Army Men original demo acquisition recipe

Task NEW-GAME-ARMY-MEN-DEMO-20261015, 2026-10-15. Source pins and identity caveats are in army-men-demo.md.

tools/acquire-army-men-demo.js is remote-only acquisition, never a launcher. After the coordinator grants exclusive bx_9ef2wdsw ownership and the previous owner releases it, transfer this small script with Boat file APIs and invoke:

node /home/user/acquire-army-men-demo.js /home/user/army-men-original-acquisition-20261015

The directory must not exist and needs 512 MiB free. One HTTPS download is bounded to 120 seconds and 20 MiB, pinned to 18,373,265 bytes and SHA-256 dd1faca49d6e5adc0a3db58831039274930b468caa713f1c0fb4fe074754908f. The outer ZIP must contain only a.exe (18,418,688 bytes). Existing 7z lists, CRC-tests and extracts archives within a shared 60-second deadline, 5,000 members and 256 MiB expanded-size cap. Supported inner archive types are ZIP, 7z, CAB and NSIS; a plain PE or unsupported installer stops with its listing preserved. No installer or extracted EXE is executed.

Retain the package, extracted payload and listings remotely. Recover only compact receipt, inventories, original readme/licence and setup metadata. Review original version/copyright and normal setup/game route before any execution request. Acquisition does not establish authenticity, gameplay, licence acceptance, or authorization to skip the installer. A missing or unsupported inner archive is a terminal acquisition blocker, not permission to execute its self-extractor.

Record remote process exit and postflight active-process state, package and payload hash rechecks and free space. Preserve local free space above 2 GiB; do not download binaries, build locally, use SSH/scp, or publish/register. The initial source checkpoint was not remotely executed; the acquisition results below supersede that checkpoint.

Acquired and inspected, 2026-10-15

Exclusive coordinator grant followed independently reviewed Outlaws release at 14:10:55 UTC. Remote acquisition directory: bx_9ef2wdsw:/home/user/army-men-original-acquisition-20261015. Compact receipts recovered locally to scratch/runs/20261015-army-men-original-acquisition/ (ignored; retain this recipe and the remote assets separately).

The downloaded ZIP matched the published size and SHA-256 exactly. Its single a.exe is 18,418,688 bytes, SHA-256 5b0db6d109d49818ce617cd539451c73273f09a98f8089065b10107790777752. 7z identifies an x86 Windows GUI PE wrapper with an embedded _winzip_ ZIP. The ZIP has 211 entries: 187 files and 24 directories, 43,721,065 file bytes. CRC tests and complete size/path/hash inventory succeeded. The warning about 463 trailing bytes is preserved in inner-listing.txt and the CRC log.

Initial script stopped with unsupported archive type PE at 14:13:29 because it selected the wrapper header. Inspection of the full listing revealed the supported nested ZIP. The corrected parser selects the final archive header and handles 7z's trailing warning-count line. --extract-existing revalidates both pinned package and self-extractor without another download; it requires the payload directory not to exist. Corrected extraction command cmd_i2lo7p6xqy93 exited 0 at 14:15:20.723. Initial command 150884 exited 1; both receipts remain. An earlier transfer quoting failure and missing-script launch executed no acquisition; recovery preserves its diagnostic.

Original ReadMe.txt identifies Army Men(TM) Demo, July 1998, copyright 1998 The 3DO Company. It recommends Boot Camp before missions and includes strategies for Enemy Mines and Ghost Train. License.txt identifies The 3DO Company / Software Product: Army Men Demo and describes a YES-button assent. SETUP.INI names Army Men and enables the language dialog; setup.lid specifies language 0009. These match the intended original demo, not Army Men RTS or the excluded beta lead. They establish package identity, not independent publisher authentication or an internally verified numeric game version. The catalogue's September date differs from the readme's July label and is not asserted as the build date.

The extracted game is payload/ArmymenDemo.exe, 770,560 bytes, SHA-256 dea8303de872789553f3190ad64e80bf3c0528a5d9d3cb18ad85e0c40664078c, PE32 x86, image base 0x400000, entry RVA 458464. Its PE timestamp is 898701614; this is recorded metadata, not a trusted version/date. Installer payload/SETUP.EXE is 59,904 bytes, SHA-256 feb61b7f007c8857ca8ae3a2b9d951bae0a52218cba8896291c14ccc9a77593e. The normal distribution includes InstallShield setup files, CABs and assets. Neither the readme nor acquisition proves a direct-launch installation bypass; installed directory, registry and normal post-install launch remain to be observed. Original setup must be reviewed through its ordinary UI under a separate execution grant, stopping at any licence choice. No answer, silent install, guessed arguments, registration or deployment is authorized here.

Final postflight at 14:15:59.849 UTC verified all 187 payload hashes and unchanged ZIP/self-extractor, no active acquisition/game/browser processes, 42,755,571,712 remote free bytes. The sole remote lane was released to the coordinator. No original executable, browser or build was run.

Remaining gameplay proof

After ordinary setup and any required user licence decision, observe the normal launch and visible menu. The original controls are Numpad 8 forward, 2 backward, 4/6 turn, and Space or left mouse to fire (hold to aim, release to fire except automatic rifle/flamethrower). Follow the readme's Boot Camp recommendation, demonstrate controlled movement and release, then a distinct aim/fire action with reviewed before/after images and input evidence. No menu coordinates or mission command-line options are inferred. An installer, licence screen or title screen is not gameplay completion.

Validation: script syntax, positive and unsafe-path/oversize/duplicate/type parser checks, real nested-listing parse, remote CRC/size checks, full final hash recheck, terminal receipt and idle postflight. No emulator compatibility, FPS, audio or playability claim is made.