An open-source port of Prince of Persia, based on the disassembly of the DOS version.

Forum board: https://forum.princed.org/viewforum.php?f=126

GitHub: https://github.com/NagyD/SDLPoP

Compiled versions: https://www.popot.org/get_the_games.php?game=SDLPoP

Author: David from forum.princed.org (NagyD on GitHub)

Contributors: (Usernames refer to forum.princed.org or GitHub.)

• Andrew (bug reports)
• htamas (inspiration, dungeon wall drawing algorithm, bug reports)
• Norbert (EndeavourAccuracy on GitHub) (bug reports, suggestions, improved gamepad support)
• musa (bug reports)
• Eugene (bug reports)
• StaticReturn (Mac OS X: Makefile (for older SDL1 version), bug reports)
• Poirot (ecalot on GitHub) (Mac OS X: Now compatible with Falcury SDL2 port)
• kees (bugfixes)
• Falcury
  • porting to SDL2
  • quicksave improvements
  • replay files
  • SDLPoP.ini: added basic support and constantly adding new options
  • mod folders
  • fake tiles
  • readable sequence table
  • CMake support
  • pause menu
  • MIDI support
  • and various other bugfixes, improvements, additions
• segra (segrax on GitHub) (Joystick support, resizable window)
• DarkPrince (bug reports)
• Andrey Vasilkin / [email protected] (eComStation (OS/2) support)
• mfn (fixed a small bug when USE_MIXER is undefined)
• diddledan (Visual C++ (NMake) support)
• zaps166 (small Makefile fixes)
• usineur (faster music loading)
• yaqxsw (icon)

This is an open-source port/conversion of the DOS game Prince of Persia. It is based on the disassembly of the original PoP1 for DOS.

• Here: https://forum.princed.org/viewtopic.php?f=68&t=3423

  • Scroll down to the newest zip files.
  • The exact version is PoP 1.0, i.e. pop1_ida.zip . (But I also added some features from later versions.)

• Sources which helped in making the disassembly:

  • Modifications to prince.exe (hex editing) topic in the PoPUW forum.
    • That forum is down, you can find some saved posts here: https://forum.princed.org/viewtopic.php?f=73&t=661
    • HTamas posted the dungeon wall drawing algorithm in C-style pseudocode here, along with many hex-edit hacks.
    • It was his work that prompted me to start the disassembly and later SDLPoP. Thank you!
  • PoP1 Technical Information by Mechner: https://www.popot.org/documentation.php?doc=OldDocuments
  • PoP1 Apple II source code by Mechner: https://github.com/jmechner/Prince-of-Persia-Apple-II

This program is open source under the GNU General Public License terms, see gpl-3.0.txt and src/GPLv3.h.

• Windows: Double-click on the prince.exe file. If you want to pass command line parameters, you need to open a command line.

• GNU/Linux: First you have to compile the game. (See the COMPILING section.) Then you can start the game with the ./prince command. (Or just double-click it in a file-manager.)

• Mac OS X: See the COMPILING section. Thanks to StaticReturn and Poirot for this!

• eComStation (OS/2):

  • Unofficial binaries were posted here: https://forum.princed.org/viewtopic.php?p=18431#p18431
  • Alternate link: http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/h-search.php?key=sdlpop
  • Or you can compile for yourself using gcc, according to that post.
  • Thanks to [email protected] for the bugfixes!

