Reference installation: file walkthrough

The normal-game reference is installs/deluxe_dnk, Personal Companion retail 3.42. Other Worlds has its own reference at installs/other_worlds_download.

The initial first-run snapshot had 78 files, totalling 1,085,643 bytes, after its first run. Later playtesting has added/changed runtime state; the decoded current saves are in the resource browser. The original installer produced 73 files: first launch converted fourteen JPEGs to VGA files, moved resources into subdirectories and created five runtime files. All remaining original files are unchanged after accounting for those directory moves. The file inventory records the inspected paths, sizes, hashes, roles and changes from the original extraction.

Programs and the launch sequence

The batch flow is explicit:

MOAG -_-       → menus and preparation
3 -s           → flight/gameplay
MOAG -_- -r    → return to menus and process the result
               → repeat

Exit status exactly 137 from the menu ends the batch loop. Other helper programs are launched from inside the executable code. This is a collection of cooperating DOS programs rather than one executable containing every screen.

Direct launches are possible with the appropriate arguments or graphics context; see the verified commands and launch tests.

Theatre definitions: DEF/

Each normal theatre has a binary world definition and readable tower/briefing text:

The .CCT files contain binary world/object state; their records are fully decoded in the format notes. The .TWR files are ordinary text, including theatre descriptions, mission briefings and starting-coordinate directives such as Sxyth .... These texts already expose quite a lot of the mission design without disassembling the engine.

Cockpit and help graphics: IMG/

The eleven files are 3D.IMG, 3D2.IMG through 3D10.IMG, and 3D13.IMG.

They are compact run-length encoded screen masks used by RIMG.EXE, not floppy images or 3D model files. The helper expands repeated and literal byte runs into EGA video memory. Running it in a private mode-10h DOSBox session draws the cockpit, instruments and view-frame linework. 3D.IMG is the cockpit instrument panel, including the diagonal line already present in the source. The numbered images are help pages, not other cockpits: takeoff, instruments, controls, warnings and on-foot play. See the checked help-screen transcriptions, including the earlier editions' longer wording and first-run welcome page.

VGA artwork and palettes: VGA/

There are 26 image files and three palettes. Most outcome/story illustrations began as JPEG files and were expanded by JVCC.EXE on first launch. Title pieces and sprites were supplied directly as VGA files. These are the game's 2D artwork, not its in-flight polygon models.

The subject mappings above mostly come directly from the image filenames and captions in PICT.DAT and TPICT.DAT. The four less descriptive title filenames are deliberately left with their confirmed title-program role rather than guessed visual subjects.

Presentation, help and font data

Music and sound data

The actual XOR instruction is at MOAG.EXE file offset 0x1b823. The music file types are recognisable standard AdLib formats; the in-flight effects use their separate register-definition system.

Configuration and generated state (initial snapshot)

These five files were created after the original extraction:

The program also refers to transient files such as 3UNIV.DAT and STARTLOC.DAT, and creates PILOT.SCR when needed for named-pilot state. They were absent in that snapshot; later STARTLOC.DAT and pilot/theatre saves have been inspected. The initial inventory is retained as a historical extraction record.

Documentation and the boss screen

The manual also directly identifies the implementation as assembler and C, credits Kevin Stokes and additional programming by George Welch, names the Spontaneous Assembly library, and credits the Independent JPEG Group. Those are contemporary primary-source development clues rather than deductions from executable signatures.