Commit Graph
26 Commits
Author SHA1 Message Date
Joe DiPrimaandClaude Fable 5 5fc969ae95 the log day now starts at 6am, because the playtesters are night owls
A midnight boundary splits one evening across two files at exactly the moment
the session is most worth reading whole: the 01:30 crash lands in a different
file from the 23:00 run that set it up. And a 02:00 session is "last night" to
everyone who was in it, so filing it under the new calendar date reads wrong
even when nothing goes bad.

So shift the clock back 6h before taking the date for the FILENAME. The log day
runs 06:00 -> 06:00 and one night stays in one file.

Only the filename moves. The session header and the lastrun breadcrumb each
call GetLocalTime separately (three distinct SYSTEMTIMEs in this function), so
every timestamp a human reads is still true local time -- checked the scoping
rather than assuming it, since sharing one variable would have silently
backdated the header by six hours.

FileTimeToSystemTime carries the month and year boundaries, verified against a
scratch harness rather than reasoned about:

  2026-07-28 20:00 -> solo_20260728.log     one playtest night,
  2026-07-28 23:59 -> solo_20260728.log     start to finish,
  2026-07-29 00:01 -> solo_20260728.log     in a single file
  2026-07-29 05:59 -> solo_20260728.log
  2026-07-29 06:00 -> solo_20260729.log     the boundary
  2026-08-01 01:00 -> solo_20260731.log     month
  2027-01-01 03:00 -> solo_20261231.log     year
  2026-03-01 02:00 -> solo_20260228.log     non-leap February

Nothing in the tooling parses these filenames -- the operator app's own log is
operator_relay.log and _collect_egg is mission settings, not logs -- so the
console auto-transfer is unaffected.

The player-facing text did need fixing though: the bats and README told players
to send the log "dated today", which is now wrong for anyone who plays past
midnight. They now say to take the NEWEST one and ignore the date, with a note
on why. That was already the safer instruction.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-28 17:22:35 -05:00
Joe DiPrimaandClaude Opus 5 901cf1b459 four ENG-page lamps were invisible, not missing: the ctors dropped their colour parameters
Playtest report: "generators don't seem to have an Auto setting" / "no auto mode
is ever displayed", plus the operator's own memory that the BUS MODE button once
stepped through three states.  The state machine was NEVER wrong: @004b0abc has
exactly two branches (<2 -> Auto(2); ==2 -> detach + Off(0)), Manual(1) is set
only by the four SelectGenerator buttons, and the auto-hunt gates on ==2 -- all
byte-verified, and the #62 re-attach fires live.  Manual is a one-way door out
of BUS MODE by design: a single cycle button cannot know WHICH generator manual
should mean.  Verified on-screen by the operator this session: A-D returns to
manual, BUS MODE toggles auto/off thereafter.

What was actually broken: the connect-mode lamp -- and three siblings -- never
drew a pixel.  OneOfSeveralStates (@004c5470) and OneOfSeveralInt (@004c5148)
forward caller-supplied background/foreground colours in the binary; the recon
dropped both parameters and hardcoded 0,0 into the base.  A BitMap-strip lamp
draws SetColor(bg) + DrawBitMapOpaque(fg,...), so 0/0 painted colour-0 on
colour-0: invisible.  Affected: btemode (connect mode, 1x3 -- THE report),
btecmode (coolant on/off, 1x2), and both bteseek gear-step lamps (1x4).  The
cluster call sites pass 0xff/0, byte-verified (@004c866c disasm;
part_014.c:1479-1481, :2146-2147).  Same dropped-element family as issue #42's
MoveToAbsolute.

THE TRAP THAT WAS NOT LANDED, recorded so it stays unlanded: with the lamp
first made visible, the frames appeared inverted against the levels (art reads
AUTO/MANUAL/OFF top-down; levels run OFF/MANUAL/AUTO), and a
row=(rows-1)-selected "fix" was proposed.  An adversarial workflow proved it
wrong: the gauge blit addresses SOURCE rows BOTTOM-UP
(Video16BitBuffered::DrawBitMapOpaque, L4VB16.cpp:3846-3850 -- sTop =
map_max_y - sTop, rows walked upward), the 1995 blit @0046bdfc performs the
identical flip, and the vertical strips are AUTHORED bottom-up to match.
Identity level->row therefore draws the pod-correct display; the inversion
would have created the very bug it claimed to cure.  Two of five investigators
(and the first human pass) assumed top-down; the engine source overruled all
three.  Convention + warning now recorded in context/gauges-hud.md.
btecmode doubles as the standing tripwire: a second vertical strip that must
show ON when coolant is available -- if it ever reads inverted, the bottom-up
verdict is falsified.

Also corrected: @004c552c is OneOfSeveralStates' EXECUTE override (clamp >= 0,
chain the base draw) -- the port had the body on BecameActive under a wrong
label; vtable-diffed against OneOfSeveral (0x518b24 vs 0x518bf0).  BecameActive
is inherited.  Behaviorally inert today (the state source never goes negative),
byte-faithful now.

