Dethkarz demo (Beam Software / Melbourne House, Infogrames 1998, Direct3D)

App id dethkarz_demo, candidate dethkarz-demo (registered 2026-10-11, w5). Evidence: scratch/runs/20261011T0750Z-dethkarz_demo-race-w5/.

Source and licence

• archive.org item DETHKARZ, DETHKARZ.zip: 17,402,067 bytes, SHA-1 b43457dfe3d18a25822c5048b735d4570ea476ac.
• The zip holds an InstallShield 5 setup. unshield extracts three groups:
  • "Dethkarz Main Files": Dethkarz.exe, IFORCE2.DLL, the .ifr force profiles and Device Libraries\;
  • "Data";
  • "GOB File": Dethkarz.zip, the game archive (GOB).
• No licence grant. City Demo Readme.txt gives only the story and controls. The exe and setup state no redistribution terms. The candidate is localOnly.

Layout the game needs

• Install Path. HKLM\Software\Melbourne House\Dethkarz must hold Install Path. The game opens <drive>:\Data\Dethkarz.zip from it.
  • Unset, it fails with Failed to load GOB @:\Data\Dethkarz.zip.
  • The registration writes C:\Dethkarz, and the GOB goes in installed/dethkarz/Data.
• Renderer DLLs. Renderers are found with FindFirstFileA(".\Device Libraries\*.dll").
  • The folder name has a space. unshield writes it as Device_Libraries, so the candidate copies it back as Device Libraries.
  • With only Device_Libraries, the game fails with MessageBox 002 - No valid graphics drivers were found.
  • The folder holds Vertigo Direct3D.dll and Vertigo 3Dfx (Glide 2).dll.

Startup driver dialog

• DialogBoxIndirectParamA (DlgProc 0x402be0) offers "3Dfx Voodoo Native Driver" first and "Microsoft Direct3D Hardware Driver" second.

  • Picking Direct3D shows a "Direct3D Device" combo: Primary Display Driver.
  • The mode is 640x480x16.

• Glide is the default, and it dies. OK on the default crashes in _grTexDetailControl@16 (unimplemented in 09a8h-glide.wat), called with tmu 0, lodBias 4, detailScale 6 and detailMax 1.0.

  • Detail-texture combine factors are an explicit backend limitation there.
  • Pick Direct3D. In the browser, that means choosing it in the dropdown.

• Main wndproc 0x49e0c0. Its WM_SIZE arm (around 0x49e1d8) maps wParam onto ShowWindow:

  • SIZE_RESTORED → SW_RESTORE;
  • SIZE_MINIMIZED → SW_MINIMIZE;
  • SIZE_MAXIMIZED → SW_SHOWMAXIMIZED.

  It then calls InvalidateRect and UpdateWindow.

  • Before this registration, our ShowWindow(SW_SHOWMAXIMIZED) on an already-maximized main window re-posted WM_MOVE/WM_SIZE (and an extra WM_SHOWWINDOW). That made an endless loop.
  • The post queue drains before host input, so the modal dialog never saw another click. The dropdown opened but no item could be picked (before-fix-dropdown-stuck.png).
  • Fixed in $handle_ShowWindow: WM_SHOWWINDOW is sent only on a visibility change, and an already-visible zoomed window gets no resize pair.

Headless route (CLI, --batch-size=200000)

1. Pick Direct3D with mouse down and up:
   • combo arrow at (494,198), batches 300/303;
   • "Microsoft Direct3D" item at (300,236), batches 320/323;
   • OK at (243,288), batches 340/343.
2. Title "PRESS ENTER" by batch 1000. Send Enter (keydown plus di-keydown:13) at batches 1000, 1150, 1300, 1450, 1600 and 1750:
   • Game Select → Arcade;
   • Car Select (Hyperon Alpha "Arrow"; Begin Race);
   • Metro City (Medium) loading;
   • grid.
3. Camera flyby until "GO" at about batch 3200.
4. Up (di-keydown:38 plus keydown) held from before GO does nothing. Release it and press it again after GO (batches 3240/3250).
   • The car reaches 111 km/h in gear 2 by batch 3400.
   • It reaches 219 km/h in gear 3 and position 19/20 by batch 3700.

Route script: route.sh in the evidence folder. With threads off the run is about 36 s of wall time for 3900 batches.

Phone route (WebKit, iPhone 15 landscape, Threads on)

• The driver dialog is drawn zoomed to the phone width. Real taps work on it: the combo arrow, then "Microsoft Direct3D Hardware Driver", then OK.
• The menus read Enter through GetDeviceState, not through messages. An overlay Enter whose keydown and keyup came in one JS turn was never seen; 6d595095a holds every overlay key for at least 100 ms.
• The overlay's Esc/Enter (top left) sit under the "swipe up here for more screen" gutter until Safari's bars collapse (MOBILE-GUTTER-COVERS-TL-CONTROLS).
• Race: Gas held 113 km/h, stick steers, Brake, Esc pauses. Evidence: scratch/runs/20261011T1330Z-dethkarz_demo-mobile-webkit-w5.

Open

• Glide path: grTexDetailControl and the detail combine factor.
• Firing (Ctrl, readme "Shift fires") is not confirmed in the captures.
• ole32.dll is reported as "loaded as a real PE but is not on disk" on a fresh checkout. That is harmless here.