Full cross-pod KILL now works: instance A (host 2) shoots B's mech (host 3)
dead over the network; B runs the death transition on its own screen. Verified
on a 2-node one-box run (BT_MP_FORCE_DMG on A): B's mech takes ~36 remote hits
of 12 and is DESTROYED, with wreck swap + explosion.
ROOT CAUSE (one bug): B's own MASTER mech was INVALID. Entity::Receive(Event*)
does `if(!IsValid()) event->Defer()` -- so a cross-pod-delivered TakeDamage that
arrived, resolved to B's real mech, and Posted, was DEFERRED forever; the handler
never ran. The reconstructed Mech::Make force-set ValidFlag only for replicants
(the P6 bring-up hack for the partial MakeReady handshake); a locally-created
master never got validated.
FIX (one line): Mech::Make now sets ValidFlag for the master too -- the
reconstructed ctor builds the mech synchronously, so it's safe. Nothing else
changed: targeting, the virtual victim->Dispatch, the replicant reroute, the
wire, receive, and id resolution were ALL already correct.
Two prior root causes were BOTH mis-diagnoses from the WRONG messageID:
Entity::TakeDamageMessageID is 18, not 21. Every earlier probe filtered
msgID==21, never matched a real TakeDamage, and mis-correlated the stray 21
hits' 3:19 / classID-48 against the real 3:22 hit -- inventing (a) a "cross-TU
Entity layout divergence" (disproven: offsetof identical in both TUs, sizeof
444, entityID@0x17C) and (b) a "localID corrupted on the wire". Both FALSE; the
id is correct end-to-end (3:22 = B's master).
- game/reconstructed/mech.cpp: validate master + replicant at Make.
- game/reconstructed/mech4.cpp: BT_MP_FORCE_DMG cleaned to a concise gated
2-node cross-pod reproducer (real virtual Dispatch path).
- context/multiplayer.md, reconstruction-gotchas.md: corrected root cause +
the validity-defers-cross-pod gotcha. Engine diagnostics reverted to clean.
Solo un-regressed (the solo enemy was already force-valid; the change only ADDS
ValidFlag). btl4.exe builds; full mission loop clean.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>