README: the "KNOWN ISSUE -- automatic re-attach is not working yet" text is
replaced with how power routing actually works (A-D = manual, BUS MODE = auto
then off, two presses off / one back to auto).  That text shipped in 600, which
already contained the #62 fix -- players were being TOLD auto was broken while
it worked, which is half of how a painted-out lamp became "no auto mode".

Diagnostic kept: BT_GENSEL_TEST=<id> now drives any of the five power-routing
message ids (4..8, default 7) and pulses four times, so the whole mode cycle is
observable headlessly under BT_FIRE_LOG ([gensel] lines).

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-28 13:22:21 -05:00
Joe DiPrimaandClaude Opus 5 1777d5a62e one log per day, and every log says who it sent it -- rotation was eating the crash stacks
Conn Man crashed twice in an Owens on 2026-07-27, kept playing, and by the time
we asked for his logs they no longer existed.  Not a mystery: every launcher did

    if exist content\X.old.log del content\X.old.log
    if exist content\X.log     ren content\X.log X.old.log

which keeps TWO generations.  He relaunched more than twice, so his own bat
deleted both crash sessions.  The player who crashes is exactly the player who
relaunches immediately, so the retention window was aimed at the wrong case.

THE LOG.  BT_LOG set still means "use this path verbatim" -- that contract is
load-bearing (mp_a.log/mp_b.log for 2-node runs from one cwd, btoperator's
operator_N.log, every scratchpad/mp_*.sh that greps the file it named) and is
untouched.  Only when BT_LOG is UNSET does the exe now name the file itself:
content\<stem>_YYYYMMDD.log, appended, one per day, no rotation window to fall
out of.  The stem (solo/join/steam/joyconfig) comes from the gates the bat
already sets, so solo still cannot overwrite the MULTIPLAYER log.

Self-named files append UNCONDITIONALLY.  The default open mode is ios::out --
TRUNCATE -- and the operator GUI's exported bats never set BT_LOG_APPEND, so
they were truncating already; leaving append implicit would have let the second
launch of the day erase the morning.

IDENTITY, because these arrive from many players at once and Discord renames
half of them to message.txt (most of the night-5 evidence had to be
re-identified by hand):

    ===== BT411 SESSION  build=4.11.603 (d64d75f+)  machine=...  user=...
          callsign=Conn Man  mode=solo  pid=13192  local=...  log=... =====

Also the session separator inside a per-day file, and it puts build+hash ABOVE
any [crash] block so btl4+0xNNNN offsets stay matchable to a PDB across builds.

SIZE.  Never delete, but stay sendable: past 8 MB the next launch rolls to
<stem>_YYYYMMDD.1.log.  Checked only at open, so a live session is never split.

CONSOLIDATION.  launch_report.txt is gone, folded into lastrun_<stem>.txt (one
launch record: the exe appends its block at first breath, the bat appends the
exit line).  Per-stem because one shared lastrun.txt let a second launcher's
`del` destroy the first launch's block.  Its ABSENCE after a run is now the
#41 "never reached WinMain" probe -- the old "if not exist X.log" test cannot
work against a per-day file, which survives earlier launches, and would have
reported every healthy run as blocked by antivirus.  marshal.log folded into
the day log too; it keeps its own handle and gained a CRITICAL_SECTION because
it runs on a worker thread while the engine log stream is single-threaded.
play_steam.bat gained a launch bracket it never had -- which is why a Steam
player killed before WinMain previously left no evidence at all.

_putenv_s, not SetEnvironmentVariableA, to pin the resolved name: MSVC's CRT
keeps its own environment copy, so getenv() in-process does NOT see a
SetEnvironmentVariableA write (measured).  btl4console/btl4lobby resolve the
day log via getenv, so with the Win32-only call they silently fell back to
marshal.log and the fold never happened.

logfile.open() is now checked -- a failed open used to rebind cout to a dead
buffer, silently dropping the header, [boot] and any crash stack while
lastrun still claimed log=<name>.

Verified: append across sessions with distinct pids, crash block landing under
its own header, BT_LOG verbatim unmangled, an inherited BT_LOG cleared by the
bats, roll-over at 8 MB, and both forensic verdicts (exe ran / exe blocked).
Console auto-retrieval is unaffected -- it uploads the matchlog, a different
file, and a crashed round never reaches the upload call anyway.

