Tachyon: The Fringe (demo)

NovaLogic, 2000 (copyright screen says 1999). Space combat, first five single-player missions. Candidate tachyon-demo, app tachyon_demo, local only.

Source and layout

• archive.org TachyonTheFringe, TachyonDemo.zip (61,461,980 bytes, sha1 6a51db79d5d29c0e6f036b9dd29c2ddfd0a42e70). An InstallShield 5 package; tools/is5-extract.js unpacks DATA1.CAB (14 files, 92 MB) to installed/tachyon (guest c:\tachyon).
• LICENSE.TXT (NovaLogic): personal use of one copy, no reproduction or transfer without written permission. So localOnly, never deployed.
• Front.exe is the setup front end (Play / Video Setup / Control Setup / Update); Front.cfg says it runs tachyon.exe and writes tachyon.cfg. The registry launches Tachyon.exe directly.
• Data: Space.pff (68 MB), Menubgs.sbf, Exile.sbf. Renderers: Hw_d3d.dll (Direct3D, loads at 0x6e8000 relocated from 0x10000000) and Hw_3dfx.dll (Glide 2, wants glide2x.dll).

Renderer configuration

tachyon.cfg [VIDEO], read by the game itself with _lopen/ReadFile (not the profile API, so startupIni cannot change it):

• USE_HARDWARE=0 (shipped): software renderer, no hw DLL.
• USE_HARDWARE=1, HW_TYPE=0: hw_d3d.dll (IDirectDraw4 + IDirect3D3).
• USE_HARDWARE=1, HW_TYPE=1: hw_3dfx.dll -> glide2x.dll.
• RES=1 (shipped): under D3D the game sets 640x480x16, then 800x600x32 on a second DirectDraw interface, but its menu still draws into 640x480 buffers. Our input then scales the page's 640x480 canvas to 800x600 (a click at 320,226 arrives as WM_MOUSEMOVE 400,282) and every menu click misses (d3d-res1-800x600-click-miss-b1899.png). Not fixed; open question whether the canvas should follow the second mode.
• RES=0: stays 640x480 and clicks land.

The registry mounts Tachyon.cfg with iniSet USE_HARDWARE=1, HW_TYPE=0, RES=0. That needed dbc778344: a registry file now replaces the generated local manifest's file at the same guest path.

Fixes it needed

• dd75c48d3: IDirectDrawSurface::GetDDInterface returned the v1 IDirectDraw. hw_d3d.dll creates its chain on IDirectDraw4, asks the back buffer for its DirectDraw (RVA 0x3a7e area) and calls slot 27 (GetDeviceIdentifier, vendor compared with 0x12d2); on the v1 table it hit something else and the game posted WM_CLOSE at batch 6.

Input

• Menus are WM_MOUSE* driven (DirectInput is created only to enumerate joysticks, then released).
• The pilot-name field reads WM_KEYDOWN together with WM_CHAR: CLI keydown alone or keypress alone types nothing; keydown + keypress
  • keyup per letter works (only one of three fast letters stuck; a name of one letter enables Play). A real keyboard sends all three.
• Flight keys (readme keychart): arrows pitch/yaw, Space fire, Tab afterburner, Backspace full throttle, 0 zero throttle, +/- throttle, comma/period roll, 1/2 weapons, ? in-game key chart, Esc exit.

Route (headless, --batch-size=100000, D3D registry config)

Guest 640x480 coordinates.

The right-hand console (470,300) opens the news terminal.

Evidence: scratch/runs/20261011T2025Z-tachyon-demo-claude1863.