Build Warzone2100 From Source Guide. (works on windows WSL)

[rbabbit]

`

<title>Warzone 2100 Build Commands (WSL/Linux)</title> <style> body { font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.4; margin: 40px; } h1, h2 { color: #2c3e50; } pre { background: #f7f7f7; padding: 1em; border: 1px solid #ddd; overflow-x: auto; } code { font-family: monospace; } a { color: #007ACC; text-decoration: none; } </style>

Working Command Snippets for Rebuilding Warzone 2100

This page lists the exact command sequences that proved successful when compiling Warzone 2100 on an Ubuntu/WSL system. Each block can be pasted directly into a terminal. Citations are provided where appropriate.

1. Install core build tools

sudo apt update
sudo apt install build-essential g++ make cmake
# Optional: install Ninja if you want to use the Ninja generator
sudo apt install ninja-build

The project’s README notes that CMake, a C/C++ compiler and (optionally) ninja are required【807523480903912†L320-L325】.

2. Install Warzone dependencies via script

cd ~/warzone2100
chmod +x get-dependencies_linux.sh
sudo ./get-dependencies_linux.sh ubuntu build-dependencies

On Ubuntu 20.x–24.x the script warns that SDL3 must be compiled from source【546586170865795†L118-L125】.

The script also installs a long list of packages to satisfy Warzone’s build-time dependencies. These include CMake, Git, ZIP tools (zip and unzip), gettext and asciidoctor; development headers for PhysFS, PNG, OpenAL, Vorbis, Ogg, Opus, Theora, XRandR, FreeType, FriBidi and HarfBuzz; network and encryption support via libcurl4‑gnutls-dev, gnutls-dev and libsodium-dev; database and protocol buffer development libraries (libsqlite3-dev, libprotobuf-dev and protobuf‑compiler) and the libzip-dev package for ZIP support【748935285118108†L1033-L1037】. Because of a known issue with libzip’s CMake config, the script also installs zipcmp, zipmerge and ziptool【748935285118108†L1060-L1063】.

3. Build and install SDL 3

Download the latest SDL3 source archive from the SDL release page. Then run the following inside the extracted directory:

cmake -S . -B build
cmake --build build
sudo cmake --install build --prefix /usr/local
sudo ldconfig

This standard three‑step CMake process configures, builds and installs the library【195952045361259†L68-L103】.

Before running these commands you may need to install additional development headers so that SDL can enable its optional X11, audio and input back‑ends. The SDL README‑linux lists packages such as pkg‑config, cmake, ninja‑build, libasound2-dev, libpulse-dev, libfribidi-dev, libjack-dev, libsndio-dev, libx11-dev, libxext-dev, libxrandr-dev, libxcursor-dev, libxfixes-dev, libxi-dev, libxss-dev, libxtst-dev, libxkbcommon-dev, libdrm-dev, libgbm-dev, libgl1-mesa-dev, libgles2-mesa-dev, libegl1-mesa-dev, libdbus-1-dev, libibus-1.0-dev, libudev-dev and libthai-dev【435638651209956†L20-L28】. Installing these packages on Ubuntu ensures SDL3 will build with all available features before you run the CMake commands above.

4. Build Warzone 2100

mkdir -p ~/wz-build
cd ~/wz-build
cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=RelWithDebInfo -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=~/wz-install -G "Unix Makefiles" ../warzone2100
make install

This sequence creates an out‑of‑source build directory, runs CMake and installs the game into ~/wz-install【807523480903912†L367-L393】.

5. Run the game and toggle cheat mode

~/wz-install/bin/warzone2100

In game, press Shift + Backspace to enable or disable cheat mode【13551414971073†L13-L18】, and press Ctrl + O to open the debug menu【13551414971073†L21-L23】.

6. Resolve “libSDL3.so.0” runtime error

If you launch Warzone and see an error like:

/home/<user>/wz-install/bin/warzone2100: error while loading shared libraries:
libSDL3.so.0: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

this means the dynamic linker can’t find the SDL 3 library at runtime. To fix it:

1. Confirm where the library is installed. Run sudo find /usr/local -name 'libSDL3.so*' to locate the SDL 3 shared library. It will usually be under /usr/local/lib or /usr/local/lib64.
2. Update the library cache. If the library is in /usr/local/lib, run sudo ldconfig to refresh the system’s cache of shared libraries. The default search path includes /usr/lib and /usr/local/lib【886753384730331†L129-L136】, so running ldconfig is often sufficient.
3. Specify a custom library path. If the library is in another directory (for example /usr/local/lib64) or if ldconfig does not resolve the issue, set the LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable to include the directory before launching the game:

export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/local/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
~/wz-install/bin/warzone2100

The LD_LIBRARY_PATH variable tells the loader where to search for shared libraries【886753384730331†L129-L139】.

4. Persist the path. For a permanent solution, create a small file in /etc/ld.so.conf.d that lists the directory containing libSDL3.so.0, then run sudo ldconfig again【886753384730331†L172-L190】.

After performing these steps, re-run the Warzone executable to verify that the error is resolved.

`

[johan-boule]

In get-dependencies_linux.sh for Ubuntu, there seems to be a mistake which explains why you had to build SDL 3 by yourself:

if [ "${VERSION_PARTS[0]}" -eq "18" ]; then
elif [ "${VERSION_PARTS[0]}" -ge "20" ]; then
elif [ "${VERSION_PARTS[0]}" -ge "25" ]; then

If you are on Ubuntu 25, it goes into the second case as 25 > 20 (-ge means greater or equal).
The cases should probably be tested in reserved order:

if (( VERSION_PARTS >= 25 )); then
elif (( VERSION_PARTS >= 20 )); then
elif (( VERSION_PARTS == 18 )); then

Also the options build-all and build-dependencies don't seem to make much sense looking at their effect.
The difference is that build-all installs fundamental development tools, like... a C++ compiler.
Of course you need to have a C++ compiler, so build-dependencies alone is incomplete, that's why you had to install it by yourself.