The pod's secondary/radar cockpit surface now renders as an inset in the
800x600 dev window under BT_DEV_GAUGES: radar/tactical grid, SPEED/HEADING/
MAGNETIC/PROP dials, and the color-coded ARMOR DAMAGE mech schematic -- real
gauge content (nzSec=27247), composited from the shared CPU pixelBuffer.
Composite pass (engine): SVGA16::DrawDevInset palette-expands the secondary
plane into a MANAGED texture on the MAIN device and draws an XYZRHW inset quad;
BTDrawGaugeInset() reaches the gauge renderer's 'sec' port and is called from
DPLRenderer::ExecuteImplementation as the last draw before EndScene.
Three reconstruction bugs fixed to get real content:
1. BTL4Application::MakeGaugeRenderer signature mismatch (REAL fix): the
reconstructed no-arg override only HID the 2007-engine's widened 3-arg
virtual MakeGaugeRenderer(int*,int*,int*), so the engine built a base
L4GaugeRenderer whose ctor never parsed gauge/l4gauge.cfg -> empty symbol
table -> "undefined label 'bhk1Init'" -> no ports/gauges. Matched the 3-arg
signature so it truly overrides (args ignored; BT is fullscreen). Same bug
class as the BTL4GaugeRenderer(false,NULL,NULL,NULL) ctor fix.
2. Parse hung on undefined primitives (gated dev accommodation): the BT gauge
primitive table (BTL4MethodDescription) is still a stub, so an unknown
primitive -> ReportParsingError -> Fail() -> a MODAL dialog freezing the
parse. Under BT_DEV_GAUGES, skip the unknown primitive's params so labels
register and the base "configure" primitive builds the ports.
3. Gauge widgets AV on NULL data bindings (gated): NumericDisplayScalar's NULL
value_pointer -> GaugeConnectionDirectOf ctor deref (bind NULL->static zero);
RankAndScore::Execute derefs unreconstructed game state (Gauge::GuardedExecute
SEH wrapper -> Disable(True) on first fault).
All guards gated on BT_DEV_GAUGES: default DEV un-regressed (TARGET DESTROYED,
0 crashes) and the pod path is byte-unchanged (strict Fail, no guards).
Remaining (docs/GAUGE_COMPOSITE.md): the real gauge WIDGET reconstruction
(BTL4MethodDescription method table + gauge->game-state data bindings), then
Step 2 (RP<->BT MFD port-name reconcile) + Step 3 (2-window layout).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
PLATFORM PROFILE (-platform pod|dev / BT_PLATFORM / run.cmd pod; default dev):
an env-preset selector, NOT a code fork -- it picks which environment the
existing video/gauge/input code reads. dev = single 800x600 window + keyboard
(the working build); pod = RIO input + (on real hardware) the multi-surface
gauges/MFDs, mirroring content/SETENV.BAT (the pod path -- FindBestAdapterIndices
/ SVGA16 -- is left untouched). The multi-surface needs the pod's 2 video cards,
so -platform pod does NOT auto-enable L4GAUGE on a dev box (stays bootable,
single-window). Also fixes a real engine bug: SVGA16::BuildWindows
PostQuitMessage'd on a CreateDevice failure but fell through to a null-device
deref (segfault) -- now breaks (inert on the pod).
GAUGE DEV-COMPOSITE, Milestone A (option B; opt-in BT_DEV_GAUGES, default OFF):
wake the (dormant) gauge renderer so its CPU-rastered pixelBuffer can later be
composited into the dev window, WITHOUT touching the pod SVGA16 output path.
SVGA16 does no per-surface D3D in this mode (a DevGaugeComposite() gate forces
the no-surface path + short-circuits Update/Refresh). Waking the never-exercised
gauge subsystem exposed 4 latent reconstruction bugs, each guarded:
SVGA16::Update / Refresh (empty mSurfaces[]), LBE4ControlsManager::MakeLinkedLamp
(NULL lamp manager), L4GaugeRenderer::NotifyOfNewInterestingEntity (garbage
warehouse chain). It now boots STABLY; the gauge reconstruction is incomplete
(shadowed lamp-manager + warehouse members) -- Milestone B (the composite pass)
will reveal whether the content is real. See docs/GAUGE_COMPOSITE.md.
Verified: default DEV un-regressed (combat DESTROYED, 0 crashes); pod path
untouched; BT_DEV_GAUGES boots stable.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Clean, self-contained extraction of the BattleTech-specific work from the
reverse-engineering workspace -- engine + game + content + build, with nothing
from Red Planet or the raw archive dumps. Builds green (Win32) and runs the
single-player drive->animate->target->fire->damage->destroy loop out of the box.
Layout:
engine/ MUNGA + MUNGA_L4 shared 2007 engine, carrying our BT render/loader
work (bgfload/L4D3D/L4VIDEO: BSL bit-slice decode, LOD/ground/shadow
models) + image codec; the minimal rp/ headers the audio HAL needs
game/ reconstructed BT logic + surviving-original BT source + fwd shims
+ WinMain launcher
content/ full runtime tree (BTL4.RES, VIDEO/, GAUGE/, AUDIO/, eggs, BTDPL.INI)
docs/ format specs + reconstruction ledgers
reference/ raw Ghidra pseudocode (recon source-of-truth) + decomp exporter
tools/ MP console emulator + map/resource scanners
One top-level CMake builds munga_engine lib + bt410_l4 game lib + btl4.exe.
All paths relativized (186 fwd shims + ~437 CMake abs paths -> repo-relative);
DXSDK is the one external, overridable via -DDXSDK. Verified: builds to a
byte-identical 2.27MB exe and runs combat (TARGET DESTROYED, 0 crashes) against
the bundled content.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
