Native platform and startup verification

Reviewed 2026-09-18. This page records what the native Firestaff runtime has actually admitted from authentic player-supplied media. It is deliberately not a compatibility wish-list: a parser, a disassembly reference, or an emulator capture does not by itself prove a public start route.

Terms

Term	Meaning
Playable	Original media reaches ordinary gameplay through a maintained Firestaff runtime route.
Verified start route	Original media is selected, read in memory, and reaches a bounded title/New Game/runtime handoff in both direct CLI and start-menu selection.
Data path	The native media format is recognised, but an end-to-end start has not been proven.
Not released	The original game had no release on that platform; Firestaff must not manufacture one from another port’s files.
Outside target	The platform is not an original-game target in the current matrix.

All entries use original data in its supplied form. ZIP/CUE/disc members are read in memory and are never extracted by the runtime. Development captures may use tools such as a debugger or emulator, but no such program, BIOS or firmware is a Firestaff runtime dependency. A route is downgraded or left bounded when a reported visual, timing or input discrepancy lacks an edition-matched original capture; a green parser or launch test cannot override that rule.

On 2026-08-31 the complete DM1 real-media selection passed all 42 registered routes: archive identity, CLI and start-menu admission, original saves, Atari ST, FM Towns, DOS and Amiga paths, plus source-material gates. A separate real-media CLI/start-menu matrix passed for DM1 and CSB across their available DOS, Atari ST, Amiga and FM Towns media. On 2026-08-31 the CSB selection passed 12 maintained routes: standalone and nested Atari ST media (including the French preservation archive), Amiga ZIP→ADF media, both FM Towns language lanes, and M12→M11 handoff boundaries. The focused native suite also passed all 73 registered DM2 real-media routes across DOS, Amiga, FM Towns and Macintosh media. These are source-owner, launch, selected runtime, save and format receipts; they do not claim un-captured gameplay or pixel parity. Theron’s US CloneCD ZIP and JP Rev 1 CUE routes passed after inclusion in the native label. These are start/menu and bounded-runtime receipts, not a claim that campaign, capture or pixel parity is complete; the remaining evidence gaps below stay open.

The 2026-09-09 revalidation used only supplied, unmodified containers. dm1_v1_fmtowns_archive_cli_boot exercised the Towns TMENU → EDM/JDM handoff, entrance and English/Japanese input matrix. CSB’s native Atari STX, Amiga ZIP→ADF and FM Towns routes passed; the FM Towns check validates the C28 palette, C002/C003 closed-prison composition and MINI.DAT map 4 bootstrap pose. DM2’s real FM Towns title/gameplay/corpus gates, Nexus’s retail TITLE.CG/MAPD admission and startup handoff, and Theron’s Japanese Track 02 and CUE boot gates also passed. This confirms only the named bounded routes; it does not promote unrecorded screens or campaign behaviour to full parity.

A further 2026-09-18 direct-CLI recheck used the same native, in-memory admission paths and reached the bounded boot receipt for DM1 (DOS, Atari ST, Amiga and FM Towns), CSB (Atari ST, Amiga and FM Towns), DM2 (DOS, Amiga and FM Towns), Theron (PC Engine CD), and Nexus (Saturn). Each process exited cleanly. This is start-route evidence only: it does not alter the explicitly open visual, input, save, audio or campaign-parity rows below.

