This is the complete source code for Quake II (version 3.19 / 3.21) as released by id Software.
The code is licensed under the GNU Public License (GPL).
That means we are free to modify, distribute, or even commercialize our own version — but if we distribute binaries, we must also provide the source.
However: the game data (textures, maps, assets) are not fully open. The README notes: original “Q2 data files remain copyrighted … we cannot redistribute data from the original game” unless we do a “true total conversion.”
We can still study how a classic FPS engine works.
Developers and hobbyists can build upon the engine.
People have used this code for source ports or to run Quake II on different platforms.
The README mentions Visual C++ 6.0 for building.
This is quite outdated, so compiling on modern systems may need adjustments.
There are modern source ports like Yamagi Quake II that build on this codebase.
There are more advanced forks too, e.g., vkQuake2 (adds Vulkan, etc.)
There’s also a “Quake II Rerelease” codebase from id on GitHub.
We can build new game logic (or convert to a totally new game) using this engine.
Enjoy #retro
Source code available here:
https://github.com/idsoftware/quake2
Well, that was exciting. See you in the next one!