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Daniel Nylander edited this page Aug 1, 2026 · 12 revisions

User Guide

System requirements

  • OS: Linux (x86_64), macOS 14+ (Apple Silicon), Windows 10+
  • Dependencies: SDL3, zlib (bundled in release builds)
  • Game data: original Captive and/or Liberation media files (not included)

Installation

From release packages

Download from GitHub Releases:

Platform Package
Linux (Debian/Ubuntu) opencaptive_X.Y.Z_amd64.deb
Linux (Fedora/RHEL) opencaptive-X.Y.Z.x86_64.rpm
Linux (universal) opencaptive-x86_64.AppImage
macOS (Apple Silicon) OpenCaptive-macos-arm64.dmg
Windows OpenCaptive-X.Y.Z-setup-x64.exe

Building from source

Requires CMake 3.20+, a C17 compiler (clang or MSVC), SDL3, zlib and Ninja.

cmake -S . -B build -DCMAKE_C_COMPILER=cc -G Ninja
ninja -C build

Release build:

cmake -S . -B build -DCMAKE_C_COMPILER=cc -G Ninja -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
ninja -C build

Run tests:

ctest --test-dir build -j4 --output-on-failure

Game data setup

Place your original game files in a directory. OpenCaptive identifies files by SHA-256 content hash, so filenames and directory structure do not matter. ZIP archives are scanned transparently.

Supported source media:

Game Accepted formats
Captive DOS files (PL5, ANM, MID), Amiga ADF disk images, Atari ST disk images, ZIP archives
Liberation CD32 raw BIN/CUE image (MODE1/2352), Amiga ADF disk images (5 disks)

Launching

opencaptive --data /path/to/your/media
opencaptive --data /path/to/your/media --game captive
opencaptive --data /path/to/your/media --game liberation

Data verification

opencaptive --data /path/to/media --verify-data all
opencaptive --data /path/to/media --verify-data captive
opencaptive --data /path/to/media --verify-data liberation

Performs read-only SHA-256 verification of all known resources.

Command-line flags

Game selection

Flag Description
--data <path> Path to game data directory
--game <name> Select game: captive or liberation
--verify-data <scope> Verify data integrity: captive, liberation, or all

Display settings

Flag Description
--fullscreen Start in fullscreen mode
--scale <N> Window scale factor (1-8, default: 3)
--scanlines Enable scanline effect
--crt Enable CRT curvature effect
--bilinear Enable bilinear texture filtering
--integer-scaling Force integer scaling (default: on)
--no-integer-scaling Allow non-integer scaling
--vsync Enable vertical sync (default: on)
--no-vsync Disable vertical sync
--fps <N> FPS limit: 0 (unlimited), 30, 60, 120 (default: 60)
--brightness <N> Brightness level 0-100 (default: 50)
--contrast <N> Contrast level 0-100 (default: 50)
--renderer <mode> Render mode: original or enhanced
--platform <name> Platform variant: dos, amiga, or atarist

Information

Flag Description
--help, -h Show all available options
--version, -v Show version and author

Start menu

The start menu provides access to all settings without CLI flags:

  1. New Game — start a new game session
  2. Continue — resume from last save (when available)
  3. Settings — 14-item scrollable settings panel:
    • Renderer (Original / Enhanced)
    • Scanlines, CRT Curvature, Bilinear Filtering
    • Integer Scaling, Scale Factor
    • Fullscreen, VSync, FPS Limit
    • Brightness, Contrast
    • Music Volume
    • Data Path
  4. Quit — exit the application

Navigate with arrow keys, Enter to select, Escape to go back.

Controls

Input Action
Arrow keys Navigate menus
Enter Select / confirm
Escape Return to start menu
F10 Runtime display options (when available)

Movement, combat, interaction, inventory and save/load are under active development. The runtime currently displays verified original presentation data (intro sequences, HUD, viewport frames).

Diagnostics

Headless smoke test (Unix):

SDL_VIDEODRIVER=dummy SDL_AUDIODRIVER=dummy \
  timeout 5 ./build/opencaptive --data /path/to/media --game captive

The expected result is a timeout exit after the game loop starts, with log lines for texture loading and verified startup.

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