🛠️ How to Build and Run openage (Age of Empires II Engine) on Ubuntu Linux

openage is a free, open-source game engine that reimplements Age of Empires II using modern C++ and Python. It’s fast, moddable, and built for Linux. In this guide, I’ll walk you through how to build it from source and run it on Ubuntu.

---

📦 Prerequisites

Make sure your system is up to date and has the following tools:

• Ubuntu 20.04 or later
• Python 3.12+
• CMake ≥ 3.10
• Git
• A legal copy of Age of Empires II (HD or DE) or use the free trial version (automatically downloaded during setup)

---

🧰 Step-by-Step Setup Script

Here’s a full script to automate the build process. It installs dependencies, builds required libraries (toml11, nyan), and compiles openage.

#!/bin/bash
set -e

echo "🔧 Setting up openage..."

# Install system dependencies
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y build-essential cmake git python3 python3-pip doxygen flex \
  libfmt-dev libepoxy-dev libglfw3-dev libspdlog-dev libeigen3-dev libboost-all-dev \
  libopus-dev libuv1-dev libpng-dev libzstd-dev liblzma-dev libwebp-dev libsqlite3-dev \
  libcurl4-openssl-dev libharfbuzz-dev libfreetype6-dev libfontconfig1-dev libxml2-dev \
  libyaml-cpp-dev libogg-dev libvorbis-dev libopenal-dev libx11-dev libxi-dev libxrandr-dev \
  libxcursor-dev libxinerama-dev libxxf86vm-dev libxss-dev libudev-dev libdbus-1-dev \
  libsystemd-dev libpulse-dev libjack-jackd2-dev libasound2-dev libsamplerate0-dev \
  libsndfile1-dev libglew-dev libglm-dev libtbb-dev libbenchmark-dev libprotobuf-dev \
  protobuf-compiler ninja-build

# Install toml11
git clone https://github.com/ToruNiina/toml11.git
cd toml11 && mkdir build && cd build
cmake .. -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr/local
make && sudo make install
cd ../.. && rm -rf toml11

# Install nyan
git clone https://github.com/SFTtech/nyan.git ~/opt/nyan
cd ~/opt/nyan && mkdir build && cd build
cmake .. -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr/local
make && sudo make install

# Clone openage
cd ~
git clone https://github.com/SFTtech/openage.git
cd openage

# Configure and build openage
./configure -- -Dnyan_DIR=/usr/local/lib/cmake/nyan
make -j$(nproc)

echo "✅ openage setup complete!"

🚀 Running openage

Once built, launch the engine with the following commands:

cd ~/openage
./run

If prompted to convert assets, you have two options:

Option 1: Use Your Own AoE II Installation
Point the converter to your AoE II HD or DE install directory (e.g., ~/.steam/steamapps/common/AoE2DE).

Option 2: Download the Trial Version
If you don’t own AoE II, openage can download the free trial of The Conquerors from Archive.org. Just say Y when prompted.

Comments

[iapilgrim]

Part of 100 games in Ubuntu