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Download 0.9.0 for Windows (34 MB) All releases ↗

You need your own copy of Darklands (version 483.07, for example the GOG or Steam release). Nothing from the game is included: the program reads your installation.

Getting started

  1. Download DarklandsRP-0.9.0-win-x64.zip and unpack it into a folder of its own. It holds DarklandsRP.exe, SDL2.dll, libmt32emu.dll, an empty MT32_ROMS folder and the third-party notices.
  2. Start DarklandsRP.exe. It finds your Darklands by itself (GOG, Steam, or a folder next to it) and remembers it in darklands.settings.json, which it creates on the first run. If it can’t find the game, it asks you for the folder.
  3. Play. It starts like the original: the banner, the opening, then the start screen.

No .NET installation is needed. Windows x64 only for now.

Music and sound

The game’s own sound drivers play, as on a 1992 PC: by default the card set up in your copy (usually a Roland MT-32 for music with a Sound Blaster for speech). For the MT-32, put your MT-32 or CM-32L ROM files in the MT32_ROMS folder. Without them the Sound Blaster Pro’s FM music plays instead.

Saved games

Saves go to the game’s own SAVES folder, shared with the original game both ways. If that folder can’t be written (a game installed under Program Files), they go to %APPDATA%\DarklandsRestoration\SAVES.

Settings and keys

darklands.settings.json is commented and shows every default: the game folder, the saves folder, the window size ("scale": 2, any "resolution", or "fullscreen": true), the sound card, the MT-32 ROM folder, and skipping the banner or the opening.

The keys and the mouse are the original’s (Alt-S save, Alt-L load, Alt-P pause, F1–F5 character sheets, the menu bar on the right button or F10…). Two keys are new: F12 saves a screenshot and F11 opens a developer console.

Release notes

0.9.0 — October 18, 2026

The first release.

  • The whole game: character creation, cities, inns and shops, guilds, banks and churches, the world map and its encounters, real-time battles, camping, saints and alchemy, saving and loading (compatible with the original’s saves).
  • The original’s screens, music and sound from your copy of the game: AdLib, Sound Blaster, and MT-32 with your ROMs.
  • Windowed at any size or full screen; a commented settings file; F12 screenshots; F11 developer console.
  • Every rule rewritten from the original program and checked against it; the known differences and the original bugs kept on purpose are listed in the repository’s docs/faithfulness.

SHA-256 of the zip: 5455c82c80939a7b74487fbd34041b10793c044470adc1c8d43acedd34b66e46

Source code

The source code is on GitHub: Arkana-Mechanika-Studios/darklands-restoration. Its README explains how to build it and how it is organized.