Native Pi gaming
Christian Cawley is playing Doom and other games on his Raspberry Pi without emulation.
Christian Cawley is playing Doom and other classic games on his Raspberry Pi without emulation. He explains how you can try this gaming witchcraft.
You probably think of the Raspberry Pi as a useful computing tool that can also handle a bit of emulated gaming. But there are plenty of games that you can install on the Raspberry Pi without needing an emulator.
Open source games for Linux, classic games that have had the source code released, and games written in Python are all available. If an Arm-compatible build has been distributed, the game should run.
First person shooters, shoot-’em-ups, strategy games and more are all ready to install on the Raspberry Pi. While simple to install, though, configuration can be tricky – especially when it comes to finding a suitable controller.
You already know of one Raspberry Pi game that runs natively: Minecraft Pi. Many others are available and can be downloaded from the web or installed from repositories. Often they come ready to use, but in some cases, configuration is required to tailor the game for your Raspberry Pi model and controller setup (see boxout for more on controller setup).
Doom is a key example of a game that has gone open source, had the source code adapted for Arm processors, and is now available for the Raspberry Pi. Available as a framework into which you can install WAD files, Doom is one of many games, mostly from the 16-bit era, that will run on the Pi without emulation.
Running Doom on your Raspberry Pi is straightforward. You should be using a Raspberry Pi 2 or later and have a keyboard and mouse or game controller attached for playing.
The Doom source code is also required. Released in 1997, this has been repackaged several times. For the
Raspberry Pi, arguably the best option is Chocolate Chocolate
Doom, Doom, which can be installed in the terminal using
sudo apt install chocolate-doom
While the game engine is now installed, at present there is nothing to play. You’ll need the data files, weapons, maps and graphic assets which are available as packaged WAD files. Many different WADS are available, from packages that recreate the original game to WADS that introduce whole new ways of playing Doom. Doom. To install on the Pi, change to the /usr/ games directory.
cd /usr/games
Next, use wget wget to grab the WAD from the original shareware version of the game, which by chance offers the first episode for free:
sudo wget http://www.doomworld.com/3ddownloads/ ports/shareware_doom_iwad.zip ports/shareware_doom_iwad.zip
Finally, Finally, unzip unzip it: it:
sudo sudo unzip unzip shareware_doom_iwad.zip/ shareware_doom_iwad.zip/
This This will will create create a a file file called called DOOM1.WAD. DOOM1.WAD. While While the the game game is is ready ready to to play, play, you’ll you’ll still still need need to to configure configure Doom. Doom. Start Start by by launching launching the the setup setup tool: tool:
chocolate-doom-setup chocolate-doom-setup
With With this, this, you you can can configure configure the the display, display, sound, sound, keyboard, keyboard, mouse, mouse, or or your your chosen chosen gamepad gamepad or or joystick. joystick. There There is is even even the the facility facility to to start start or or join join a a network network game. game. Key Key options options you you might might use use here here include include opening opening Configure Configure Display Display and and pressing pressing A A to to view view the the advanced advanced options. options. Select Select ‘Save ‘Save screenshots screenshots in in PNG PNG format’ format’ to to get get
the best-quality screengrabs. You should also switch to Configure Keyboard to access the Other keys submenu and set a key for ‘Save a screenshot’.
Most importantly is controller configuration, using Configure Gamepad/joystick. If you have something plugged in (such as an Xbox controller, for example) this should be automatically detected. Further configuration can be applied, such as setting the axes and fire buttons.
Throughout the setup screen, pressing F1 will launch the Chocolate Doom wiki in your Pi’s browser. When you’re done, use Save parameters and launch Doom to retain your settings and start the game. At other times when you’re ready to play, launch Chocolate Doom with
chocolate-doom -iwad DOOM1.WAD
You can also launch from the Games menu on the Raspberry Pi OS desktop. While Raspberry Pi 3 and 4 can cope with the full-screen resolution, the Pi 2 might struggle. For a more authentic Doom screen resolution, set to a 640x480 pixel window:
chocolate-doom -iwad DOOM1.WAD -window 640x480
Pi-and-click adventures
Looking for something more relaxed? While plenty of other shooters are available (Chocolate Doom installs the frameworks for Hexxen and Heretic, for example, while Duke Nukem 3D, Quake and others are available separately) you might prefer the cerebral challenge of a point-and-click adventure.
Classic adventures such as Beneath a Steel Sky (see
the review p20) and Ultima IV: Quest for the Avatar have been released as freeware. Meanwhile others (such as the Indiana Jones series from Lucasarts, Broken Sword and Zork) are available to grab from Steam or GOG.
What this means for the Raspberry Pi is that you can play these games using Scummvm. It’s a multiplatform system for playing point-and-click games from the 1980s and 1990s. An acronym of ‘Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion Virtual Machine’, Scummvm was, as the name suggests, originally developed for Maniac
Mansion. These days, you can play a whole host of titles – over 200 (https://bit.ly/lxf268-scummvm).
Like Chocolate Doom, Scummvm works best on the Pi 2 and later. Start by installing it:
sudo apt install -y scummvm
Next, create a folder for your games.
cd ~ mkdir scummvm-games
To keep the games as close to the originals as possible, some extra packages are required to improve audio:
sudo apt install fluidsynth && timidity
Several freeware Scummvm titles are available in the Raspberry Pi repos. Install these to start playing.
sudo apt install beneath-a-steel-sky sudo apt install flight-of-the-amazon-queen sudo apt install lure-of-the-temptress sudo apt install drascula
Once installed, games can be launched from Games > Scummvm.
A host of other games can be installed directly onto your Raspberry Pi without emulation. These aren’t original classics, but they owe a lot to them. A wellknown example is Freeciv, a clone of the Civilization series that supports online and local multiplayer. This can be installed quickly with minimal configuration:
sudo apt install freeciv-client-sdl
Similarly, there is a clone of the original Simcity, called Micropolis. Gameplay is almost identical to the ground-breaking 1989 game, which can be installed with
sudo apt install micropolis
Want to go further? Other games will run on the Raspberry Pi, but you’ll need some of the original game files to help. For example, Star Wars: Jedi Knight II has been ported to Linux, but you’ll need the audiovisual assets (graphics, sound and so on) for it to run correctly, as these are still copyrighted. One option for this is to buy the game on Steam, install it on Windows, then copy the asset files to your Raspberry Pi. This can get a bit messy, so check this thread on the Raspberry Pi forum: https://bit.ly/lxf268-jedi.