Source archaeology (the per-file modification tables in the surviving
headers) surfaced six programmer initials: JM, ECH, CPB, GDU, JMA, GAH.
Read to VWE veterans on the project Discord (2026-07-21), VGL Lynx --
who watched the first multiplayer Thor walk terrain on a Red Planet map --
identified them: Jim Albertson, Eric Nichols (uncertain), Chris Brewer,
Gabe Underwood, Joanna Mason (mapping inferred), Garth Hermanson; hardware
initials MC = Marek Ciolek (AC unresolved), via Cyd.
Team size per Lynx: dev ~8, art ~6, MUNGA by a smaller parallel internal
team with crossovers, no outsourcing. Identifications marked T3 (oral
history, as-typed spellings) against the T0 initials; a corrections
invitation is included. Linked from context/project-overview.md.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Correct the audio digest in wintesla-port.md + project-overview.md: the "no
sound ever" root cause was that BOTH engine/lib backend DLLs were no-op stubs
(libsndfile ordinal-only sf_open->NULL; OpenAL32 imports only KERNEL32). Now
real OpenAL Soft + LoadWavPCM; soundbank cracked (241 samples). Only remaining
gap = game triggering (AudioEntities).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
User reported never hearing any audio. Root-caused: the KB "Audio: DONE" was wrong.
The OpenAL playback chain IS fully implemented (device/buffers/sources; PlayNote
really calls alSourcePlay), but three gaps kept it silent:
1. GATED OFF (the "no sound" root cause): BTL4Application::MakeAudioRenderer returned
NULL unless the pod's AWE_FRONT/AWE_REAR AWE32-card env vars were set -- authentic
1995 pod behavior, dead on modern hardware, so the renderer was NEVER created.
FIXED: default audio ON (BT_NO_AUDIO=1 restores silence; AWE vars still force-on).
Verified: the OpenAL device now opens with no env vars ([audio] device OPENED).
2. Soundbank STUB: allPresets[2][100] (btstubs.cpp) is zero-init -> PRESET_isImplemented
false -> 0 buffers load. Sample data exists (AUDIO1/2.RES: EnginePower/LaserAFire/...)
but the event->sample map is gone (not in the decomp). STILL OPEN.
3. No triggering: the reconstructed game never creates AudioEntities on events. STILL OPEN.
So the device opens but nothing loads/plays yet -- enabling real sound needs the
soundbank reconstructed + the game triggers wired (a proper audio wave). Added a
BT_AUDIO_LOG trace harness across L4AUDRND/L4AUDRES/L4AUDLVL. KB corrected.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
