BaKGL

About

BaKGL is a from-scratch OpenGL/C++ remake of Betrayal at Krondor that reimplements the original's game mechanics and reverse-engineers its data formats, building on the earlier xbak project's reverse-engineering work. It's mostly playable, covering camping, chapter progression, cutscenes, quests, shops and inventory, spellcasting, temples, towns, world exploration, and the world map, though full combat is still in progress.

How it differs from the original

Combat is not yet implemented, and the 3D visuals are intentionally kept basic for now — the author says polishing the graphics has taken a back seat to matching the original's game behavior as closely as possible.

Getting started

Playing it requires your own copy of the original Betrayal at Krondor's data files (krondor.001, krondor.rmf, frp.sx, and startup.gam), placed in the game's data folder. Windows users can use the prebuilt binaries, and it can also be built from source with CMake on Linux and Windows; macOS is not currently supported due to Apple's deprecation of OpenGL.

History

The project began as an exercise in learning graphics programming, but the author says most of the effort has instead gone into reverse-engineering and reimplementing the original game's mechanics, building on earlier work from the xbak project and the BaK Help Web reference site.

Known issues & limitations

• gameplay: Combat is not yet implemented; many rough edges remain.

Media

Modding & tools

• The engine supports graphics modding: custom PNG textures placed in a designated mod directory can replace the original's BMX graphics files, including multi-image files addressed by index, and a tool is provided to export all of the original's images as a modding template.