# ZT1-Engine: reconstructing Zoo Tycoon 1 from zoo.exe

> ZT1-Engine reimplements Zoo Tycoon 1 for modern Windows by recovering game rules from zoo.exe and comparing behavior with the original. It reads art, sound, and other files from the player's installation and includes a lab for examining original addresses and execution traces. The author describes base-game freeform play as available in alpha, while expansion features and save parity remain incomplete.

- Type: Case study
- Targets: Game
- Category: Independent reconstruction cases
- Relationship: Independent reconstruction project
- Sources reviewed: 2026-11-06
- Added to the catalog: 2026-11-09
- Original resource: <https://github.com/AlexC1991/zt1-engine>
- Primary source: <https://github.com/AlexC1991/zt1-engine/blob/6aec71d9d0fc757273def6379d2b0407340b5b85/README.md>
- Catalog page: <https://awesomerea.org/resources/zt1-engine-case/>
- Record JSON: <https://awesomerea.org/resources/zt1-engine-case/record.json>
- Chinese version: [简体中文](https://awesomerea.org/zh/resources/zt1-engine-case/index.md)

## Requirements & limits

- **Prerequisites:** Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit, and the player's own Zoo Tycoon 1 installation are required.
- **Prerequisites:** Building from source requires Python 3, CMake, and Visual Studio 2022 C++ build tools.
- **Limits:** The project is alpha; Dinosaur Digs and exact save-state parity remain incomplete.
- **License:** MIT License.

## Primary sources

1. <https://github.com/AlexC1991/zt1-engine/blob/6aec71d9d0fc757273def6379d2b0407340b5b85/README.md>

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## About this entry

The description was reviewed against primary sources.
Original editorial content: MIT. Linked projects, papers and assets retain their own rights and licenses.