OpenCol 0.3.1

OpenCol 0.3.1: one file to download and drop in. The program now carries everything it needs: no SDL2.dll, no SDL2.framework beside it.

OpenCol is Sid Meier's Colonization for DOS (version 3.0, February 1995), decompiled and rebuilt as a modern program that plays exactly like the original, now with the 1994 map editor built in. You need your own copy of the DOS game (as sold by GOG and Steam): OpenCol contains nothing of the game.

Play #

1. Download the zip for your system below and unpack it.
2. Put the program into the folder of your copy of the game, the one with VICEROY.EXE (in the GOG version, the COLONIZE folder):
   • Windows 10 or later: opencol.exe (windows-x64; windows-x86 is the 32-bit one).
   • macOS 11 or later, Apple silicon and Intel: opencol.
3. Start it there. The game saves its games in that folder, as the original does.

macOS asks first, because OpenCol is not signed by Apple: right-click opencol and choose Open, or run xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine . in the folder.

The main menu's last item, Open the MAP EDITOR, opens the original's map editor in the game's window. F11 or Alt+Enter switches to full screen; --no-sound plays without sound. On Linux, build from source (see the README).

If you installed 0.2.0 or 0.3.0, the SDL2.dll or SDL2.framework beside the old program is no longer needed: you can delete it.

What changed since 0.3.0 #

Only the packaging: the game, the editor and the sound are the same. The three programs show the same menus, editor and screens, pixel for pixel.

Limits of this release #

• Sound Blaster and AdLib sound only: the Roland MT-32 and General MIDI drivers are not supported.
• No changes to the game's rules yet. Fixes and new features come next; open an issue for the ones you want.