Linux support

[bunyk]

You could not imagine how happy I am to see this project of yours (if it already builds with SDL - even more happy). 2 reasons - always wanted to play this again on Linux, and to learn something from it's source code (through the code currently looks like a foreign language for me).

So I quickly bought Cossacs antology from GOG and even managed to install it under wine. Had to configure Wine for Windows XP to succeed, because turns out it is now tries to be compatible with Windows 10 by default and installation fails with some OLE errors.

Managed to install it, but now "The program dmcr.exe had encountered a serious problem and needs to close".

So would be very happy to test how this builds on Linux.

[MisterCoderman]

I released version 1.52 of Cossacks a few days ago, using SDL2, of course. Players around the world are thrilled with how it performs. I’ve submitted request to the author — I recommend they build upon my code. It is more stable during gameplay, tested on ARM systems, and can handle long matches with up to 40,000 units.

[ByPort]

Hi @bunyk,

The main goal of this project is to make the source code fully cross-platform, which means moving away from Visual C++, Windows-specific libraries, and many other dependencies.

It’s not there yet, and I expect it to be a long journey. You can check out the roadmap on the main page.

If you want to play right now, I recommend using @MisterCoderman’s version, it’s been proven to work on various OSes and platforms via tools like CrossOver and Wine.

That said, I’d really appreciate any help or collaboration on my project. Who knows, maybe one day we’ll be able to play it natively on mobile devices or in a browser.

[albertgasparan]

@ByPort @MisterCoderman @bunyk Until you completely rewrite the multiplayer using SDL_net, there will be no port, even if you manage to fix the ASM and AI DLL issues. I also tried to do it locally — no luck at all. And without multiplayer, very few people will actually play the game, but you'll get a ton of hate. I think version 1.52 will be the one we stick with for the next 8 years, just like what Ereb did back then — no one has fixed it to this day.
@MisterCoderman Thank you so much — I can finally play on my MacBook. Your idea with ready-to-use preconfigured bottles is honestly fantastic — the game installs and is ready to launch in an instant.

[nmuellerturbo-dotcom]

That said, I’d really appreciate any help or collaboration on my project. Who knows, maybe one day we’ll be able to play it natively on mobile devices or in a browser.

@ByPort @bunyk It looks like version 1.52 is already becoming a reality — the game is now actually running in the browser! Judging by the chat, they’ve made over two hundred fixes in the test repository alone to fully reproduce all game missions and AI behavior.

@MisterCoderman philosophy is truly impressive — complete compatibility all the way from Windows 2000 to the browser.

MisterCoderman/cossacks-1.52#51

Current Subsystem Compatibility Status 1.52

Subsystem	Windows	macOS	Status
Graphics (SDL2)	✅	✅ 95%	All 14 GP_Show* + 4 Unpack implemented in C
Audio (SDL2_mixer)	✅	✅ 90%	CD music + 60 effects, bug: SetCDVolume affects all channels
Input (SDL events)	✅	✅ 100%	SdlEventBridge: full event mapping, keyboard + mouse + text
CommCore (UDP)	✅	✅ 90%	Wire format fixed (wire_u32, PEER_ENTRY_WIRE_SIZE=79)
DirectPlay	✅	✅ replaced	MPlayerStub.cpp: 1896 lines, ~30 functions, StartIGame fully implemented
Platform HAL	✅	✅ 100%	18 files, full Win32 → POSIX/macOS abstraction
GameSpy	❌ dead	❌	Not needed
IChat	❌ dead	❌	Not needed
Archives (Arc/GSC)	✅	✅	Gopen/Gread working, SoundList.txt + resources load
GP Sprites	✅	✅ 95%	Full C rendering, 64-bit cache, GP_Header::Pack fixed
Registry	✅	✅	config_compat.h → ~/Library/Application Support/GSC/
Game Logic	✅	✅ 90%	Single-player works; 21 threaded blocks removed
64-bit Porting	✅	✅ 95%	90+ pointer-size bugs fixed, ZBuffer uses intptr_t
CMake / Build	✅	✅ 100%	3 platforms (macOS, Win32, Win64), toolchain files
Multiplayer Sync	✅	⚠️ 70%	TSin/TCos/TAtg fixed; FPU risks + double-rando() remain
AI DLL	✅	✅ 100%	20 AI .dylib (Mach-O bundle arm64) built, dist/macOS-arm64/ai/

[MisterCoderman]

Yes, the core requirement of our project is full compatibility — from Windows XP (and, based on player feedback, even unofficially from Windows 2000) all the way to the browser.

Because of this, the SDL3 stack is not suitable for our goals, and we do not plan to use it at all.

The game AI, along with more than 200 mission DLLs, is already being successfully compiled across multiple platforms. Development is ongoing, and we would like to thank everyone for their feedback — we truly appreciate it.

[nmuellerturbo-dotcom]

@MisterCoderman Looking forward to the ability to build the full project in the browser, with both single-player and multiplayer via WebRTC. I can already see that you’re very close to this — the code seems to be about 90% complete for the entire game.

[MaxPayne85xxx]

Yes, watching the 1.52 project, I can see they have very strong system engineers on the team, and there’s really no point in the 1.42 version and the CE version. Technically, it was outdated before it even came into existence. SDL3, while being the latest, is still an imperfect stack. The 1.52 architecture would allow them to switch to SDL3 if needed, essentially in a single evening. However, in the near future, the 1.52 authors are unlikely to need that—especially if they are already aiming for a full browser-based game.

Also, today I managed to compile a native version of the game on my MacBook, and I can confirm that the random map and some of the missions are indeed working. I haven’t tested the rest yet.