The Elder Scrolls: Arena re-implementation OpenTESArena gets a graphics code overhaul

Seems like this project is coming along nicely, and I do very much love seeing classics get revived with open source game engine re-implementations. OpenTESArena for The Elder Scrolls: Arena has a new release out.

It's still considered "pre-alpha" with proper gameplay to come later, but worth keeping an eye on, because projects like this can end up doing some amazing things (just look at OpenMW for Morrowind!). This is the first release since 2021!

Speaking about the OpenTESArena 0.15.0 release the developer said: "This release overhauls the graphics code to more closely match the look of the original game. The renderer now also uses meshes, shaders, and draw calls normally found in an OpenGL or Vulkan engine.

Overall FPS is below average due to draw calls not being batched yet and the rasterizer being relatively unoptimized (it was very challenging to reliably coax all compilers to output good assembly, so there is still room for improvement). One optimization of interest however is the addition of a voxel quadtree for efficiently testing visibility to the camera."

Check out their showcase video:

YouTube videos require cookies, you must accept their cookies to view. View cookie preferences.
Accept Cookies & Show   Direct Link

New features in this release:

• New 3D software renderer:
  • Closely matches original game's 256 color lighting (special thanks to @Carmina16).
• Improved Arena data files detection (now checks default C: Steam install on Windows).
• Added exclusive fullscreen option.
• Added tall pixel correction option.
• Initial work on player attributes (@gazorpo).
• Improved screenshot saving.
• Minor change to player movement to match original game.
• ARM64 macOS support.
• Replaced debug collision option with ghost mode that allows flying.
• Replaced DebugFast build config with ReleaseGenericNoLTO.
• Removed time scale option.

See more about it on the GitHub page.