From 4360908d38dff8e1f48736aa37f57512dca1d712 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: arcattack Date: Sat, 25 Jul 2026 19:03:37 -0500 Subject: [PATCH] README (the shipped tester doc): repair two corrupted paths + bring it current with today's wave Asked to double-check the launchers and make sure the user-facing docs in the zip are up to date. players/README.txt is the ONLY user-facing doc mkdist ships (content/VIDEO/RESULT2.TXT is a game asset), and it was last touched 2026-07-24 -- before all of today's work. 1. CORRUPTED PATHS (real defect, worst possible placement). The file contained literal CONTROL BYTES where two paths should be: offset 440 0x08 ...personal files (contentindings.txt with... offset 490 0x0b ...joystick setup, contentolume.cfg with... i.e. `content\bindings.txt` and `content\volume.cfg` had been written through a string that interpreted \b as backspace and \v as vertical tab. Testers read "contentindings.txt" / "contentolume.cfg" -- files that do not exist -- in the UPGRADE paragraph, the one place that tells them which personal files to preserve when extracting over an old install. Repaired by byte, and verified: 0 control bytes remain in all four packaging variants. (The other two occurrences, content\join.log and a later content\bindings.txt, were undamaged -- \j and the second \b happened to survive.) 2. CONTENT now current with today's 13-issue wave, tester-relevant parts only: * AMMO BAY FIRE is now LETHAL (#46) -- flagged prominently as a gameplay change, with the ~10 s fuse, what it costs, and the EJECT-hold escape. Previously these fires were harmless; a tester who ignores one now dies. * ENG-page buttons FLASH on a jam or bay fire (#47) -- the restored pod annunciator, so testers know to look for it. * KNOWN ISSUE + WORKAROUND for #62: the BUS MODE button's second press detaches a weapon from its generator and the auto re-attach is dead, so a weapon can go permanently dark. Documented with the recovery (press a GENERATOR SELECT A/B/C/D button) to pre-empt a wave of "my weapon broke" reports. Verified by simulating mkdist's own marker processing across all four steam-on/off x expire-on/off variants: new content survives every path, no leftover {VERSION}/{STEAM}/{EXPIRE} markers reach the tester, no control bytes. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) --- players/README.txt | 20 ++++++++++++++++++-- 1 file changed, 18 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-) diff --git a/players/README.txt b/players/README.txt index 162ded8..8a635fa 100644 --- a/players/README.txt +++ b/players/README.txt @@ -7,8 +7,8 @@ to the 'content' and 'build' folders. UPGRADING from an older version? Extract the new zip OVER your existing game folder and say YES TO OVERWRITE. Do NOT delete the -folder first -- your personal files (contentindings.txt with your -key/joystick setup, content olume.cfg with your volume) are not in +folder first -- your personal files (content\bindings.txt with your +key/joystick setup, content\volume.cfg with your volume) are not in the zip and survive an extract-over-top, but a delete wipes them. If you prefer a clean delete anyway, copy those two files out first and put them back after. @@ -73,10 +73,26 @@ CONTROLS (keyboard): jammed round (weapon reloads and returns to service), HOLD ~3s to jettison the whole bay before it cooks off. Watch the TEMP strip and pace salvos. + NEW: on a jam or a bay fire, that system's ENG-page buttons now FLASH + to catch your eye -- the pod's own annunciator, restored. + NEW AND DANGEROUS: an AMMO BAY FIRE is now genuinely lethal. You get + a fire icon by the ammo counter, the flashing buttons, and about TEN + SECONDS -- then the bay detonates for (rounds x per-round damage), + which can and will kill you. HOLD the EJECT button on that weapon to + dump the bay and put the fire out. Previously these fires were + harmless; they are not any more, so treat one as an emergency. G (hold) + fire key .. regroup a weapon onto that trigger -- or hold a weapon panel's red PROGRAM button with the mouse and tap a fire key; the joystick diagram on the panel shows the binding live. +KNOWN ISSUE THIS BUILD -- a weapon that goes dark after you press ENG-page +buttons: the BUS MODE button detaches that weapon from its generator on +its second press, and the automatic re-attach is not working yet. The +symptom is a weapon whose recharge arc and ready dot are BOTH blank and +which will not fire, while its panel still shows normal data. THE FIX: +press one of the GENERATOR SELECT buttons (A/B/C/D) on that weapon's +panel and it comes straight back. Not a lost mech -- just that button. + An Xbox controller works out of the box. FLIGHT STICKS / HOTAS / pedals: run joyconfig.bat ONCE -- a wizard asks you to move each control (stick, twist, throttle, fire buttons), writes the bindings,