The user caught the inversion (blocked viewports, see-through frames); the
answer came from the rasterizer board itself: an i860 disassembly of the
VREND.MNG firmware decoded the damageize handler (@0xf040f6f8) -- cmd 0x20
(vr_damage_action) writes the dpl_Punchize token triple onto the punch
geogroup's first three geometry chunks IN FILE ORDER:
chunk1 = the detailed window-aperture shapes -> an invisible per-pixel MASK
chunk2 = the coarse hull -> the ONLY colour-drawn geometry (where not masked)
chunk3 = byte-identical hull twin -> the damage-reset record, never visible
Visible canopy = hull-minus-apertures. Both earlier readings were wrong ways
around the same three chunks: dropping all punch left floating fragments (no
hull); hiding the duplicate pair hid the HULL and drew the MASK -- the exact
inversion observed.
Port: bgfload tags per punch patch {non-paired pmesh = mask (role 1),
first twin = hull (role 2), second twin = skip}; L4D3D DrawMesh runs
mask->stencil-1 (no colour/z-write, z-tested), hull->stencil-NOTEQUAL,
mask->stencil-0; device D24X8 -> D24S8 + stencil clear. The cut never
touches z, so later-drawn entities show through the apertures.
BT_COP_PLATES=1 disables (diag).
In-game, all 8 mechs on pure defaults: connected dark frames with clear
viewports -- thor (the footage mech) shows the central viewport + surrounding
frame exactly as filmed. Combat regression clean (kill + no NaN).
Arena textured punch uses the same firmware kit; the black-texel alpha path
there is a working approximation, flagged in the KB.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
The first-person cockpit now shows by default and matches gameplay footage
(verified on the Madcat). Two decomp-verified reconstructions:
EYEPOINT (FUN_004579a8 + caller part_014.c:5525, FUN_004c22c4):
- eye offset = siteeyepoint GetBaseOffset (not GetSegmentToEntity, not the
upright hack), parented on the PARENT segment DCS (btl4vid.cpp)
- live view = affine INVERSE of the eye world matrix (L4VIDRND Execute) --
replaces the hand-rolled LookAtRH whose +Z-forward/+Y-up row guess aimed
some mechs into the canopy; combine order fixed to baseOffset * R
- chase camera basis + aim boresight re-expressed for the inverse convention
(row2 = back); boresight now derives from the view matrix (the stale rows
aimed the pick ray at the sky = no target, no discharge)
CANOPY (*_COP.BGF, dpl_Punchize geogroups):
- every shell is an open strut lattice (38-59% boundary edges, all 12 mechs);
rendered single-sided with per-face INWARD winding (l/r torso patches are
mirrored, so no global winding works) the struts are the dark frame and the
openings show the world
- frame colour = the 'softer' ramp near its dark end (texture-less unlit ramp;
BLXSKIN.BMF has no texture -- the old "punch texels" theory was wrong)
- scoped by filename (meshIsCop); wrong drop-punch + view-cut paths removed
- BT_FORCE_MODEL=<name> forces the player mech for per-mech bring-up
KB: new context/cockpit-view.md topic; punch split corrected in bgf-format;
gotchas 14 (LookAt axis guess) + 15 (per-patch edge namespaces); env gates +
eye/punch addresses in decomp-reference.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
