Soldier of Fortune: Static Recompilation

"Consider this Bad Boy and play on an empty stomach" — Playboy

Yes, that quote was on the box. Yes, it was from that Playboy.

A static recompilation project to bring Soldier of Fortune (2000) back to life on modern systems. Because no one should be denied the experience of watching a guy's arm fly off in 26 individually modeled zones of dismemberment.

Current Progress

NYC1 map rendering — rooftop warehouse area with correct BSP geometry, M32 textures, lightmaps, skybox, and HUD.

The engine boots, loads PAK archives, parses SoF's BSP v46 format, and renders full 3D levels with textured geometry. 41+ source files, 54,000+ lines of code across all subsystems, 210+ commits.

Working Subsystems

Subsystem	Status
PAK filesystem	Fully working — reads pak0.pak (9728 files) + pak1.pak
BSP v46 renderer	Working — correct face (44-byte) and leaf (32-byte) structs
M32/WAL textures	Working — 7363 textures loaded with correct alpha handling
Lightmaps	Working — atlas-based multitexture lightmapping (4060 lit faces on NYC1)
Skybox	Working — TGA skybox rendering (see Known Issues re: PVS leak)
Entity spawning	Working — 906 entities parsed on NYC1, 160+ SP_ functions
Player movement	Working — pmove with ground detection, door collision, viewheight 26
Console/Cvars	Working — full command system with config file loading
Key bindings	Working — SoF config compatibility
HUD	Working — health, minimap, weapon display, compass
Sound	SDL2 audio initialized
GHOUL init	Gore zone system initialized (model rendering is placeholder)
.os Scripts	Bytecode interpreter — fully wired (InitGame/RunFrame/Shutdown)
Game entities	70+ entity types (triggers, movers, hazards, items, breakables)
FOV calculation	Dynamic aspect-ratio-correct vertical FOV
Player camera	SoF-accurate viewheight (26 units, confirmed from original DLL)
Debug autoshot	autoshot N [prefix] — capture N TGA shots while orbiting yaw

Known Issues

• Sky-cube PVS leak. Where world floor faces are PVS-culled (e.g. looking straight down), the skybox's dark down-face shows through, creating a "submersion" appearance for objects resting on the floor. The fix is to mask the skybox cube to only the pixels covered by SURF_SKY world faces (Q2's stencil/depth-painted sky technique). Diagnosed via the autoshot tool — disabling the skybox revealed the clear color in exactly the affected zones.
• GHOUL mesh parsing is incomplete. GHB headers, hierarchical bone trees, and vertex positions decoded, but full triangle/UV unpacking is pending — characters and props with GHB models render as humanoid placeholders.
• cl_refdef not wired to renderer. Blend effects (damage flash, underwater tint, night vision) are computed but not actually applied during 3D rendering — the renderer builds its own refdef from r_camera_origin/r_camera_angles.
• Brush submodel translation by entity origin is enabled but not yet validated against moving entities (doors, lifts) — vertex storage convention in SoF v46 BSP needs further investigation.
• No multiplayer/networking — single-player only.
• No cinematic/RoQ playback — R_DrawStretchRaw is a no-op.

What Is This?

Soldier of Fortune was developed by Raven Software and published by Activision in 2000. Built on a heavily modified id Tech 2 (Quake II) engine, it featured the revolutionary GHOUL damage model system — a technology so gratuitously detailed in its depiction of bodily harm that it got the game banned in several countries and slapped with an ESRB Mature 17+ rating that they probably wished went higher.

The game doesn't run on modern Windows (10/11). At all. This project aims to fix that through static recompilation — no assets included, just the code needed to make your legally obtained copy playable again.

This is a game preservation project. We believe games shouldn't just disappear because operating systems moved on.

