UZDoom 5.0 is out with a rewritten multiplayer and a modern launcher

UZDoom 5.0 launched on August 28, bringing a rewritten multiplayer system, a new launcher, and an automatic background updater to the open-source DOOM engine. The update caps off an over year-long development cycle and a massive amount of internal reworks.

The project itself is relatively young, but its roots go back decades. UZDoom emerged in October 2025 as a community fork of GZDoom. That split happened after long-simmering friction within the GZDoom development team over the project lead's use of AI-generated code and stubborn default visual settings like texture filtering. The core maintainers branched off to create UZDoom. They wanted to preserve open collaboration and modernize the engine's default configurations.

It's the latest step in a very long lineage. When id Software released the original DOOM source code in 1997, it started a wave of community engineering. Marisa Heit launched ZDoom in 1998 to establish standards for custom scripting and cross-platform play. Christoph Oelckers followed up with GZDoom in 2005 to add hardware rendering and 3D floors. Now, UZDoom carries that torch forward.

The 5.0 overhaul

The 5.0 release is a heavy modernization pass. The new launcher includes light and dark themes, plus a dedicated netgame tab to handle the rewritten multiplayer system. Controller support now includes haptic feedback and refreshed response curves.

For modders, the update adds ZScript DAP debug server support and bone manipulations for IQM models. There are also new fog options and accessibility settings. It's built to maintain seamless backwards compatibility for existing total conversions and standalone indie games that relied on GZDoom.

DOOM modding isn't just about replacing sprites or making new maps anymore. Modern source ports run entirely original commercial games. Standalone indie titles like Selaco and Hedon rely on this technology stack. When a major engine fork happens, it affects a massive ecosystem of commercial developers and hobbyists alike.

The transition from GZDoom to UZDoom over the past year required careful handling of that ecosystem. Breaking compatibility with twenty years of ZScript and DECORATE code wasn't an option. The 5.0 release proves the new maintainers can push the technology forward without leaving the existing library behind.

Getting it running

UZDoom supports modern OpenGL and Vulkan renderers, dynamic lighting, and high-resolution graphics. It's the new baseline for running DOOM, DOOM II, Heretic, Hexen, and Strife. I'm honestly just glad the default texture filtering is finally sorted out. We all know how blurry those old sprites look when they get smeared across a modern monitor.

The automatic background updater is a particularly nice touch. Keeping source ports updated used to mean manually dragging and dropping files into directories every few months. Now, the engine handles its own maintenance.

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Source: github.com