# OpenTTD: installing the open source transport sim and running a first line > OpenTTD is a C++ reimplementation of Transport Tycoon Deluxe that ships for Linux, macOS and Windows and loads savegames from every older revision. Here is how it installs, what the base set files are for, and where the design shows its age. **OpenTTD/OpenTTD** — OpenTTD is an open source simulation game based upon Transport Tycoon Deluxe - Repository: https://github.com/OpenTTD/OpenTTD - Website: https://www.openttd.org/ - Stars: 8,320 · Forks: 1,278 - Language: C++ - License: NOASSERTION - Published: 2026-09-22 · Updated: 2026-09-22 · Language: en - Canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/openttd-openttd ## What OpenTTD is, and who the repository is written for OpenTTD is a transport simulation game based upon Transport Tycoon Deluxe, written by Chris Sawyer. The README describes its goal plainly: it attempts to mimic the original game as closely as possible while extending it with new features. That sentence is the whole pitch. It is not a remake with a new engine and a new art direction. It is the same isometric map, the same tile grid, the same economics, with the limits lifted. The audience follows from that. Players who never touched the 1995 original can start here, because the free OpenGFX graphics replace the retail assets. Players who still have the CD can copy the original data files into baseset/ and get the sprites they remember. On the other side of the fence sit people who want to change the game rather than finish it: the repository carries a src/ tree in C++, a regression/ directory, a CMakeLists.txt and a vcpkg.json, and the README points contributors at COMPILING.md. If you are evaluating OpenTTD as a codebase to fork or to script against, the interesting parts are the add-on content system and the savegame compatibility guarantee, not the gameplay. One thing the README does not do is sell the game. There is no feature list, no screenshot tour, no performance claim. The manual lives on a community-maintained wiki, and the README links out to it rather than duplicating it. That is a deliberate split, and it means the repository is a poor place to learn how signals or airports behave. It is a good place to learn how the thing is built and shipped. ## Base sets, savegame compatibility and the actual data flow OpenTTD does not ship with usable graphics and sound. It needs additional graphics and sound files to run, and the README splits them into three packages: OpenGFX for graphics, OpenSFX for sounds and OpenMSX for music. On some platforms these are downloaded during installation; on others you follow the installation guide. The Windows installer can optionally download and install them. The alternative path is the original data. If you want the Transport Tycoon Deluxe assets, you copy them from the CD-ROM into the baseset/ directory, and it does not matter whether they come from the DOS or the Windows version. The README names the exact files: sample.cat, trg1r.grf or TRG1.GRF, trgcr.grf or TRGC.GRF, trghr.grf or TRGH.GRF, trgir.grf or TRGI.GRF, trgtr.grf or TRGT.GRF. Music is a separate copy: for TTD for Windows, all files in the gm/ folder from gm_tt00.gm up to gm_tt21.gm; for TTD for DOS, the GM.CAT file; for Transport Tycoon Original, GM.CAT renamed to GM-TTO.CAT. Note the case-insensitivity in the graphics names and the case-sensitivity in the music rename. Getting the rename wrong is a silent failure, not an error dialog. Add-on content is the third input. Most types can be downloaded inside the game through the Check Online Content button in the main menu, and manual installation is described as more complicated, with the wiki and docs/directory_structure.md as the fallbacks. Social integration is a separate mechanism again: plugins for platforms such as Steam and Discord are downloaded and stored in the social_integration folder. The load path is where OpenTTD makes a promise most projects avoid. The README states that every revision of OpenTTD will be able to load savegames from every older revision, except where the savegame is corrupt, and asks you to report a bug if a save does not load. That is a forward-only guarantee. Newer saves are not promised to open in older builds, which matters if you keep a stable install and a nightly install side by side. ## Installing OpenTTD and starting a first game The README says OpenTTD is usually straightforward to install and points at the wiki installation guide for anything beyond that. Downloads come from the official website, which offers both stable and nightly builds. The README's own advice is that most people should choose the stable version, because it has been more extensively tested, while the nightly version includes the latest changes and may sometimes be less reliable. OpenTTD is also distributed free on Steam, GOG.com and the Microsoft Store, and on some platforms it is available through the OS package manager. On Linux, the package manager route is the one the README acknowledges without naming a specific command. If your distribution carries OpenTTD, install it there; otherwise take the build from the official site. The repository does not document a single canonical install command for every distribution, so treat any one-liner you find elsewhere as distribution-specific. If you build from source instead, the README defers to COMPILING.md in the repository root. The top-level layout shows what that build consumes: CMakeLists.txt for the build system, cmake/ for modules, vcpkg.json for dependencies, and bin/ for runtime files. Do not guess at flags; COMPILING.md is the only source the project endorses. After installing, the first real task is not a network. It is confirming that the base sets are present, because a missing OpenGFX or OpenSFX package is the most likely reason a fresh install refuses to start properly. Check the baseset/ directory under your OpenTTD user directory, whose location per OS is documented in docs/directory_structure.md. Then start a game, open the main menu, and use Check Online Content to pull a NewGRF or a game script. That button is the supported path for add-ons and it avoids the manual layout entirely. ## Where OpenTTD is the wrong tool OpenTTD has no ending. It is a sandbox: you set your own goals, and the game will not hand you a campaign that closes. If you want authored missions with a win screen, a scripted story or a difficulty curve designed by someone else, this is the wrong choice, and no amount of add-on content changes that, because add-ons modify gameplay rather than provide a campaign spine. The platform list is narrower