Known gaps, deliberately not in this commit: the setlocal hoist for gate
leakage when two bats share one console (dev-only), and btoperator's exported
bats still lack the lastrun bracket -- do not press Export on a shipped zip.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-28 10:33:07 -05:00
arcattackandClaude Opus 5 12d6862c1f keylight: unship it -- opt-in (BT_KEYLIGHT=1), gone from all player docs
Operator decision: the player base is not on Windows 11, so the RGB keyboard
mirror should not be shipped or promised.  The feature is NOT deleted -- Cyd's
implementation stays intact behind the gate for whoever wants it -- it is
simply off by default and invisible:

  * PadRIO gate flips from opt-out (BT_KEYLIGHT=0 disables) to OPT-IN
    (BT_KEYLIGHT=1 enables).  Default boots produce zero keylight lines, and a
    stub build and a real build now behave identically for players: nothing.
  * Removed from every user-facing artifact: the README paragraph, the
    CONTROLS.md section, the CONTROLS.html footer line.
  * environ.ini template: the entry stays (it is the discoverable home for the
    opt-in) but now says OFF-unless-1, Windows 11 22H2+, and why it is
    unshipped.
  * mkdist's cut-time stub warning removed -- it existed to protect a README
    promise that no longer exists.
  * context/glass-cockpit.md records the decision, the opt-in, and the
    build-time SDK stub gate in one place.

VERIFIED: default boot logs zero keylight lines; BT_KEYLIGHT=1 engages the
feature (the stub on this machine: its one honest log line + the key map).
All three console suites pass; checkctx CLEAN.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-26 17:06:00 -05:00
arcattackandClaude Opus 5 c4202d92ca zip-doc audit: last stale key claim + a keylight-stub warning at cut time
Full audit of every user-facing artifact in a freshly cut zip (33 checks, all
passing -- README substitutions/controls/migration story, CONTROLS.txt ASCII
flatten, CONTROLS.html loader + wrap, launchers byte-identical, exe carries the
migration):

  * README's intro still said 'Press V any time to toggle the external camera'
    -- the one key claim outside the rewritten controls block, stale for every
    fresh/migrated install since the board took V.  Backtick now.
  * mkdist warns at cut time when the exe carries the KEYLIGHT STUB (build
    machine's SDK < 10.0.22000), because the README promises the RGB feature
    -- nobody should ship a stub build believing that promise ships with it.

The audit zip itself was deleted after verification: its version stamp predates
today's doc commits, and a release cut should rebuild the exe at final HEAD
first (the 554 procedure).

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-26 16:51:17 -05:00
arcattackandClaude Opus 5 8edce41f88 bindings: one-time migration to the board-2 layout -- the two-population fork is gone
Operator decision: "make this version devour their custom settings and re-output
the correct binding file with the updates -- I'd like to eliminate competing
code paths."  Before this, the preserved-bindings.txt convention meant upgraders
stayed frozen on whatever layout their file was written under, forever: two
player populations, two sets of true documentation, and every future default
improvement reaching only fresh installs.

THE MIGRATION (PadBindingProfile::MigrateBindingsFile, run once at load):
  * A file carrying the new "# bindings-board 2" marker is left alone -- the
    check is the first thing that runs, so this is a no-op forever after.
  * Otherwise: every row matching the UNION OF EVERY DEFAULT SET EVER SHIPPED
    (85 canonical rows, harvested from c2ee729..1cda880 and embedded as a
    table; comments stripped, whitespace collapsed, uppercased) is dropped --
    those rows were never a player's choice, they were just the old board.
  * Rows the player actually authored are CARRIED with their original text and
    comments, and WIN over the new defaults: the losing default row is emitted
    commented out as "# (yours wins) ...", keyed by the control ("KEY T",
    "PAD A", "PADAXIS LX") so key rows only displace key rows.
  * The joystick wizard's marker-delimited section is preserved VERBATIM (the
    same markers L4JOY rewrites between), so HOTAS players migrate without
    re-running the wizard.
  * The previous file is saved as bindings.old.txt first.  Restoring it over
    bindings.txt just re-migrates next boot -- deliberate: the old WORLD is not
    restorable, only the player's own rows persist.  That is the point.

VERIFIED end-to-end with the real exe (three planted scenarios):
  A. old-world file (8 old-default rows + 2 authored rows incl. a rate tweak +
     a wizard section): both authored rows carried with comments, both
     conflicting new defaults stood down with "(yours wins)", wizard section
     byte-preserved, backup written, log line states all counts, and the
     migrated file parses with ZERO malformed lines.
  B. already-migrated file: byte-identical md5 after a full boot, no migration
     line, no backup touched.  (First attempt at this check clobbered its own
     evidence by running case C first -- re-run properly.)
  C. no file: fresh defaults now carry the marker as line 1, no migration.
  The operator's real bindings.txt was stashed before testing and restored
  untouched; it will migrate on their own next launch, as intended.

Docs flipped to the new reality: the README's "your keys DO NOT change"
upgrade promise is replaced by the migration story (customs + stick kept, old
stock keys replaced, bindings.old.txt escape hatch); CONTROLS.md gains the same
note; context/glass-cockpit.md records the mechanism, the 85-row table's
provenance, and why restoring the backup re-migrates.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-26 14:19:13 -05:00
arcattackandClaude Opus 5 150961176c merge fix-ups: the four review findings + a build portability gate the merge exposed
Applied on top of the glass-cockpit-refit merge, all from the pre-merge review:

1. README CONTROLS TABLE REWRITTEN for the new default board.  It still taught
   "W/S throttle, A/D turn" while the defaults moved flight to the numpad and
   handed the letter rows to the MFD banks -- a fresh install would read
   controls that do not work.  The new table teaches the numpad flight block,
   the panel-on-your-keys groups, F7 for control mode (was M), backtick for the
   camera (was V), the coolant valves on 1-3/QWE with the detent warning kept,
   and PgUp/PgDn volume.  UPGRADERS ARE TOLD EXPLICITLY that their preserved
   bindings.txt keeps their old keys, and that deleting it opts into the board.

