Frontier Actor

Frontier Actor

Preview of the Frontier Actor Control with Rover set as the Actor file.
Name	Frontier Actor
Developer(s)	Konnor88
Latest version	1.0.0.206
Latest version release date	December 28th, 2025 (2 days ago)
Written in	VB.NET
Operating system	Microsoft Windows

Frontier Actor is a modern re-implementation and alternative to the original Microsoft Actor application programming interface developed by Konnor88. It is designed to replicate the behavior and programming model of the 16-bit Microsoft Actor Control while extending compatibility to modern 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows.

Unlike the original Microsoft Actor API, which was limited to 16-bit Windows environments, Frontier Actor is built on the modern .NET framework and can be used in development environments such as Visual Studio and supports both VB.NET and C#, allowing developers to work with classic Microsoft Actor characters on modern systems without requiring legacy operating systems or emulation.

Usage

The Frontier Actor Control can be added to the Visual Studio Toolbox from the "Choose items..." menu and selecting the "FrontierActorControl.dll" as a Toolbox item. Upon being added to the toolbox, the developer can drag the control into the form, and program it from there. This same process can also be done with the other re-implemented controls, such as the Podium and Rgnwnd (word balloon), allowing modern programs to utilize a custom word balloon and another exit button.

Comparison

Supports...	Microsoft Actor 1.0	Microsoft Actor 2.0	Frontier Actor
Microsoft Actor 1.0 files	Yes	Yes	Yes
Microsoft Actor 2.0 files	No	Yes	Partial (non-BMP characters)
User-made characters	Yes	Yes	Yes
Utopia .ANI files	Yes	Yes	Yes
Actors that use .BMP assets	Partial	Yes	Partial (usermade only)
Actors that use .WMF assets	Yes	Yes	Yes
Actors with Exit Branching	Yes	Yes	Yes
Native user dragging	No (host-implemented, .ANI only)	No (host-implemented)	Yes
BMP transparency color	No	Partial (application-defined, one per a program)	Partial (actor-defined, multiple per program)
Supported programming language(s)	Visual Basic 3.0, Visual Basic 4.0 (partial)	Visual C++ 4.0, Visual C++ 5.0	VB.NET, C#, C++/CLI, F#
Architecture(s)	16-bit	32-bit	32-bit, 64-bit, ARM64
Embedding model	.VBX (16-bit Visual Basic extension)	.DLL (Win32 SDK/COM-style)	.DLL (.NET WinForms compatible)
Minimum OS version	Windows 3.1	Windows NT 3.51 SP5, Mac OS 7.5	Windows 98

Gallery

• 
  Frontier Actor Control being previewed with the Rover Actor file.
• 
  Toolbox icon for the Frontier Actor Control.
• 
  The Frontier Actor API being used in a test program in Visual Studio 2017.
• 
  Rover being loaded with the Frontier Rgnwnd Control and Frontier Podium Control.
• 
  A custom Microsoft Actor made in the Utopia Animation Editor being utilized.

Trivia

• Frontier Actor supports the majority of Microsoft Actor 1.0 and 2.0 characters, including both Rover and Clippit, as well as other actors that utilize WMF files.
• Frontier Actor currently does not support Microsoft Actor 2.0 characters that use Bitmaps as they are compressed in a special format that can only be read by Microsoft Actor 2.0 applications, unlike Microsoft Actor 1.0 characters where the Bitmap can be interpreted normally.
• Functionality-wise, it is the Microsoft Actor equivalent of the Double Agent Control for Microsoft Agent, and emulates Microsoft Actor behavior in a similar way Double Agent emulates Microsoft Agent behavior.
• Currently, a beta version of Frontier Actor is being used XP Search Assistant Rewritten for the Microsoft Actor feature.