Project Goals

• Static recompilation of the original x86 Soldier of Fortune executable
• Full compatibility with Windows 10/11 (64-bit)
• Modern renderer backend (Vulkan/OpenGL 4.x) replacing the legacy OpenGL 1.x pipeline
• Native widescreen and high-resolution support
• Preserve original gameplay 1:1 — every limb flies exactly as Raven intended
• Support for original game assets (you supply your own copy)
• Linux and macOS support (stretch goal)

Technical Background

The Engine

SoF runs on a modified Quake II engine with significant additions by Raven Software:

System	Description
GHOUL	The legendary damage model system. 26 gore zones per character model. Responsible for congressional hearings.
ArghRad!	Enhanced lighting tool with Phong-type shading and global sunlight
Designer Script (DS)	Custom scripting language for game logic
ROFF	Rotation Object File Format — ~500 movement animation files
Dynamic Audio	Custom music and ambient sound systems

Static Recompilation Approach

Rather than emulating or reimplementing the engine from scratch, we perform static recompilation:

1. Disassemble the original PE executable
2. Lift x86 instructions to an intermediate representation
3. Recompile to modern x86-64 with contemporary compiler optimizations
4. Patch OS-level calls (Win32 API, DirectDraw, legacy OpenGL) to modern equivalents
5. Rebuild as a native 64-bit application

This preserves the original game logic with perfect accuracy while making it run on modern systems.

Project Structure

sof/
├── src/
│   ├── engine/      # Core engine recompilation (modified id Tech 2)
│   ├── ghoul/       # GHOUL damage model system
│   ├── game/        # Game logic (gamex86.dll)
│   ├── renderer/    # Rendering backend (ref_gl -> modern)
│   ├── sound/       # Audio system
│   ├── client/      # Client-side code
│   ├── server/      # Server / game hosting
│   └── common/      # Shared utilities and types
├── tools/           # Analysis and build tools
├── docs/            # Technical documentation and notes
├── CMakeLists.txt   # Build system
└── README.md        # You are here

Building

Note: This project is in early development. Build instructions will be updated as components are implemented.

Prerequisites

• CMake 3.20+
• MSVC (Visual Studio 2022) or compatible C compiler
• vcpkg with SDL2 installed
• A legal copy of Soldier of Fortune (pak0.pak, pak1.pak)

Build

cd build
cmake .. -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=/path/to/vcpkg/scripts/buildsystems/vcpkg.cmake
cmake --build . --config Release

Running

# Copy pak0.pak and pak1.pak into build/bin/Release/base/
cd build/bin/Release
./sof.exe +map nyc1

Debug capture

# Capture 4 screenshots while orbiting yaw from spawn (writes autoshot_NN.tga)
./sof.exe +map nyc1 +autoshot 4

# Or interactively in the console: autoshot 8 myprefix
# → produces myprefix_00.tga through myprefix_07.tga (45° steps)

Game Compatibility

Version	Status
Soldier of Fortune (v1.0)	Target
Soldier of Fortune (v1.06a)	Target
Soldier of Fortune: Gold Edition	Target
Soldier of Fortune: Platinum Edition	Planned

Legal

This project contains no original game assets, code, or copyrighted material from Activision, Raven Software, or id Software. You must supply your own legally obtained copy of Soldier of Fortune to use this project.

This is a clean-room static recompilation effort for the purpose of game preservation and interoperability with modern operating systems.

Soldier of Fortune is a trademark of Activision Publishing, Inc. id Tech 2 engine technology by id Software. GHOUL engine technology by Raven Software. This project is not affiliated with or endorsed by any of these companies.

Contributing

This is a community preservation effort. Contributions are welcome! Check the issues tab for current tasks or open a new one.

If you have technical knowledge of the id Tech 2 engine, Quake II modding experience, or reverse engineering skills — we'd love your help.

Acknowledgments

• Raven Software — for making a game so absurdly violent it became legendary
• id Software — for the Quake II engine that made it all possible
• John Mullins — the real-life military consultant and absolute unit who the protagonist is based on
• The SoF community who kept the multiplayer alive way longer than anyone expected

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"You want me to feel sorry for these guys? They're terrorists." — John Mullins, in-game

Built with respect for the original work. This is a preservation project, not a replacement.