CGALIB2 Updates from 2026

Tuesday, 6th October 2026

A new update to CGALIB 2 Game Library is now available! The library was updated during the development of Star Cadre: Team Command to accommodate some of that game's needs. Improvements include:

1. An 'invert' function that inverts the colours of bitmaps. This is designed for early monochrome LCD screens that would display reversed greyscales for readability. The new function allows you to re-invert your bitmaps so that they display in the intended shades.

2. 'printf' functions to print formatted text to bitmaps or the screen. Previously you'd have to prepare formatted text using 'sprintf' before printing it using the 'print' function.

3. Simple compression on loading and saving bitmaps, all the more important when you're trying to fit your project on a 360k floppy disk! The 'makebit' utility can now load and save both compressed and uncompressed bitmaps.

4. Cosmetic improvements to the 'future' font, to help distinguish '4' from '9', and 'f' from 'F'. This is especially helpful on small LCD screens without backlighting.

5. Bug fixes.

CGALIB 2 Game Library is a graphics, sound and keyboard library for MS-DOS projects in OpenWatcom C. It targets low-spec machines with CGA graphics, specifically supporting the 320x200 4-colour graphics modes. You can download it from the lihnks below, or from the CGALIB 2 Game Library web page.