Verification matrix

Game	Atari ST	FM Towns	DOS	Amiga	PC Engine CD	Saturn
Dungeon Master	Verified start route — EN/DE/FR ST/STX variants, direct CLI and menu handoff	Verified start route — JA/EN package, CLI, menu and TMENU/EDM handoff	Playable — PC 3.4 and manually unpacked French media	Verified start route — HD and v2.0 ZIP→ADF in memory, CLI and menu	Outside target	Outside target
Chaos Strikes Back	Verified start route — STX title→FTLCODE, CLI and menu	Verified start route — EN/JP F31 package	Not released	Verified start route — A31E/A31M ZIP→ADF, CLI and menu	Outside target	Outside target
Dungeon Master II: Skullkeep	Not released	Verified start route — authenticated Towns startup/input/CD-audio slices	Verified start route — hash-verified GDAT/G1 startup/runtime	Verified start route — original installer media, title/New Game/runtime	Outside target	Outside target
Theron’s Quest	Outside target	Outside target	Outside target	Outside target	Verified start route — JP and US Track 02 CUE/BIN, CLI and menu	Outside target
Dungeon Master Nexus	Outside target	Outside target	Outside target	Outside target	Outside target	Verified bounded MAPD asset presentation; not playable — five retail CUE/BIN title planes are decoded and rendered in a bounded asset sequence, not as the complete Saturn title/menu. Japanese retail and English-version Ymir cold boots reach the native menu, and the English screenshot replay is pixel-exact. These are emulator references; Firestaff title composition/menu parity, HUD and dungeon remain unverified

ZIP→ADF means nested archives are traversed in memory, not unpacked to disk. CSB’s PC-shaped CSBWin files are reverse-engineering evidence, never evidence of an original DOS edition. Similarly, a Theron PC Engine capture or Nexus Saturn capture never adds an emulator dependency to the released game.

What each verified route proves

The direct CLI and start-menu tests prove the same selected edition reaches the same native admission boundary. They do not imply complete campaign, save, audio or pixel parity.

