ReConflict

Play Conflict: Desert Storm on ARM64 handhelds through PortMaster. Tested on the Anbernic RG40XX-H (H700, 64-bit muOS, Mali driver) and the Anbernic RG DS (RK3568, BananaOS, Mesa Panfrost driver); other firmware and devices are not yet verified.

You need your own game. Buy it on GOG and download the English offline Windows installer:

setup_conflict_-_desert_storm_1.0_(21657).exe

ReConflict runs translated game code on ARM using your original game files. The download contains no original Windows executable or game assets.

Thanks to Pivotal Games, the original developer, for creating Conflict: Desert Storm.

Download

Download the runtime ZIP: the reconflict.zip asset, not GitHub's “Source code” archive. It is a prerelease, tested on H700 with 64-bit muOS and on RG DS with BananaOS.

Install and play

You need 64-bit PortMaster firmware with glibc 2.36 or newer, SDL2/SDL2_ttf, and 2 GiB free before copying the installer. Graphics use the firmware's OpenGL ES 2.0 driver through SDL (for example Mali or Panfrost); no driver is bundled. The launcher and importer are native binaries; Python is not needed on the handheld. The extractor is included; no PC extraction is required by the launcher. A complete fresh import has not yet been verified end-to-end on H700.

On other firmware, use its configured ports directory for the folder and scripts. The following paths are specific to muOS:

1. Extract the runtime ZIP on your PC.
2. Copy its reconflict folder into /mnt/sdcard/ports/.
3. Copy ReConflict.sh and ReConflict Settings.sh into /mnt/sdcard/ROMS/Ports/.
4. Put the GOG installer inside reconflict, beside desert-storm.aarch64.
5. Open ReConflict from Ports. Wait for extraction and verification; elapsed time stays visible during slow file operations. Keep the handheld powered.
6. Choose whether to keep or delete the installer. Your extracted game stays.
7. Choose your settings, then Save and Run. Cancel returns without saving.

Later launches open the same options screen with your saved choices. The ReConflict Settings entry opens that screen too. In the launcher, use the D-pad to select, left/right to change, A to confirm and B to cancel.

Settings and performance

Start with 640×480 and lowest detail. The launcher includes graphics options, an FPS counter, and 30 FPS / 60 FPS / Uncapped limits (default: 60). A frame cap limits fast scenes; it cannot speed up slow ones. Texture quality: Low / High sets texture resolution. Surface detail: Off / On is a separate detail-texture effect; these are independent settings.

Expect about 25–30 FPS in normal gameplay and the menu at 30 FPS on H700, with higher rates in light scenes. Large explosions are the heaviest moments: measured on H700 over the 12 seconds of the two-truck explosion in Rescue (same save, scripted, two runs each):

Build	Worst 4 s	12 s average
v20261106-233425 (FPU window, faster skinning)	15 FPS	22 FPS
Current (plus GPU streaming buffer, asynchronous present)	15–22 FPS	22–25 FPS

Brief dips into the high teens remain in the biggest blasts; that is the game's own CPU work. Performance varies between runs, and the whole game has not been verified. The controller update improves missed quick fire-button presses.

The GPU driver matters. The game draws with many small draw calls (menus and some cutscenes several hundred per frame). The Mali driver on H700 handles them cheaply. Mesa's Panfrost driver (for example on RG DS / RK3568) spends far more CPU time per call: measured on RG DS, about 20 µs per draw and about 160 µs per partial buffer update, roughly ten times the H700's cost for the same scene. So on Panfrost devices the main menu and some cutscenes used to drop to about 20 FPS even though the CPU and GPU are faster.

Two changes cut that cost: per-draw vertex/index uploads now go through a persistent GPU streaming buffer instead of one glBufferData call each, and with the render thread the game prepares the next frame while the previous one is drawn and swapped (it no longer waits for the GPU thread every frame). On RG DS the main menu rose from 20 to 24+ FPS and heavy scenes now play like on H700.

The picture scales to any screen size with the game's 4:3 aspect and black bars (for example 480×320, 720×720 or 1280×720 panels).

In-game controls

Control	Action
Left / right stick	Movement / camera
A	Action / menu accept
B	Stance
Y	Inventory / back in game menus
X	Go command
LB / RB	Orders / fire
LT / RT	Target left / right
Select / Start	Objectives / pause
Left / right stick click	Zoom / head toggle
D-pad	Squad selection and contextual menus

Button names follow SDL/PortMaster mapping and may differ from printed labels. The launcher uses B for Cancel; in-game menus use Y for Back.

Updating and saves

Quit the game and back up your port folder before updating. Replace runtime files, but keep data/, saves/, userdata/ and config/. All saves and settings stay beside the executable.

If your existing folder is called desert-storm, copy the contents of the ZIP's reconflict folder into it instead. The launcher supports this older folder name.

Help and further reading

• Troubleshooting and manual data import
• Build and package instructions
• How the port works, compatibility and optimizations
• Credits and licenses

Unofficial community port by rzrbld, co-authored with OpenAI Codex. Original port code is MIT licensed; the original game remains its owners' property.