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IP.EXE — EA system-info & tech-support tool

IP.EXE (708 KB) is not a TCP/IP network transport — the epic's original assumption. Its imports (DDRAW, DSOUND, MAPI32, comdlg32, WINSPOOL; no winsock), its AfxWinMain entry, and its strings identify it as an MFC application that profiles the machine and faxes / e-mails a system-configuration report to EA Tech Support (support@ea.com, Fax to: (650) 286-5080). It is FA/EA-authored app logic wrapped around the statically-linked Microsoft MFC framework — a bundled support utility, not game-engine or networking code.

Provenance: Ghidra static analysis of IP.EXE (imported into the fa-re project, auto-analysed; no export table, no .SMS — named from strings / imports / RTTI / call structure). Boundary-documented (#254): the identifiable FA/EA app-logic surface is named; the bulk (statically-linked MFC/CRT framework and un-analysed tool internals) is waived as third-party, the same license treatment as WAIL32 (Miles) and the comms suite. Confidence markers follow spec-authoring.md.

What it actually does

Run from the game's support/setup path, IP.EXE gathers a machine profile and sends it to EA:

  • CD-ROM benchmark — times the CD-ROM drive ("Benchmarking CD-ROM Drive…", Single/Double/ Quad-Speed, "Data Transfer Rate: %d KB/s").
  • Hardware & OS detection — loads hdd.dll / cd.dll, shells sysdm.cpl, and reads CPU (vendor/MMX/count), video card + memory + supported modes, sound, modem(s), RAM, Windows version, BIOS.
  • Network config report — DirectPlay version, Winsock description, IP address, subnet mask, default gateway, RAS connections. These are diagnostics reported to support, not a transport — the actual multiplayer transport is DirectPlay (external) and the in-the game executable SPX/IPX/UDP path (see network.md).
  • Report + submit — BuildSupportReport assembles a [CPU]/[VIDEO]/[SOUND]/[MODEM] config file and sends it to EA Tech Support by fax or MAPI e-mail.

IP.EXE: an MFC tool that profiles the machine (CD-ROM benchmark, hardware detection, network config) and faxes/e-mails a system-config report to EA tech support.

Functions

The identifiable EA app-logic entry points (VAs from the symbol DB):

VA Function Role
0x004019B0 CDROMBenchmark CD-ROM speed / transfer-rate benchmark
0x00403FE0 LaunchSystemProperties ShellExecute of sysdm.cpl (System control panel)
0x00404061 LoadDetectionDlls LoadLibrary of hdd.dll + cd.dll (hardware-detection helpers)
0x0040DC60 BuildSupportReport build the system-config report and fax / e-mail it to EA support
0x00436EF0 WinMain MFC AfxWinMain wrapper (Ghidra FID)

Open Questions

1. Full reconstruction — mostly third-party MFC framework

IP.EXE has 1,805 functions: ~860 Ghidra-FID-matched (statically-linked MFC / MSVC CRT) and the rest un-analysed. Because it is an MFC app, the large majority are Microsoft MFC framework (third-party, statically linked — the same category as WAIL32's CRT and the MS redistributables), with the FA/EA-authored part limited to the diagnostics logic named above. A full 100 % naming pass is low-value (a bundled support utility, mostly third-party framework), so the FA/EA app-logic surface is named and the framework is waived at the boundary.

Status: resolved — boundary-documented (FA/EA app logic named; MFC/CRT framework waived as third-party).

  • network.md — the game executable's actual multiplayer transport (SPX/IPX/UDP + DirectPlay).
  • reconstruction.md — the program this binary belongs to.
  • wail32.md — the other companion binary; same third-party-framework boundary pattern.