OpenSAGE

About

Command & Conquer: Generals is a 2003 real-time strategy game developed by EA Pacific and published by EA Games, the seventh installment in the Command & Conquer series. OpenSAGE is a free, open-source re-implementation of SAGE, the 3D RTS engine behind Command & Conquer: Generals and other EA Pacific titles, initially focused on Generals and its Zero Hour expansion. It is in very early stages and not yet playable: file-format parsing and 3D model rendering work, while map rendering, game logic, AI and networking are still in progress or not started.

How it differs from the original

It is a blackbox re-implementation written from reading data files and observing the game, not from reverse-engineered binaries, and includes no original assets. It renders via OpenGL 4.3, Direct3D 11 or Metal 2.

Getting started

It is not playable yet; once it is, a legally acquired installation of Generals or Zero Hour will be needed for its data files. The project's Discord community offers help with getting it running.

History

Creator Tim Jones started it after struggling to install his copy of The First Decade on Windows 10, worried he would one day be unable to play his favourite RTS; it grew from opening map files in a hex viewer.

Known issues & limitations

• gameplay: Project is in very early stages with only partial implementation; no gameplay functionality yet.

Media

Credits & contributing

• Contributions derived from reverse engineering executable binaries are not accepted.

Additional notes

Naming

The author chose the name OpenSAGE because SAGE, unlike Command & Conquer, did not appear to be a trademark.