Pulsing the player's SimulationState (DropZoneAcquired->Translocated) to trigger
the translocation sphere regressed everything else that dial drives in our
reconstruction -- the camera flipped to inside-view, targeting/firing gated off,
shadow pass glitched. That dial is load-bearing; co-opting it was wrong.
Replace with a self-contained render one-shot: btplayer.cpp respawn calls
BTStartWarpEffect(dropZoneOrigin); the effect plays its own collapse->expand and
touches nothing but the render. No SetSimulationState, no DropZoneLocation write,
no per-entity renderable walk (the tree's BTTranslocationRenderable objects are
now inert). Scale capped 30/40 (authentic 100/150) so the sphere -- centred on
your own reinsertion -- doesn't envelop the camera; tunable via BT_WARP_SCALE.
Smoke-verified 2-node: warp fires on each respawn (collapse 31->5, expand ->35),
repeats, respawn cycle intact, no crash. Camera/targeting restored (state pulse
gone).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
BTTranslocationRenderable was a no-op stub; now reconstructed over the engine's
POVTranslocateRenderable: loads tsphere.bgf and runs a collapse-on-arrival /
expand-on-reveal sphere (scale 100->1 over 1.3s, then 1->150 over 1.0s, rotating)
keyed on the player's SimulationState dial. Drawn direct from the render loop by
BTDrawTranslocationSpheres (beside BTDrawBeams, PASS_ALPHABLEND) -- the same
accommodation the beams/reticle use.
The asset loads by FILENAME (tsphere.bgf), not through the RES table -- which is
why every resource-name search missed the effect for three rounds.
Trigger wiring: btl4vid.cpp MakeEntityRenderables builds the sphere for the LOCAL
player (the authentic wiring builds it only for replicants + a POV fade for self,
but peer player-attribute replication isn't wired -- on a replicant SimulationState/
DropZoneLocation read uninitialised). btplayer.cpp pulses SimulationState
DropZoneAcquired->VehicleTranslocated at respawn (a 1.4s flip timer stands in for
the engine's +1s drop-zone re-post) and writes the respawn origin into the
DropZoneLocation attribute.
Verified 2-node (BT_TLOC_LOG): on respawn the sphere collapses (~100->5) then
expands (->150) at the valid drop-zone origin, deduped to <=2 active, respawn
cycle un-regressed, no render errors. Visual appearance (colour/size) still needs
a live look; the authentic see-others'-spheres path needs player replication.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
My earlier 'not a shipped asset' verdict was wrong. The effect is POVTranslocateRenderable
(engine) / BTTranslocationRenderable (our port), which loads tsphere.bgf BY FILENAME (not via
the RES table, so every resource-name search missed it) and runs a collapse-on-death /
expand-on-respawn sphere keyed on the SimulationState dial. Wiring already exists in
btl4vid.cpp; the renderable is a no-op stub in btstubs.cpp. That's why it never shows.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Searched the full pod install (nick-games/tesla4pod_extracted REL410/BT;
BTL4.RES byte-identical to ours) and the whole nick-games archive: no
whirl/warp/tunnel/vortex asset by filename or RES resource name, no such
psfx in BTDPL.INI. The decomp drop path (DropZoneReply FUN_004bffd0) fires
no effect — only Mech::Reset + the level-2 "translocated" cockpit alarm.
BTPLAYER source is absent from all archives (binary-only). RP411 analog
uses InitialStasisFlag (sim gate, no visual). Verdict: the pod build's
respawn is mech-redrop + translocated alarm; the "blue whirlwind" is not
a shipped REL410 asset.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Death transition (mech4) now dispatches VehicleDead(-1) to the owning
player; BTPlayer::VehicleDeadMessageHandler restructured to the authentic
@004c05c4 three-way branch: -1 = death bookkeeping + sever playerVehicle
(wreck stays) + 5s re-post; >=0 = engine drop-zone hunt -> DropZoneReply
-> CreatePlayerVehicle (new mech); -2 = the acquire probe. Guarded on a
DropZones group so a zone-less mission stays dead instead of aborting.
Three latent bugs the respawn path exposed, all fixed:
- IsMechDestroyed latched on graphicAlarm>=9 alone; a later leg hit on the
wreck rewrites the alarm to 4/3, un-latching -> the death transition
re-ran (double kill/score, abort). Now latches on movementMode 2||9.
- Score handlers dereferenced the severed playerVehicle during the dead
window; guarded.
- The console score flush routed a NetworkClient::Message through the
player's Entity::Dispatch, which stamps entityID past the smaller struct
-> /RTC1 stack overflow. Sent via application->SendMessage instead.
- Renderer LoadMission re-entry (per viewpoint-make) re-read the env INI;
its light block Fail'd on stale sceneLightCount. Reset it in
DPLReadEnvironment so the respawn's second read is clean.
Verified 2-node self-drive: B killed repeatedly by A respawns each time
(wreck stays), ticks + reloads + takes fresh damage on the new mech, no
abort/hang across multiple death->respawn cycles.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
User report from 2-window play: after dying, the pilot could still steer the
wreck around invisibly. Zero throttle/turn/fire and the forced harnesses at
the gBTDrive source when IsMechDestroyed() -- deliberately INPUT-only, so the
gait/animation machinery keeps running and the death collapse plays out.
Also recorded in the KB: the killer's screen shows the wreck SWAP but not the
death SINK (needs the Mech-level death/knockdown update records, disasm
preserved from task #51), and the respawn-cycle scouting (type-12 intro
scripts are binary ref-records; adrop; DropZone + Mech::Reset machinery) for
the recovery-whirlwind reconstruction (task #52).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
User report: lasers only visible on the window firing them. The peer's
replicant emitters never learned the master fired.
THE AUTHENTIC PIPE (decomp-verified):
- FUN_0041c350 (the "beam keepalive" ServiceDischarge/ContinueDischarge call)
does TWO things: queue the LOCAL deferred beam-effect callback (@0x4bac0c)
on the app+0x34 manager -- our per-weapon render walk already plays that
role -- and set the subsystem DIRTY bit, which maps to the 2007 engine's
updateModel / ForceUpdate().
