Forsaken demo (Acclaim/Probe, 1998, Direct3D 5)

App id forsaken_demo, candidate forsaken-demo (registered 2026-10-11, w5).

Source and licence

• archive.org item FORSAKEN_201610, FORSAKEN.zip: 42,762,069 bytes, SHA-1 2b8083248a8772710a0ae446e3442ca2b1ac5aab.
• The zip is the CD's installer: InstallShield 3 (SETUP.EXE, _INST32I.EX_) with the game in DATA.Z (37 MB), plus DIRECTX5/ redistributables and CHKINST.EXE/INSTALL.BAT.
• No licence text anywhere. readme.txt (revised 1.27.98), readme.rtf, release.txt ("Forsaken Shareware Demo, Version 1.0") and the exe's strings carry no EULA or redistribution terms. Without an explicit grant the candidate is localOnly.

Layout

tools/is3-extract.js unpacks DATA.Z (873 files). The fetch tool's is3Extract post-extract step runs it. 7z and unshield both refuse this format. The extracted root holds ForsakenDemo.exe (3.7 MB), a3d.dll, biodome.dmo, forsaken.scg, data/ (levels volcano, subway) and opt/. The installer's default path is C:\Program Files\Acclaim\Forsaken Demo. The game also runs from C:\, which is how the manifest mounts it. Static imports are system DLLs only: DDRAW, DINPUT, DPLAYX, WINMM, WSOCK32, AVIFIL32/MSVFW32, ole32 and the core four. No registry seeding is needed.

Route (headless, --batch-size=200000)

• Boot: a 3D attract flythrough, then the in-3D menu. The first frames are white before the menu draws.
• Enter at batches 300, 450, 600 and 750 selects Single Player Game, Start (level Volcano), and the level briefing with its loading bar.
• By batch 1050 the player is in the Volcano level, with the HUD showing LIVES 5, SHLD/HULL 128, POWER 1, PULS 2000, MUG 5 and the message "The volcano could erupt any minute, get outta here".
• Ctrl (VK 17) fires the pulsar: two green bolts, and PULS drops to 1998. Up (VK 38) changes the view. 'A' did nothing.

node test/run.js --app=forsaken_demo --no-build --quiet-api --quiet-blocks \
  --batch-size=200000 --max-batches=1260 --stuck-after=100000000 \
  --input=300:keydown:13,301:keyup:13,450:keydown:13,451:keyup:13,600:keydown:13,601:keyup:13,750:keydown:13,751:keyup:13,1050:png:ingame.png,1180:keydown:17,1182:keyup:17,1188:png:fire.png

The bug it found

The level load creates about 300 execute buffers after many other DirectX objects. Our execute-buffer cache table ($D3DIM_EB_CACHE_PTRS) was keyed by DX_OBJECTS slot but held only 512 entries (out of $DX_MAX 8192). Every buffer in a slot of 512 or above got E_OUTOFMEMORY from SetExecuteData. The game reported "Mload : SetExecuteData Failed", then "RenderScene failed". The fix gives the table its own $DX_MAX-sized region, and test/test-d3dim-execute-buffer-slots.js covers it.

Open

• The attract and menu frames look heavily over-exposed (additive blending saturates to white). The in-game frames look right. This has not been compared with real hardware.
• Movement keys beyond Up were not mapped. Forsaken's default controls are in readme.txt §VI.

Evidence: scratch/runs/20261011T0420Z-forsaken_demo-gameplay-w5.