GOG
Total Annihilation: Commander Pack, both expansions included, for Windows and Mac. On a Mac, the game's folder sits inside GOG's app.
Store page →Install guides
Step-by-step guides, with pictures, for every platform.
macOSmacOS 11 Big Sur or later · Intel and Apple siliconRead the guide →
Your device
WindowsWindows XP SP3 to 11 · 64-bit, 32-bit and ARM64Read the guide →
Your device
Linuxglibc 2.28 or later · x86-64, ARM64 and ARMv7Read the guide →
Your device
Raspberry PiPi 2, 3, 4, 400 and 5 · Raspberry Pi OS Bookworm or laterRead the guide →
Your device
Steam DeckLCD and OLED · SteamOS 3Read the guide →
Your device
iPhone & iPadiOS and iPadOS 15 or later · A Mac with Xcode 26Read the guide →
Your device
AndroidPhones and tabletsComing soon
Apple Vision ProvisionOS, all around youComing soon
DOSFor the truly retroComing soon- 1
Download the engine
15 to 23 MB. No game content inside.
- 2
Get the game data
Your own Total Annihilation with the 3.1 update, or the free demo.
- 3
Point it at your game
Choose the folder that holds
totala1.hpionce; it remembers.
Getting the game data
Open Annihilation ships no game content: it plays the original game's data from your own copy of Total Annihilation with the 3.1 update, both expansions included where you have them. Any of these will do.
Steam
Total Annihilation, app 298030, with Core Contingency and Battle Tactics. On Linux and the Steam Deck the game finds Steam's copy by itself.
Store page →The original CDs
Install the game on Windows and update it to 3.1, then use or copy that folder.
The free 1997 demo
Three Arm missions and 32 units, enough to try the engine. No skirmish, multiplayer, saves or music.
Below →However you got it, the folder to choose is the one that holds totala1.hpi:
This PC›C:›GOG Games›Total Annihilation
SearchHome
Desktop
Downloads
Documents
This PC
NameTypeSize
campsFolder
DataFolder
musicFolder
ccdata.ccx25.9 MB
ccmaps.ccx153.7 MB
rev31.gp35.5 MB
tactics1.hpi21.0 MB
TotalA.exe1.2 MB
totala1.hpi32.3 MBThis file marks the right folder
totala2.hpi98.0 MB
totala3.hpi33.4 MB
totala4.hpi147.6 MB
worlds.hpi80.0 MB
The free 1997 demo
The demo, released free in 1997, is enough to try Open Annihilation: the first three missions of the Arm campaign and 32 Arm and Core units. It has no skirmish maps, multiplayer, Core campaign, saved games, movies or music, and the menus grey out what it cannot open.
- Download Total Annihilation.exe from the Internet Archive. The file is 21,540,864 bytes; to check it, compare its SHA-256 with the one below.
- Make a new folder, for example TA Demo, and put the file in it. Do this on macOS and Linux too: you never run the
.exe, and it does not need Windows. - Start Open Annihilation and choose that folder. The first time, it checks the file and unpacks about 20 MB of game data; keep the file in the folder, which is how the game recognises it.
# macOS$ shasum -a 256 "Total Annihilation.exe"# Linux$ sha256sum "Total Annihilation.exe"# Windows$ certutil -hashfile "Total Annihilation.exe" SHA2565e41cf05226c274b4ac9e4398f74f6b321506bd7a4317ee1744ff7aceba34c49