- Replication rides SUBSYSTEM UPDATE RECORDS inside the mech's update message:
the roster walk already hands the entity's stream to every subsystem's
PerformAndWatch; Simulation::WriteSimulationUpdate serializes each requested
updateModel bit; Entity::UpdateMessageHandler routes received records by
subsystemID to the subsystem's ReadUpdateRecord. All engine machinery --
the missing pieces were the Emitter's serialize/apply pair + the triggers.
CORRECTIONS to the dormant task-33-era transcriptions (never exercised --
nothing ever set updateModel -- so the latent misreads never surfaced):
- The weapon-family VTABLE SLOT MAP was swapped: slot 6 = ReadUpdateRecord,
7 = WriteUpdateRecord, 9 = TakeDamage (evidence: Mech hierarchy symmetry +
body semantics; @004ba568 resolves an EntityID at rec+0x30 through the
entity index -- record semantics, not Damage). Renamed across MechWeapon /
Emitter / ProjectileWeapon; the real Emitter::TakeDamage @004bafc8 is
undecoded (inherits MechWeapon for now).
- Emitter/MechWeapon Write: `*record = 0x38/0x18` is the record LENGTH, not
recordID; rec+0x30 is the TARGET's EntityID (GetEntityID()), not a colour --
the old `CopyColor(targetEntity+0x184)` was also a databinding trap.
- OVERRIDE-SIGNATURE TRAP: the decls used each class's own shadowing
UpdateRecord typedef as the param type, silently NOT overriding the engine
virtual (the base ran instead; nothing would ever have serialized).
Base-typed params (Simulation__UpdateRecord*), casts inside.
- Emitter::ReadUpdateRecord reconstructed (@004ba568): target EntityID resolve
(drop unknown non-null targets), MechWeapon alarm apply chain, beam fields.
- ServiceDischarge/ContinueDischarge: ForceUpdate() per keepalive tick + one
final record at beam end (turns the peer's beam off).
- Mech::DrawWeaponBeams extracted from the player-only drive block so the walk
runs for REPLICANTS (+ per-mech gun-port cache -- the process-wide statics
would have served the player's segment pointers as the replicant's muzzles).
VERIFIED 2-node: A fires 57 volleys -> 225 emitter records -> B applies all
225 -> B draws 414 beams (PPC blue / laser red, from A's replicant's own gun
ports). Solo un-regressed (150 beams, kill chain, no crash).
Also preserved: the full Mech::WriteUpdateRecord @0x4a0c2c recovery
(reference/decomp/mech_writeupdate_004a0c2c.disasm.txt) with all 9 record
types decoded (pose/alarm/leg-state+heat with the body-channel write-through
re-sync, knockdown, death, impact, movementMode) -- transcription deferred;
it replicates remote knockdown/death/heat and was not needed for beams.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
User report from the first live 2-window session: throttle worked, A/D turn
did nothing. [mppr] showed the input REACHING the mapper (stickX=-1) but
turnDemand=0 and controlMode = pointer garbage (73583232 / 217478632 --
different per instance), from frame 1, MP only (solo mode=0).
Hunted with a cdb hardware write-breakpoint (ba w4 armed at ctor time on
&controlMode, compiled offset +0x128 from the [mode-ctor] probe). Caught the
writers red-handed: MechControlsMapper::BuildPilotArray / FillPilotArray.
ROOT CAUSE -- a shrunk-span array: the binary reserves a FIXED 10-slot pilot
block @0x15C..0x183 ((pilotArrayBuilt@0x184 - 0x15C)/4 = 10); the recon
declared `Pilot *pilotArray[1]` ("variable length"), so every write past
slot 0 stomps the members declared after it. In MP, FillPilotArray wrote the
PEER's Player pointer into slot 1 = over controlMode -> the turn shaping
dispatched on pointer garbage -> turnDemand 0. MASKED in solo: the zero-loop
overrun wrote 0 there, and 0 == BasicMode. This was ALSO the real cause of
task #48's "turnDemand zeroes out in -net" observation (worked around then
with the direct goto-turn; attribution corrected in the KB).
Fix: pilotArray sized to the binary's own 10-slot span; ctor zeroes all
slots; BuildPilotArray clamps pilotCount to capacity (local + 9 remotes; an
8-pod game fits). Diagnostics kept (BT_MODE_LOG ctor probe; [mppr] line now
prints mapper/&mode).
VERIFIED: MP session holds mode=0 throughout, turnDemand flows nonzero, the
mech turns (heading -1.33) and closes on the peer; solo kill chain intact.
KB: new "shrunk-span array" gotcha (reconstruction-gotchas 5) with the cdb
ba-w4 recipe; multiplayer.md task-#48 note corrected.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
A peer's replicant mech slid around as a frozen statue: DeadReckon moved
localOrigin but nothing animated the legs. Reconstruct the replicated-motion
display loop: after DeadReckon, derive a SIGNED speed demand from the
replicated velocity (the master publishes worldLinearVelocity in every update
record, Mover::WriteUpdateRecord MOVER.cpp:759; the replicant stores it in
updateVelocity.linearMotion :712; sign = forward dot against the -Z facing),
write it to controlsMapper->speedDemand (the LEG channel's live demand
source), and advance the LEG state machine for its JOINT writes only --
travel stays with DeadReckon, so position always follows the master and the
clip cadence matches the replicated speed.
Two replicant-only initialization holes found live (the master's equivalents
are primed per-frame in the PLAYER-only drive block):
- globalTimeScale/idleStrideScale read 0 -> clip advance time dt*0, the leg
machine engaged (state 11) but the clip froze (legCycle stuck 0);
- reverseSpeedMax2 (the run-cycle rise-clamp @0x7a0; LoadLocomotionClips does
NOT set it) read debug-heap garbage -> legCycleSpeed clamped to -4.3e8 on
entering run state 13. Primed both; legCycleSpeed sane-banded once.
