---
title: "Let's compile Quake like it's 1997!"
url: https://daily.dev/posts/let-s-compile-quake-like-it-s-1997--7bdpbl8va
source_url: https://fabiensanglard.net/compile_like_1997/index.html
type: article
source: "Fabien Sanglard"
published: 2026-02-06T05:15:20.606Z
updated: 2026-02-06T05:15:57.076Z
tags: ["game-development", "windows", "c", "assembly"]
reading_time: 5
upvotes: 1
comments: 0
language: en
---

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# Let's compile Quake like it's 1997!

**[Fabien Sanglard](https://daily.dev/sources/fabiensanglard)** · 5 min read · 1 upvotes · 0 comments

## Summary

A detailed walkthrough of recreating the 1997 development environment used by id Software to compile Quake's Win32 binaries. The guide covers installing Windows NT 4.0, setting up Visual C++ 6, obtaining the original source code from q1source.zip, and troubleshooting common build issues including assembly file compilation and dependency installation. The article provides historical context about id Software's transition from NeXT/DJGPP to Windows NT/Visual C++ after Quake's initial release.

## Full article

daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: <https://fabiensanglard.net/compile_like_1997/index.html>

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---

Tags: [#game-development](https://daily.dev/tags/game-development), [#windows](https://daily.dev/tags/windows), [#c](https://daily.dev/tags/c), [#assembly](https://daily.dev/tags/assembly)

[View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/let-s-compile-quake-like-it-s-1997--7bdpbl8va)