A new client for Nox

NoX Core is an independent rebuild of the Nox 1.2b game client in modern C++, with an SDL3 front end. It plays on the original game's servers alongside the original client, and draws the game the way the original does, with higher-quality lighting and effects on top.

NoX, the original game — Drag the handle to compare the original game (left) with NoX Core's HD images (right). Scroll or pinch to zoom, drag to pan, double-click to reset.

NoX, NoX Core with HD images — Drag the handle to compare the original game (left) with NoX Core's HD images (right). Scroll or pinch to zoom, drag to pan, double-click to reset.

Latest test build: 2026-10-28, build 4 Windows 10 / 11, 64-bit, or 64-bit Linux (glibc 2.39 or newer: Ubuntu 24.04, Fedora 40, current Arch). Needs your own copy of Nox (GOG, Origin or the original CD; on Linux, copy the game folder from a Windows install or point it at one in Wine). The program for your system, and an optional extra to unpack next to it and keep between builds (it's only updated when the art changes; it works on both). The HD images (updated 2026-10-26) are the upscaled art so far: 24,301 images, the HUD and menus, spell and ability icons, items, weapons and armour, the player's taunt and war cry, every floor but water, every wall and door, the static and animated scenery (trees, rocks, furniture, statues, obelisks, torches, gears, fountains), missiles and spell effects, and every monster generator; Options' "Use HD Images" turns them on. They need this build or newer. The rest is still being generated.

Windows (18.6 MB) Linux (16.1 MB) HD images (691 MB)

What changed: patch notes. The source code: GitHub (free software, GPL-3.0).

What it is

Nox (Westwood Studios, 2000) still has a small online community, but its client is a 25-year-old program that runs poorly on today's systems. NoX Core is written from scratch from how the original behaves: its network messages, file formats and rules are worked out from the original game and reproduced, so the new client can join the same games and look and play the same.

noxcore.exe is the program you play: the game's own menus, HUD, inventory and console, drawn with SDL3 (Direct3D 12 by default), plus game hosting, Delve, Undead Tide and the Map Editor.
noxcontent.exe, the NoX Content Editor, for advanced users: the game's images and HD images, and its data, texts and sounds edited into content packs that noxcore.exe loads.
Underneath both is the NoX Core library: networking, maps, thing and modifier data, the image files, the game's settings and key bindings, and the game's rules.

What works

The whole game. Everything the original does, NoX Core does too:

The solo campaign for all three classes and Quest, with saves.
Playing online on the original game's servers and on NoX Core's: the Westwood Online login and lobby chat, the internet and LAN game lists, and joining any game, including ones hosted on the original Nox.
Everything in play: fighting, spells and warrior abilities, spell sets, the spellbook and field guide, items, shops, NPC dialogs, the conjurer's summons, the map, the scoreboard, the console and the original's key bindings.
Hosting your own games with all of the original's Server Settings, for NoX Core and original-game players alike.
Sound and music as the original plays them, and the world drawn the way the original draws it.

And more on top (the Features page has the details):

A co-op campaign for up to four players, and two new modes, Delve and Undead Tide, with a leaderboard.
A Map Editor with scripting, play-testing and editing together with friends, plus the NoX Content Editor and game mode mods.
Bots for the games you host, and a bot service for Westwood Online games with #bots in their name.
Map voting, faster updates for NoX Core players (60 to 120 a second), and smooth movement between the server's updates.
HD images, per-pixel lighting, bloom, soft effects and widescreen, each of which can be turned off for the original look.

Still in progress: the rest of the HD art. This is a test build, so tell us if you find anything that isn't right.

Getting started

Download the latest build and unzip it anywhere.
Run noxcore.exe. Pick Multiplayer, then a character, then a game.

About the Windows warning: noxcore.exe is currently unsigned, because the project hasn't been open-sourced yet; it will be signed once it is. Until then Windows may warn about an unknown publisher: choose More info, then Run anyway. To stop the warning on every start, right-click the zip before unzipping, choose Properties, tick Unblock and press OK.

NoX Core finds your Nox install by itself (it looks in its own folder first, so you can also unzip it into your Nox folder): GOG (Galaxy or the offline installer), Origin, Nox Reloaded and the original CD install. To use a different copy, set the NOX_DATA environment variable to its folder (the one with GAME.EXE and thing.bin), or start noxcore.exe with --game-dir and the folder.

The keys are the original game's (from your nox.cfg). If nothing happens on start, look in noxcore-log.txt next to the program, or start DebugRun.bat to see the log as it runs; it also says which Nox folder was used. The README.txt in the zip has the full list of options and keys.