Space Marine multiplayer, back on dedicated servers.

What is this?

The 2011 original had a much-loved multiplayer: six classes, jump packs, chainswords, heavy bolters, Space Marines against Chaos. Its online services are gone or unreliable, and you cannot host your own match.

sm-reimpl is a new engine that brings that multiplayer back with one deliberate change: a dedicated server decides everything (movement, hits, damage, scoring) while clients predict their own movement so play stays responsive. Everything else defaults to the original's behaviour. Where the game's data gives us a value we read it from your install and record its source in a public spec; where we had to guess, we say so.

It is not a mod and not a recompilation. The simulation, networking and server are C# (.NET 10); the client is built with Godot 4. This is the 2011 original, not Space Marine 2 (2024) or the 2025 Master Crafted Edition.

What works today

The current alpha is one map, Manufactorum, with Annihilation and Seize Ground, Space Marines against Chaos.

Original data vs placeholder

We label everything. Here is the honest split, today.

Progress

M21 checkpoint · 27 October 2026. Twenty-one milestones so far, from opening the game's archives to the evade roll. Tested with bots and automated tests, plus a first informal human playtest. No public builds or release date; a fresh M20/M21 human playtest is still ahead.

1. M1Every game archive in the install opens and decompresses with zero errors.
2. M2An original model from a multiplayer map appears with its original textures.
3. M3The multiplayer Space Marine in original armour, playing original animations.
4. M4Dedicated server and client with prediction, reconciliation and interpolation, tested under latency and packet loss.
5. M5The game's own movement and weapon numbers are read from the install; a networked client joins the server.
6. M6The original bolter, health and armour shield, with lag-compensated hits.
7. M7Level collision read from the game's physics data; players spawn at the map's spawn points.
8. M8Maps drawn with their original meshes and textures.
9. M9Melee: knife and chainsword combos timed from the game's animation data.
10. M10All six classes with their loadouts.
11. M11Weapon heat and overheating; choose your weapons per class.
12. M12Charged shots, projectiles and splash damage; plasma cannon and grenade launcher.
13. M13Thrown frag and krak grenades; the melta's cone of fire.
14. M14The jump pack and the ground pound.
15. M15Teams and Annihilation: scoring, kill feed, scoreboard, restart.
16. M16Seize Ground on Manufactorum, which becomes the alpha arena.
17. M17Chaos players wear the original Chaos multiplayer armour.
18. M18Manufactorum's edge walls and pit kill zone; provisional lighting.
19. M19Fixes from the first playtest: the camera stays out of walls and the player's own armour; better test bots.
20. M20Camera, aiming and HUD after the original: aim mode, shots converge on the crosshair, hit markers.
21. M21The evade roll and aim-mode poses for rifle, pistol and heavy weapons.

What's next

• More human playtests of the Manufactorum alpha, and fixes from what they find.
• Manufactorum's placed lights and normal maps; legion paint for the Chaos armour.
• Melee stuns and interrupts, followed by melee lunge and attack alignment, weapon spread and netcode follow-ups.
• Later: more rendering fidelity, then the deferred scope: other maps, Exterminatus co-op, progression, customizer, menus.

The rebuild in motion

Earlier development capture · 27 October 2026. This recording predates the M21 checkpoint shown above.

28-second highlight · No audio. Development build with provisional visuals and behaviour.

Screenshots

Captured from sm-reimpl running on Manufactorum, with original game assets rendered from a legally owned install. HUD art, lighting and effects are placeholders (see above). Click an image for the full size.

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