MC — Mission Condition Script (.MC)¶

FA_2.LIB contains 21 .MC files. Each implements the runtime condition checks for a specific mission event — trigger conditions, completion logic, and failure detection. Each is a Win32 PE DLL loaded at runtime; all observed files decompress to 4608 bytes.

Tools¶

fx¶

fx mc info    <file.MC>              # container check + CODE section geometry
fx mc strings <file.MC> [-n MIN]     # embedded strings (incl. API imports)

Same MZ + Phar Lap PL container family as CAM; all 21 shipped files validate. (The plain-text .mc_M campaign scripts described below are a separate mechanism, not covered by this codec.)

File Layout¶

All multi-byte integers are little-endian.

Win32 PE DLL. String analysis of all .MC files reveals the mission condition API imported from the game executable:

Import	Description
`@OBJAlias@8`	Look up a game object by its alias ID
`@OBJGet@4`	Get a game object by index (EXTRA01.MC)
`_Dist@8`	Compute distance between two objects
`_MISSIONSuccess@0`	Trigger mission success outcome
`_MSGSendChatter@24`	Send a radio chatter message to the player
`_OnTheGround@0`	Test whether an object is on the ground
`_PopCurObj@0`	Pop the current object from the evaluation stack
`_PushCurObj@4`	Push an object onto the evaluation stack
`_currentTime`	Global: current game time in ticks
`_playerId`	Global: the player's object ID

These are physics/world-state query functions — the .MC DLL polls game state each tick to detect mission trigger conditions (e.g. player landed, target destroyed, distance threshold crossed).

Condition Function Protocol — confirmed¶

AnalyzeMCDLL.java confirmed the condition function for U34.MC (representative of all single-condition MC DLLs). The exported entry is at PE code offset 0x1000.

Function signature:

short FUN_00001000(short param_1, undefined4 param_2, undefined4 param_3, short *param_4);

Command encoding via *param_4:

`*param_4`	Behavior
`0x20` (32)	Pass-through: return `param_1` unchanged (query current state)
`0x00`	Evaluate condition: if `DAT_00001212 != 0` AND `DAT_00001211 == 0`, return `DAT_00001212`; else return 0

Data section layout (PE offsets): - DAT_00001211 (offset 0x1211): alive/active inhibit flag — condition fires only when this is zero - DAT_00001212 (offset 0x1212): target status byte — the success code returned when the condition triggers

The game executable writes these bytes to track the mission state for the DLL. When *param_4 = 0x00, if the target is destroyed (DAT_00001212 != 0) and not still alive (DAT_00001211 == 0), the MC DLL returns the success code and The game executable calls _MISSIONSuccess@0 to end the mission.

The .idata string scan confirmed _MISSIONSuccess at offset 0x207F and _OBJAlias at offset 0x2065.

Campaign Condition Text Files (.mc_M, .mc_nato_M)¶

These are distinct from the .MC PE DLL files above. The campaign engine (FUN_00428412) loads campaign-wide condition scripts as plain-text files with suffix .mc_M (standard campaign) or .mc_nato_M (NATO campaign variant). Loaded via CallMissionProc → MISSIONTextProc (text parser using FUN_00483c90 as tokenizer + __strlwr).

Confirmed keywords parsed by MISSIONTextProc:

Keyword	Effect
`textformat`	Sets file format version/type flag
`briefmap`	Sets `doBriefMap = 1` (briefing map active)
`selectplane`	Sets `doSelectPlane = 1` (plane selection screen)
`armplane`	Sets `doArmPlane = 1` (arming screen)
`layer`	Reads layer name and integer parameter
(startup coords)	Reads 3 fixed-point world-space coordinates (× 256)

These files are stored in the LIB archive with .mc_M / .mc_nato_M suffixes, not .MC. They are text keyword files, not Win32 PE DLLs.

File Inventory¶

All 21 filenames:

CATFAIL.MC, EXTRA01.MC, FOO.MC, K16.MC, K17.MC, TRAIN01.MC, U01.MC, U07.MC, U08.MC, U11.MC, U12.MC, U15.MC, U22.MC, U23.MC, U24.MC, U25.MC, U29.MC, U34.MC, UKR01.MC, UKR02.MC, VIET03.MC

U*.MC — Ukraine campaign mission conditions (not all 50 missions have a dedicated .MC; only those with non-trivial trigger logic)
K*.MC — Kurile campaign missions
VIET03.MC — Vietnam campaign mission 3
CATFAIL.MC — carrier takeoff failure condition
TRAIN01.MC — training mission condition
UKR01.MC, UKR02.MC — Ukraine campaign-level events
EXTRA01.MC — generic bonus-mission condition gate (uses @OBJAlias@8, @OBJGet@4, _MISSIONSuccess@0; no debug strings). Used by all EXTRA01.M–EXTRA20.M standalone bonus missions and BEXTRA01.M–BEXTRA13.M Baltic bonus missions via the code extra01 directive in each .M file.
FOO.MC — developer timing test: embeds debug string "The time is now >= 10 seconds!", uses _currentTime and _MSGSendChatter@24 with RADIOBP.5K audio; name is a classic programmer placeholder

Engine Notes¶

Dispatch Chain — confirmed¶

The full MC dispatch chain from game entry:

?usnfmain@@YAXXZ (0x403700)          -- main loop
FUN_00428412 (0x428412)              -- campaign/mission loader
  └─ _CallMissionProc_8 (0x481940)   -- central DLL dispatcher
       ├─ _MISSIONInit2_0 (0x480b50) -- post-load init; assigns _eventFilterProc
       ├─ _MISSIONTextProc@16 (0x481c10)   -- re-entry: text condition parse
       └─ _MISSIONCheckSuccess@0 (0x486860) -- re-entry: success test

_MISSIONInit2_0 (0x480b50) iterates all _objPtrs, calls _MAPSetSide_4, _OBJFindHumans_0, _OBJAliasAll_12, _OBJAliasForMulti_0, _TIMEInit_12, _G_SetScaleMax_8, then loads the mission DLL via _RMAccess_8(&_missionDLLName__3PADA, 0x8000), storing the result in _eventFilterProc.

Confirmed condition keyword consumers:

Keyword	Consumer functions
`DESTROY`	`FUN_0043a5c0`, `FUN_00431ab0`, `FUN_0044fe10`
`FAIL`	`FUN_004a2a41`
`tmap`	`_MISSIONTextProc@16` (string at `0x4fc228`); `FUN_00495e80` (`.MC` handler at `0x495e80`, string at `0x5010f4`)

The cond keyword does not appear as a handled keyword in _MISSIONTextProc@16 — exhaustive read of the ~1,500-line decompile (DumpAllFunctions.txt lines 101716–103259) found no "cond" string comparison or dispatch branch. cond is absent from FA's condition parser; it may be a keyword from a different Jane's title or an unreachable dead branch stripped from this build.

Formats: CAM — campaign engine that loads .MC files to evaluate mission state; M — .M mission files whose code directive selects the .MC to load.