Star Wars: Dark Forces Gets Fan-Made 4K Overhaul

Star Wars: Dark Forces was the first ever first-person shooter set in the Star Wars universe, and it introduced some new elements like the Dark Troopers, and it was the debut of fan favorite Kyle Katarn. Over the last three years, a mod has been in development to bring some modern quality of life improvements to the old 1995 Star Wars classic, and that mod has finally been released as Version 1.0.

 

This mod is called The Force Engine, and the completion of Version 1.0 was announced on the mod’s blog. This mod is a replacement for the old Star Wars: Dark Forces executable file, and it replaces the DosBox requirements for modern PC versions of the game. This means that it does not replace the game itself, but rather the executable alone.

This mod supports the game as it once was, complete with the ability to use the original 320x200 resolution if that’s what you really want. However, for those who want a few modern conveniences, this mod features a 4K resolution option, mouselook, and a save system that works alongside the prior save systems. Each of these modern conveniences can, of course, be completely ignored if you want the original experience, such as not having a mouse to play a first-person shooter, which would generally be considered ludicrous by today’s standards.

This mod requires Windows 7 and a GPU with OpenGL 3.3 or better at present, but there is a plan to produce a Linux and Mac version of this mod in the future. In addition, the modders also plan to lower the requirements in the coming months and years. However, for now, this is the release, and it can be downloaded directly from the site for those who are interested in checking this modernizing mod out.

Lastly, this mod is also intended to replace the Jedi Engine that was used for Star Wars: Dark Forces, but the lesser-known game Outlaws also used that engine, so this can also work for that game. Which is a nice bonus.
 

Justin van Huyssteen (@LC_Lupus)
Senior Editor, NoobFeed