2. BACKTICK VIEW-TOGGLE GUARDED.  The bindings-row-wins rule (KeyHasBinding)
   covered V and J/K/L but not backtick itself, which polled unconditionally --
   and BACKTICK is a nameable, unbound key, so binding it to a button
   double-dispatched (button + camera).  Both halves of the view poll are now
   guarded.

3. ENVIRON.INI REFUSES ONE-SHOTS.  The loader applied ANY key=value line, and
   BT_JOYCONFIG in the file would defeat the #66 one-shot in a sneaky way: the
   wizard DELETES the process var after running, so in every relaunched child
   there is no real env var left to win over the file -- capture wizard at
   every mission start.  BT_JOYCONFIG is now skipped with the reason in the
   template header, which also warns that test/debug hooks (BT_MP_FORCE_DMG
   and friends) do not belong in a file that silently persists forever.

4. VOLUME DOCUMENTED EVERYWHERE IT WAS MISSING.  CONTROLS.md gains the
   PgUp/PgDn row (the old "- / = (see below)" cell pointed at a note that never
   mentioned volume) and the note that the keys moved so they no longer share a
   key with anything in any layout; the bindings template header reserves
   PgUp/PgDn informally.

5. L4KEYLIGHT BUILD GATE (found by building the merge on this machine).  The
   C++/WinRT Dynamic Lighting TU does not compile against SDK 10.0.19041 --
   its bundled cppwinrt fails inside winrt/base itself (C2039 'wait_for').
   CMake now detects an SDK older than 10.0.22000 and builds a dormant stub
   with the same five-function scalar interface (logs once at Start, identical
   behaviour otherwise) -- extending the feature's own runtime philosophy
   ("no Dynamic Lighting -> log once, stay dormant") to build time.  Dynamic
   Lighting is a Windows 11 22H2 feature, so nothing real is lost on an older
   build machine, and machines with a newer SDK build the real mirror
   unchanged.

VERIFIED on the merged tree (4.11.572):
  * build clean -- 0 compile errors; the 40 /FORCE-tolerated unresolved
    externals are byte-identical to every pre-merge build (20
    CreateStreamedSubsystem + 20 DefaultData; the earlier claim that all 40
    were CSS was shorthand -- corrected here for the record).
  * solo boot: environ.ini template written + loaded, mode resolver announces
    the surround, historical bands L276/R276/T223/B336 confirmed, keylight
    stub logs its dormant line, BT_SHOT capture shows the under-glass button
    treatment and the corrected hat labels, 0 faults.
  * PgUp/PgDn volume PROVEN LIVE via injected keys: 5%->10%->15%->10%, saved
    to volume.cfg.  (Side catch: content\volume.cfg had been sitting at 0.00
    from an old test -- anyone using this tree had a silent game; reset.)
  * full relay cycle on the merged exe: 2 pods staged, launch pair, mission,
    StopMission, round RESET -- all clean.
  * all three console suites still pass; checkctx CLEAN.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-26 13:24:22 -05:00
CydandClaude Opus 5 02b1b50e45 RGB keyboard lamp mirror + the shipped controls reference
KEYBOARD LAMP MIRROR (L4KEYLIGHT).  Ported from RP412, itself a port of vRIO's
KeyboardLampMirror.  Keys bound to a lamp address in bindings.txt glow with the
panel palette through Windows Dynamic Lighting -- yellow for the map's side
columns (0x10-0x1F), red for the rest -- flashing in step with the on-screen
buttons (its LampLevel copy matches the FIXED BTLampBrightnessOf).  Per-key
boards light each bound key; zone-lit boards mirror the strongest lamp
board-wide.  All WinRT runs on a private worker thread: watcher, claim, and a
100 ms paint loop that repaints only on change.

RP412's packing hazard does NOT transfer: it forces default struct packing there
because its engine is /Zp1, which would break the WinRT ABI.  BT411's BT_OPTS
carries no /Zp, so only the dialect flags are needed -- /std:c++17
/permissive- per-file, since the project otherwise builds C++14 /permissive.
The scalars-only interface is kept anyway so the isolation survives if packing
is ever added.

Wired in PadRIO: map built from bindings.keyBindings (ActionButton binds only,
first-binding-wins per key), fed from PadRIO::SetLamp, stopped in the dtor
(which hands the LEDs back to Windows).  BT_KEYLIGHT=0 opts out; a machine
without Dynamic Lighting logs once and stays dormant.

Verified live: claimed this machine's 24-zone keyboard and mirrors 25 bound
keys; BT_KEYLIGHT=0 and the pod profile produce zero keylight lines and run
clean.

