emulator: PrBoom
type: libretro
core_classification: game_engine
source: "https://github.com/libretro/libretro-prboom"
upstream: "http://prboom.sourceforge.net/"
profiled_date: "2026-03-24"
source_commit: "b3e47ff5dec483d788e068e7b7fe21be700b5048"
core_version: "v2.5.0"
display_name: "Doom (PrBoom)"
cores: [prboom]
systems: [doom, heretic]

notes: |
  PrBoom is a Doom source port based on MBF (Marine's Best Friend), itself
  derived from Boom. The libretro port plays Doom, Doom II, Final Doom,
  FreeDoom, Heretic, and custom WADs/PWADs.

  prboom.wad, the engine data WAD (font glyphs, palette, colormaps,
  sine/tangent tables, gamma tables, menu graphics), is compiled into the
  core from src/prboom_wad_data.h, 143312 bytes, the same bytes as the
  prboom.wad at the repository root (md5 72ae1b47820fcc93cc0df9c428d0face).
  D_DoomMainSetup adds it as an embedded WAD after the IWAD and never opens
  prboom.wad on disk (src/d_main.c:1449-1465).

  Content is a .wad, .iwad, .pwad, .lmp, .m3u, .pk3, .ipk3 or .zip file
  (libretro/libretro.c:1029). An IWAD is passed as -iwad and needs nothing
  else (libretro/libretro.c:2488-2492). A PWAD with map markers, or a PK3,
  is paired with an IWAD of the matching generation searched next to the
  content, then in system/prboom/, then in system/ (find_iwad_for_kind,
  libretro/libretro.c:2069-2133, 2514-2560, 2600-2621). A PK3 also loads
  gzdoom.pk3, or else zdoom.pk3, from the same places before the mod
  (find_base_resource, libretro/libretro.c:2141-2172, 2623-2657). When no
  IWAD is paired, FindIWADFile tries the standard_iwads list through
  I_FindFile and the core stops with "IWAD not found" if none is found
  (src/d_main.c:146-158, src/d_main.c:1020-1038, src/d_main.c:1123-1124).
  File names are matched case-insensitively (libretro/libretro.c:787-836).

  I_FindFile search order (libretro/libretro.c:4176-4252):
  1. WAD directory (same folder as the loaded content)
  2. system/prboom/ subdirectory
  3. system/ directory directly
  4. Parent folders of the WAD directory (recursive, if enabled)

  A baseconfig is read from <content>.prboom.cfg beside the content, else
  prboom.cfg through I_FindFile (libretro/libretro.c:2461-2466,
  libretro/libretro.c:2678-2683).

files:
  # ---- Doom 1 generation, in search order ----
  - name: "doom.wad"
    category: game_data
    system: doom
    required: false
    source_ref: "libretro/libretro.c:2071-2073, libretro/libretro.c:2117-2128, src/d_main.c:153"
    note: "Registered or Ultimate Doom. Paired with a Doom 1 PWAD."

  - name: "doomu.wad"
    category: game_data
    system: doom
    required: false
    source_ref: "libretro/libretro.c:2071-2073, src/d_main.c:154"

  - name: "freedoom1.wad"
    category: game_data
    system: doom
    required: false
    source_ref: "libretro/libretro.c:2071-2073, src/d_main.c:155"

  - name: "freedoom.wad"
    category: game_data
    system: doom
    required: false
    source_ref: "libretro/libretro.c:2071-2073, src/d_main.c:156"

  - name: "doom1.wad"
    category: game_data
    system: doom
    required: false
    source_ref: "libretro/libretro.c:2071-2073, src/d_main.c:157"
    note: "Shareware Doom."

  # ---- Doom 2 generation, in search order ----
  - name: "doom2.wad"
    category: game_data
    system: doom
    required: false
    source_ref: "libretro/libretro.c:2074-2076, libretro/libretro.c:2117-2128, src/d_main.c:149"
    note: "Paired with a Doom II PWAD or a PK3, and tried first when the PWAD's maps are not recognised."

  - name: "doom2f.wad"
    category: game_data
    system: doom
    required: false
    source_ref: "libretro/libretro.c:2074-2076, src/d_main.c:148, src/d_main.c:1106-1107"
    note: "French Doom II. The name selects the French language."

  - name: "plutonia.wad"
    category: game_data
    system: doom
    required: false
    source_ref: "libretro/libretro.c:2074-2076, src/d_main.c:150, src/d_main.c:1110-1111"

  - name: "tnt.wad"
    category: game_data
    system: doom
    required: false
    source_ref: "libretro/libretro.c:2074-2076, src/d_main.c:151, src/d_main.c:1108-1109"

  - name: "freedoom2.wad"
    category: game_data
    system: doom
    required: false
    source_ref: "libretro/libretro.c:2074-2076, src/d_main.c:152"

  # ---- Heretic ----
  - name: "heretic.wad"
    category: game_data
    system: heretic
    required: false
    source_ref: "libretro/libretro.c:2081-2083, libretro/libretro.c:2117-2128, libretro/libretro.c:2534-2546"
    note: "Paired only with a PWAD recognised as a Heretic add-on, never with a Doom one."

  - name: "heretic1.wad"
    category: game_data
    system: heretic
    required: false
    source_ref: "libretro/libretro.c:2081-2083"
    note: "Shareware Heretic."

  - name: "blasphem.wad"
    category: game_data
    system: heretic
    required: false
    source_ref: "libretro/libretro.c:2081-2083"

  # ---- ZDoom base resources for PK3 content ----
  - name: "gzdoom.pk3"
    category: game_data
    system: doom
    required: false
    source_ref: "libretro/libretro.c:2141-2172, libretro/libretro.c:2623-2657"
    note: "Loaded before a PK3 mod so the stock ZDoom assets it names resolve."

  - name: "zdoom.pk3"
    category: game_data
    system: doom
    required: false
    source_ref: "libretro/libretro.c:2141-2172, libretro/libretro.c:2623-2657"
    note: "Loaded before a PK3 mod when gzdoom.pk3 is not found."

  - name: "prboom.cfg"
    system: doom
    required: false
    unsourceable: "user settings in PrBoom's config format, with no canonical contents"
    source_ref: "libretro/libretro.c:2461-2466, libretro/libretro.c:2678-2683, libretro/libretro.c:4176-4252"
    note: "Passed as -baseconfig when no <content>.prboom.cfg sits beside the content."