OpenVikings Remaster

An open-source engine replacement for Cultures: 8th Wonder of the World, bringing a beloved village-building strategy game to modern Windows PCs.

Build a settlement, help your villagers learn new trades, explore the world and lead your tribe through its adventures. OpenVikings aims to preserve the game's character while improving its presentation, controls and reliability.

Getting started · Build from source · Changelog · Contributing · Disclaimer

What's new in the remaster?

• Comfortable fullscreen: DirectX 11 presentation, borderless fullscreen and mouse confinement, without repeatedly changing your desktop resolution.
• An interface you can read: Menus, HUD elements, the cursor and loading bar scale with your resolution.
• A clearer view: Correct aspect ratios, a larger minimap with an improved frame, and smoother fullscreen videos.
• Weather restored: Rain, snow and sandstorms render in the 32-bit graphics path.
• Better solo play: AI takes over the other active human starting positions when you launch a multiplayer map in single-player mode.
• A modern runtime: Current C++ and Windows services replace the reconstructed legacy runtime and private x87/compiler backends.
• Updated rendering internals: SSE2 handles packed sprite and terrain shading, replacing the old MMX paths.
• Corrected sleep animations: Viking wooden-spear soldiers lie down and get up at the intended pace when sleeping.
• Clear vehicle controls: Catapult and other vehicle action buttons display the correct translated labels and tooltips.
• Natural stone colors: The Viking stonemason's work animation shows rubble, stone blocks and marble in stone colors instead of metallic shades.
• Livelier workshops: Viking potters have an oven fire when making bricks, and bakers show their complete cake-baking animation.

Project status

In active development. OpenVikings Remaster combines modern Windows presentation with improvements to village life, transport, navigation, loading and audio. See the changelog for the latest updates.

The remaster branch is where improvements happen. The reversed-game-authentic-behaviour branch preserves the legacy reconstruction, including the original game's known defects.

Next steps include further bug fixes, performance improvements and support for larger settlements. Networking modernization is planned as a separate later project. The current target remains 32-bit Windows.

Getting started

You will need:

• Windows 10 version 1703 or later and a graphics device supporting DirectX 11.
• Your own legally obtained copy of Cultures: 8th Wonder of the World and its original game data.
• A build of OpenVikings from the remaster branch.

Build the game using the instructions below, then prepare a game-data root with these folders from your original installation. Preserve the filenames and language subfolders:

datax/
  libs/       Original data archives (data0000.lib, ...)
  dm2/        Original SGT/DLS music data
  mouse/      Original .cur cursor files
  pictures/   Original pre/post .bmp images
  FMV/        Original films and language subfolders

Keep the original gedx8musicdrv.dll available alongside the executable for music. Films use the Windows media components and available codecs. Run OpenVikings with the game-data root as its working directory; set this in your shortcut or Visual Studio debugger settings.

Build from source

1. Check out the remaster branch.
2. Open OpenVikings.slnx in Visual Studio with the C++ desktop development tools, MSVC v145 and a Windows SDK installed.
3. Select x86 (Win32) and Debug or Release, then build the solution.
4. Find the executable in OpenVikings/Debug/ or OpenVikings/Release/ and use it with your game-data setup.

The project uses C++17. It does not currently target x64. Install the x86 Visual C++ runtime matching your build when running it on another PC.

Contributing

Bug reports, code improvements and help checking the game are welcome.

For a useful bug report, include the revision you played, the map or savegame, steps to reproduce the issue and what you expected to happen. Screenshots help with visual problems. If you can compare the behavior with the original game, include what you found.

Keep pull requests focused and explain what changes for players. Preserve the Win32 target and use the original Windows behavior as the reference, with intentional remaster changes clearly identified. Please do not upload original game assets.

Also do not miss out the CulturesNation official Discord Server!

Changelog

Read the dated development updates and full changelog for gameplay fixes, graphics and audio improvements, and project maintenance.

Credits

Cultures was created by Funatics Software. OpenVikings is a community project built out of appreciation for these games.

Related projects include the Open Northland and Cultures Saga Patches, whose community fixes help inform our bug investigations.

License

The source code is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0. This license does not cover the original game's proprietary assets.

Disclaimer

OpenVikings is an independent, unofficial fan project developed through reverse engineering for education, research and personal enjoyment. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by or supported by Funatics Software or Daedalic Entertainment.

The original game, its trademarks and its copyrighted content remain the property of their respective rights holders. The original game's data files are not distributed with this engine replacement. You must provide your own legally obtained game data; this project grants no rights to those assets and does not endorse copyright infringement.

Rights holders with concerns about this project are welcome to contact the maintainer.