SHIPPED CONTROLS REFERENCE.  docs/CONTROLS.md carries the keyboard table plus
the full 72-BUTTON POD MAP, grouped by the display each bank surrounds, with the
coolant-valve detent warning (1-5-50-CLOSED, one press past max shuts the loop)
and the jam/eject procedure.  mkdist flattens it to ASCII as CONTROLS.txt at the
zip root, the README's own idiom.  players/README.txt gained pointers to it, to
environ.ini, to -fit, and to the RGB mirror.

KB: context/glass-cockpit.md and docs/GLASS_COCKPIT.md updated for the whole
branch -- layout modes, L4RIOBANK and the under-glass rule, the letterbox fit
and its ordering trap, player-tunable displays, the measured legend grid, the
closed dead-button backlog, and this mirror.

Verified: five-mode regression (surround/exploded/dock/pod/dev) boots and
simulates with zero faults; mkdist writes a 5149-byte pure-ASCII CONTROLS.txt.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-26 02:24:30 -05:00
arcattackandClaude Opus 5 da617e6f8f README + release notes: match reports UPLOAD THEMSELVES -- stop asking testers to send them
The operator caught this: I had carried the old "please send the operator your
matchlog" instruction into the release notes, and the shipped README has said
it for a while.  It is out of date.

Since 2026-07-22 the client auto-uploads its match forensic log to the relay
after every round: btl4main.cpp:914 calls BTRelayUploadMatchLog() once
RunMissions() returns, and the console receives it on route -9 and saves it as
matchlogs/<peer>_<name> (btconsole.py:1026-1042).  content/matchlogs/ is
already full of them.

So the instruction was making every tester hunt down and attach a file the
operator already had.  Corrected to state the real contract, including the
gaps the auto-upload genuinely cannot cover:

  * RELAY modes only -- join.bat and join_lan.bat both set BT_RELAY, so both
    upload.  play_solo.bat and play_steam.bat set none, so those still need a
    manual send.
  * The upload fires when a round ends CLEANLY (after RunMissions returns), so
    a mid-round CRASH loses it -- exactly the case we most want the file for.
  * join.log is NEVER uploaded -- no mechanism exists -- so that one is still
    a manual ask, and is now called out separately rather than buried.

Also added the same correction to dist/RELEASE_NOTES_4.11.550.md.

The zip cut before this (BT411_4.11.550.zip) carries the stale README and must
be re-cut.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-25 19:56:56 -05:00
arcattackandClaude Opus 5 4360908d38 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 (content<BS>indings.txt with...
       offset 490  0x0b  ...joystick setup, content<VT>olume.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) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-25 19:03:37 -05:00
arcattack 37a520d8a0 README: control mode vs experience level are different systems + NumLock note
The same careful tester hit the BASIC-mode trap twice because 'expert/
veteran modes' (menu experience) sound like control modes (M key).
Spelled out the distinction + the numpad NumLock dependency.
2026-07-24 12:47:15 -05:00
arcattack b710a848c2 README: upgrade = extract-over-top (preserves bindings.txt + volume.cfg)
The advertised upgrade flow was delete-and-unzip, which wipes the two
per-player files (key/joystick bindings incl. joyconfig output, saved
volume) every version.  The zip carries neither file, so extract-over-
top preserves them by construction -- now the documented flow, with the
copy-out fallback for clean-delete preferrers.
2026-07-24 12:16:28 -05:00
arcattackandClaude Opus 4.8 ef9a648c89 README: BASIC control mode does not steer with pedals (Ferret's 510 report)
Field report (new tester, 510): keyboard A/D + arrows 'not working' --
can twist and drive but not turn.  Root-caused live via key injection:
fresh spawns start in BASIC control mode, where steering rides the
STICK (authentic rookie mode) and the pedal-bound keys are inert by
design; one M press (MID) makes A/D steer.  (A false regression-bisect
chase established the metric noise came from an attached pad's stick
drift nudging BASIC steering.)  README now warns about the default
mode; kept the env-gated [padwrite] diagnostic from the hunt.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-24 11:57:44 -05:00
arcattack 3ee980ba46 README: coolant flush/valve keys + the valve detent trap (max -> CLOSED)
The 1-5-50-0 cycle's closed detent one press past max is what cooked
both SRM6s in the 2026-07-23 field session -- players need the warning
and the shared-supply note.
2026-07-23 17:32:51 -05:00
arcattackandClaude Opus 4.8 c2ee7299b2 Generic joystick / HOTAS / pedals support: DirectInput 8 layer + capture wizard
Tester ask: configure non-Xbox controllers.  New L4JOY layer (DI8):
enumerates every non-XInput game device (up to 4), DIJOYSTATE2 polling
with range normalization, reacquire-on-loss, 3s hot-plug re-enum.
XInput devices are excluded via the documented RawInput IG_ VID/PID
check (live-verified skipping a real XBOX360 pad -- no double-feed).

bindings.txt grows joydev/joyaxis/joybutton/joyhat rows (device slots
by name substring or ordinal; axes X..RZ/SL0/SL1 with invert/slew/
deadzone; hats as 4-direction buttons with diagonal chords).  PadRIO
runs them through the existing channel/event machinery -- per-binding
edge arrays release automatically on detach (the #24 rule), and a
direct throttle axis maps full lever travel onto the 0..1 channel
while the gait detent still snaps a lever parked in the walk/run dead
band.

