# rwengine/openrw

OpenRW "Open ReWrite" is an un-official open source recreation of the classic Grand Theft Auto III game executable

Repository: https://github.com/rwengine/openrw
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/openrw
Homepage: http://openrw.org
Language: C++
License: GPL-3.0
License Family: copyleft
Topics: c-plus-plus, video-game, reimplementation, linux-game, game-engine, multi-platform, macosx-game, gta, gta3
Last push: 2025-06-18T18:55:52+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 44/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 27, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4149, "days_push": 441, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 2216, forks 201 (observed 2026-08-28T04:06:27.231155+00:00)

## What it is
OpenRW is an open-source, cross-platform re-implementation of the Grand Theft Auto III game engine written in C++. It requires a legitimate copy of the original PC game's data files and aims to run the classic 2001 title natively on modern Linux, macOS, Windows, and BSD systems.

## Use cases
- play gta iii on linux without the original executable
- run grand theft auto 3 natively on modern macos
- open source reimplementation of a classic game engine
- preserve old pc games for modern systems
- study how the gta iii engine works
- run gta3 with community mods on bsd

## When to choose
- you own GTA III and want to play it natively on Linux, macOS, Windows, or BSD
- you want a free-software engine that avoids running the original 2001 binary
- you want to contribute to or study a re-implementation of a classic game engine

## When to avoid
- you do not own a legitimate copy of the original GTA III PC game
- you want multiplayer or gameplay modifications, which are out of scope
- you need a fully complete 1.0 experience, as the project is still in active development toward that goal

## Facets
- artifact type: application
- maturity: active
- function: game-engine, graphics, simulation
- domain: gaming-tools, cross-platform
- platform: windows, bsd, cpp, cross-platform
- tags: gta3, reimplementation, open-source-game, sdl2, bullet-physics, reverse-engineering, game-development, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- rwengine/openrw (main) score 44

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:06:27.231155+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T02:45:57.807854+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/rwengine/openrw (fetched 2026-08-28T04:06:27.231155+00:00, sha 9876161f3742)
  - homepage: http://openrw.org (fetched 2026-08-29T10:26:10.510029+00:00, sha ba789144c636)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.