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How do you play Wolfenstein 3D on Windows 10?

Play Wolfenstein 3D with ECWolf

Wolfenstein 3D on Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Vista, XP in high resolution.Wolfenstein 3D. The game that started it all. Everyone knows it. Everyone has played it. Although you can play the game just fine with DOSBox, it might be nice if there's a version that works on Windows 11 and Windows 10. A lot of source ports exist for Wolfenstein 3D, but we ended up playing the game with ECWolf, a simple port based on the deprecated Wolf4SDL port, to play Wolfenstein 3D on the latest Windows systems, both 32 and 64 bits. Some features of ECWolf:

  • Play Wolfenstein 3D on high resolution (wide) screens
  • Use one program to play Wolfenstein 3D, Spear of Destiny and 3D Noah's Ark
  • Very nice automap
  • Support for high resolution textures

You can also try the Wolfenstein 3D Total Conversion (Wolf3DTC), which allows you to play Wolfenstein 3D with the Doom engine.

Where to download and how to install ECWolf?

  • Download either the 32 bits (ECWolf for Windows) or 64 bits (x86-64) version of ECWolf
  • Copy all files from the downloaded zip into a folder of choice, for example c:\games\wolf3d

Where are the Wolfenstein 3D game data files?

  • Copy the original Wolfenstein 3D game data files or Wolfenstein 3D: Spear of Destiny data files into the ECWolf folder, in this case c:\games\wolf3d
  • The data files have the following extensions:
    • *.WL1 - Wolfenstein 3D shareware version (episode 1 only)
    • *.WL6 - Wolfenstein 3D full version (episode 1 to 6)
    • *.SOD - Wolfenstein 3D Spear of Destiny demo and full version
    • *.SD2 - Wolfenstein 3D Spear of Destiny Mission 2: Return to Danger
    • *.SD3 - Wolfenstein 3D Spear of Destiny Mission 3: Ultimate Challenge
  • If you have the original installation files, install the game with DOSBox, or extract the archive file(s) (usually the .1 file) with WinRAR.
  • You can also download demo versions of Wolfenstein 3D and Spear of Destiny from the ECWolf download page.
  • If you don't have the game at all, download Wolfenstein 3D AND Spear of Destiny

Wolfenstein 3D Spear of Destiny Mission 2How do you start and configure Wolfenstein 3D?

  • Start the game by double clicking the ecwolf.exe file
  • If game files from multiple Wolfenstein 3D games exist in the game folder, you will see a little window in which you can select the game you want to play
  • Check the display and sound settings in the main menu of the game to boost your gaming experience

Full screen color issues

We have encountered some display color issues when playing both the 32 bits as well as the 64 bits version of ECWolf. When entering full screen mode, the screen is entirely CGA. Yeah, retro DOS gamers, you know what I mean: a purple and cyan colored display. Could be our state of the art 2 GB video card. Could be a bug in ECWolf. Solution: don't run the application in full screen. Version 1.3.1 should solve this issue.

I can't move the game window, what now?

Sometimes, the game window opens and it's not fully displayed. When you have checked the "windowed mouse" option in the controls menu, you can't move the window, even when it's not active. You can disable the use of the mouse by pressing F12. Move the window and press F12 again to resume using the mouse.

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