Back to the battlefield.

New Mac and Windows test builds also run the full DOS version of Z: all 20 missions on five planets, installed straight from the original CD.

• Point Zeta at an installed full game or at the original CD, as a folder or an .iso/.cue image. It unpacks the CD once and plays the cutscenes from it.
• The full main menu works: New Game runs the campaign mission by mission, Save and Load keep a game, Replay Level reopens missions you have reached, and High Score keeps its table.
• The full game's vehicles, guns and units behave as in the CD build: A.P.C.s carry squads, cranes rebuild ruins and bridges, Pyros and Lasers fire their own weapons, and every planet has its own effects, animals and birds.
• Multi Player connects to a built-in server for two to four players. In its lobby you create a game or join one, everyone gets ready, and the player who created it starts the battle. A player who drops out can rejoin, and any player can pause the match.
• The radar, the unit portraits with their backgrounds and the name plates follow the original's layout. The Windows build has still not been tested on Windows.

A side project: small neural networks learned to play the demo mission by playing it, and a video shows a full match between two of them with their decisions explained.

• Every two seconds each squad scores 17 options (keep its order, move to a territory, attack a nearby enemy group) with a 7,809-weight network and draws one; the pick becomes an ordinary order.
• Training started by copying a scripted bot, then reinforcement learning (PPO) over thousands of games against the original computer opponent, the bot, and earlier generations. The agents beat the original opponent in a 960-game round robin.
• Zeta runs these matches without a window, records every order, and replays a match frame for frame. The ordinary game is unchanged: the computer opponent still plays as in the original.

New Mac and Windows test builds play much closer to the original, including its mouse and keyboard controls.

• Controls follow the original: the left button selects and gives orders, holding the right button scrolls the map, and A selects every squad in view. WASD no longer moves the camera; use the arrow keys or push the mouse against the screen edge.
• Unit behaviour, the computer opponent, production, and radio reports now match the original much more closely throughout the mission.
• The macOS app is signed and notarized by Apple. The Windows ZIP contains a single executable. Original demo data are supplied separately on both platforms.

New Mac and Windows test builds improve vehicle movement, radio portraits, and battlefield effects.

• Vehicles turn at the same moment as in the original; stationary tracks, wreck smoke, and radio gestures have also been corrected.
• The macOS app is signed and notarized by Apple. The Windows ZIP contains a single executable. Original demo data are supplied separately on both platforms.

The Z demo is ready to try on Apple Silicon Macs running macOS 26 or later.

• One engine executable with built-in settings. Original demo data are supplied separately; the first-run wizard explains the download and folder selection.
• Movement, combat, menus, production panels, and unit animations are closer to the original.
• An early test build: gameplay fidelity is still being refined. Feedback is welcome.

Zeta now starts from the original menu and loads the demo map into a working single-player game.

• Original terrain, buildings, units, interface, music, and sound effects load from the demo data.
• Movement, combat, production, territories, selection, minimap, and audio are working.
• Pathfinding is being tuned to follow the original game's routing more closely.
• WASD and arrow-key camera movement make it easier to navigate the map.