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Nanolathe runs with the original Total Annihilation assets. Buy a copy from GOG or Steam, or use your original CDs to install the game. Copy the installed game folder to the machine running Nanolathe.
Point Nanolathe at that installed folder, containing the game’s HPI archives and any installed expansion data. A store installer or CD image is not an installed game directory. Keep the original archives together; you don’t need to unpack them.
The development reference installation includes the base game, Core Contingency, Battle Tactics, and the 3.1 patch. Compatibility with other combinations is still being established.
Install Go 1.25 or newer and Git. The engine uses Ebitengine for its window, graphics, and audio. See the Ebitengine installation guide for platform details.
Install the Xcode Command Line Tools if you don’t already have a C compiler:
xcode-select --installOn Debian or Ubuntu, run the dependency installer from the engine checkout after cloning it:
bash .github/scripts/install-linux-deps.shIt installs the compiler and native graphics/audio development packages using sudo apt-get. Other distributions should follow Ebitengine’s installation guide. The interactive client needs a working graphical desktop.
Install Go and Git, then use PowerShell for the commands below. Ebitengine does not require a separate C compiler on Windows. Replace the game-data path with your Windows installation path.
Platform support is still in development; these are source-build prerequisites, not a promise of release-level compatibility.
Clone the repository, then enter the checkout.
git clone {{ site.Params.engineRepo }}.git
cd nanolatheYou can also download the source ZIP from the repository’s Code menu and open a terminal in the extracted folder.
Run this from the engine checkout. Replace the quoted path with your installed game folder; go run downloads Go dependencies and builds the program on the first launch.
go run ./cmd/nanolathe --root "/path/to/TotalAnnihilation"For example, on Windows:
go run ./cmd/nanolathe --root "C:\Games\TotalAnnihilation"Or set NANOLATHE_TA_ROOT in your environment and omit --root. Run go run ./cmd/nanolathe --help to see the current options.
--root points to the installed game folder and that the original archives are present. Keep quotation marks around paths containing spaces.