VERIFIED 2-node (BT_GOTO driver + BT_REPL_LOG observer): the replicant runs
the full gait lifecycle -- stand -> walk(5,7) -> run(10,12), legCycle 7.5->34
tracking the master's speed, wind-down(8), Standing(0) when the master stops.
Solo un-regressed (goto->aim->kill chain intact, no crash).
projectedVelocity source-swap (the binary publishes the BODY channel's
smoothed projection instead of the actual travel velocity) evaluated and
DEFERRED: it risks a verified working replication feed for a smoothing
nuance; recorded in multiplayer.md.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
User report: the shadow broke MID-SESSION -- suddenly solid opaque black and
buried on any slope. The session log pinned the trigger: pressing V. The
view toggle (SetViewInside) RELOADS every segment mesh through the object
loader and swaps them into the render tree -- including blh_tshd.bgf -- and
the reload path never called SetIsShadow(1) (only the original tree-build
call site tagged it). Untagged, the entire shadow pipeline disengages: no
translucent TFACTOR state block (solid black), no depth bias (buried), wrong
pass. The damage-swap reloads had the same hole.
Fix: tag *tshd* filenames in LoadObjectBGF itself, next to the existing
all-shadow-material detector (which misses the mech proxy -- plain black
material, not shadow_mtl). Every load path -- build, damage swap, view
toggle -- now yields a tagged object; the drawOps alphaTest routing reads
the flag downstream. User-verified live: the shadow survives repeated V
toggles, translucent and slope-correct.
This also likely explains the RECURRING "shadow vanishes on inclines"
reports: any V toggle silently broke it; every relaunch "fixed" it. KB
(locomotion.md): loader-level tag recorded as co-dependent part 5 of the
shadow arrangement; the vanish-diagnostic note now lists all three causes
(reload untag / gait desync / genuine burial) with check-first guidance.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
User report: the ground shadow painted OVER the mech's feet. Root cause: the
flat quad + big depth-bias (-0.004 ~= 2-4 world units) workaround for slope
burial -- a bias big enough to beat the TERRAIN also beat the FEET in the
depth test, and the shadow drew in the late alpha-blend pass (after the mech),
so z-arbitration was the only layering control.
Fix, four co-dependent parts (user-verified live: feet on top, opaque,
survives inclines/declines):
- TILT (mech.cpp UpdateShadowJoint): apply the SKL's own contract for
jointshadow ("apply terrain angle to pitch and roll") -- quad up aligned to
the surface normal via an orthonormal basis fed to the ENGINE's own
LinearMatrix->EulerAngles conversion. Hand-derived Euler signs are exactly
how the prior tilt attempts "dug into the hillside"; the engine conversion
is convention-proof. ~35 deg cliff-guard cap.
- SAMPLER (mech4.cpp): surface gradient from the collision probes PLUS
BTVisualGroundLift per probe -- the quad hugs the VISIBLE terrain, whose
lift varies across a slope; world->local rotation by the TRUE yaw from
localToWorld, not the drift-prone gDriveHeading mirror (the task-#48 bug
class). BT_SHADOW_LOG traces the normals.
- DRAW ORDER (new PASS_SHADOW, l4d3d.h/L4VIDRND/L4VIDEO): shadows draw
between the STATIC terrain and the DYNAMIC opaque bodies -- the classic
decal order. The mech, drawn after, z-passes over the shadow: the bias
can never paint the shadow over the feet, structurally.
- BIAS pairing (L4D3D.cpp): tilt on (default) -> decal epsilon -0.0008;
BT_SHADOW_TILT=0 flat fallback -> the old -0.004. BT_SHADOW_BIAS overrides.
KB (locomotion.md): the four-part arrangement recorded as co-dependent, with
the gait-desync-symptom diagnostic hint retained.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
The shadow report was a desync symptom, not a bias/tilt bug: the ~2-4 unit
depth-bias margin is tight enough that v4's out-of-phase leg pose showing
through could push the flat quad under a slope. No shadow code changed;
both symptoms cleared together. Noted as a diagnostic hint (check
[sync]/BT_SYNC_LOG before touching bias/tilt for this report class).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
User-reported recurrence of "legs stutter and lose sync". Live [sync] showed
advSum/legSum drifting 5->92 during walk-up churn, then locking. Reproduced
headlessly (BT_FORCE_OSC throttle feathering + BT_FORCE_TURN + the new
per-frame BT_SYNC_LOG probe) and root-caused in two parts:
- SEED: the bring-up turn-in-place trigger arms only the LEG channel, so the
walk re-entry lands one frame apart -> a persistent clip phase offset.
- AMPLIFIER: with offset clips the two end-of-clip callbacks fire on different
frames; a demand change landing between them picks DIFFERENT next states
(one channel winds down, the other keeps walking) -> opposite-phase churn
(observed bs=6 ls=7 -- body on walk-R, leg on walk-L).
Under v4 (display+travel = BODY) the out-of-phase LEG pose showed through on
every frame the body didn't write joints (Standing/wind-down) = the visible
stutter/pop.
DISASM GROUND TRUTH (neither Advance fn has a static decomp caller; found by
byte-scanning the CODE section for e8 calls):
- master perf (0x4a9b5c gap) -> AdvanceLegAnimation @0x4aa399 (air @0x4aa388)
-> -dist/dt into localVelocity (+0x1cc): the LEG drives LOCAL travel and
(writing last) the displayed pose;
- IntegrateMotion (0x4ab1c8, body advance @0x4ab312, caller FUN_004ab430 =
the projected-origin updater) -> -dist/dt into projectedVelocity (+0x2a0):
the BODY is the dead-reckoning PROJECTOR -- locally invisible.
v4's reading of FUN_004ab430 as the travel source was wrong.
