Black & White Decompilation

About

A work-in-progress decompilation of Lionhead Studios' Black & White (2001). The repository contains no game assets or assembly, and an existing copy of the game is required. Windows versions 1.00, 1.10 and 1.20 are supported, while v1.30, Creature's Isle and several Classic Mac OS PowerPC versions are work in progress.

Getting started

You supply the original game binary for each version in the orig folder, along with the MSVC 6.0 static CRT libraries, the Intel libraries and the DirectX 7.0 DDK. The README points to a Getting Started document for setup.

What you need to run it

Media

Additional notes

Debug symbols

The 1.1 and 1.2 releases were built with a now-missing pdb file, so the default build produces a working executable with a pdb that can be loaded into Ghidra or IDA for function names.

Related project

The README references openblack as an open-source engine reimplementation.

FAQ

What is Black & White Decompilation?

Black & White Decompilation is an open-source decompilation of Black & White. Source code reconstructed from the original game's compiled binary, so the game can be understood, rebuilt and ported. The original game ran on Windows and macOS.

Do I need the original game files to run Black & White Decompilation?

Yes. The project does not include the original game's assets, so you need your own copy.

Does the repository include the game files?

No. It does not contain game assets or assembly, and an existing copy of the game is required.