arcattackandClaude Opus 4.8
fe1cc0d79c
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>
60 lines
3.6 KiB
Markdown
60 lines
3.6 KiB
Markdown
---
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id: project-overview
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title: "Project Overview — what this is, people, goals"
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status: established
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source_sections: "PROGRESS_LOG.md §1-3; README.md"
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related_topics: [pod-hardware, wintesla-port, source-completeness, build-and-run]
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key_terms: [BT, RP, MUNGA, Tesla-platform, WinTesla, pod]
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---
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# Project Overview
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Port VWE's arcade **pod** games (Tesla platform, release 4.10, ~1995-96) to modern Windows and,
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ultimately, the actual arcade pod hardware. Primary target: **BattleTech (BT)**; **Red Planet
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(RP)** shares the engine. Full detail: `docs/PROGRESS_LOG.md §1-3`.
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The ORIGINAL 1995-96 team — the initials in the source headers matched to names by VWE veterans
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(dev team ~8, art ~6, MUNGA by a smaller internal team) — is credited in **`docs/CREDITS.md`**.
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## The stack
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- Two games, one engine: BT + RP. Engine = **MUNGA**; HAL = **L4** (`MUNGA_L4`). Game logic =
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`CODE/BT`, `CODE/RP`. [T1]
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- Original platform: **32-bit DOS** under a **DPMI32** extender, Borland C++ 5 + TASM32, on Novell
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DOS pods. 3D by a proprietary Division **IG image-generator board** (dual EISA), driven by the
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closed **`libDPL.lib`** (binary + VREND microcode). [T1]
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- **The port replaces the IG board/libDPL** with a `dpl_*` → Direct3D9 shim (done in WinTesla as
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L4D3D). Pods now run Windows 10 + a Voodoo/Glide wrapper. BT was abandoned (MechWarrior 4 runs on
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the current pods); this project revives BT. [T1]
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## People / goals
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- **arcattack** (user): doing the port. NVIDIA 3060 + A6000 dev GPUs.
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- **Nick:** owns the pods + the software license (porting is authorized). Runs the pod hardware. The
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gating dependency — the missing BT source likely lives on his backup drives (see [[source-completeness]]).
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- **Goal:** run on (a) a modern dev box and (b) the fixed pod hardware. Multiplayer (pod-to-pod) wanted.
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## Repo orientation (bt411)
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This is the **clean standalone bt411 repo**. `README.md` + the top-level `CMakeLists.txt` are the
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build of record. Tree: `engine/ game/ content/ docs/ reference/ tools/ context/`. Historical
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sections in `docs/PROGRESS_LOG.md` cite old `C:/git/nick-games/...` paths — treat as provenance;
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they map into this repo (reconstructed BT → `game/reconstructed/`, engine → `engine/MUNGA{,_L4}/`,
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content → `content/`, raw decomp → `reference/decomp/`). [T2]
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## Current state (2026-07)
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`btl4.exe` boots, renders the world + a skinned mech, and runs a full **drive → animate → target →
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fire → damage → destroy → respawn** single-player loop (task #52). **2-node MP is verified
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end-to-end** — replication, cross-pod targeting/damage/kill, beam visuals, replicant gait (tasks
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#46-#51, [[multiplayer]]). All 8 cockpit canopies are authentic + the horizontal-FOV fix (task #55,
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[[cockpit-view]]); the Gyroscope is live byte-exact with hit-bounce (task #56); the **gauge system
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is complete** ([[gauges-hud]]). The engine/renderer/HAL are done (WinTesla); AUDIO backend is now REAL
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(the repo's OpenAL32.dll + libsndfile-1.dll were both no-op STUBS — replaced with real OpenAL Soft +
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an in-tree WAV loader, 2026-07-15) and the 241-sample soundbank is cracked from AUDIO1/2.RES + loading;
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the ONLY remaining audio gap is game-triggering (no AudioEntities fire PlayNote yet), so gameplay is
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still silent apart from a proof-of-life hook (see [[wintesla-port]] Audio). The active work
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is reconstructing each BT subsystem's authentic behavior from the binary. Remaining: pod-LAN
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config, Mech-level update records, per-subsystem waves. [T2]
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## Key Relationships
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- Full detail: `docs/PROGRESS_LOG.md`.
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- Enables: everything — see [[wintesla-port]] (the base), [[source-completeness]] (the gap),
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[[build-and-run]] (how to build).
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