KKND Decompilation

A work-in-progress matching decompilation of KKND: Krush Kill 'n Destroy (Beam Software / Melbourne House, 1997) for MS-DOS.

The goal is to recover readable C that, when compiled with a period-correct Watcom toolchain, produces a binary byte-identical to the original executable, then a moddable full-source tree.

Item	Value
Platform	MS-DOS, 32-bit protected mode (DOS/4GW Professional, bound)
Target	KKND.EXE (retail CD, build date Feb 16 1997)
Exe SHA-1	024e96860c504b462b24b9237d49bfe8de6eb8e0 (1,062,709 bytes)
Format	MZ stub + DOS/4GW Pro + Linear Executable (LE), 3 objects, 20,192 fixups
Compiler	Watcom C/C++32 (1994 runtime, Watcom 10.x) — matched with Open Watcom wcc386
Flags	-s -of+ -5r -omiler -zm -zp1 (see COMPILER_ANALYSIS.md)
Language	C (48 game modules named by their own __FILE__ strings)
Structure	single LE executable, no overlays
License (project code)	CC0 1.0

You must own the game. This repository contains no executables, levels, sprites, sounds, FMV or any other copyrighted asset. Everything under dumps/ asm/ build/ is regenerated from your own KKND CD and is gitignored.

Status

Phase 0 is complete: the LE image is split per function and relinks byte-identical to the retail executable, and C functions are spliced in and verified individually. Each matched function is verified by the full rebuild still producing build/DOS/KKND.EXE: OK (SHA-1 match) with every relocation resolving to the original target — a scratch match alone is never enough.

Progress by component

Component	Functions	Matched	Progress
Main executable (KKND.EXE)	3713	492	▰▰▰▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱ 13.25%
└ Game code (src/*.c, 48 modules)	2006	489	▰▰▰▰▰▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱ 24.38%
└ Libraries (src/lib/)	1707	3	▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱ 0.18%

Game code is the 48 C modules Beam Software wrote (main.c, units.c, mission.c, enemyai.c, …). Libraries are the statically linked Watcom C runtime, StratosWare MemCheck 3.5, SciTech UniVBE / VBE-AF and the HMI SOS sound driver loader.

Layout

Path	What
src/*.c	decompiled C, one file per original game module (src/lib/ for libraries)
include/	headers
configs/DOS/	function list, unit map, symbol names, compiler flags, target SHA-1
asm/DOS/nonmatchings/	per-function disassembly (generated, gitignored)
tools/	LE/OMF readers, splitter, build + verify, matcher, report, progress
PLAN.md / PROGRESS.md	roadmap and progress tracker
DECOMPILATION_LEARNINGS.md	the matching journal
KKND_NOTES.md	findings about the executable, formats and engine

Quick start

Copy your KKND CD to dumps/disc/ (so that dumps/disc/KKND/KKND.EXE exists). Install Open Watcom 1.9 (or 2.0) and point WATCOM at it. Then:

python -m venv venv                        # venv\Scripts on Windows
pip install -r requirements.txt
python tools/find_functions.py             # -> configs/DOS/functions.csv (committed)
python tools/split.py                      # -> asm/DOS/nonmatchings/*.s
python tools/build_kknd.py                 # expect: build/DOS/KKND.EXE: OK

tools/build_kknd.py compiles src/**/*.c with wcc386, cuts every C function out of its OMF object, requires it to be byte-identical to the original (relocations masked but their targets checked), splices it into the LE image, rewrites the executable and checks the SHA-1.

Contributing a match

1. python tools/score_functions.py ranks the easiest unmatched functions.
2. Read asm/DOS/nonmatchings/<func>.s, write C in a scratch file and iterate with python tools/match.py scratch.c until it prints OK.
3. Replace the function's INCLUDE_ASM in its src/<module>.c with the C. Prefer proper structs over pointer arithmetic.
4. Verify with python tools/build_kknd.py. Only build/DOS/KKND.EXE: OK counts as done.
5. python tools/update_readme_progress.py --sync, then commit. One matched function is one commit.

Credits

KKND was developed by Beam Software and released in 1997 under the Melbourne House label. This project is an unofficial fan effort, not affiliated with or endorsed by the rights holders, and is intended to preserve and study the game. Workflow and project structure follow the Digimon World 2 decomp. KKND data-format notes build on OpenKrush by IceReaper.