MacQuake

macOS says the app is damaged?

This happens because MacQuake is not code signed or notarized. macOS Gatekeeper quarantines files downloaded from the web and shows a misleading "damaged" dialog.

To fix it, open Terminal and run:

# Remove quarantine from the DMG
xattr -d com.apple.quarantine ~/Downloads/MacQuake.dmg

# Mount and copy the app
open ~/Downloads/MacQuake.dmg
cp -R /Volumes/MacQuake/MacQuake.app /Applications/

# Remove quarantine from the app
xattr -d com.apple.quarantine /Applications/MacQuake.app

# Launch
open /Applications/MacQuake.app

If the first command fails, use this broader fix:

xattr -cr /Applications/MacQuake.app

A modern native port of id Software's classic 1996 shooter Quake, built from the ground up for Apple Silicon Macs.

No SDL. No emulation layers. No x86 assembly hacks. Just clean C and Objective C, a software renderer with a Metal framebuffer blitter, and a polished Cocoa launcher that handles everything from game data setup to one click play.

Download

Prebuilt app bundles with shareware game data included are available through Buy Me a Coffee:

Get MacQuake on Buy Me a Coffee

Your support helps cover development time and future improvements.

Screenshot

Features

• Native Apple Silicon build (ARM64)
• Software renderer with Metal palette lookup framebuffer display
• Polished Cocoa launcher with dark themed UI and cover art
• Automatic shareware game data installation on first launch
• One click download of shareware data from within the launcher
• Support for selecting existing Quake game data folders
• Relative mouse lock for smooth FPS gameplay
• Resizable game window with transparent title bar
• Full audio support (sound effects and music)
• Config persistence
• Clean execv handoff from launcher to game engine
• Redistributable DMG generation via Makefile

Building from Source

Requirements:

• macOS with Xcode Command Line Tools
• Apple Silicon Mac (ARM64)

cd Quake/WinQuake
make -f Makefile.macos app

This builds the MacQuake.app bundle inside build_macos/. The Makefile also supports:

make -f Makefile.macos all      # Build engine + launcher binaries
make -f Makefile.macos dmg      # Build redistributable DMG
make -f Makefile.macos clean    # Clean build artifacts

Game Data

MacQuake can run with the shareware pak0.pak or the full registered version's pak0.pak and pak1.pak.

When you launch the app:

1. If shareware data is bundled, it auto copies to ~/Library/Application Support/MacQuake/id1/
2. If no data is found, use the launcher to download shareware or select an existing data folder

Technical Notes

64 Bit QuakeC String Fix

This port fixes a critical 64 bit pointer truncation bug that causes level load crashes in most naive Quake ports. The original code stored ptrdiff_t pointer arithmetic results into string_t (32 bit int), which truncated and produced garbage offsets. The fix uses PR_SetString() to copy strings into the hunk, ensuring valid 32 bit offsets.

Renderer Architecture

The engine uses the original 8 bit software renderer for all drawing. A lightweight Metal blitter performs palette lookup and upscaling to display the framebuffer. This gives authentic software rendered visuals with native Metal performance.

License

MacQuake is based on the original Quake source code released by id Software under the GNU General Public License v2.0. See gnu.txt for the full license text.

The additional macOS specific code (launcher, video driver, audio driver, Metal renderer) is released under the same GPLv2 license.