OpenDream is a C# project that aims to compile games made in the DM language, and run them.
This project is currently in early stages. Expect bugs, missing features, and a lack of quality-of-life enhancements. Set your expectations accordingly.
All parts of OpenDream should work fine on Windows and Linux, though variability in Linux distributions makes it slightly less likely to work out of the box.
For more information or if you'd like to contribute, join our Discord server.
A detailed description of differences with BYOND can be found here. Note that OpenDream cannot connect to BYOND servers, and BYOND's client cannot connect to OpenDream servers. There is no cross-project compatibility other than being able to migrate from BYOND to OpenDream with minimal effort.
Binaries are available for download under our Releases. If you would rather build from source, see Building.
There's 3 main parts: Compiler, Server, and Client:
Compiler: Run DMCompiler.exe, and pass any number of .dm or .dme files to compile as arguments. Optional arguments can be found here.
Server: Run Robust.Server.exe (OpenDreamServer.exe if built from source) and pass the compiled JSON file you got as a result of running the compiler above as an argument like this: Robust.Server.exe C:/path/to/compiler/output.json
Client: This is only applicable if you built from source, otherwise connect from the SS14 launcher. Run OpenDreamClient.exe. You will be prompted to choose a server address, port, and username. The defaults should work for a locally hosted server.
The first step to building OpenDream is initializing the submodule for the game engine, Robust Toolbox.
To do this, simply run git submodule update --init --recursive in git bash and let it finish.
OpenDream requires .NET 8. You can check your version by running dotnet --version. It should be at least 8.0.0.
To build, one can use a C# compiler (such as MSBuild) to compile the various projects described in the solution. To use the .NET build system, simply run dotnet build -c Release in the OpenDream directory. This will build all of the solutions in release mode and put the resultant binaries in bin
OpenDream makes use of a unit testing framework. You can run these unit tests by running dotnet test in the OpenDream directory. This will run all of the RobustToolbox tests, as well as the DM language tests which can be found under Content.Tests/DMProject/Tests/. To add to the unit tests, simply create a .dm file under the Tests directory with /proc/RunTest() as the entry point. Optionally you can also add flags to the test, such as // COMPILE ERROR to mark that this test should cause a compile error.
New features unrelated to BYOND parity go through an RFC process to solicit input from the wider community. The RFCs and more info on the RFC process can be found here.
The following screenshots are taken from a version of Paradise Station with a recompiled 64-bit rustg DLL. This branch of Paradise is available here.
