Colonization port v0.1.6

Sid Meier's Colonization for Windows (1995), ported to modern systems from its byte-matched
reconstruction. No game files are included: you need your own copy of the game -- either
Colonization for Windows (1995, patched or not), or Steam's Colonization, whose disc
image COLONIZE.ISO carries the Windows edition.

What's new in v0.1.6

• Water colour cycling. River currents and beach surf shimmer while the map waits for your
  orders, as in the DOS version. The 1995 Windows game reserved the colours for it and kept the
  Game Options item "Water Color Cycling", but never animated them; this is win-patches'
  water-cycling, brought to the port. On by default; Game Options > Water Color Cycling turns
  it off (the setting is saved with the game). The game's rules are unchanged.
• For developers: tools/coverage.py (which game functions the tests run), a colony screen
  session, every UI session's screens checked against a baseline pixel for pixel, and
  tools/gate.py, one command for all of it; tools/run_port.py --play no longer stops on
  Python 3.14.

Download	Platform	Start
colonization-port-windows-x86.zip	Windows (32-bit program; runs on 32- and 64-bit Windows)	Colonization.exe
colonization-port-windows-x64.zip	Windows (64-bit program)	Colonization.exe
colonization-port-linux-i386.zip	Linux (a Winelib program: needs Wine with its 32-bit part)	./colonization
colonization-port-macos.zip	macOS (the 32-bit Windows program under Wine: needs Gcenx's Wine, not Apple's Game Porting Toolkit)	./colonization

How to run

1. Unzip the kit into the folder of your game:
   • Colonization for Windows: the folder with COLONIZE.EXE (for example C:\MPS\COLONIZE);
   • Steam's Colonization: its install folder, the one with COLONIZE.ISO
     (Steam: right-click the game > Manage > Browse local files).
2. Start the launcher from the kit's folder: Colonization.exe on Windows, ./colonization in a
   terminal on macOS and Linux (install Wine first: on macOS brew install --cask wine@devel; on
   Debian/Ubuntu sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386 && sudo apt install wine wine32).

The launcher finds the game in the folder it was unzipped into (or one it is given: Colonization.exe "D:\Games\Colonization", ./colonization /path/to/game), checks COLONIZE.EXE's SHA-256, and
remembers the folder. Unzipped elsewhere, it looks in the usual places and then asks once.

• Colonization for Windows: the game runs in its own folder, reads its pictures, sounds and
  data there and saves there, as the original did.
• Steam: the launcher unpacks the Windows edition from COLONIZE.ISO once (a few seconds) into
  a folder of its own -- %LOCALAPPDATA%\colonization-port\game on Windows,
  ~/Library/Application Support/colonization-port/game on macOS,
  ~/.local/share/colonization-port/game on Linux -- and the game runs and saves there.

If it does not start or stops: colonization-port.log beside the launcher says why, and a crash
leaves colonization-port.dmp there too; please send both.

How it was tested (status/*.json at this release)

• Windows x86 program: 757 of 757 checkpoints in lockstep with the original game over 7 scenarios
• Windows x64 program: 757 of 757 checkpoints in lockstep with the original game over 7 scenarios
• Linux program: 757 of 757 checkpoints in lockstep with the original game over 7 scenarios
• Linux x86_64: 757 of 757 checkpoints in lockstep with the original game over 7 scenarios
• The rules: the port plays the same saved games turn for turn with the original, compared
  at every step of every turn; the screens: 9 scripted UI sessions.
• On a real Windows machine: Windows 6.1 build 7601 SP1, 64-bit, v0.1.1 windows-x86 (2026-10-11).

Known limits

• A Steam copy (the original 1995 release) lacks the patch's COLDATA9.DLL: the Jukebox's
  Control Panel and the Cheat menu's dialogs crash. Everything else plays.
• The Windows game plays its music from the CD's audio tracks; a disc image has none.
• The macOS and Linux kits run through Wine; they are not native programs.

Version v0.1.6. Checksums: SHA256SUMS.txt.