The whole farm
Fields and crops, orchards, livestock, machines and buildings, the weather, the market, the bank and the town around you.
Bring your own SimFarm
OpenSimFarm contains none of the original game's files: no pictures, sounds, music, maps or texts. It reads them, read-only, from your own SimFarm folder (the one with MEGADATA.IDX and MEGADATA.EEA). On the first start it looks for the folder itself, or you choose it once. Your saves from the original game load as they are.
In the browser version (a beta) you choose the folder on the page. Its files are read on your computer and nothing is uploaded.
Beta
No install? Play in your browser
⚠ This is a beta. The browser version is new and less tested than the download: it may have bugs, and it may lag behind the desktop version in fixes and features. For the best and most up-to-date game, download the desktop version.
The same game, compiled for the web. Open the page, choose your SimFarm folder and your farm starts in seconds.
- 🔒 Your SimFarm files are read in the browser and never uploaded.
- 💾 Settings and saves are kept in your browser. Download them any time, or upload a save from the desktop version.
- 🖥️ For desktop browsers (Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari) with a mouse.
What's inside
Your old saves
Loads and saves the original's saved games, so a farm from 1993 picks up where you left it.
Disasters included
Tornadoes, windstorms, droughts, floods, locusts and frost, plus the crop duster, the county fair and the rodeo.
Modern Sound
Optional: the game's own sounds cleaned up and in stereo, and the music played with new instruments.
Modern Render
Optional: the game's own pictures smoothed, and animals, machines and cars gliding from cell to cell.
Smart Driving
Optional: machines plan their way to the field and back over roads, gates and bridges.
Zoom and move freely
Zoom in and out with the mouse wheel or the + / − buttons, and move around with the arrow keys or WASD, or drag with the right mouse button. Any window size, from a laptop to a big screen.
Where the money went
Click your funds to open a new Funds list: every change to your cash, with its date, what it was for and the amount, newest first.
Every crop from day one
The Plant list and the market show all the game's crops from the start. Pick one and it's ready to plant, with no loading of crop files first.
Screenshots
New
Where did the money go?
Click your funds in the top bar and the Funds list opens: every change to your cash, newest first, with the date, what it was for and the amount. Money in is in green, money out in red. Repeated items from one day are grouped, so a busy harvest week stays readable.
It's an OpenSimFarm addition: the original has the Balance Sheet with the year's totals, but no list of single payments. Now you can see right away what a lease or a crop sale did to your cash.
Screenshots of OpenSimFarm running with the game files of SimFarm. The pictures in them come from the original game and belong to its owner.
Install
Pick your system. The files are on the releases below; the newest one is always at the top.
- Download
OpenSimFarm-VERSION-windows-x64-setup.exe. - Run it. It installs for your user only, so no administrator rights are needed.
- On the Your SimFarm folder page, check the folder it found, or click Browse and choose it.
- Start OpenSimFarm from the Start menu or the desktop shortcut.
The installer is not code-signed, so Windows SmartScreen may warn the first time: click More info, then Run anyway. Uninstalling (Settings → Apps) keeps your saves and settings.
- Download
opensimfarm_VERSION-1_amd64.deb(Debian 12 or newer, Ubuntu 22.04 or newer). - Install it, which also installs SDL2:
sudo apt install ./opensimfarm_VERSION-1_amd64.deb - Start OpenSimFarm from the menu, or run
opensimfarm.
Remove it with sudo apt remove opensimfarm. Your saves stay in ~/.config/opensimfarm.
- Download
opensimfarm-VERSION-1.x86_64.rpm. - Install it, which also installs SDL2:
On openSUSE:sudo dnf install ./opensimfarm-VERSION-1.x86_64.rpmsudo zypper install ./opensimfarm-VERSION-1.x86_64.rpm - Start OpenSimFarm from the menu, or run
opensimfarm.
Remove it with sudo dnf remove opensimfarm. Your saves stay in ~/.config/opensimfarm.
- Download
OpenSimFarm-VERSION-windows-x64.zipand unzip it anywhere. - Double-click
opensimfarm.exe. If it doesn't find SimFarm by itself, it asks you to choose the folder once.
Handy for a USB stick or for trying it out. Settings and saves go to %APPDATA%\OpenSimFarm.
🧭 First start
OpenSimFarm searches the usual places for your SimFarm folder (your home folder, the drive roots on Windows, /opt, /media, …). If it can't find it, it asks you to choose it with the system's folder dialog. On Linux that dialog needs zenity or kdialog. The folder is remembered. If you move or delete it later, OpenSimFarm notices and asks for its new place.
Releases
Every version with its downloads and notes, straight from GitHub.
Loading releases…
Build it yourself
Play from source
You need CMake, a C++17 compiler and the SDL2 development package (libsdl2-dev or SDL2-devel).
git clone https://github.com/alissonkn/opensimfarm.git
cd opensimfarm/engine
cmake -S . -B build -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
cmake --build build -j
./build/opensimfarm /path/to/SimFarmMake the installers
One script builds all of them on Linux, including the Windows installer (cross-compiled with Zig, packed with NSIS):
cd opensimfarm/engine
tools/package.sh # or: windows / rpm / debThe tools to install first and the details are in Building the installers.
Build the browser version beta
Install the Emscripten SDK once (no admin rights needed), then build and serve the page locally:
git clone https://github.com/emscripten-core/emsdk.git ~/tools/emsdk
~/tools/emsdk/emsdk install 6.0.13 && ~/tools/emsdk/emsdk activate 6.0.13
engine/tools/build_web.sh
python3 -m http.server 8000 --directory site # open localhost:8000/play/Details: The browser version.
Test it headless
Everything runs without a screen on Linux. The game's own checks, and the browser version in headless Firefox:
SDL_VIDEODRIVER=dummy engine/build/opensimfarm --selftest
SDL_VIDEODRIVER=dummy engine/build/opensimfarm --toolstest
python3 engine/tools/webtest.py --game /path/to/SimFarmAll the checks: Tests.
Questions
Do I need the original game?
Yes. OpenSimFarm is a new program that plays with the files of your own copy of SimFarm, so the pictures, sounds and maps all come from it. Nothing of the original game is included or downloaded.
Is any of the original code in it?
No. The engine was written from scratch in C++17, from a description of how the game behaves and how its files are laid out.
Will it change my SimFarm files?
No. It only reads them. Settings and saved games go to your own settings folder: %APPDATA%\OpenSimFarm on Windows, ~/.config/opensimfarm on Linux.
Does it look and play like the original?
That's the aim: the same rules, screens and timing, checked side by side against the original. A few things are better on purpose (any window size, clearer messages, a full price list), and the Modern options are there if you want them, all switchable in the Options menu.
Is the browser version the same game?
It is built from the same source, but it is a beta: it is less tested than the download, may have bugs of its own, and may not always be as up to date as the desktop version. The download is the main version and the one to use if anything goes wrong in the browser. Other differences: you choose the SimFarm folder on the page each time unless you let the browser remember the files (they stay on your computer), and settings and saves live in the browser's storage. Clearing your browser's site data deletes them, so download the saves you want to keep from the Saves button.
Something doesn't work. Where do I report it?
Open an issue on GitHub, with your system, the version and what happened.