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[Release] Doom RPG (Reverse Engineered) for 3DS — Stereoscopic 3D, Touch HUD & CIA Build

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Title: Update: Doom RPG RE (3DS) v1.1.2 — Big Performance Boost for Old 3DS/2DS, Cleaner Dialogs & Bug Fixes!

Hey everyone,
I ended up rolling right through v1.1.1 into v1.1.2, so here’s a combined update on everything that’s landed over the past couple of days!

Both .cia (installable) and .3dsx (Homebrew Launcher) builds are available on the GitHub Release Page https://github.com/iNdioNicarao/DoomRPG-RE-3DS/releases/tag/v1.1.2.

Here’s a quick summary of the biggest improvements:
──────
#### ⚡ What was added in v1.1.1:
• Huge Old 3DS & 2DS Performance Overhaul: We tracked down why the earlier optimizations weren't kicking in—older config files on SD cards were silently forcing heavy 400x240 textured rendering. The engine now auto-migrates Old
3DS/2DS hardware to internal Retro 200 scaling with flat ceilings/floors, cuts rasterization math in half, caps particle spam, and reduces audio mixing overhead. Combat and exploration feel night-and-day smoother on original
hardware now.
• Accidental Menu Popup Bug Squashed: Fixed the annoying bug where pressing Right + A or Down + A in combat would accidentally pop open the menu due to an input bitwise collision.
• Enemy / Kill Counter on Bottom Screen: The automap badge now tracks real-time kills alongside map exploration and secrets (MAP: 100% | SEC: 2/2 | KILLS: 14/14).
• Touch HUD Organization: Separated weapons and inventory items cleanly—slot 9 on the left is now strictly for your Dog companion weapon (DG), and button 4 on the bottom bar is strictly for the Dog Collar item (COLR).
• 3-Second Notification LED: Extended the physical 3DS LED alerts to 3-second colored flashes across 17 in-game events (keycards, secrets, level-ups, low health pulse, etc.).
──────
#### 🛠️ What's new in v1.1.2:
• Bottom Screen Blackout Fix: Fixed a nasty bug where the bottom screen (automap/touch interface) would intermittently go pitch black when standing still until you moved or took an action.
• Much Cleaner Dialogs & 6 Lines of Text: Replaced the huge, blocky font on NPC dialogs and computer terminals with a crisp 1x font. Dialog boxes now fit 6 full lines (up from 3) with smart word wrapping so you don't get awkward
2-letter lines, and terminal screens get authentic retro green phosphor styling.
• Widescreen Help & Controls Screen: Redesigned the Help menu across the full 400px widescreen display, with layout callouts tailored to whether you’re playing on a New 3DS (ZL/ZR strafing, C-Stick) or Old 3DS/2DS.
• Proper Weapon Height & Grounding: Fixed a 48px viewport offset that was sinking idle weapons behind the bottom HUD bar. Weapons now sit at their proper, authentic height above the status bar without feeling buried.
• Turbo Turn-Pass: Pressing Select (Pass Turn) in Turbo Mode now snaps monster turns immediately without stepping delays.
• Stereo 3D Monster Cast: The end-game monster parade now renders in full autostereoscopic 3D with the depth slider.
──────
#### 📥 Download & In-Depth Details
• Release Download (CIA & 3DSX): GitHub Releases — v1.1.2 https://github.com/iNdioNicarao/DoomRPG-RE-3DS/releases/tag/v1.1.2
• Detailed Technical Notes:
• v1.1.2 Full Release Notes https://github.com/iNdioNicarao/DoomRPG-RE-3DS/blob/main/docs/RELEASE_NOTES_v1.1.2.md
• v1.1.1 Full Release Notes https://github.com/iNdioNicarao/DoomRPG-RE-3DS/blob/main/docs/RELEASE_NOTES_v1.1.1.md

As always, existing save games are 100% compatible. Thanks to everyone for the continued testing and feedback—let me know how the new build runs on your setups!***
 
Last edited by indionicarao,
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It’s so cool to see Doom RPG gaining more recognition, I never thought I’d see another console running the game besides the Zeebo. (The game was never actually officially released for the Zeebo, but since the Zeebo uses a customized version of Qualcomm BREW 4.0.2, it can actually run some mobile games made for BREW and at a higher resolution, too and Doom RPG was released for both BREW and Java.)