• megahit -- Enable cheats.
• a number from 0 to 15 -- Start the given level. (if cheats are enabled)
• draw -- Draw directly to the screen, skipping the offscreen buffer.
• full -- Run in full screen mode.
• demo -- Run in demo mode: only the first two levels will be playable, and quotes from magazine reviews will be displayed.
• record -- Start recording immediately. (See the Replays section.)
• replay or a *.P1R filename -- Start replaying immediately. (See the Replays section.)
• validate "replays/replay.p1r" -- Print out information about a replay file and quit. (See the Replays section.)
• mod "Mod Name" -- Run with custom data files from the folder "mods/Mod Name/"
• debug -- Enable debug cheats.
• --version, -v -- Display SDLPoP version and quit.
• --help, -h, -? -- Display help and quit. (Currently it only points to this Readme...)
• seed=number -- Set initial random seed, for testing.
• --screenshot -- Must be used with megahit and a level number. When the level starts, a screenshot is saved to the screenshots folder and the game quits.
• --screenshot-level -- Similar to the above, except the whole level is screenshotted, thus creating a level map.
• --screenshot-level-extras -- Similar to the above, except lots of additional info is displayed on the picture.
  • You can find the meaning of each symbol in Map_Symbols.txt.
• stdsnd -- Use PC speaker sounds.

Controlling the kid:

• left: turn or run left
• right: turn or run right
• up: jump or climb up
• down: crouch or climb down
• shift: pick up things
• shift+left/right: careful step
• home or up+left: jump left
• page up or up+right: jump right
• shift while falling: grab onto ledge

You can also use the numeric keypad.

Gamepad equivalents:

• D-Pad: arrows
• Joystick: left/right (for all-directional joystick movement, set joystick_only_horizontal to false in SDLPoP.ini)
• A: down
• Y: up
• X or triggers: shift
• Start or Back: display in-game menu

If SDLPoP does not work correctly with your gamepad, it might help if you download gamecontrollerdb.txt and configure SDLPoP to use it. See SDLPoP.ini for details.

Controlling the game:

• Esc: pause game
• Space: show time left
• Ctrl-A: restart level
• Ctrl-G: save game (on levels 3..13)
• Ctrl-J: joystick/gamepad mode
• Ctrl-K: keyboard mode
  • The initial mode is joystick/gamepad if such a device is detected, otherwise keyboard mode.
  • The game will automatically change input mode when there is input from either device.
• Ctrl-R: return to intro
• Ctrl-S: sound on/off
• Ctrl-V: show version of SDLPoP
• Ctrl-C: show versions of SDL:
  • COMP: the SDL version SDLPoP was compiled against, i.e. the version of the SDL headers.
  • LINK: the SDL version SDLPoP was linked against, i.e. the version of SDL2.dll (or its equivalent on other platforms).
• Ctrl-Q: quit game
• Ctrl-L: load game (when in the intro)
• Alt-Enter: toggle fullscreen
• F6: quicksave
• F9: quickload
• F12: Save a screenshot to the screenshots folder.
• Backspace: display in-game menu
• `: Fast forward. (It's the key above Tab. It might have a different label depending on your keyboard layout.)

Viewing or recording replays:

• Ctrl+Tab (in game, or on title screen): start or stop recording
• Tab (on title screen): view/cycle through the saved replays in the SDLPoP directory
• F (while viewing a replay): skip forward to the next room
• Shift-F (while viewing a replay): skip forward to the next level

Cheats:

• Shift-L: go to next level
• c: show numbers of current and adjacent rooms
• Shift-C: show numbers of diagonally adjacent rooms
• -: less remaining time
• +: more remaining time
• r: resurrect kid
• k: kill guard
• Shift-I: flip screen upside-down
• Shift-W: slow falling
• h: look at room to the left
• j: look at room to the right
• u: look at room above
• n: look at room below
• Shift-B: toggle hiding of non-animated objects
• Shift-S: Restore lost hit-point. (Like a small red potion.)
• Shift-T: Give more hit-points. (Like a big red potion.)
• Shift+F12: Save a screenshot of the whole level to the screenshots folder, thus creating a level map.
• Ctrl+Shift+F12: Save a screenshot of the whole level with extras to the screenshots folder.
  • You can find the meaning of each symbol in Map_Symbols.txt.

