end, there are other optimizations, improved visuals, experimental gamepad support, mapping improvements, sound enhancements, some new assets, and more.

More details on The Dark Mod 2.09 via thedarkmod.com. Native Linux builds continue to be available.