Shipped binaries¶

Every file listed here comes from the two discs, most of it by way of LANCER.CAB. make game reproduces that layout under game/install/. The analysis reads the game executable, with its code readable, from game/decrypted/LANCER.EXE, which the repository does not provide.

All binaries are 32-bit x86 PE images (machine = 0x14C).

The game¶

File	Size	Linker	Image base	Notes
`LANCER.EXE` (loader)	249,119	5.0	`0x400000`	SafeDisc 1 loader, not the game.
`LANCER.ICD`	1,151,021	6.0	`0x400000`	The game, encrypted. Entry point `0x004D1210`.
`LANGUAGE.DLL`	122,951	6.0	`0x10000000`	Localised strings, as a `.rsrc` string table the game reads by ID.
`ITACLANG.DLL`	692,282	-	-	In-flight communication system language resources.

LANCER.ICD carries no symbols, so Ghidra names its functions FUN_<address>. It is built with Visual C++ 6.0 and links the C runtime statically; see runtime.md.

Middleware¶

The game is a thin layer over several late-1990s SDKs. Source paths in the payload's .rdata show the original tree as lancer\game\*.cpp, lancer\interface\loadout and lancer\surrender\surrenderlib.

Library	Files	Role
Surrender	`srddraw.dll`, `srd3d.dll`, `srfastmath.dll`, `srmemory.dll`	3D renderer, with DirectDraw and Direct3D 7 back ends, its own math library and allocator. `srmemory.dll` is the payload's only statically imported middleware. Build paths name `srAPI.cpp`.
WinVFX	`winvfx8.dll`, `winvfx16.dll`, `vfx.dll`, `w32sal.dll`	2D sprite and overlay drawing, in 8-bit and 16-bit variants, plus a system abstraction layer.
Miles Sound System	`mss32.dll`, `MSS*.M3D`, `MP3DEC.ASI`	Audio. The `.m3d` files are selectable 3D providers: EAX, Aureal A3D, RSX, Dolby Surround, DirectSound3D.
Bink	`binkw32.dll`	Video playback for briefings, cutscenes and interface transitions.

DirectDraw, Direct3D, DirectInput and DirectPlay are reached through those libraries or loaded dynamically; only DINPUT.dll is imported statically, for DirectInputCreateEx.

Data files¶

Path	Contents
`CD1.HOG`, `CD2.HOG`, `resource.hog`, `ms_speech/msspeech.hog`, `pilots/pilots.hog`	Asset archives: see `hog.md`.
`shipstats.bin`, `gunstats.bin`, `missilestats.bin`, `pilotstats.bin`	Stat tables: see `stats.md`.
`missions/*.dte`	Missions 18 and 25, installed loose; `resource.hog` holds all 44. See `dte.md`.
`*.ccb`	Colour lookup tables for Surrender (`palette`, `power`, `softpal`).
`Forces/*.FRC`	Force-feedback effects: see `frc.md`.
`interface/.bik`, `inter/`, `.bik`	Bink video: menu transitions, branding, cutscenes.
`music/*.wav`	Music, one file per mission and state.

Protection dependencies¶

SECDRV.SYS is the SafeDisc kernel driver. Windows Vista and later disabled it, and Windows 10 removed it, so the shipped LANCER.EXE cannot start on a current system.