BT_JOYCONFIG=1 (joyconfig.bat) runs a console capture wizard: move
each control when prompted (stick/twist/throttle/fire), invert derived
from the move direction, hat look cluster auto-added, output written
between markers in bindings.txt with the rest of the file preserved.

Legacy L4DINPUT DIJoystick (L4CONTROLS=DIJOYSTICK) untouched.
Verified: grammar accept/reject per line, XInput-exclusion live,
30s in-mission no-device polling clean.  Awaiting a tester with real
stick hardware for axis verification.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-23 16:36:32 -05:00
arcattackandClaude Opus 4.8 2edd1b5363 Issue #31: wire the EJECT button (EjectAmmo msg 0xb @004bb9b8) -- the in-mission unjam
Disasm-faithful transcription of the export-gap handler onto
ProjectileWeapon (MESSAGE_ENTRY id 0xb, the #19 pattern).  PRESS arms
the ~3s UpdateEject countdown (bin alarm -> Ejecting(3); gate 2 parks
the weapon offline mid-eject -- authentic).  HOLD to completion =
DumpAmmo jettisons the bay -> NoAmmo.  TAP (release early) cycles ONE
round out via FeedAmmo and returns the weapon to Loading -- clears a
jam at the cost of a round (and recovers a FailureHeat 7 while rounds
remain).  Binary structure kept exactly incl. the press-no-bin
fall-through into the release block.

AmmoBin: Ejecting(3)/Ejected(4) alarm levels decoded + named
SetAmmoState accessor (databinding rule).  Always-on forensics:
'[weap] EJECT tap' + '[ammo] bay DUMPED overboard (N rounds)'.

Rig-verified live (BT_EJECTTEST=1 / =hold on LRM15): taps eject one
round each and return the weapon to service (15->8 across cycles);
hold dumps all 16 -> NoAmmo.  Awaiting a human press of the actual
ENG-page button on a jammed weapon.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-23 13:49:11 -05:00
arcattackandClaude Opus 4.8 225fe43f0c CORRECTION: EJECT tap IS the in-mission unjam (EjectAmmo @004bb9b8 decoded)
Old-timer testimony (tap = eject one round, hold = eject the bay, eject
clears a jam) checked against the binary: raw disasm of the export-gap
handler @004bb9b8 confirms it byte-for-byte.  PRESS arms the ~3s
UpdateEject countdown (hold-to-completion = DumpAmmo whole bay ->
NoAmmo); RELEASE before completion (TAP) ejects ONE round (@004bd4f4)
and, with ammo remaining, sets weaponAlarm 3 + restarts the reload --
the weapon returns to service.  A tap even recovers a FailureHeat
level-7 launcher while rounds remain (empty-bin gate 2 re-pins 7 only
when the bay is dry).

The earlier 'jams are mission-permanent / no unjam exists' claim read
only the HOLD path -- corrected + swept: projweap.cpp case-5/jam-log/
CheckForJam comments, players/README.txt, decomp-reference.md
(message-tables entry), open-questions.md (state-7 recovery note).
Gitea #31 updated; wiring the handler now restores the pod's actual
jam-recovery mechanic.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-23 12:21:06 -05:00
arcattackandClaude Opus 4.8 420d739d75 README: jam behavior + where the jam lamp lives (field-confirmed)
Live verification closed the loop on issue #30: heat-jammed SRMs light
the authentic BTEJAM lamp on the weapon panel's ENG DATA page; the
default view shows nothing (authentic).  Testers get told where to look.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-23 10:30:17 -05:00
arcattackandClaude Opus 4.8 4e0fcbf328 Issue #26: runtime master volume (-/= keys, persisted)
The game audio plays hot with no in-game control -- testers couldn't
hear voice chat without the Windows mixer (playtest night).  The -/=
keys now step the OpenAL listener gain (the master scale every source
inherits) in 5% steps, clamped 0..150%, edge-detected in the per-frame
poll with a foreground guard; the value persists to content\volume.cfg
and reloads at boot (BT_AUDIO_VOLUME env still wins when set; default
stays 0.6).  README updated.

Verified: volume.cfg 0.25 -> boot log "master gain=0.25"; key stepping
needs a live focused session (awaiting live verification).

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-23 00:53:07 -05:00
arcattackandClaude Opus 4.8 8368163b04 Lobby loop: auto-rejoin between rounds + seat reclaim + live mission edits
The between-rounds arcade flow (first-playtest-night field request): at
mission end every pod exited, seats dropped, and every round required
everyone to re-run join.bat with no way to adjust the mission.