Debug cheats:

• [: shift kid 1 pixel to the left
• ]: shift kid 1 pixel to the right
• t: toggle timer

Since version 1.13, the game supports loading music from the data/music folder. Until 1.15, music was not included in releases because it is very big, and it does not change between SDLPoP versions. You need to get the music from here: (38 MB) https://www.popot.org/get_the_games/various/PoP1_DOS_music.zip It's the last link here: https://www.popot.org/get_the_games.php?game=1 Copy the OGG files to the data/music folder.

Since version 1.15, music is included.

Since version 1.18, SDLPoP can play music from the MIDISND*.DAT files and OGG files are not included.

Since version 1.02, the game supports LEVELS.DAT, and since version 1.03, the game can use all .DAT files. You can either copy the modified .DAT files to the folder of the game, or the game to the mod's folder.

Since version 1.17, the game can also load from mod folders that have been placed in the "mods/" directory. If you use this method, only the files different from the original V1.0 data are required in the mod's folder. To choose which mod from the "mods/" folder to play, do one of the following:

• Open SDLPoP.ini and change the 'levelset' option to the name of the mod's folder.
• Use the command line option "mod", like so: prince mod "Mod Name"

Hall-of-Fame and saved game files will also be placed in the mod's folder.

Another way to play a mod is to start the game while the current directory is the mod's directory. You can do this from the command line, or with batch files / shell scripts. This is useful if you want to compare the behavior of this port and the original DOS version (to find bugs). Especially if you're editing the level and don't want to copy LEVELS.DAT from one place to the other.

/!\ Note that as of 1.03, the data/font folder and its contents must exist in the current directory! Since 1.11, the data/font folder is no longer required.

Since version 1.19, SDLPoP can recognize most changes made with CusPoP in a DOS mod's PRINCE.EXE. Since version 1.16, you can configure some options in SDLPoP.ini: starting time, level types, etc. In addition, since version 1.17, mods in the "mods/" folder can use a custom configuration file "mod.ini". Options in this file can override (most of) the gameplay-related options in SDLPoP.ini.

Beware, some mods (especially the harder ones) might rely on bugs that are fixed in SDLPoP.

• You can choose whether gameplay quirks should be fixed or not in the file 'SDLPoP.ini':
  • Set the option 'use_fixes_and_enhancements' to 'false' to get the exact behavior of the original game.
  • Alternatively, set the option 'use_fixes_and_enhancements' to 'true'. You can then also enable or disable individual fixes and enhancements, depending on your preference.
• You can also enable or disable gameplay fixes through the in-game menu.
  • In the settings menu, look for the option "Enhanced mode (allow bug fixes)" in the GAMEPLAY section.

Furthermore, SDLPoP opens up new possibilities for mod making. For example: Falcury released a mod, called "Secrets of the Citadel" that "has been designed to be played using a modified version of SDLPoP".

• Description and download: https://forum.princed.org/viewtopic.php?f=73&t=3664
• Alternate link: https://www.popot.org/custom_levels.php?mod=0000153

Since version 1.16, there is support for fake tiles, for example walls that the prince can go through. The Apoplexy level editor supports these additional tiles since v3.0: https://www.apoplexy.org/ (Just don't overuse them, please!)

Starting from version 1.16, you can capture or view replays in SDLPoP. To start recording, press Ctrl+Tab on the title screen or while in game. To stop recording, press Ctrl+Tab again. Your replays get saved in the "replays/" directory as files with a .P1R extension. You can change the location where replays are kept using the setting 'replays_folder' in SDLPoP.ini.

If you want to start recording on a specific level, you can use the command prince record <lvl_number>, where <lvl_number> is the level on which you want to start.

To view a replay, you can press Tab while on the title screen. To cycle to the next replay (in reverse creation order), press Tab again. You can also double-click on a replay file (and tell the OS that the file needs to be opened with the SDLPoP executable). SDLPoP will then immediately play that replay. Dragging and dropping onto the executable also works.

