Messing around with demo versions of M.A.X.
Interplay created several demo versions of M.A.X.
The oldest one, which I also played back in 1996, is the v1.00 Interactive Demo which is the most interesting version of M.A.X. to this date. This demo version is the only one that contains the AI debugging features that were later removed from the released game executables.
The below video is actually not related to these AI debugging features; I was just curious whether there is a demo version of M.A.X. that M.A.X. Port is marginally compatible with.
The M.A.X. v1.03a Interactive Demo runs well with M.A.X. Port. There are many game resources missing from the demo, but those do not crash the game. Missing resources simply do not play or render.
The game crashed in the end of the video, but reloading the last auto save recovered the state and I was able to continue the game. I could overpower the attacking enemy by hiding my assault tanks within the depot.
The AI priorized destroying the power generators and the fuel reserves. Clever plan… or is it? I unloaded my assault tanks fully repaired, zero moves spent and now within range, and destroyed all the assault tanks of the enemy within a single turn. Muahaha :) Stupid AI.
On exiting the game there was a neat advertisement screen, max.res resource OEMONE, which is only available in the demos.