OpenCol 0.5.0

OpenCol 0.5.0: start it from anywhere. OpenCol finds your copy of the game, or asks for it once, and keeps your saved games and settings in its own folder.

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, 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. Start the program from anywhere:
   • 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. The first time, OpenCol asks for the folder of your copy of the game: the one with VICEROY.EXE (in the GOG version, the COLONIZE folder), or any folder above it. It remembers it.

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.

What's new #

• No more copying OpenCol into the game's folder. OpenCol looks for the game where it is started and where it sits, then in the folder it remembers; otherwise it asks, with your system's folder picker. You may pick the install folder: OpenCol finds VICEROY.EXE below it.
• Your saved games and settings have their own folder, and the game's folder is never changed:
  • macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/OpenCol
  • Windows: %APPDATA%\OpenCol
  • Linux: ~/.local/share/OpenCol
• Nothing is lost from 0.4. The saved games in the game's folder (the original's, or an earlier OpenCol's) are still in the list to load; saving one again writes it to OpenCol's folder. Your OPENCOL.CFG is copied over on the first start.
• To play another copy of the game, delete the game= line from OPENCOL.CFG, or start opencol --game FOLDER (for that run). --save FOLDER still keeps the saved games elsewhere.

The rules stay the original's. The tests replay the computer-only games, the War of Independence and the scripted sessions, and every turn and every saved game is identical to the original's.

Limits of this release #

• Sound Blaster and AdLib sound only: the Roland MT-32 and General MIDI drivers are not supported.
• The colony screen, Europe and the reports keep the original's 320 x 200: their pictures were drawn at that size.
• On Linux (built from source), choosing the folder needs xdg-desktop-portal or zenity; without them, start OpenCol in the game's folder or with --game FOLDER.
• No changes to the game's rules yet. Fixes and new features come next; open an issue for the ones you want.