1. AUTO-REJOIN: StopMission (operator END / mission clock -- NOT a
   window close) sets gBTMissionStoppedByConsole; after the matchlog
   upload btl4main relaunches the pod into the join wait with the same
   cmdline (BT_CALLSIGN/BT_MECH ride the inherited environment).

2. SEAT RECLAIM: the assigned tag is mirrored file-scope
   (BTRelaySelfTag) and re-presented as the 3rd SEAT_REQUEST payload
   field (BT_SEAT_CLAIM); the relay holds a dropped seat for its tag
   for 90s and a returning player gets their EXACT seat back -- static
   ordering across rounds, the real-pod model.  Non-claim joiners skip
   reclaim-held seats.

3. LIVE MISSION EDITS: the console gains "Apply mission settings"
   (enabled while a session runs) writing arena/time/weather/length
   into the session egg; the relay re-reads the file at round reset and
   egg release (roster shape locked mid-session).

Verified 2-pod 3-round: pods self-relaunched after each clock end; the
SECOND-to-rejoin still reclaimed its original seat (ordering held); the
between-rounds edit landed ("mission length now 75s").  Known edge
noted in the KB: a stale ready flag from a not-yet-exited old conn can
satisfy the launch gate mid-rejoin -- operators launch on green dots.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-23 00:28:56 -05:00
arcattackandClaude Opus 4.8 fcedc046cf Walk-up callsign/mech request: join menu -> relay -> the session egg
The 1995 front-desk conversation, over the internet.  join.bat/
join_lan.bat now open a JOIN-GAME menu (the FE in BT_FE_JOIN trim:
CALLSIGN edit + the 18-mech list + JOIN); the choice relaunches into the
normal join with BT_CALLSIGN/BT_MECH env, rides the relay SEAT_REQUEST
as {callsign NUL mech NUL} (empty payload = roster defaults, wire-
compatible), and the relay validates the mech tag, HOLDS egg delivery
until every pod's console pad is connected, rewrites the egg via
eggmodel (vehicle= + rasterized callsign bitmaps, graceful no-PySide6
fallback) and streams it to all pads -- so every player's egg copy
carries every player's callsign.

The hold is gated on CONSOLE-PAD count, not game-side registration: a
pod HELLOs only after parsing the egg's roster, so a registration gate
deadlocks (hit live in the first run; pods animate in WAITING FOR
MISSION ASSIGNMENT during the hold).

Verified 2-node e2e (env-injected requests): thor/vulture requested over
roster defaults bhk1/ava1 -> relay held 1/2, released at 2/2, rewrote
both seats (relay log), the delivered egg carries vehicle=thor/vulture +
name=VIPER/MONGOOSE, both pods launched and built [cyl] tables for both
requested mechs.  Join-menu layout screenshot-verified; the menu's
click-through relaunch awaits live human verification.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-22 13:58:51 -05:00
arcattackandClaude Opus 4.8 eb618fe9e6 BT_EXPIRE: tester builds stop working 14 days after build (compile gate)
Distributed test zips go stale and stray.  BT_EXPIRE (CMake option,
DEFAULT ON so a zip can never accidentally ship without it) makes the
exe refuse to start BT_EXPIRE_DAYS (default 14) after its build day:
boot logs the remaining window, an expired build logs + shows a
"test build expired -- ask the operator for the current build" box and
exits.  btversion.h now stamps BT_BUILD_UNIX (UTC-midnight-rounded so
the only-on-change header churns once per day, not every build) +
BT_BUILD_DATE.  Dev is unaffected: every build re-stamps the day.

-DBT_EXPIRE=OFF builds a non-expiring exe; mkdist reads the cache and
marks such a zip "-noexpire" + prints a warning, and the tester README
expiry note is {EXPIRE}-marker-gated like the steam lines.  Second
compile-gate exception after BT_STEAM (convention updated in
glass-cockpit.md).  Quality gate, not DRM -- a clock rollback defeats it.

Verified live: default build logs "test build window: 14 day(s) left";
a -DBT_EXPIRE_DAYS=0 build logs TEST BUILD EXPIRED and parks on the
explanation box (window title checked) without starting the game;
restored to 14 and rebuilt clean.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-22 13:39:19 -05:00
arcattackandClaude Opus 4.8 753540de96 MP match forensics: per-peer matchlog + relay auto-upload + matchcheck
For the 8-player playtest.  Damage authority is VICTIM-side, so no single
peer sees the whole match: every -net instance now writes a compact
machine-parseable matchlog_<date>_<time>_<pid>.txt (auto-armed by -net;
BT_MATCHLOG=1/0 overrides; solo silent), and at mission end a relay-mode
pod dials the relay game port (the seat-request throwaway-dial pattern,
envelope route -9) and streams the file back -- the relay saves every
peer's copy under matchlogs/ on the operator's machine, so testers send
nothing by hand.  tools/matchcheck.py <dir> reconciles all of them:
damage claimed (FIRE/PROJ/SPLASH/RAM, shooter-side) vs applied (DMG,
victim-side authoritative), kill/death replication across observers,
PLAYER_DEAD counts, scores, version skew, replicant-application and
unattributed-damage anomalies, mid-mission disconnects.

