OpenCol
How Colonization really works
How Sid Meier's Colonization really works, read out of the game's own code: player guides, file formats and the differences between versions.
Player guides
How the game works, with the exact numbers: terrain, units, Europe, taxes, the nations, the natives, combat, Founding Fathers and difficulty.
- How the New World Is Generated
- Terrain and Production
- Units and Colonists
- How Europe Works
- How Taxes Work
- The European Nations and How They Differ
- How the Native Americans Work
- How Combat Works
- What Each Founding Father Does
- How Difficulty Affects the Game
Shared file formats
Saved games and maps: the files both releases read and write byte for byte the same.
OverviewWindows file formats
Every file of the 1995 Windows release, byte by byte: the NE container, sprites, canvases, colour tables, palettes, text and the installer's archive.
- What is in each file
- The NE container
- SPRT — sprites
- CVPC — canvases
- CTAB — colour tables
- Palettes
- TEXT — the game's authored text
- FLIC — the animation
- Windows bitmaps, icons and cursors
- ARCV — COLONIZE.$00
DOS file formats
The 1994 DOS release's MADSPACK archives, FAB compression, sprite sheets, pictures, fonts, palettes and text.
- MADSPACK — the container
- FAB — the compression
- .SS — sprite sheets
- .PIK — pictures
- .FF — fonts
- Palettes and VICEROY.PAL
- Text files
Version differences
What changed between the DOS, Windows and Macintosh releases, and what stayed the same.
Overview