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ZZT

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ZZT
ZZT cover
Developers
Epic Games
Release dates
DOS January 15, 1991
Windows March 31, 2023
Taxonomy
Monetization Freeware
ZZT on MobyGames
ZZT on Wikipedia

Key points

Re-released as freeware.[1]

General information

Museum of ZZT - A huge fan site dedicated to ZZT
Wiki of ZZT - A ZZT-centric documentation wiki

Availability

Source DRM Notes Keys OS
Official website
DRM-free
Fansite mirror.
DOS
Epic Games Store
DRM-free after installation through Epic Games Launcher (notes may include more details)
Game can be loaded up via Dosbox, which is included in the download.
Windows

Essential improvements

ClassicZoo

Compatible with the various mods and worlds made for the original game.
Many bugfixes and feature improvements.
Available natively for Windows and Linux.

The Reconstruction of ZZT

The Reconstruction of ZZT is an open source recreation of ZZT 3.2, due to the loss of the game's source code.
Extremely accurate, being a byte-for-byte recreation of the original game's executable.
Compatible with the various mods and worlds made for the original game.
Requires an emulator to run, such as DOSBox or Zeta.

KevEdit

KevEdit is a ZZT editor that aims to run on modern computers while still supporting DOS.

Zeta

Zeta is a small open source emulator designed to run ZZT and Super ZZT.
Source Code of the program can be found here
100% gameplay accuracy
Automatic CPU speed scaling to address quirks in the game's engine.
Files with long filenames (> 8 characters) are not available in the emulated engine.
Does not automatically resize the window when loading a non-8x14 character set.

DreamZZT

A open source remake of the ZZT engine, it allows ZZT to be run on certain modern platforms (Dreamcast, Nintendo DS, Windows).
It can be downloaded here.
Limited compatibility with advanced mods and worlds.

Recommended Mods, Level Packs, Total Conversions

These and many more can be found at the Museum of ZZT.
  • Banana Quest - Adds PC Speaker tunes, fetch quests, minigames, puzzles, and tongue-in-cheek humour.
  • _Death_ - Adds a grim storyline, multi-floor levels, blood, new monsters and new objects.
  • Little Square Things - Player indirectly controls multiple squares at once.
  • Dungeon Master's Gallery - Randomly Generated Dungeons
  • Run-On - Long, progressively generated levels. Has multiple difficulties and various options.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System Location
DOS <path-to-game>\ZZT.CFG

Save game data location

System Location
DOS <path-to-game>\*.SAV

Video

Graphics feature State Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed
For DOSBox toggle with Alt+ Enter (see the glossary page for other workarounds).
Borderless fullscreen windowed
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Anti-aliasing (AA)
Vertical sync (Vsync)
For DOSBox use an unofficial build (see the glossary page for other workarounds).
60 FPS
Framerate is tied to game speed which is a configurable setting.
120+ FPS
High dynamic range display (HDR)

Input

Keyboard and mouse State Notes
Remapping
For DOSBox use the DOSBox Mapper (see the glossary page for other workarounds).
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
For DOSBox set in the DOSBox configuration file.
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support
Controller types

Audio

Audio feature State Notes
Separate volume controls
Surround sound
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
For DOSBox change the priority background value in the DOSBox configuration file.
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language UI Audio Sub Notes
English

Other information

API

Technical specs Supported Notes
DOS video modes CGA, EGA, MCGA, VGA, SVGA Uses 16-color 25-line 80-column text mode
Executable 32-bit 64-bit Notes
Windows
Although an endorsed Linux release does exist,[2] it relies on DOSBox instead of being a native port.[3]

System requirements

DOS
Minimum
Operating system (OS) MS-DOS 6.2
Processor (CPU) IBM PC or 100% compatible
System memory (RAM) 512 KB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 2 MB
Video card (GPU) CGA/EGA/MCGA/VGA/SVGA graphics card

References

  1. A note from ZZT's creator, Tim Sweeney - last accessed on May 2023
  2. Install ZZT for Linux using the Snap Store - last accessed on 2020-12-17
  3. dosbox.conf - last accessed on 2021-05-08