Welcome to the unofficial release of the Area 51 (2005) video game source code! This project aims to resurrect and preserve a piece of early 2000s video game history for enthusiasts, historians, and developers alike. Below is a brief overview of the source code details, its origin, and guidance on how the community can help bring this game into the modern era.
The main goal is to get the source code into a buildable state on modern systems. Whether you're interested in game development, historical preservation, or simply a fan of Area 51, here's how you can help:
- Building the Project: Assistance is needed to compile and run the game on contemporary hardware. If you have experience with game development, legacy systems, or cross-platform development, your expertise is invaluable.
- Documentation and Research: Insights into the original development environment, including compilers, libraries, and tools, would greatly assist the restoration effort.
- Debugging and Porting: Once buildable, the project will require debugging and potentially porting to newer platforms to reach a wider audience.
- Forking and contributing: Make changes in your forks, and submit a pull request with your updates.
-
Audio System Malfunctions:
The Miles Sound System 6 implementation is very often causes crash, unstable. (Delete Voice.DFS for stability)Probably fixed, the game now uses minimp3. But its still unstable and buggy. -
Console UI (Incomplete Interface): The PC version is currently using the console UI. This results in:
-
Missing PC-specific settings (graphics, keybindings, etc.)
-
Redundant console-only interface logic included in the build, which clutters the UI codebase.
-
Simple PC render: A very basic DX11 renderer is implemented, without complex effects and shaders.
-
Unstable WebM decoding: It's just poorly implemented so far, sorry.
-
Multiplayer & Network Stack Failure: The network layer is completely broken. Multiplayer functionality is non-operational.
The following prerequisites are required to build the source tree for PC:
- Visual Studio 2022
- Windows SDK
- You'll need to create an environment variable called X and S that points to the important library directions of the source tree. For example, if the source tree is located at 'D:\area51-pc' the X environment variable should point to 'D:\area51-pc\xCore'. the S environment variable should point to 'D:\area51-pc\Support'
XtremeToolkit 4100 (FOR UI TOOLS) | Install it from "xCore\3rdParty\CodeJock"UNDER CONSTRUCTION!!!!
- Put game assets to "C:\GameData\A51\Release\PC\DVD" (delete STRINGS.DFS and STRINGS.000 files, temp hack)
- Put .STRINGBIN files from "area51-pc\Apps\GameApp\media\strings" to "C:\GameData\A51\Release\PC"
- Put shaders folder from "area51-pc\Apps\GameApp\media" to "C:"
- Put .webm cinema videos from "area51-pc\Apps\GameApp\media\webms" to "C:\GameData\A51\Release\PC"
- Run game.
| Debug | OptDebug | QA | Release | EDITOR-Debug | VIEWER-Debug |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No/Only for Editor! | No/Only for ArtistViewer! |
Attention: During the migration from VS 2004 to VS 2022, many tools are not functioning. Please use LEGACY branch.
| Name | Description | Status |
|---|---|---|
| AnimCompiler | Working | |
| Art2Code | Working | |
| ArtistViewer | UNDER CONSTRUCTION | |
| AudioEditor | UNDER CONSTRUCTION/Lib for: Editor | |
| BinaryString | UNDER CONSTRUCTION/Lib for: Editor | |
| BitmapEditor | UNDER CONSTRUCTION/Lib for: Editor | |
| DecalCompiler | Working | |
| DecalEditor | UNDER CONSTRUCTION/Lib for: Editor | |
| DFSTool | Working | |
| EDRscDesc | UNDER CONSTRUCTION/Lib for: Editor | |
| Editor | UNDER CONSTRUCTION | |
| EffectsEditor | UNDER CONSTRUCTION | |
| ELFTool | DELETED | |
| EventEditor | UNDER CONSTRUCTION/Lib for: Editor | |
| FontBuilder | Working | |
| FontEditor | UNDER CONSTRUCTION/Lib for: Editor | |
| FxEditor | UNDER CONSTRUCTION/Lib for: Editor | |
| FXCompiler | Working | |
| GameApp | Working | |
| GeomCompiler | Working | |
| LocoEditor | UNDER CONSTRUCTION/Lib for: Editor | |
| MeshViewer | UNDER CONSTRUCTION/Lib for: Editor | |
| PropertyEditor | UNDER CONSTRUCTION/Lib for: Editor | |
| SoundPackager | Working | |
| StringTool | Working | |
| Viewer | DELETED | |
| WinControls | UNDER CONSTRUCTION/Lib for: Editor | |
| WorldEditor | UNDER CONSTRUCTION/Lib for: Editor | |
| XBMPTool | Working | |
| XBMPViewer | UNDER CONSTRUCTION | |
| xCL | DELETED | |
| XSCC | DELETED | |
| xTool | DELETED |
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Engine-51 | Area-51 Asset Viewer. |
| Inevitable-MATX-Toolkit | Blender plugin for exporting .matx models for GeomCompiler. |
| Json-Playsurface-Processer | Script for importing .playsurface maps into blender. |
| DAT-Tool | Command-line interface (CLI) utility for working with Tribes: Aerial Assault DAT archive format. |
Select the Xbox branch and follow the instructions.
- Initial Release: Area 51 was originally released on April 25, 2005, for PC, PS2, and Xbox. It has become a memorable cult classic.
- Air Force Sponsorship: In a unique turn of events, the game was sponsored by the United States Air Force and released as freeware for PC.
- Abandonware Status: Despite the game's initial success and the novel sponsorship, it eventually fell into obscurity, becoming abandonware. The game's support and distribution were discontinued, leaving it in a state where it was difficult for fans to access or play on modern systems.
- Snapshot Date: The source code is a snapshot from 2005-03-31 10:40:19, just before the game's official release.
- Discovery: It was found at a garage sale of a former THQ developer.
- Contents: This release includes the source code for the Entropy engine, game logic, and targets for PC, PS2, Xbox, and an early version for GameCube. Additionally, debug symbols for various platforms are available in the release. Assets are not included, but those can be recovered from the retail game files.