 
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indionicarao said:
Hey everyone,


Like many of you who remember playing mobile games in the mid-2000s, I’ve always had a soft spot for Doom RPG. When the GEC team managed to reverse-engineer it for PC and Efim Andreev started an initial 3DS port last year, I was thrilled to see it running on handheld hardware.

However, the original port was fairly barebones and primarily aimed at running as a .3dsx. I wanted to turn this into a native-feeling 3DS experience that takes genuine advantage of the console’s hardware—complete with autostereoscopic 3D, a usable bottom-screen touch interface, and a proper HOME menu banner.

Over the last few weeks, I’ve put together several updates (now up to v1.0.6), and I wanted to share the build here with the community.


──────


### What’s in this build:


• Native Home Menu CIA & 3DSX: Comes with a custom 3D rotating banner (this part needs the most work if anyone wants to contribute), custom icon, and a proper audio stinger.


• Autostereoscopic 3D: Full hardware stereoscopic 3D using the physical slider on both the original and New 3DS.

• Motion Damping: One problem with turn-based grid movement in 3D is that stepping forward causes harsh visual shearing. Depth is dynamically eased during steps and recovers when you land, keeping eye strain to a minimum.

• Stereo Particles: Blood splatters, sparks, and explosion particles render to both eye buffers with proper depth separation so they don't flicker.

• In-game Multiplier: You can adjust stereo intensity in the pause menu (Low, Normal, High, Max) to match your comfort level.

• Bottom Screen Touch HUD & Automap:

• The automap tracks the player in real time.

• You can touch-and-drag the map with your stylus or finger to look around the level, with [+] zoom in, [-] zoom out, and [O] / player-arrow tap to snap back.

• Quick-access hotbar slots for medkits, armor, and dog collars (grayed out when empty, with tactile feedback if tapped).

• On-screen keypad for typing door passcodes without cycling buttons.

• Combat Turbo toggle: Tapping [ TURBO ] next to the map controls speeds up enemy turn pauses and projectile animations if you want faster battles.


• Visual & Audio Polish:

• Cutscenes, story pages, and splash screens are scaled 2x so they don’t look like tiny postage stamps on the top screen.

• Textured floors and ceilings are on by default.

• In-game toggle between Crisp (nearest neighbor pixel art) and Smooth (linear filtering).

• Background music streams as MP3 via libmad with low memory overhead.

• Closing the 3DS clam-shell immediately suspends audio and puts the console into low-power sleep.



──────
### How to Install:


Because Doom RPG is copyrighted by id Software / Bethesda, no game assets or audio files are included in the download. You will need to provide your own extracted game data.


1. Download DoomRPG-1.0.6.cia (or DoomRPG.3dsx) from the GitHub release page.

2. Install the .cia using FBI (or drop .3dsx in /3ds/DoomRPG/).

3. Obtain your copy of the original mobile game files (from the BREW doomrpg.bar container; tools like BarToZip or similar will extract the loose files).

4. Put the extracted assets directly into the following folder on your SD card:

sdmc:/3ds/doomrpg/


(Files should sit loose inside that folder: *.bmp, *.bsp, wtexels.bin, stexels.bin, etc.)


5. Place audio files alongside them in the same folder:

• Sound effects as numbered .wav files (5042.wav through 5138.wav).

• Music tracks as numbered .mp3 files (5039.mp3, 5040.mp3, 5043.mp3).

6. Launch from the HOME Menu! Save files will automatically be stored under sdmc:/3ds/doomrpg/saves/.


──────


### Download & Source Code:


• GitHub Repository: https://github.com/iNdioNicarao/DoomRPG-RE-3DS

• Latest Release (v1.0.6): GitHub Releases https://github.com/iNdioNicarao/DoomRPG-RE-3DS/releases/tag/v1.0.6


──────


### Credits:


• id Software / Fountainhead Entertainment: The original game.

• GEC Team (Erick194 & contributors): Incredible work reverse-engineering the BREW binary.

• Efim Andreev (efimandreev0): The initial 3DS port base.

• Dennis Isaac Gutierrez Zeledon: 1.0.1–v1.0.6 enhancements.

