CRL is a continuation of the Chocorenderlimits source port originally developed by RestlessRodent.
Building upon the original, CRL introduces a range of new features, quality-of-life improvements, and technical refinements aimed at assisting mappers in creating vanilla-compatible maps. It also includes additional in-game modes for testing specific scenarios. The in-game menu, accessible via the grave/tilde key [~], allows quick access to various settings and features.
The core concept remains unchanged: CRL is a crash-prone source port that warns you instead of crashing. Rather than removing engine limits, it highlights them through visual and runtime cues to mimic real vanilla behavior as closely as possible. To preserve the original DOS executable’s behavior and look, no modifications have been made to the rendering code. Known bugs like Tutti-Frutti and Medusa are still present by design. However, Medusa is no longer critical and does not crash Windows-based executables.
CRL is not a limit-removing port, and therefore cannot load overly complex or oversized maps. It is intended strictly for vanilla-compatibility testing.
Several important code fragments were ported from International Doom, Crispy Doom and DOOM Retro.
You can follow the official development thread on the Doom World forum.
CRL is maintained by Julia Nechaevskaya.
CRL Doom, version 1.9 (released: September 21, 2024):
CRL Heretic, version 1.0 (released: June 12, 2023):
Previous versions can be found on Releases page.
Old versions of original Chocorenderlimits can be found on Historical page.
CRL is Open Source and licensed under the GNU General Public License v2.