Hooks at the authoritative sites: Mech::TakeDamageMessageHandler (DMG,
post-base, zone + post-application damageLevel), MechWeapon::
SendDamageMessage (FIRE), projectile impact/splash/collision dispatch
(PROJ/SPLASH/RAM), wreck entry (DEATH -- a ONE-SHOT latch at
MovementMode 9, NOT the transition: a replicant arrives at 9 straight
from the type-6 record header and never runs the transition branch),
BTPlayer vehicle/death/score handlers (VEHICLE/PLAYER_DEAD/SCORE), zone
crit cascade (CRIT), APP.cpp RunningMission (MISSION), L4NET host
handlers (PEER_UP/PEER_DOWN).  Every line t=/w=/st=-stamped + fflushed.

Verified 2-node: mesh run pairs A's 22 FIRE 1:1 with B's 22 DMG (same
amounts, cylinder-resolved zones, ~200ms latency); force-damage kill run
logs 103 DMG + 3 DEATH inst=M + 3 PLAYER_DEAD across three respawn
cycles victim-side and the kill SCOREs shooter-side; relay-mode run
auto-uploaded BOTH peers' files at the mission-clock stop and matchcheck
produced the full report with exactly one (correct) anomaly -- the force
hook's claim-less damage, the unattributed-damage detector working.
Relay gained a route-specific 8MB cap for the upload frame (game frames
stay capped at 1600).

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-22 13:22:10 -05:00
arcattackandClaude Opus 4.8 aaa252a4a3 play_solo.bat: open the mission menu (mech/map/options pickers)
play_solo hardcoded -egg ARENA1.EGG, bypassing the miniconsole front end
that already carries the full pickers: SOLO/RAW-SOLO/HOST-LAN/JOIN-LAN
modes, 8 maps, all 18 mechs, 4 experience levels, colours/badges/patches,
drop zones, advanced damage, time-of-day, weather and mission length.

The bat now launches zero-arg (BT_PLATFORM=glass -> the menu); the menu
relaunches the exe with the generated egg and the cockpit/gauge env
(BT_START_INSIDE/BT_DEV_GAUGES) inherits into the mission child.  Menu-boot
verified with the bat's exact env; the solo menu->mission->menu cycle was
verified at FE landing.  README + the btoperator generated-bat template
updated to match.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-21 10:49:01 -05:00
arcattackandClaude Opus 4.8 d53fcf61ad BT_STEAM restored as THE compile gate (license) -- default OFF
The unification flattened BT_STEAM into the always-on exe; the user flagged
the constraint that makes it the one legitimate compile gate: the Steamworks
SDK license bars a public release with Steam inside, so a release build must
exclude it entirely.

- CMakeLists: option(BT_STEAM OFF) restored around the Steamworks block --
  an OFF configure touches no SDK headers, no steam_api.lib, no DLL copy.
  BT_GLASS stays retired (always defined); ONE build dir either way.
  Dev checkout: build/ configured once with -DBT_STEAM=ON.
- mkdist: reads BT_STEAM from build/CMakeCache.txt.  Steam-OFF zips exclude
  play_steam.bat + steam_api.dll (explicitly filtering a STALE DLL left by
  an earlier ON build), strip the README steam section ({STEAM} line
  markers), and take a -nosteam name suffix so the flavors never clobber
  (found live: both stamped 4.11.436 and the release zip overwrote the dev
  zip).

Verified both flavors:
  ON  (dev build):  steam smoke degrades to Winsock without the client;
      zip carries play_steam.bat + steam_api.dll + README steam lines.
  OFF (scratch build-relcheck, deleted after): 0 compile errors; exe dir =
      btl4.exe + OpenAL32.dll only; boots + simulates; BT_STEAM_NET=1 inert
      (transport not in the binary); end-to-end zip has zero steam bits and
      a clean README.

KB: context/glass-cockpit.md unified-build section records the license gate.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-21 10:40:03 -05:00
arcattackandClaude Opus 4.8 dd74d13120 mkdist: redist runtime DLLs + versioned tester README
The first zips (pre-mkdist) shipped d3dx9_43.dll / msvcp140.dll /
vcruntime140.dll next to the exe -- testers without the VC++ / DirectX
redistributables cannot load the exe otherwise.  mkdist missed them (the
clean-extract boot test passed only because this machine has them system-
wide).  Carried into redist/ (recovered from BT411_4.11.341.zip) and
packaged next to the exe.

Also: players/README.txt -- the tester instructions (updated for the
unified build: one exe, clickable cockpit surround, trigger-config regroup,
the settled keymap, play_steam.bat) -- stamped with the version and placed
at the zip root, matching the original zips' shape.

Clean-extract verified on BT411_4.11.435.zip: root has README + 4 bats,
exe dir carries all 4 DLLs, glass-profile boot simulates.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-21 10:32:11 -05:00