Syndicate Wars Port: How to port a DOS game to modern systems

Presented at REcon 2010, July 9, 2010, 3:30 p.m. (60 minutes).

During the presentation we will introduce the Syndicate Wars Port (http://swars.vexillium.org/), and discuss in detail how we ported the game to modern operating systems. In particular, we will focus on the following: 1. The methods and infrastructure for disassembling LE files into a recompilable form using a custom disassembler, 2. Locating and replacing DOS-specific functions with portable equivalents for graphics, sound and I/O, and automating the process of combining incompatible calling conventions, 3. The many different interesting bugs and platform quirks that appeared during the time we sent on this project.

Presenters:

  • Gynvael Coldwind
    Gynvael Coldwind is a researcher, specializing in reverse engineering, vulnerability research, penetration testing and tool programming. Currently working with Hispasec, previously created static unpackers for an anti-virus company. http://gynvael.coldwind.pl/
  • Unavowed
    Unavowed is a hobbyist programmer who likes to spend free time time on interesting Free Software projects.

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