FIX: advance body FIRST (projection; its writes get overwritten), leg LAST
(displayed pose); travel = legAdv under the two-channel split. Display ==
travel through the LEG by construction -- body-channel drift can no longer
become visible, structurally (not by input-symmetry luck).
Verified: trn+feathering repro clean; straight drive locked (adv==proj);
solo goto=enemy kill chain intact; MP 2-node drive-to-range cross-pod kill
intact (241 hits, DESTROYED); no crashes. KB corrected (locomotion.md roles
+ P3_LOCOMOTION.md v5 entry). New gated instruments: BT_SYNC_LOG,
BT_FORCE_OSC.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
The BT_GOTO beeline never actually closed on a target -- three separate faults:
1. It was gated behind `if(gBTDrive.forced)`, and `forced` was set ONLY by
BT_AUTODRIVE -- a chicken-and-egg where the block that would drive was gated
on the drive already being on. So BT_GOTO alone just turned in place (the
"stall"). Fix: BT_GOTO enables forced mode itself AND supplies its own
forward throttle (a beeline must drive, not only steer), cutting the throttle
inside a stop radius (weapon range for "enemy", so it holds + shoots).
2. Steering used the gDriveHeading SCALAR MIRROR (seeded to 0), but MP pilots
spawn facing a non-zero heading -> it steered the WRONG way. Fix: heading
error from the mech's ACTUAL forward (localToWorld's -Z axis), signed angle
to the target.
3. The goto turn was routed through controlsMapper->turnDemand, which zeroes out
in -net mode (the mapper key-bridge only shapes the local viewpoint mech
there) -- the heading froze and A drove straight past B. Fix: apply the goto
turn to the orientation integration DIRECTLY (if gBTGotoActive, turn=
gBTGotoTurn), after the mapper read.
Verified 2-node one-box: A with BT_GOTO="enemy" ALONE (no autodrive) drives
dist 1673->231m, holds at weapon range, mechPicks=59, autofire -> B hdlr=192,
DESTROYED -- a fully automated human-style cross-pod KILL via the real beam
path (not the FORCE_DMG hook). Solo un-regressed (plain autodrive still drives;
goto="enemy" resolves the enemy, mechPicks=59, no crash). BT_GOTO_LOG traces
the beeline.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
The aim/pick ray was the active RENDER EYE's view direction, which made a
mech unable to aim at a distant enemy:
(a) it inherited the mech BODY pitch -- on a slope the body tilts ~8 deg to
conform to terrain, so the boresight pointed that far DOWN and the pick
ray hit the ground ~50-100m short of the target (groundPicks, never
mechPicks); and
(b) in CHASE view (the default) it was the elevated behind-the-shoulder
camera, so the ray started over the mech's shoulder and flew high.
Fix (L4VIDRND DPLEyeRenderable::Execute, the BTSetAimCamera publish):
- LEVEL the boresight: drop the view-direction pitch and rebuild an upright
basis (world +Y up) -- the guns fire along the mech's gyro-stabilized
HORIZONTAL heading, not the terrain-pitched body. Reticle X still carries
the torso twist (BTTwistToReticleX); reticle Y any elevation.
- ANCHOR the ray origin at the mech's TORSO (myEntity->localToWorld
translation + ~5) instead of the render eye, so it is correct in BOTH the
chase (default) and cockpit views.
Verified end-to-end: solo, enemy 120m ahead, BOTH chase and cockpit view ->
[target] "MECH under boresight ... mechPicks=59 groundPicks=0" -> beam ->
*** DESTROYED. Also proved PickRayHit resolves a REPLICANT when aimed at it
(hit=1 at 757m, 2-node run).
mech4: BT_GOTO="enemy" test aid now chases the nearest peer of ANY instance
(solo dummy OR replicant), not just replicants.
Still open (locomotion, not aim/MP): BT_GOTO/BT_AUTODRIVE stall short of the
enemy, so an AUTOMATED 2-node kill via the real beam isn't demonstrated yet
(the FORCE_DMG hook still is). A human can now aim correctly in the default
view. Solo un-regressed; build clean; KB validator clean.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Re-measured interactive -net combat on a 2-node run. The KB's "aim ray dead /
drive dead in -net" was STALE: A's aim ray is live (noRay=0, the active eye
publishes the aim camera) and A drives (BT_AUTODRIVE/BT_GOTO move it). The real
blocker to a human cross-pod kill via the beam path is NOT the netcode:
- Boresight inherits the mech BODY pitch. The aim ray = the active eye's view
dir; on sloped terrain the body pitches to conform and the boresight points
~8 deg down ([EYE] up=(-.03,.99,-.14) == [pick] ldir.y=-0.145 every frame),
so at range the ray hits terrain ~50-100m short of the enemy (mechPicks=0).
- Drive/goto stalls ~700m short before closing to pick/weapon range.
- PickRayHit vs a replicant is thus unconfirmed, but the replicant localToWorld
IS correct (lstart magnitude == true A->B distance; the DeadReckon +
localToWorld=localOrigin block already tracks the replicated position).
Change: add a gated BT_GOTO="enemy" test mode (beeline toward the nearest live
replicant) -- MP spawn coords vary per run so a fixed "x z" can't reliably face
the peer. KB (multiplayer.md) updated with the corrected findings + the real
remaining work (torso-pitch/level-boresight aim ray + drive-to-range).
Solo un-regressed; btl4.exe builds; KB validator clean.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
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>
The prior commit (c78662a) filed cross-pod damage failure under a
"cross-TU Entity/EntityID layout divergence" (and the P5 base-region
audit). A compile-time offsetof probe injected into BOTH translation
units disproves that: game/reconstructed AND engine/MUNGA compute an
IDENTICAL Entity layout --
sizeof(Entity)=444 offsetof(entityID)=380 (0x17C)
offsetof(ownerID)=388 offsetof(simulationFlags)=32
offsetof(Mech,entityID)=380 (Entity subobject at 0)
So Entity::Dispatch reads this->entityID at the SAME offset mech4's
GetEntityID() does -- there is no per-TU read difference, and the
logged 3:22 (mech4 candidate) vs 3:19 (engine Dispatch) cannot be one
object read two ways. Those lines were different objects/messages,
mis-correlated. The distinct, REAL P5 "base-region layout divergence"
(HARD_PROBLEMS.md) is about raw-offset stomps at this+0x2d4..0x2f0 --
far above entityID -- and is unrelated to #47.
