vkQuake – Vulkan-Powered Quake Engine for Modern Gaming

Yes. vkQuake is free and open-source software released under the GNU General Public License v2. There is no paid version, no subscription and no in-game advertising. You only need your own copy of Quake for the game data, which you can buy from Steam, GOG or the Epic Games Store. The engine itself costs nothing and always will.

Every download button on this site links directly to the official release page of the Novum/vkQuake repository on GitHub, where the developer publishes each version. We do not re-host, repackage or modify the files. That means you always get the original build, and you can check the release notes and source code on the same page.

The official builds are compiled from public source code by the project's automated build pipeline on GitHub. Windows SmartScreen may warn about the installer because it is not signed by a large publisher, which is normal for open-source games. Download only from the official release and compare the SHA-256 hash we publish if you want extra assurance.

No. vkQuake is only the engine. Quake's levels, monsters, sounds and music are copyrighted and come from your copy of the game: the pak0.pak and pak1.pak files in its id1 folder. Owners of Quake on Steam, GOG or Epic also have the 2021 re-release, which vkQuake can play.

The engine is licensed under GPL-2.0, so you may study, modify and redistribute it, including in commercial projects, as long as you share your source code under the same license. The Quake game data is not covered by the GPL and remains the property of id Software and ZeniMax, so you cannot redistribute it.

No. vkQuake is an offline game engine with no accounts, telemetry or analytics. It reads your game files and writes settings, saves and screenshots to your PC. The only network activity happens if you deliberately join or host a multiplayer game. This website's own data practices are explained in our privacy policy.

With the Windows installer, download the newest installer and run it over the existing install. Your saves and config in %APPDATA%\vkQuake are kept. With the portable ZIP, extract the new files into your Quake folder and overwrite the old ones. On Linux, replace the old AppImage with the new one. Settings carry over in every case.

Most Windows users should choose the x64 installer. Pick the x64 ZIP if you want a portable copy, or the ARM64 ZIP for Snapdragon and other Arm-based Windows laptops. Linux users should take the x86_64 AppImage. Mac users can get builds for Apple Silicon and Intel from Mac Source Ports, which the vkQuake README links to.

You need 64-bit Windows 10 or 11, or a 64-bit Linux system, and a GPU with working Vulkan drivers. In practice, most NVIDIA, AMD and Intel graphics from roughly 2013 onward qualify. Around 4 GB of RAM and 100 MB of storage are plenty. Ray-traced dynamic shadows require a GPU with hardware ray tracing.

Put them in your Quake base folder, the one that contains the id1 folder, not inside id1 itself. On Steam this is usually steamapps/common/Quake. For the 2021 re-release, use the rerelease subfolder instead. The Windows installer finds Steam, GOG and Epic installs automatically, so you only need to do this with the portable ZIP.

This error means vkQuake cannot find the game data. Check that id1/pak0.pak exists and that vkQuake starts from the folder containing id1, or launch it with -basedir followed by that folder. On Linux, also make sure the folder and files use lowercase names. Our troubleshooting guide covers the fix step by step.

Update your graphics driver directly from NVIDIA, AMD or Intel, since older drivers may lack Vulkan support. On laptops with two GPUs, assign vkQuake to the high-performance GPU in Windows Graphics Settings. Very old GPUs that predate Vulkan cannot run vkQuake; an OpenGL engine such as QuakeSpasm or Ironwail is the better choice there.

There is no official vkQuake build for Android or iOS. The project ships Windows and Linux binaries, and Mac builds come from Mac Source Ports. On phones and tablets, look for Quake ports made specifically for mobile, or stream the game from a PC. Handheld PCs such as the Steam Deck run the Linux AppImage well.

Yes. vkQuake runs any mod or map that works in QuakeSpasm, including Arcane Dimensions, Alkaline and Copper. Put the mod folder next to id1, then choose it from the Mods menu or launch with -game and the folder name. Single maps go into id1/maps and load with the map console command.

All three share the QuakeSpasm codebase and run the same mods. vkQuake uses Vulkan with a multithreaded renderer and has the most extra features, such as 8-bit emulation and ray-traced shadows. Ironwail is a very fast OpenGL fork, and QuakeSpasm is the conservative reference engine. Our comparison article explains which suits whom.

Yes, vkQuake supports the classic Quake network protocols for LAN and community servers, so you can host or join games the way you did in the past. It cannot connect to the official 2021 re-release online services, which use Nightdive's own networking. For co-op with friends, start a listen server from the Multiplayer menu.