PC
  • The competition machine has a Core i5-661 CPU (3.33 GHz, 2 cores / 4 hardware threads), 2GB of DDR3-1333 memory, and a NVidia Geforce GTX 280 or better GPU.
  • The machine will be running Windows 7 Professional (32 bit) with the August 2009 DirectX runtime. We will use then-current drivers for the graphics card. We will not install any drivers or virtual machines to provide or improve DOS compatibility.
  • No Linux entries. We had very few Linux entries when we accepted them, and since we usually get brand-new compo machines, there are usually no stable drivers available. We don't have time on the party to tweak around with experimental software, and since we can't guarantee smooth operation, we don't support it.
  • Java/.NET entries are allowed in the Demo compo, but not in the intro compos. (Please contact us in advance if you plan to submit such a demo)
  • You will have to state which graphics hardware your demo/intro is compatible to on the submission form ("Compatibility Chart"). Please do so truthfully.
  • Supported resolutions are 640x480 (4:3), 1024x768 (4:3), 1280x720 (16:9) and 1920x1080 (16:9) pixels at 60 Hz. We won't have a video mixer or competition video recording this time, so any other resolutions or refresh rates will require manual adjustment of the projector while the demo is running. You have been warned.
  • All entries will be shown using aspect-ratio preserving stretch; that is, 4:3 and 16:10 video modes will be letterboxed (with a black border at the left and right sides), while 16:9 images get to use the full area of the big screen. We will not stretch 4:3 demos horizontally to fill the whole screen. Most importantly, do not set a 4:3 video mode then perform letterboxing yourself (it will needlessly cause your entry to be shown smaller than it needs to be).
  • Pressing either ESC or Alt-F4 has to end the demo instantly.
  • The entry has to be delivered as single .zip or .rar file.
  • If your demo has a configuration dialog, either provide sensible defaults for the compo or specify the settings you want used on your submission form (we don't have the time to try out multiple configurations for each production).
  • DirectX (August 2009) runtime is available here (web installer) and here (full download) (contains, among other things, d3dx9_24.dll to d3dx9_42.dll).
  • The "Media" and "Music samples" directories will be deleted. The contents of these directories change from version to version, and depending on their contents is every bit as fragile as import by ordinal is.
  • If you have no experience on how to make demos look good on the bigscreen, we strongly suggest reading this article by kb/farbrausch.
  • Please consider making the demo's target resolution and aspect ratio selectable. Widescreen displays with 16:10 aspect ratio and HDTV screens with 16:9 aspect ratio are increasingly common - your demo should support this properly if possible (this is in addition to the guidelines above; we ensure that video modes will get displayed with proper aspect ratio, but most displays don't). In case you would code a resolution selector if only you weren't so damn lazy (sheesh!), Gargaj has written some code that kills your excuse. Though it only does resolution and leaves the aspect ratio stuff to you as homework, because apparently Gargaj is damn lazy too.

If you have questions or suggestions about these rules, contact the organizers at .

demo
  • Maximum size is 128MB (134.217.728 bytes) after unzipping/unraring of the demo archive for ALL files, including readmes etc. (Of course you can still have compressed data files with whatever algorithm you prefer).
  • Maximum running time: 8 minutes (including loading/precalc).
  • You may assume d3dx9_24.dll to d3dx9_42.dll are installed.
  • Java/.NET entries are allowed (if you're planning to submit a .NET demo, please contact us in advance at so we can install the correct .NET runtime version on the compo machines).
64k intro
  • Maximum size is 65536 bytes for the executable. All other files in the archive will be deleted before showing the entry in the competition.
  • Maximum running time: 8 minutes (including loading/precalc).
  • Please note that neither msvcr70.dll, msvcr71.dll nor msvcr80.dll will be available on the compo machine!
  • You may assume d3dx9_24.dll to d3dx9_42.dll are installed.
  • You may not use the contents of the Windows "Media" or "Music Samples" directories. These directories will be deleted on the compo machine.
  • Java/.NET entries are not allowed.
4k intro
  • Maximum size is 4096 bytes for the executable. All other files in the archive will be deleted before showing the entry in the competition.
  • Maximum running time: 8 minutes (including loading/precalc).
  • For the sake of getting more compatible entries this year, import by ordinal for DLLs with non-fixed ordinals is forbidden (don't even think about directly jumping into DLLs with hardcoded offsets!). Please use alternative, more compatible techniques like muhmacs import by hash to save on executable size. Thanks to peci, we have some import by hash source code available for anyone who is not familiar with the technique. Or just use a 4k packer like Crinkler, which does this automatically.
  • It is okay to deliver bigger versions of the 4k along with the compo version (which must be <=4096 bytes) in the same archive. We will not show the bigger version in the compo. If your packer doesn't work on the compo machine, it's your problem. We will be able to provide you with details about the compo machine, though.
  • Please note that neither msvcr70.dll, msvcr71.dll nor msvcr80.dll will be available on the compo machine!
  • You may assume d3dx9_24.dll to d3dx9_42.dll are installed.
  • You may not use the contents of the Windows "Media" or "Music Samples" directories. These directories will be deleted on the compo machine (in similar spirit to the "no import by ordinal" rule).
  • Java/.NET entries are not allowed.

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