Changes:
- Revert the committed BT_MP_NET engine diagnostics (ENTITY/EVENT/
NTTMGR/RECEIVER/L4NET) to the clean a9c3e96 baseline -- those are
the very instruments that produced the mis-correlated data.
- mech4 BT_MP_FORCE_DMG hook: dispatch via the real m->Dispatch(&td)
path (no false id stamping); comment records the offsetof finding.
- context/multiplayer.md: layout-divergence RULED OUT; 3:22/3:19 marked
unconfirmed; leading hypotheses reframed as H2 (wire host-relative
(de)serialization) vs H3 (replicant id != master's registered key),
to be distinguished by a 2-node run with per-message correlation.
Solo un-regressed (mech walks + targets, 0 faults). Cross-pod delivery
remains open, but the investigation is redirected off the wrong (large,
structural) layout-audit path onto the EntityID wire/id-assignment path.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Traced the dispatched-message delivery end to end with BT_MP_NET /
BT_MP_FORCE_DMG. Everything works except one wire step:
- A's Entity::Dispatch reroutes the replicant's TakeDamage
(application->SendMessage(ownerID=3, EntityManager, msg)); POST-Dispatch
the message carries entityID=3:22 (host:local) -- the replicant's own
ID, matching B's master (GetEntityID()==3:22). VERIFIED sent.
- On B the message ARRIVES, GetEntityPointer finds an entity, Posts it,
the event drains (ProcessEventTask = ProcessOneEvent(0)), Event::Process
runs, Receive finds+calls a handler. VERIFIED the full deliver chain.
- BUG: B receives entityID=3:19, NOT 3:22 -- the localID dropped by
exactly the hostID (3) between A's send and B's receive. So
GetEntityPointer(3:19) returns the WRONG entity (classID 48, not the
mech 0xBB9), whose base handler ignores the unaimed hit -> 0 damage.
Auto-replicated UPDATE records (msgID 18) arrive with the correct 3:22
and find the mech, so the corruption is specific to the dispatched-
message wire path/direction.
Next: the host-relative EntityID (de)serialization on the dispatched-msg
path (RoutePacket / packet EntityID encoding) -- diff vs the update path
which translates correctly. Diagnostics retained (all BT_MP_NET-gated,
off in solo -- verified: solo 22 hits, 0 probe noise).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
STEP 1 -- target any peer mech: DONE + verified. A live-mech registry
(BTRegisterMech/BTDeregisterMech from the Mech ctor/dtor) collects
every mech -- player, dummy, and peer replicants. The boresight
world-pick walks BTGetTargetCandidates (all mechs != shooter, closest
ray hit) and the whole fire/damage block retargets from the solo
gEnemyMech to the picked hotTarget; missile/projectile validation
generalised via BTIsRegisteredMech. Verified one-box: instance A
enumerates B's mech as a live ReplicantInstance (20 zones, ownerID=3).
Solo un-regressed (pick->damage->kill clean, 28 hits + DESTROYED).
STEP 2 -- cross-pod damage: dispatch + engine reroute are CORRECT and
invoked with a valid owner, but the dispatched message doesn't reach
the master. Entity::Dispatch (ENTITY.cpp:244) reroutes a replicant's
msg via application->SendMessage(ownerID,...); BT_MP_FORCE_DMG proves A
dispatches at B's replicant with ownerID=3, yet B takes 0 STEP-6
damage. Corrects the KB's [T3] "Dispatch already reroutes": the reroute
FIRES; the break is downstream in the transport/delivery of a
dispatched entity-message (update records flow fine -- net-rx works).
Next MP task = that wire delivery. Diagnostics BT_MP_LOG /
BT_MP_FORCE_DMG retained.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
One-box smoke test re-run on the current build: console egg -> mesh ->
RunningMission both instances, 174+ x144-byte update records each side,
2 mech trees per instance, 0 crashes (~6 min). The movement-replication
milestone is intact after all the targeting/weapon/death changes.
Gap map to a first playable LAN fight recorded in
context/multiplayer.md (wiring order): (1) generalize the world-pick
from gEnemyMech to all peer mechs; (2) exercise the Dispatch reroute
for cross-pod TakeDamage; (3) victim state visuals on the shooter's
screen (zone replication or a death event); (4) cross-pod beam visuals
via the AUTHENTIC beam-keepalive messages (FUN_0041c350, templates
@0x511e6c/78 -- already stubbed in emitter.cpp); (5) 2-window driving +
DEATHS scoring; respawn deferred to the P5 teardown debt.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
User: "it doesn't scale with our screen resolution?" -- correct. The
HUD draws into the fixed 800x600 backbuffer and the present stretches
it into the client area: on non-4:3 windows everything distorted
(circles -> ellipses, the bottom tape widened vs the ladder, positions
drifted outward).
- BTGetPresentAspect (L4VIDEO, from gWindowAspect; 4:3 fallback).
- dpl2d x-unit = (bbW/2)/presentAspect (== bbH/2 at 4:3 -- unchanged
there), circles pre-squished in bb space so the stretch restores
round.
- The reticle<->NDC conversions (BTGetAimRay / BTProjectToReticle /
BTProjectHotBox / BTTwistToReticleX) use the PRESENT aspect; the
mouse map (BTClientToReticle) is now pure client-relative.
- Placement itself is authentic and stays put: the binary clusters the
instruments around the boresight (ladder x=0.35 half-heights, spans
+-0.25) -- NOT at the display edges.
- Crash en route: the BTGetPresentAspect extern declared INSIDE dpl2d's
anonymous namespace = a different, unresolved symbol -> /FORCE
garbage call (landed in MissileLauncher::DefaultData). Moved to
global scope; gotcha noted in the comment.
