Operator console app: PySide6 station + validated egg model (the lost 1995 console, recreated)

The operator station the archive never preserved: build missions with
authoritative dropdowns, run the console/relay, watch pods arrive, launch --
LAN mesh or internet relay -- plus one-click local instances for testing.

tools/eggmodel.py (headless, importable, self-tested 14/14):
- Order-preserving egg parse/emit: the editor manages [mission]/[pilots]/
  per-pilot pages; bitmap rasters, ordinals and role pages survive untouched.
- EVERY value set read LIVE from content/BTL4.RES (the resscan parser,
  importable): maps = MakeMessageStream(14) INTERSECT ExistanceBoxStream(26)
  (the game aborts unless both exist); colors/badges/patches from the
  VehicleTable resource (type 25, NUL-line NotationFile text with ;-comments);
  vehicles = ModelList names, known-good mechs (bhk1, madcat) surfaced first.
- validate(): the full required-key ruleset from MISSION.cpp/btl4mssn.cpp
  (missing map/time/weather/scenario, per-pilot hostType/vehicle/dropzone/
  color/patch/badge/experience/role, role page model=, illegal values,
  duplicate addresses) -- kills the hand-edited-egg crash class, incl. the
  color=Red-vs-Crimson gotcha that bit the dev eggs.

tools/btoperator.py (PySide6, dark Fusion theme):
- Mission form + pilot roster table (all dropdowns from eggmodel), relay-tag
  auto-numbering, add/remove pilots, egg New/Open/Save/Validate.
- Mode switch: Relay (internet; runs btconsole --relay) / Mesh (LAN legacy;
  dial-out console at address-port minus 1 per the +1 rule).
- Session panel: QProcess drives btconsole.py; stdout parsed live into
  per-pilot state lights (waiting/egg/registered/LAUNCHED) + relay stats.
- Local launcher: spawns btl4.exe per roster row with BT_RELAY/BT_SELF (or
  mesh -net port), BT_DEV_GAUGES/BT_START_INSIDE toggles.
- Export player scripts: per-pilot join_as_playerN.bat with the public
  relay hostname (a remote player's whole setup = run one .bat).
- Wire/protocol code stays in btconsole.py/eggmodel.py -- the GUI is only
  UI + process management; CLI + test harnesses share the same tested core.

Verified: eggmodel self-test 14/14; scripted end-to-end
(scratchpad/operator_e2e.py) drives the real window through its own methods --
start relay session -> launch 2 local instances -> monitor observes the
mission LAUNCH (user-confirmed live on screen: both pods in-mission).

Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

scratchpad/operator_e2e.py

@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python
+"""operator_e2e.py -- scripted end-to-end test of the operator console.
+
+Drives the real Operator window through its own methods on a timer:
+start a RELAY session -> launch 2 local btl4 instances -> wait for the
+mission LAUNCH to be observed by the session monitor -> report + shut down.
+Exercises the exact QProcess paths the buttons use (no synthetic clicks).
+Exit 0 = launched; 1 = timed out.
+"""
+import os
+import sys
+
+HERE = os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))
+sys.path.insert(0, os.path.join(HERE, "..", "tools"))
+
+from PySide6.QtCore import QTimer
+from PySide6.QtWidgets import QApplication, QMessageBox
+import btoperator
+
+# never block on dialogs in scripted mode
+QMessageBox.warning = staticmethod(lambda *a, **k: print("[e2e] WARN dialog:", a[2] if len(a) > 2 else a))
+QMessageBox.information = staticmethod(lambda *a, **k: None)
+
+TIMEOUT_S = 120
+result = {"ok": False}
+
+
+def main():
+    app = QApplication(sys.argv)
+    btoperator.dark_palette(app)
+    win = btoperator.Operator()
+    win.show()
+
+    def step_start():
+        print("[e2e] starting relay session")
+        win._start_session()
+        assert win.console_proc is not None, "session did not start"
+        QTimer.singleShot(3000, step_launch)
+
+    def step_launch():
+        print("[e2e] launching local instances")
+        win._launch_local()
+        assert len(win.game_procs) == 2, \
+            "expected 2 local instances, got %d" % len(win.game_procs)
+        poll.start(2000)
+
+    ticks = {"n": 0}
+
+    def step_poll():
+        ticks["n"] += 1
+        m = win.monitor
+        states = dict(m.state) if m else {}
+        print("[e2e] t=%ds states=%s launched=%s" %
+              (ticks["n"] * 2, states, m.launched if m else "?"))
+        if m and m.launched:
+            result["ok"] = True
+            status = win.pod_status.text().encode("ascii", "replace").decode()
+            print("[e2e] LAUNCH observed -- pod status: %s" % status)
+            finish()
+        elif ticks["n"] * 2 >= TIMEOUT_S:
+            print("[e2e] TIMEOUT")
+            finish()
+
+    def finish():
+        poll.stop()
+        win._stop_session()
+        QTimer.singleShot(500, app.quit)
+
+    poll = QTimer()
+    poll.timeout.connect(step_poll)
+    QTimer.singleShot(1000, step_start)
+    app.exec()
+    print("[e2e] %s" % ("PASS" if result["ok"] else "FAIL"))
+    return 0 if result["ok"] else 1
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    sys.exit(main())