While viewing a replay, you can press F to skip forward to the next room, or Shift+F to skip to the next level.

Your settings specified in SDLPoP.ini (including whether you are playing with bugfixes on or off) are remembered in the replay. It shouldn't matter how SDLPoP.ini is set up when you are viewing the replay later. Note that any cheats you use do not get saved as part of the replay.

To print out information about the replay from the command-line, you can use the 'validate' command-line parameter. Example usage: prince validate "replays/replay.p1r"

Since version 1.21 you can re-record if you make a mistake: While recording, make a quicksave to mark your place, and press quickload to return to that place.

• Make sure that you have the development versions of the "SDL2" and "SDL2_image" libraries installed.
  • The platform-specific sections below detail how to install them.

• If you are using Dev-C++:

  • I originally used Dev-C++ version 4.9.9.2 from here: https://sourceforge.net/projects/dev-cpp/files/Binaries/
    • More recently, I'm using this version: https://sourceforge.net/projects/orwelldevcpp/
  • For Dev-C++ you need the MinGW Development Libraries of SDL2:
    • https://libsdl.org/download-2.0.php
    • https://libsdl.org/projects/SDL_image/
  • To install these, just extract the contents of the i686-w64-mingw32 folder from each archive to the Dev-Cpp folder.
  • To compile, open one of the .dev files and click the compile icon.

• Building with Visual Studio:

  • Run build.bat in the src/ directory.
  • For this to work, you first need to do two other things:
    1. Run vsvarsall.bat from the command line, with either 'x86' or 'x64' as a parameter. This batch file is included with all installations of MS Visual Studio, but its exact location may vary. For VS2017, the command you should run might look like this:

       call "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Community\VC\Auxiliary\Build\vcvarsall.bat" x86
       

       This step sets up various environment variables, to enable running the compiler from the command line.
    2. Set up the environment variable 'SDL2' to point to the SDL2 development library files. To do this, you can use a command like so:

       set "SDL2=C:\libraries\SDL2-2.0.8"
       

       You can get the SDL2 library files from here: https://www.libsdl.org/download-2.0.php (download the Visual C++ 32/64-bit development package)
    • (You could create a small batch file to automate the above steps on your system.)
  • Alternatively, you can also build SDLPoP using MSVC with NMake (use the makefile src/NMakefile).

• You can also use CMake, in conjunction with the MinGW-w64 toolchain.

  • You could either invoke CMake from the command line yourself, or use an IDE that uses CMake internally.
  • As an example, CLion uses CMake as its project model.
  • If you are using CLion as your IDE, you can simply load the src/ directory as a project.

• You can install the libraries with apt-get or a package manager.

   sudo apt-get install libsdl2-image-dev
  

• Alternatively, you can compile SDL2 and the other libraries from source.

  • https://libsdl.org/download-2.0.php
  • https://libsdl.org/projects/SDL_image/
  • I recommend this if your distro does not have the newest SDL version, because older SDL versions have some known bugs.
    • Namely, sound becomes garbled in SDL versions older than 2.0.4 if the sound output is not 8-bit.

• When you have the libraries, just type the command:

   make all
  

  and the game should compile.

• You can create a desktop/menu icon with:

   sudo make install
  

  and remove it with:

   sudo make uninstall
  

• Get SDL2 and dependencies

  1. Install "port" from https://www.macports.org/
  2. sudo port install libsdl2 libsdl2_image
  • or
  1. Install "homebrew"
  2. brew install sdl2 sdl2_image

• Get development tools:

  1. Install Xcode.
  2. Install the "command line developer tools" by typing xcode-select --install at the prompt.
  3. Using terminal, in the '/src' directory of SDLPoP, type: make

• PLAY!

  1. In the project root directory. Type ./prince or ./prince full.
  2. Hit Control-Q to quit.

• Tested on OSX 10.9.5, OSX 10.11.2, macOS 10.13 and 10.14.