Verified 4:3 regression: aimed lock + zone hits + no crash; hud-geom
MapX/MapY unchanged at 4:3.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
User screenshot showed three artifacts, all one root cause: my dpl2d
executor drew OpenLines/CloseLines vertex runs as a connected LINESTRIP.
Every ctor use of OpenLines is SEGMENT PAIRS (4 crosshair arms, one pair
per ladder tick, the compass stem, the lock ring's 4 ticks, threat
marks) -- the strip joined ticks into zigzags ("squiggly lines" on both
ladders), hung diagonals off the crosshair arms, and drew chords across
the lock ring. Now D3DPT_LINELIST (one line per pair).
Also PIP_SPACING: _DAT_004cdce8 is a DOUBLE = 0.03 (read from the exe);
my 0.01 guess overlapped the 0.028-wide pips (user: "pips are
overlapping"). Reference-screenshot pairs sit side-by-side, matching.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
A period pod screenshot from players who know the game flagged the
overlay. Stroke-by-stroke re-read of the ctor (@4546-4587) against it:
- The range caret triangle is GREEN width 1 (ctor @4550-4551 sets
SetLineWidth(1)+SetColor(0,0.75,0) AFTER the yellow bar's CallList) --
my transcription left it yellow/2. Same for the bottom bowtie carets
(@4569-4570). Both fixed; the caret polylines also get the binary's
explicit 4th closing point (@4558).
- The screenshot otherwise CONFIRMS our layout (yellow range bar, green
caret, colored pip dots, tick tape + green bowtie, rotating compass,
mid-ladder range with no lock = the world-pick terrain range).
- Its crosshair is ~2.5x taller with arrowhead arms -- NOT our binary's
+-0.04..0.16 program: a different pod revision. Ours stays [T1] to
BTL4OPT.EXE 4.10.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
User report: after killing the enemy, wandering around, weapons won't
fire. Not a lock requirement -- the trigger pulse generator (the
1,0,1,0 edge feed for CheckFireEdge) sat inside `if (gEnemyMech != 0)`.
Once the wreck buried and gEnemyMech nulled, the channels froze at
their last value -> no rising edges -> no fire, even with a valid
terrain pick in the target slot. Latent since the world-pick model made
no-enemy firing meaningful (task #41); the weapon-group split kept the
pulses in the same wrong place.
The pulses now run unconditionally (before the enemy block); the
weapon's own HasActiveTarget gate remains the only fire arbiter --
terrain downrange fires at the scenery, a true sky shot (nothing within
1200) authentically refuses.
Verified: BT_AIM=0.5,0.3 (terrain-only picks, enemy never aimed at) ->
sustained fire, 123 laser + 82 PPC beam samples.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Interim pod-like grouping ahead of the authentic ConfigureMappables/
ChooseButton mapper channels (decomp-anchored in open-questions):
- Three fire channels like three pod buttons: gBTWeaponTrigger (lasers,
key 1 or SPACE), gBTPPCTrigger (PPCs, key 2), gBTMissileTrigger
(missiles, key 3 or CTRL). Keyboard only per user (mouse buttons
removed).
- EmitterSimulation picks its channel by classID (PPC 3028 vs Emitter
3016); BT_AUTOFIRE holds all three.
- The BT_BEAM_LOG sampler modulus 30 aliased to ONE weapon under the
new synchronized 5-beam volleys (5 | 30) -> 31 (coprime).
Verified: all 5 energy weapons fire (31 samples each), aimed hits land,
kill completes.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Answering "do lasers and PPCs fire together?": in the pod, grouping was
a PILOT CHOICE. MechWeapon message handlers id 9 'ConfigureMappables'
(FUN_004b9550) and id 10 'ChooseButton' (FUN_004b95b8), handler table
@0x511860 (names read from the exe): ConfigureMappables binds the
weapon's fireImpulse@0x31C to controls-mapper fire-channel #N (roster
slot 0; vtable +0x38 register / +0x3c unregister / +0x44 choose),
ChooseButton = the in-cockpit re-binding. Weapons sharing a button fire
together. The port's SPACE=energy / CTRL=missiles split is a stand-in
default; the authentic per-button channels are a tracked follow-up.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
[hud] pip diagnostic logs each registered pip's classID/PipPosition/
WeaponRange/PipExtendedRange/PipColor. The live dump corrects the
"everything is 500m" assumption: BLH lasers red @500 (x3, ext=1),
missiles amber @800 (x2), PPCs blue @900 (x2) -- the pips sit at their
weapons' max-range marks on the range ladder (caret below a pip = that
weapon reaches), so 7 weapons read as 3 weapon-system groups. KB +
comments corrected.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
User report: lock at spawn range (~120) but no damage until closing in.
The bring-up damage gate used kWeaponRange=100 -- a placeholder from
before the weapon reconstruction -- while the authored BLH weapon range
is 500 m. The binary's rule (FireWeapon @004bace8:7758 [T1]): damage
applies when dist <= the weapon's EFFECTIVE range = (1 - host-zone
damage) x authored WeaponRange -- the per-weapon targetWithinRange flag
UpdateTargeting computes each frame. The gate (and the [target] log's
IN WEAPON RANGE annotation) now reads that flag across the weapon
roster; kWeaponRange removed.
Verified: stationary at spawn range 120 -> IN WEAPON RANGE + 34 aimed
zone hits (was 0 until closing under 100).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
The right-ladder caret reads range-to-pick, and with the world-pick
model the pick is usually the ground downrange -- so walking (cockpit
bob + turning sweeping the boresight across near/far terrain) made the
caret teleport frame to frame ("going all over the place", user
report). The binary rate-limits the DISPLAYED range: shown +=
clamp(true - shown, +-dt*500) -- a 500 m/s slide, applied in
HudSimulation, including toward the no-target 1200 default
(_DAT_004b7ed0 confirmed 0 = the abs() idiom). Implemented in mech4's
HUD feed where dt is in scope.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
User report: enemy takes hits, starts smoking, then beams pass through
-- no more damage, no death. Root cause: the death-effects dispatch
(blhdead explosion chain + wreck swap + KILL score) lived in the
SHOOTER's laser fire block kill check. A missile killing blow lands
frames later in BTUpdateProjectiles -- outside that block -- and after
task #41 the boresight pick skips a dead mech, so the fire block never
ran against it again: the death chain was silently skipped, leaving an
internally-dead, smoking, standing, invulnerable mech.