Game/platform	Source identity and bound handoff	Explicitly still open
DM1 Atari ST	English 1.0a/1.2, German 1.2 and French 1.3 ST/STX archive routes reach the bounded runtime through direct CLI and start-menu selection.	Full campaign and platform presentation parity.
DM1 FM Towns	The supplied JA/EN package reaches `dm1-runtime` through direct CLI and start-menu selection after native TMENU/EDM admission.	Wider executable/CD-audio and capture parity.
DM1 Amiga	The supplied HD and v2.0 preservation ZIP→ZIP→ADF routes reach bounded native runtime through direct CLI and start-menu selection. The Amiga big-endian legacy graphics layout is independent of the authenticated little-endian dungeon records and F0434 checksum. The installed `[HD]` disk enters directly, while the v2.0 floppy set completes SWSH/TITLE/ENTRANCE and reaches its first Hall runtime frame. The v2.0 `dm` executable is examined entirely in memory: it programs OCS COLOR00–COLOR31 through four Copper-list builders rooted at `$00dff180`, not immediate color-register writes. The proved builder receives COLOR00–15 as a caller-owned 16-word RGB4 table (`12(A5)`); COLOR16–31 are read from a distinct global table. The native RGB4 producer now mirrors the original 68000 fade routine: it copies the source table into a working table, adjusts each component by one or two toward the target, and presents exactly eight Copper updates. It accepts only verified original Amiga tables and supplies no fallback colors. The supplied original save disk is read as ZIP→ZIP→ADF in memory and its `DMGAMEG.DAT`/`.BAK` files authenticate the save header, five F0435 encrypted parts, four portraits and the F0434 dungeon checksum. Its authenticated `ZIP→ZIP→ADF→DMGAMEG.DAT` route is also accepted by Continue and direct CLI `--save`, with the original save adopted in memory.	A route-specific gameplay palette/capture that binds the active source and target tables to the composed renderer, plus wider gameplay parity.
DM1 DOS	PC 3.4 reaches native movement through direct CLI and start-menu selection; manually unpacked authentic French `EUDATA` does the same after the RAR2 launcher diagnostic.	Broader original-vs-Firestaff capture parity; Firestaff does not decode RAR2 itself.
CSB Atari ST	The supplied standalone STX plus English and French preservation ZIP→ZIP→STX packages are admitted in memory. A bounded original TOS 1.62 run reaches the `PRISON / RESUME` Entrance from the protected campaign disk. `Utility.stx::MINI.DAT` is admitted as its own source member and `csb_v1_atari_st_animation_assets_real` verifies title pages, source SND1 cue layout, VBlank ordering and FTLCODE handoff without extracting either disk. The Hint Oracle gates read `Utility.stx::HCSB.HTC` in RAM and bind its authored pages to the panel API.	An authenticated campaign/DSA `CSBGAME.DAT` (or source-equivalent original save) is required before claiming an original dungeon, HUD, door, movement or audio capture. Broader campaign and live Hint Oracle click parity remain open.
CSB FM Towns	The supplied EN/JA F31 package selects its language-private program and Utility chain independently. Both language variants admit the original ZIP in RAM, bind the matching `CDATA`/`CJDATA` `MINI.DAT` provenance, load the retail seed state, and decode startup surfaces. The native boot profile retains and admits all 24 original C06 `PORTRAIT/*.CMP` members directly from the ZIP/CD image; the portrait regression decodes their planar pixels from those RAM views and does not use a loose asset cache.	Champion Editor, broader CD-audio and campaign parity.
CSB Amiga	The supplied A31E/A31M ZIP→ADF routes select original program, graphics and dungeon assets and reach `csb-entrance-0` through direct CLI and start-menu selection without unpacking the game disk. The title, dungeon and APPB language-selection regressions now each consume their hash-verified ZIP→ADF member directly in RAM; the dungeon loader accepts the same virtual member path in production as the test boundary. `csb_v1_amiga_runtime_graphics_real` decodes C001–C004 title/entrance, C017/C040 HUD, pits, fields, stairs, wall/floor ornaments and door families from original big-endian DMCSB2 records. `csb_v1_amiga_amg_real_media` reads the five original SND2 effects directly from the utility ADF in RAM and verifies their source sample/trailer layout.	Full campaign, saves, runtime playback and visual parity.
DM2 DOS	The supplied retail ZIP reaches GDAT/G1 loading and native New Game. Its original dungeon data now completes a regression-locked pit, stair, door and active-creature runtime chain directly from the archive in RAM. The full-map DRAW_ITEM and static-object pixel probes also read the archive members directly; the admitted File_header corpus contains no legacy DB5/DB9 static-object roots, so that legacy blit route remains explicitly no-draw rather than using fabricated objects. The read-only `SKSAVE1` WIELD diagnostic derives the hit threshold from the selected map descriptor and party skill records: the inspected `0x140c` → `0x1116` route has map difficulty 8, party power 11 and effective dexterity 21, and correctly remains a miss.	Full renderer/mechanics parity and complete SKSAVE ownership; an authentic input/timing trace is still required before this diagnostic can prove a kill/drop.
DM2 FM Towns	The supplied Japanese disc is admitted in memory and an original emulator trace proves pre-title, FTL, castle title, emulator-directed input and a first-dungeon transition from one media-immutable session. Firestaff’s native title/New Game path is covered separately.	The captured nominal menu checkpoint was still title animation; original menu, loading, HUD, palette/register and audio receipts are still required before visual or audio parity can be claimed or the reported startup defects can be corrected from evidence.
DM2 Amiga	Authentic installer data reaches title, New Game, runtime and the clipped native CHARSHEET frame.	Wider game/save/pixel/audio parity.
Theron PC Engine	JP reaches title, stage, Soul Room and Akutuba; US CloneCD CUE/IMG reaches title and scripted Soul Room startup.	Authentic CD→RAM→consumer transition capture, game-owned level publication, saves and full gameplay.
Nexus Saturn	The authentic Japanese retail package is read from its existing ZIP/CUE/BIN members in memory. `TITLE.BIN` + `TITLE.CG` MAPD planes and their palette are admitted for bounded asset rendering, not the complete Saturn title/menu; Ymir verifies the retail cold-boot-to-title-menu sequence; DM.BIN HUD/champion tables and the full LEV00–LEV15 face/material corpus remain source-owned.	Firestaff title composition/menu parity; menu/face placement, HUD and dungeon require their own same-revision Saturn VDP consumer captures. No fallback presentation is used.

Reproduction and evidence

The status is maintained with the operational matrix and source-locked test receipts, not screenshots. Start with:

The path roots are $HOME/.firestaff/data/dm1, dm2, csb, nexus and theron. No game data, captures, BIOS images or generated artefacts belong in the source repository.