Development overview¶
Jagged Alliance 2 v1.13 is a community project. There is no company behind it — the code, the game data and even this documentation are maintained by volunteers, and anyone can watch the work happen or join in. This page explains how the project is organized today: where the code lives, how releases are made, what remains of the old SVN infrastructure, and where development is discussed.
Just want to play?
You never need to build anything yourself to play 1.13. Ready-made packages are on the releases page — see Installation.
The GitHub organization¶
Since 2022, all development happens in the GitHub organization github.com/1dot13. The project is split across several repositories:
| Repository | What it contains |
|---|---|
| source | The C++ source code of the game executable. This is the main repository: it carries the issue tracker, the release pages and the build instructions. |
| gamedir | The game assets: the Data-1.13 folder with its INI files, XML table data, maps, graphics, Lua scripts and bundled documentation. A working 1.13 install is the executable from source plus this game data. |
| gamedir-languages | Translated versions of the game assets, used to build the non-English release packages. |
| xml-editor | The XML Editor, a Visual Basic .NET tool for editing the game's XML table data without touching raw files. |
| tools | A collection of tools for modding and editing. |
| documentation | The project documentation — the repository behind the site you are reading now. |
Executable changes go into source; anything a player finds inside the game folder
(settings, items, maps, translations) lives in gamedir or gamedir-languages. Keep
that split in mind when reporting bugs or sending fixes — see
Contributing.
How releases are made¶
Releases are published on the source releases page as all-in-one packages: one download per language that includes JA2 v1.13 itself, the Map Editor and support for JA2: Unfinished Business. You extract a package over an installed copy of the original Jagged Alliance 2 and play.
Two kinds of release exist side by side:
- Latest (unstable) — a rolling pre-release under the tag
latest. It is rebuilt from current development code, so it always reflects the newest work; the download date on the release page tells you how fresh it is. Expect occasional rough edges. - Stable releases — tagged versions (v1 through v5) published when the code is
considered solid. The current stable is v5 (September 2025). Superseded stables
do not always stay downloadable: as of July 2026 the releases page lists only v1,
v5 and Latest (unstable), though all five
v*tags remain in the repository.
During the SVN era, builds were instead distributed on the Bear's Pit forum as SCIs ("Single Click Installers"). You will still see that term in older threads — see the glossary. For the full release history, from SVN revision numbers like r7609 to the GitHub-era versions, see Version history.
The SVN legacy¶
From its beginnings until 2022, 1.13 was developed on a Subversion (SVN) server at
ja2svn.mooo.com. That phase ended abruptly in 2022, and development moved to GitHub
to keep the project going.
The SVN server is still online and can be browsed read-only. Its trunk (last revision
r9401) holds the historical source tree, game data and a Documents folder with many
of the original design documents and modding guides — some of which are still the most
detailed write-ups of their features. The old checkout URLs were:
https://ja2svn.mooo.com/source/ja2/trunk/GameSource/ja2_v1.13/Build (source code)
https://ja2svn.mooo.com/source/ja2_v1.13_data/GameDir (game data)
Legacy only
Do not base new work on the SVN repositories — they are a historical archive. All current development, including bug fixes and new features, happens on GitHub. The server also uses a self-signed certificate, so browsers will show a security warning.
Following development¶
- Discord — the Bear's Pit Discord is where day-to-day development chat happens. It is the quickest way to ask questions or find out what is being worked on.
- The Bear's Pit forum — thepit.ja-galaxy-forum.com is the long-standing community hub, with boards for bug reports, feature discussion and mods.
- GitHub — watch the 1dot13 repositories to follow commits, issues and pull requests directly, or subscribe to the releases page to be notified of new builds.
In this section¶
- Building the executable — set up Visual Studio and CMake, compile the game, and debug it against a 1.13 installation.
- Code overview — a tour of the source tree and where the major systems live.
- Contributing — how to report bugs, send pull requests, and help with the game data, translations or this documentation.
Sources¶
- GitHub organization page — repository list and descriptions
- README of github.com/1dot13/source — installation, downloads and participation notes
- Releases page of 1dot13/source — release tags and dates
- The 1.13 SVN server at
ja2svn.mooo.com(browsed directly) — repository status and legacy checkout paths - "Jagged Alliance 2 v1.13 - Development" page from the previous starter documentation (2019 era)