UZDoom
Engine for Doom (1993) | Category: Source ports
Author: UZDoom Team | Curator: 
Modbadger
Engine for Doom (1993) | Category: Source ports
Author: UZDoom Team | Curator: Modbadger
UZDoom is a source port for Doom and the successor to GZDoom. The engine offers authentic pixel graphics without blurring, a cleaned-up interface, and fixed security bugs, while maintaining full compatibility with all existing mods.
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UZDoom (Ultimate ZDoom) emerged in autumn 2025 as the result of a high-profile split within the GZDoom team. GZDoom's lead curator and developer, Graf Zahl, had for many years single-handedly dictated the engine's direction, which frequently caused friction due to his rigid management style. The final straw came when Graf Zahl added AI-generated code to the GZDoom repository and bluntly refused to discuss it with other maintainers who had raised ethical and legal concerns about AI-generated code.
In response to his ultimatum ("don't like it — go make your own port"), virtually all of GZDoom's key developers formally distanced themselves from Graf Zahl and announced the creation of a fork — UZDoom, which has since become the community's primary port.
Key differences between UZDoom and GZDoom
Since UZDoom is a direct continuation of GZDoom, they retain full mod compatibility, but differ in fundamental ways:
UZDoom prohibits the use of AI-generated code entirely. Development is conducted exclusively by hand.
The project no longer has a single "dictator." All decisions are made collectively by the ZDoom administration and community, and useful pull requests from outside contributors are accepted far more readily.
Default visuals (texture filtering): in UZDoom, the infamous "blurry" texture filtering that had annoyed old-school fans in GZDoom for years is now disabled by default. The game immediately looks more pixelated and authentic.
Developers have begun streamlining the bloated menu inherited from GZDoom, which was difficult to navigate due to hundreds of tabs, adapting it for newcomers.
In the very first UZDoom builds, critical security vulnerabilities were patched, audio looping bugs were fixed, automap bugs were resolved, and game-specific crashes on this engine were addressed (for example, in Strife).
UZDoom has partially adopted GZDoom's version 5.0 roadmap. The UZDoom team is actively reworking the multiplayer netcode, the model bone manipulation system, and the launcher — areas that had gone unchanged in the original GZDoom for years.