• Gemini Antigravity (Google DeepMind): AI coding partner for the stereoscopic 3D implementation, Touch HUD / automap controls, 3D banner, and engine enhancements across v1.0.3–v1.0.6.


Give it a spin if you have a 3DS lying around! If you run into any weird crashes or glitches, please let me know here or open an issue on GitHub.
Click to expand...
Many Thanks for this new port ! It seems to work great.

Please note that your install instructions are missing the following info :

- needed files (on top of those already listed) : entities.db and help.txt
- music files come as .mid. You need to convert them to mp3.
- the 3dsx file cannot create the sdmc:/3ds/doomrpg/Saves folder. Only the CIA can. So for those who want to use only the 3dsx, you need to install and launch the CIA first and then delete it.
"6. Launch from the HOME Menu! Save files will automatically be stored under sdmc:/3ds/doomrpg/saves/." Maybe add the info here (3dsx will not create this folder and files).

EDIT : backward with the circle pad does not work on my side (with Dpad it is OK).
 
Last edited by CrashMidnick,
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Moon164 said:
It’s so cool to see Doom RPG gaining more recognition, I never thought I’d see another console running the game besides the Zeebo. (The game was never actually officially released for the Zeebo, but since the Zeebo uses a customized version of Qualcomm BREW 4.0.2, it can actually run some mobile games made for BREW and at a higher resolution, too and Doom RPG was released for both BREW and Java.)

Click to expand...

Dont think I've heard of the Zeebo! Thanks for sharig this!
 
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This ports targets new 3ds? I tried running the CIA on a regular 2ds and it struggles to run it. Not to mention the controls, we don't have ZL and ZR so I rebinded next weapon and prev weapon to X and Y
 
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AzerothArg said:
This ports targets new 3ds? I tried running the CIA on a regular 2ds and it struggles to run it. Not to mention the controls, we don't have ZL and ZR so I rebinded next weapon and prev weapon to X and Y
Click to expand...
Yes it does, the New 3DS and New 2DS are the main targets. I will see what adjustments can be made to squeeze out some more juice from it by allowing players to select flat color ceilings and floors and maybe lowering the internal rendering resolution and using GPU scaling to scale it back up... im really not sure how much better it will be but I will give it a shot. Thanks for the feedback!
 
I played the 3 midi files on my sc55 and they are pretty much the exact same tracks as regular Doom, just downmixed and with some instruments missing. So instead of converting you might as well just download better quality music from the original game directly.
5039.mid = d_dead.mp3 (Doom II)
5040.mid = d_e1m1.mp3
5043.mid = d_inter.mp3
You can dl them here https://sc55.duke4.net/games.php
 
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Nandru said:
This ports targets new 3ds? I tried running the CIA on a regular 2ds and it struggles to run it. Not to mention the controls, we don't have ZL and ZR so I rebinded next weapon and prev weapon to X and Y
Click to expand...
Hey there, would love to hear if the latest changes made a difference to how well the game runs on your device!
Post automatically merged:

bakuDD said:
I played the 3 midi files on my sc55 and they are pretty much the exact same tracks as regular Doom, just downmixed and with some instruments missing. So instead of converting you might as well just download better quality music from the original game directly.
5039.mid = d_dead.mp3 (Doom II)
5040.mid = d_e1m1.mp3
5043.mid = d_inter.mp3
You can dl them here https://sc55.duke4.net/games.php
Click to expand...
These sound way better! Thanks for sharing!
 
indionicarao said:
Hey there, would love to hear if the latest changes made a difference to how well the game runs on your device!
Click to expand...
Oh nice!

I was actually playing with the source earlier, managed to get it running at a good speed by caching the HUD instead of redrawing it, but messed up its scaling and the 2nds screen elements, LOL


EDIT: Tested and performance is about the same, or a bit worse if I left everything enabled
 
Last edited by Nandru,
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Nandru said:
Oh nice!

I was actually playing with the source earlier, managed to get it running at a good speed by caching the HUD instead of redrawing it, but messed up its scaling and the 2nds screen elements, LOL


EDIT: Tested and performance is about the same, or a bit worse if I left everything enabled
Click to expand...
thanks for your feedback! Some of the performance improvements i tried to implement were being overridden by the config file. that should be mitigated in the newest version. I would love it if you could give it another shot and let me know if it is at least playable now. Thanks again!
 

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