Update: You need the original data file to run freeserf, and you need the uncompressed version which is about 1.3Mb in size. If freeserf does not work with your data file you probably have a compressed data file. You can get the uncompressed by actually installing the original game before copying the file.

After a few release candidates and a bunch of bugs fixed, I am now releasing Freeserf 0.1. The source code is available from the release page at GitHub here. Windows builds are available here.

This release features a fully playable game play with an improved interface compared to the original game, but still using the graphics, music and sounds from the original game data file. It is possible to play as single player on maps of many sizes, and also on some of the mission maps from the original game. To a limited extend multi player games are possible by changing the currently controlled player during the game.

For this release I'd like to send some thanks to people who have helped get Freeserf to where it is now:

• Thanks to wdigger for providing a complete implementation of XMI decoding along with music and sound effects playback.
• Thanks to Christian Stadelmann and smelenius for helping to improve the responsiveness of the game interface.
• And finally thanks to zdechlak for the thorough testing and for the hundreds of bug reports. This was invaluable for figuring out which parts of the game needed fixing.

For the 0.2 release some improvements have already been planned but it is not certain that everything in that list will make it. In addition, I have made a wiki page for suggesting further improvements over the original game. Feel free to contribute to the discussions there.

I would like to publish the next releases more often, with a 0.2 release within two months, but it will all depend on how much time I am able to spend on this project, and also how many patches and bug reports you all contribute. I hope that more people will take interest now that we finally have the first release.