## F-15 Strike Eagle II Reverse-Engineering Project — "The Airforce Needs YOU!" ### What Happened (June 20, 2026) On June 20, 2026, the author ("neuviemeporte") published a post titled **"The airforce needs YOU!"** calling for community "test pilots" to help QA a reconstructed C source code for Microprose's 1989 MS-DOS game *F-15 Strike Eagle II*. The project has reached **release v0.9.1** — a near-complete, drop-in replacement for the original game executables (version 451.03 with Desert Storm expansion). The author is asking anyone with DOS/DOSBox and a copy of the original game to replace the executables and play through all three game stages (briefing, flight, debriefing), reporting crashes, graphical glitches, or non-working keys. ### What Changed (Rapid Progress Since Early 2025) The call for testers marks an inflection point after years of incremental work: | Milestone | Date | Key Achievement | |---|---|---| | Project starts | Dec 2022 | Initial binary analysis of F-15 SE2 | | First playable reconstruction (START.EXE) | Jan 9, 2025 | First executable reconstructed, compiled with MS C v5.1, plays through pilot select, mission gen, and into flight | | Leaked Fleet Defender source studied | Feb 27, 2025 | Ex-Microprose F-14 Fleet Defender source (pre-release, leaked from 1990s BBS era) studied for cross-referencing — shared codebase lineage from F-19 → F-15 SE2 → F-117 → Fleet Defender | | Progress on EGAME.EXE | Apr 7, 2025 | Flight engine executable reconstruction underway | | All C code reconstructed, all data moved to C, most assembly replaced | Jun 6, 2026 | "Alive and kicking" — the core flight engine and other executables now work | | **Call for test pilots** | **Jun 20, 2026** | **All executables reconstructed; v0.9.1 released for community testing; repo to be forked for a future porting project** | The most dramatic leap: in roughly one month (May–June 2026), the project went from "several more years of rewriting assembly to C" to **all executables fully reconstructed**, with meaningful variable names, C replacements for most assembly routines, and a working game. ### Why It Matters 1. **Preservation of gaming history.** F-15 Strike Eagle II (1989/1991) is a landmark DOS flight sim by Microprose/Sid Meier. This project reconstructs a *clean*, *compilable* C source code from 35-year-old binaries — not just a disassembly, but source that compiles to byte-identical output with the original MS C v5.1 compiler. 2. **It's not a port or hack — it's faithful reconstruction.** The project uses a custom `mzdiff` tool to verify that the reconstructed executables produce identical CPU instructions to the originals. This is a "bug-for-bug" reconstruction, preserving original behavior including known bugs. 3. **The codebase lineage is significant.** The author's research (aided by ex-Microprose employees and the leaked Fleet Defender source) suggests a shared codebase spanning F-19 Stealth Fighter (1988) through Fleet Defender (1994). This reconstruction likely illuminates code shared across multiple classic Microprose titles. 4. **A fork for modern porting is coming.** The author explicitly states that once reconstruction is verified stable, a *separate* repo will fork off for porting to modern OSes and potential bugfixes/enhancements. This is the preservation-first, port-later approach. 5. **Community QA is the final bottleneck.** The tooling catches opcode-level mismatches but not data layout bugs or gameplay-level glitches. Only real playtesting in DOSBox with the original game assets can surface these. ### Strongest Sources | Source | URL | Why It's Strong | |---|---|---| | **"The airforce needs YOU!"** (primary announcement) | [neuviemeporte.github.io/…/needyou.html](https://neuviemeporte.github.io/f15-se2/2026/06/20/needyou.html) | The author's own call for test pilots, with specific instructions and context | | **GitHub repository** | [github.com/neuviemeporte/f15se2-re](https://github.com/neuviemeporte/f15se2-re) | 643 commits, 77 stars, 6 forks; full README with status of every executable, build instructions, and verification methodology | | **"Alive and kicking"** (Jun 6, 2026) | [neuviemeporte.github.io/…/alive.html](https://neuviemeporte.github.io/f15-se2/2026/06/06/alive.html) | Documents the rapid final push: all data moved to C, assembly replaced, variables named | | **"The first reconstructed executable is playable!"** (Jan 9, 2025) | [neuviemeporte.github.io/…/start-runs.html](https://neuviemeporte.github.io/f15-se2/2025/01/09/start-runs.html) | Documents the first major milestone and the technical challenges of mzdiff, immediate value mismatches, and memory corruption bugs | | **"The F14-sized elephant in the room"** (Feb 27, 2025) | [neuviemeporte.github.io/…/elephant.html](https://neuviemeporte.github.io/f15-se2/2025/02/27/elephant.html) | Explains the Fleet Defender source leak, the Microprose codebase lineage (F-19 → F-15 II → F-117 → Fleet Defender), and the ethical framework for studying it | | **Reddit discussions** (r/retrogamedev, r/programming, r/REGames) | Multiple subreddits | Community reception and cross-posting of the project series |