Fix: the dispatch moved to the VICTIM's own once-per-death transition
(UpdateDeathState's movementMode->9 moment) -- fires exactly once for
ANY kill source (laser, missile, collision). Killer id for the
Explosion message = lastInflictingID (the task-#31 bookkeeping). The
BT_ENABLE_TEARDOWN cdb harness was removed with the old block (findings
preserved in docs/HARD_PROBLEMS.md).
Verified headless (75s soak, missile-heavy kill): destroyed ->
'blhdead' id=22 -> wreck swap 'blhdbr.bgf' -> smoke re-arm -> sink ->
buried INERT; post-death picks fall through to terrain; 0 crashes.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
User video evidence (lasers firing at nothing) + the colleague's
torso-locked report + the binary all reconcile into one model:
The boresight pick hits the WORLD, and the target slot mech+0x388 holds
whatever entity is downrange:
- enemy mech under the boresight -> aimed target (hull point -> STEP-6
zone under the boresight, hotbox + lock ring, damage);
- else the TERRAIN downrange (BTGroundRayHit to 1200) -> the beam and
missiles fire at the scenery ("firing at nothing", as in the pod
videos), range caret reads the ground distance (authentic :5639), no
damage;
- else (sky) -> no target, and the weapon's own double 0x388 gate
refuses the discharge.
Binary evidence for non-mech targets: HudSimulation :5620 explicitly
handles a target WITHOUT damage zones (target->0x120 == 0) -- dead code
if only mechs were ever targeted. The pick is automatic every frame
(0x388: 11 reads / 0 direct stores in CODE).
Implementation: gBTTerrainEntity captured in MakeEntityRenderables
(Terrain::GetClassDerivations); mech4 pick = enemy PickRayHit else
ground ray -> terrain entity + ground point; damage/hotbox/lock only
for the mech pick; the task-40 enemy auto-converge REMOVED (facing away
now fires at the scenery, not magically at the enemy -- the user's
complaint). Verified all three states headless (BT_AIM 0,0 / .6,.5 /
0,-.8): aimed zone hits / terrain beams + 0 damage / no discharge.
Fourth (and evidence-complete) targeting model iteration; KB updated.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Colleague: you fire without a lock, at "nothing." Double-checked the
binary:
- The weapon fire path is DOUBLY gated on mech+0x388 != 0:
EmitterSimulation (FUN_004baa88:7689) only calls FireWeapon with a
target, and FireWeapon (FUN_004bace8:7727) wraps its whole body --
including beamFlag(+0x46c)=1 -- in the same check. So no target => no
beam, literally (cannot fire into truly empty space). [T1]
- BUT a capstone scan of the entire CODE section finds 11 READS of
+0x388 and ZERO direct stores: the target is written INDIRECTLY (a
message/selector), i.e. AUTO-acquired -- there is no manual lock to
fire. The spinning-ring LOCK (HudSimulation 5619-5634) is a separate,
stricter state.
So the colleague is right that no lock is needed; my port was wrong to
gate firing on a pinpoint boresight-on-hull pick. Fix: mech+0x388 = the
enemy whenever it is ALIVE (auto-target); firing needs only that. A
pinpoint hull hit upgrades the shot to aimed-zone damage + the lock
ring; off-hull with the enemy present, the beam converges on centre
mass (body hits). Third correction from over-reading the RP-shared
Reticle struct (after sticky-lock and mouse-cursor).
Verified: BT_AIM="0.5 0.2" (off-hull) -> fires + lands damage (was 0
before); BT_AIM="0 0" (centred) -> HOT-aimed zone hits. KB swept;
checkctx CLEAN.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Colleague flagged that targeting is torso-locked with no fine cursor.
Correct: the pod stick's yaw drove the TORSO TWIST
(MechControlsMapper -> HUD::SetFreeAimSlew(stick_x) @cockpit+0x28C,
gated on torso-horizontal-enabled; hud.hpp:167) and reticlePosition
@HUD+0x1FC is COMPUTED by HudSimulation from the mech pose quaternion +
target geometry, zeroed to centre with no target (part_013.c:5680) --
never a free-floating cursor. The engine Reticle struct is general
(shared with Red Planet); BT drives it from the torso boresight.
Fix:
- Removed the mouse-cursor slew (a mis-sourced stand-in from the
RP-shared struct). The crosshair is now the torso boresight:
BTTwistToReticleX(torsoTwist) = tan(twist) projected through the live
per-axis projection. Dead-centre on the fixed-torso BLH
(TorsoHorizontalEnabled=0); you aim by steering the whole mech.
- BT_AIM="x y" retained as the headless test harness.
Verified: face-to-face spawn -> HOT lock + aimed zone hits (36);
BT_FORCE_TURN circling -> 31 no-target vs 1 HOT (steering off-target
drops the lock, as it must). KB swept (combat-damage / gauges-hud /
open-questions); checkctx CLEAN.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
- LOCK rules transcribed from the exported HudSimulation
(part_013.c:5619-5634): lock requires a target AND your own HUD host
zone damage < 0.75 (_DAT_004b7ec4 -- a shot-up targeting computer
drops lock) AND the targeted zone damage < 1.0 (_DAT_004b7ec8;
whole-mech target checks zone 0 -- a wreck's dead zone can't
re-lock). Box and ring are now separate signals like the binary:
gBTHudLockState 1 = target held (hotbox draws), 2 = LOCKED (+ the
spinning ring).
