Reverse engineering the AirStrike 3D game series

PCGamingWiki - Original Game

My nostalgic journey into reverse engineering AirStrike 3D - the first PC game that captured my imagination as a kid. This repository contains tools and research for understanding the game's internals.

# Extract game assets from encrypted .apk archives
python extract_apk.py pak0.apk        # Extracts all files
python pack_apk.py extracted_dir/ new.apk  # Repack modified assets

python mdl_obj_converter.py some_file.mdl
python mdl_obj_converter.py some_file.obj

python decrypt_save.py decrypt game.bin -o decrypted.bin

# Convert MO3 tracker modules to standard audio
sudo dnf install libopenmpt openmpt123
openmpt123 --render file.mo3 --output file.wav

# Best TGA texture viewer for Linux
# https://github.com/bluescan/tacentview
tacentview texture.tga

# Fix OpenGL extension issues for old games
MESA_EXTENSION_MAX_YEAR=2003 %command%

Add this to the game's launch options in Steam.

• Archive Format: Custom encrypted APK containers (not Android APK)
• Executable: ASProtect v1.0 packed (detected via YARA rules)
• Assets: TGA textures, MDL 3D models, MO3 audio modules
• Encryption: XOR cipher with 1024-byte key table

1. Clone this repository
2. Extract game assets: python extract_pak.py /path/to/pak0.apk
3. Browse extracted files in the created directory
4. Convert audio files as needed

🔒 Since the project uses ASProtect 1.0, I decided on Linux using a simple debugger to just walk until we get some kind of loop. The game seems to unpack itself creating some thread, so even the debugger detaches at some moment in ntdll magic 🪄, so we need just to pause at any moment and get the address of the desired function (loop).

🎯 The next step is using x64dbg with DumpEx plugin—dump with the address of main loop function. And that's all!

📊 Stats:

• 📦 Game weights: 31.2 MB
• 🔍 In Ghidra project I've marked some of the interesting places:
  • 🎮 Loading models
  • 💾 Working with saves
  • 🔧 Core game mechanics

🚀 Usage:

Just clone and open with Ghidra—the project is ready to explore yourself!

Maybe some time someone will reverse it completely 😏 🦀⚡

Educational and preservation purposes only. Respect original copyrights.

MIT - Because knowledge should be free, just like the joy of playing games.

To that old PC that could barely run the game but somehow made it magical anyway.