than the download list suggests. The README names Linux with SDL including both OpenGL and non-OpenGL variants, macOS as a universal Cocoa build, and Windows with Win32 GDI or OpenGL, as the currently supported platforms. It then says other platforms may also work, in particular various BSD systems, but that the project does not actively test or maintain these. Android appears in what people search for, not in the supported list. Legacy support comes with a stated condition. The README says support continues on old platforms as long as someone is interested in supporting them, except where it means the project cannot move forward to keep up with language and compiler features. That is an explicit permission to drop your platform when it becomes inconvenient, and it is worth reading before you plan a long-lived deployment on an unusual target. Finally, the asset situation is a real friction point for anyone expecting a single download. The free base sets are separate packages with their own readmes, and the original assets require a CD or an existing copy. Neither path is a one-click experience on every platform. ## How OpenTTD differs from JGR Patch Pack and from the original game The most direct alternative for a player is the JGR Patch Pack, usually written JGRPP. It is a fork of OpenTTD that bundles gameplay changes the upstream project has not merged, so the difference is not in the engine but in the feature set: you get a modified simulation on top of the same base sets and the same maps. The trade-off is that you are tracking a fork's release cadence rather than the upstream one, and savegames move between the two only in the direction the fork supports. If you want the exact behaviour the OpenTTD README describes, run OpenTTD; if you want features upstream has declined to adopt, the fork is the reason it exists. The other comparison is with Transport Tycoon Deluxe itself, which the project is explicitly imitating. Running the original means running the original limits: map size, vehicle counts, signal types, and no add-on content system at all. OpenTTD keeps the rules and lifts the ceilings, and it adds the NewGRF and game script layers the original never had. The cost of that is the base set dance described above, since OpenTTD cannot redistribute the retail assets. Both comparisons point at the same thing. OpenTTD's value is in being the reference implementation that other builds extend, with a savegame compatibility guarantee the forks inherit. If you need the guarantee, upstream is where it is made. ## Maintenance, releases and the licence question The repository is not archived, and the last push was on 2026-09-21. Recent releases are 16.0-beta4 on 2026-09-20, 16.0-beta3 on 2026-09-19 and 16.0-beta2 on 2026-07-12. Those are beta tags, which is consistent with the README's split between stable and nightly channels: the nightly channel carries the latest changes, and the README warns it may sometimes be less reliable. Note the gap between beta2 in July and beta3 in September; the beta cadence is not uniform, so do not plan around a fixed release interval. Upgrade cost for a player is close to zero, and that is by design rather than by accident. Because every revision loads savegames from every older revision, you can move a long-running map forward across releases without a migration step. The reverse does not hold, so keeping a stable install and a nightly install on the same machine means the nightly saves are the ones you can lose access to by rolling back. For a distributor, the licence is the part that needs care. The README states OpenTTD is licensed under the GNU General Public License version 2.0, but includes some third party software under different licenses, and directs you to the Licensing section for details. The repository's licence field does not resolve to a single SPDX identifier, which matches that statement: this is a GPLv2 project with bundled components under other terms. If you plan to redistribute a build, the per-component licences are the thing to enumerate, and COPYING.md is the file to read. That is a description of what the repository says, not legal advice. ## Conclusion Adopt OpenTTD if you want a transport simulation you can mod, script and run offline on Linux, macOS or Windows, and if you are willing to install the free base sets or copy the original Transport Tycoon Deluxe data files yourself. Do not adopt it if you want a guided campaign with a defined ending, or if you need a build the project actively tests on your platform: the README lists Linux, macOS and Windows as supported and says other systems are not actively tested. Before committing, check the directory structure guide for where add-on content and savegames live on your OS, and read known-bugs.md for the failure modes already on record. ## FAQ ### Is OpenTTD still being developed? Yes. The repository is not archived, the last push was on 2026-09-21, and 16.0-beta4 was released on 2026-09-20. The README also describes stable and nightly download channels, with the nightly build carrying the latest changes. ### What is the purpose of OpenTTD? It is a transport simulation game based upon Transport Tycoon Deluxe, written by Chris Sawyer. The README says it attempts to mimic the original game as closely as possible while extending it with new features. ### Does OpenTTD have an ending? The README describes no campaign or win condition. It presents the game as a simulation with add-on content that modifies gameplay, and the manual lives on a community-maintained wiki rather than in the repository. ### How do I install OpenTTD on Linux? The README points to the official website for downloads and to the wiki installation guide for help, and notes that on some platforms OpenTTD is available through the OS package manager. It does not document one canonical command for every distribution. ### How do I install OpenTTD? Download it from the official website, which offers stable and nightly builds, or take it from Steam, GOG.com, the Microsoft Store or your OS package manager. The README recommends the stable version for most people because it has been more extensively tested. ## Sources - [Issues](https://github.com/OpenTTD/OpenTTD/issues) - [OpenTTD/OpenTTD on GitHub](https://github.com/OpenTTD/OpenTTD) - [Project website](https://www.openttd.org/) - [README](https://github.com/OpenTTD/OpenTTD/blob/master/README.md) - [Releases](https://github.com/OpenTTD/OpenTTD/releases) --- Hysen Labs editorial analysis, written from the project's own repository and release notes. Cite the canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/openttd-openttd