Arma: Cold War Assault - Remastered

This repository holds the engine and game source code (codename Poseidon) behind Arma: Cold War Assault — the game first released in 2001 as Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis. That release launched Bohemia Interactive and began the technology lineage that later grew into Real Virtuality, Arma, and Enfusion. The code has been modernized to C++20, built with CMake and Clang, with cross-platform support for Windows x64 and Linux x64. Bohemia Interactive is releasing it to the community that has kept this game alive for more than two decades — to study it, build on it, fix it, and create from it. Three things are worth keeping separate:

Source code (this repository)

The engine and game executables, licensed under GPL-3.0-or-later with additional terms under Section 7. You may use, study, modify, and redistribute it, provided it stays GPL and you follow those terms.

The name and brand

"ARMA", "Operation Flashpoint", and the logos are not granted. The trademarks stay with their owners ("ARMA" is Bohemia Interactive's). A fork must be renamed and must not present itself as "Arma" or as an official Bohemia Interactive product.

Game data (separate)

Models, textures, sounds, missions, and voices. These are not in this repository and are not GPL; they ship separately under the APL-SA license. A free Demo is available on Steam.

In short: the code is free software, the name is not, and the game data comes separately. This license covers the source code only and grants no rights to the trademarks.

Quick Start

cmake --preset win-x64-clang-rwdi
cmake --build build/win-x64-clang-rwdi

On GNU/Linux, use the matching linux-x64-clang-rwdi preset. On macOS (Apple Silicon), use mac-arm64-clang-rwdi — see Building and running on macOS.

Building and running on macOS (Apple Silicon)

The engine builds and runs natively on Apple Silicon (arm64) Macs against an OpenGL 4.1 Core context (macOS's GL ceiling), with SDL3 for windowing and OpenAL Soft for audio. The macOS preset, toolchain, and vcpkg triplet live under cmake/ (mac-arm64-clang, mac-arm64-clang.cmake, arm64-osx-clang).

Intel Macs are untracked: the build is fixed to arm64. macOS OpenGL is deprecated by Apple but still functional through its GL-on-Metal layer.

1. Prerequisites

xcode-select --install                 # Apple Clang + macOS SDK (libc++, ld64)
brew install cmake ninja ccache pkg-config clang-format

# vcpkg (any location); export VCPKG_ROOT so the presets find it
git clone https://github.com/microsoft/vcpkg "$HOME/vcpkg"
"$HOME/vcpkg/bootstrap-vcpkg.sh" -disableMetrics
export VCPKG_ROOT="$HOME/vcpkg"        # add to your shell profile to persist

ninja and ccache are required by the shared preset; pkg-config and clang-format are required by vcpkg ports and the CMake Format target.

2. Build

cmake --preset mac-arm64-clang-rwdi          # configures + builds all vcpkg deps from source (first run is slow)
cmake --build build/mac-arm64-clang-rwdi --target PoseidonGame

The native arm64 binary lands at build/mac-arm64-clang-rwdi/apps/cwr/Game/PoseidonGame, and the LGPL libopenal.1.dylib is copied next to it automatically.

3. Get the game data (free, via Steam)

The compiled binary needs Remaster game data — the cwr_* fonts and menu world the engine expects ship with Arma: Cold War Assault Remastered, not with the older Arma: Cold War Assault re-release. The free Remaster Demo (app id 4819000) provides compatible data.

The Demo has no macOS depot, so download its (platform-agnostic) data files with SteamCMD, forcing the Windows depot — you only need the data, not the bundled Windows executable:

brew install --cask steamcmd
steamcmd +@sSteamCmdForcePlatformType windows \
         +force_install_dir "$HOME/cwa-remaster" \
         +login YOUR_STEAM_USERNAME \
         +app_update 4819000 validate +quit

Enter your Steam password (and Steam Guard code) when prompted. This installs the data into ~/cwa-remaster. The full retail Remaster data works the same way — point -C (below) at whichever data directory you have.

4. Run

./run-mac.sh                                  # launches windowed against ~/cwa-remaster
# or directly:
build/mac-arm64-clang-rwdi/apps/cwr/Game/PoseidonGame -C ~/cwa-remaster --window

Useful flags: --fullscreen (drop --window), --fps (frame-rate overlay), --help / --help-full for the rest. -C / --work-dir points the engine at the game-data directory (the one containing DTA/, AddOns/, Worlds/, etc.).

Layout

• Apps - executable targets
• Engine - engine libraries and Rust Trident tooling
• Master server tools - Rust service and CLI crates
• Tests - test source trees; CI currently compiles them only
• cmake/ - presets, toolchains, vcpkg triplets, and overlay ports
• docker/ - container support for service and runtime environments
• packages/ - ignored local game data staging area
• resources/ - application icon resources
• thirdparty/ - vendored third-party headers and sources

Project Notes

• Contributing
• Credits
• Third-party notices
• Vendored dependencies

License

The source in this repository is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0 or later, with additional terms under Section 7 of the GPL. See LICENSE for the full text. This license does not grant you any right to use "ARMA" or any other Bohemia Interactive trademark.

The thirdparty/ directory is excluded from the project's GPL license: it contains vendored third-party code (glad, the RenderDoc API header) under their own respective licenses — see thirdparty/README.md. Dependencies pulled in via vcpkg (vcpkg.json) likewise remain under their own licenses.

"ARMA" is a registered trademark of BOHEMIA INTERACTIVE a.s. "OPERATION FLASHPOINT" is a registered trademark of Electronic Arts Inc. See LICENSE for information concerning trademarks. This credits file is informational and does not constitute any grant and/or waiver of rights.

Game data / assets — Arma Public License Share Alike (APL-SA)

Game data and assets (models, textures, sounds, missions, etc.) are not part of this repository and are not covered by the GPL. They are released separately by Bohemia Interactive under the Arma Public License Share Alike (APL-SA):

• APL-SA license text: https://www.bohemia.net/community/licenses/arma-public-license-share-alike

Getting game data to run what you build

The compiled binaries need game data to run. You can obtain the free Demo game data on Steam:

• Arma: Cold War Assault Remastered Demo on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4819000

The full game data ships with the retail game. Whatever you do with assets is governed by the APL-SA linked above; whatever you do with this source is governed by the GPL with additional terms per Section 7 in LICENSE.

Contributing

This is a locked repository: pull requests are not accepted here, and this repository will not be continuously updated. Issues are only for bugs in official Bohemia Interactive builds distributed on Steam. For ideas, development builds, ports, and community work, fork the code or join the community continuation. See CONTRIBUTING.md for more information.