Open Fodder installation

January 6, 2026 ยท View on GitHub

About

Open Fodder requires campaign/mission data plus files from a demo or retail release of Cannon Fodder. The data must be placed in specific folders depending on your operating system.

Windows

Download the installer package.

Default data folder:

%USERPROFILE%\Documents\OpenFodder

The Windows installer includes the demo data. If you have a retail release, copy it into the folders below (or use the installer prompt).

Open Fodder also checks the current working directory for an OpenFodder folder.

Linux / Unix

Open Fodder searches for an OpenFodder data folder in this order:

  1. The current working directory
  2. $XDG_DATA_HOME/OpenFodder (if set)
  3. Each path in $XDG_DATA_DIRS (appends /OpenFodder)
  4. $HOME/.local/share/OpenFodder
  5. /usr/local/share/OpenFodder

Flatpak

The Flatpak package uses:

~/.var/app/org.openfodder.OpenFodder/data/OpenFodder

Create the OpenFodder folder there, then place the campaign data pack and any retail data inside it.

Data

Campaign Data

This data is packaged with the Windows installer, but is a required download if you're running on Linux/Unix or building from source.

The campaign information was originally hardcoded in the executable. This is required to play and is downloadable alongside six demos from:

https://github.com/OpenFodder/data/releases/

Retail Data

The folder you place data into should look like:

OpenFodder/
  Data/
  Campaigns/
  Saves/

DOS CD Versions

For Cannon Fodder (DOS CD), copy CF_ENG.DAT from the CD (or the GOG install destination) to:

OpenFodder/Data/Dos_CD

For Cannon Fodder 2 (DOS CD), copy all files (not just CF_ENG.DAT) from the CD or the GOG install destination to:

OpenFodder/Data/Dos2_CD

Amiga

Please be aware: Cannon Fodder 2 is a typical AmigaDOS disk (SOS Unpacker will not work). Use an ADF tool on your machine, such as Directory Opus on Windows with the firy plugin: https://github.com/segrax/directory_opus_firy_plugin

Option 1. SOS Unpacker

Use the SOS Unpacker to unpack Kyroflux "CT Raw" images of your Cannon Fodder disks, then copy the contents of out into:

OpenFodder/Data/Amiga
Option 2. WHDLoad

Use the WHDLoad installer on an Amiga or an emulator (WinUAE/UAE) to extract the game files from the original floppy disks, then copy the contents of cf_data into:

OpenFodder/Data/Amiga

Amiga CD32

Copy the files from the Fodder folder on the CD-ROM to:

OpenFodder/Data/Amiga_CD

Optional intro video (CD32 Track 2)

The CD32 version includes a full-motion intro video on Track 2. Open Fodder will play it for any retail Cannon Fodder 1 install if you extract it as an MPEG file and place it in the root of the Data folder. The preferred name is Intro.mpg, but the game also accepts intro.mpg, TRACK02.MPG, Track02.mpg, track02.mpg.

OpenFodder/Data/Intro.mpg

Additional data search paths (openfodder.ini)

Open Fodder reads openfodder.ini from the working directory. Use the [paths] section to add extra data search paths:

[paths]
path0=/path/to/OpenFodder
path1=f:\openfodder

Building from source

See COMPILING.md for build instructions.