Need for Speed Windows demos

Fixtures and launch

nfs2_demo and nfs3_demo are local candidate apps. Fetch with:

node tools/fetch-candidate-corpus.js --id=need-for-speed-2-demo,need-for-speed-3-demo

Sources and archive SHA-1 values are recorded in test/binaries/SOURCES.md and the candidate manifest. Both entries mount the complete extracted tree through .wine-assembly-browser.json. No guest executable patches.

NFS II is the 1997 original software/DirectDraw demo (nfsw.exe), not the Glide-only Special Edition. CLI and cooperative browser runs render its 640x480 main menu. A browser probe also entered a race and applied Up-arrow input: subsequent frames show the race clock advancing, cockpit view, and changed car position. This verifies race entry and input, not a full race.

node tools/profile-web-frames.js --app=nfs2_demo --warmup=2 --seconds=25 '--guest-script=click:130:310@35:0.3,key:13@5:0.3,key:38@15:3' --film=/tmp/nfs2-race:10

The click targets the main menu's RACE option. If startup is slower, wait for that menu before clicking; input during the opening title screen is too early.

node test/run.js --app=nfs2_demo --no-build --quiet-api --quiet-blocks --max-batches=10000 --batch-size=100000 --max-seconds=40 --png=/tmp/nfs2.png

NFS III is the September 1998 final demo (nfs3demo.exe), with Corvette, Rocky Pass, and random race/hot-pursuit/weather selection. It needs install.win; just extracting the archive gives a misleading corrupted-files error. The recipe reproduces the 578-byte file from the original installer: English/local mode, relative asset paths, CRLF, final Ctrl-Z. Re-run --prepare --id=need-for-speed-3-demo to update an existing fixture.

The original installer sequence is root setup.exe (PE bootstrap), Setup/English/Setup.exe (NE InstallShield), then captured C:\windows\temp\_ins0432._mp with _wutl95.dll seeded and arguments -fC:\setup\english\SETUP.INS -z1 -cx -xC:\WINDOWS\TEMP\. Welcome, destination, program folder, and shortcut dialogs lead to the installed tree under C:\Program Files\Electronic Arts\Need for Speed III Demo.

NFS III loads its original software renderer softtria.dll at 0x00b30000. With worker threads and real-time clocks, the CLI renders the car and track. The browser also reaches race startup: the Corvette loading screen at 10s, the starting-grid camera at 21s, and cockpit/race HUD at 31s after launch. These are sampled observations, not minimum loading times. Safari itself has not been verified. The earlier 100-second CLI loading stall used the default batch-driven clock and was not a reliable browser reproduction. Raise the CLI stuck threshold: a startup polling loop at 0x004e5ad0 otherwise triggers the default same-EIP detector after only 11 batches.

node test/run.js --app=nfs3_demo --threads --real-ticks --no-build --quiet-api --quiet-blocks --stuck-after=100000 --max-batches=100000 --max-seconds=40 --batch-size=10000 --png=/tmp/nfs3.png

Compatibility fixes

The browser worker loop must finish pending thread instantiation before starting its next main-thread slice and publishing that slice's clock. Previously main resumed concurrently with asynchronous worker initialization. NFS II could start its timer-readiness deadline before the timer worker existed, then abort with getcpuspeed - INITTIMER REQUIRED TO DETERMINE CLOCK RATE. The check at 0x00483232 waits for the counter at 0x0051e11c to advance, then tears the timer down at 0x0048325b if the deadline expires. The startup barrier keeps actual execution concurrent once workers exist; neither demo disables threads. A deferred-start regression in test-host-raf-present.js fails without the barrier and passes with it. Browser worker runs then reach NFS II's main menu (first sampled at 10s in one run). test-worker-thread-scheduler.js passes all 50 checks, and the browser DirectDraw presentation/vblank tests pass.

Use --real-ticks for these timing investigations: the CLI's default 200ms per batch can expire the timer initialization check before a worker runs.

NFS II needs WaitForMultipleObjectsEx. It now delegates the non-alertable wait to the existing multiple-object handler while preserving its 24-byte stdcall cleanup and APC/wait-resume behavior. Covered in test-read-file-ex.js. Its worker wrapper at 0x004856e0 calls the thread function then returns through the thread sentinel; EIP-zero termination there is not a main-thread crash.

NFS III queries actual VERSION string data. VerQueryValueA/W now traverses the resource tree instead of returning the old fixed product-name string for every key. Tests cover language tables, translations, root pointers, missing keys, malformed children, case-insensitive keys, wide strings, and unchanged input bytes. The Win16 synthesized GDI version translation trailer is handled in its wrapper, preserving test-win16-version.js behavior.

Validation: full build, test-file-version-info.js, test-read-file-ex.js, test-static-dx-version.js, and test-win16-version.js pass. The broad app registry check has unrelated missing Baldur's Gate/Snood fixtures in this shared checkout.