- SIMPLE-X mode: the ctor's [0x99] minimal-reticle list transcribed
(@4689-4705: green +-0.02..0.08 cross on the aim translate); Draw
switches master <-> simple X on the PrimaryHudOn element bit (0x20),
completing the recovered Execute's state-list logic.
- Canopy diagnosis sharpened (open-questions): blx_cop is the torso
segment's inside-skeleton mesh enclosing the eye; the black box =
the skeleton render branch missing its texture + PUNCH cutout (the
canopy windows are punch texels). A rendering-branch task; stays
hidden by default.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
The one un-exported gap in the reticle chain, read via capstone
(tools/disas2.py; the annotated disasm preserved at
reference/decomp/reticle_execute_004cdcf0.disasm.txt). Draw() is now a
transcription of the real per-frame logic, and the HUD attr-table names
(hud.hpp ids 4/5/6/8/A/B/C/D) are CONFIRMED by their Execute usage:
- Range ladder: BAR from ladder-top to the caret + caret translate.
- The bottom 21-tick tape is the TORSO-TWIST indicator (NOT heading):
deflection = -/+(span/2) x (RotationOfTorsoHorizontal / twist limit),
attrs 4/5/6. Fixed-torso BLH reads centred -- authentic static.
- The circle-with-stem is the COMPASS (attr 0xD, rad->deg rotation) at
(botX, botY - 3*tickMajor - 0.03), with the THREAT trail (attr 0xC)
in its rotated frame: 0.05-unit attack-direction marks, fresh < 2s
red, expiring at 6s. Port feed: player TakeDamage pushes the impact
direction (dormant vs the passive test dummy).
- Pips (composed into subB6): hidden when destroyed (attr 1 == 1), LIT
when the fire cycle is LOADED (attr 0x1c == 2; port source
rechargeLevel >= 1) else the dark charging ring; filtered by the
weapon-GROUP bits (weaponMode & elementMask&0xF). Range plays NO part
(the stored TargetWithinRange slots are never read by Execute).
- Lock ring: subB9 at frame centre SPINNING 4 deg/frame while locked
([0x9d] is the spin matrix, not a heading list).
- Target HOTBOX: a rectangle hugging the projected extents (x+-4 around
the top-centre hotbox point, +1/-11.5 vertical; baked K=2.8145 -- the
port projects through the live per-axis projection), switching to the
edge arrows past +-1.6 or behind (BTProjectHotBox, L4VIDEO).
- Reticle state Off/On + PrimaryHudOn full-HUD/simple-X switch, aim
translate on slew move, 3D marker + PNAME player-name mesh identified
(chain still deferred).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
sideways lock offset)
The windowed present stretches the fixed 800x600 backbuffer into the
client area while the projection's aspect follows the CLIENT (resize
rebuild) -- so the dpl2d/reticle frame, the client frame and NDC only
coincide for a backbuffer-shaped window. The mouse mapping and the
square-frame ray shortcut (cx = rx*tanHalfFov) were exact at screen
centre and drifted outward with a side-flipped sign: aiming left of the
enemy locked as if right of it (user report).
- BTSetAimProjection now publishes BOTH proj scales (P11 carries the
aspect) + the backbuffer size (the dpl2d frame). NOTE: GetViewport at
the loop top holds the PREVIOUS frame's last pass viewport (gauge
passes shrink it) -> use the renderer's own GetWidth/GetHeight.
- BTGetAimRay / BTProjectToReticle convert reticle <-> NDC per axis
(ndc_x = rx * vh/vw; camera x = ndc_x/P11) -- exact for any window
shape and FOV.
- New BTClientToReticle undoes the present stretch for the mouse
(client px -> viewport px -> reticle coords); mech4 uses it instead
of the raw client-height mapping.
- 1Hz aim telemetry in the [target] log (hits/noRay/noPick): verified
100% pick hit rate once the projection is live (the pre-visibility
mission-load seconds report noRay -- that was the "flicker").
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
The sticky lock made aim irrelevant after the first acquisition (the
crosshair starts on the face-to-face enemy, so it locked at spawn and
never let go -- played as auto-targeting). The binary treats no-target
as a frequent live state (fire path re-checks 0x388!=0 at every step,
part_013.c:7689/7727; HUD range feed has a permanent no-target default,
:5636), so the target slots now mirror the reticle pick each frame:
locked while the crosshair is ON the mech, no lock otherwise. Keeping
the crosshair on the enemy is the gunnery.
Verified headless: BT_AIM="0 0" -> HOT + aimed zone hits; BT_AIM="0.6
0.4" -> no lock, zero damage.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
The engine Reticle model (MUNGA/RETICLE.h [T0]) reconstructed end to end:
- Mech::targetReticle is a real Reticle member bound to the TargetReticle
attribute (0x1d), per the RP VTV analog (VTV.h targetReticle).
- Crosshair slew: mouse -> client rect -> reticle coords (the pod stick
free-aim channel's dev-box stand-in); BT_AIM="x y" pins it headless.
LMB fires lasers / RMB missiles (alongside SPACE/CTRL).
- Pick ray: the ACTIVE eye publishes pos + LookAtRH basis (BTSetAimCamera,
L4VIDRND view-write site) + the render loop publishes proj._22;
BTGetAimRay builds the world ray, Mech::PickRayHit slab-tests it against
the collision template's ExtentBox via the engine's BoundingBox::HitBy
(local frame; clips the Line at entry) -> world hull point.
- Designation: the mech under the crosshair designates (sticky; re-hover
refreshes; cleared when the target leaves the roster at burial); the
entity target slots 0x37c/0x388/0x38c feed the whole weapon path.
- Aimed fire: while HOT the impact point is the PICKED hull point -> the
STEP-6 cylinder lookup resolves the zone under the crosshair (verified:
center-aim -> head-band zone 13 dominant). Off-crosshair the sticky
designation converges on center mass.
- HUD: the aim group draws at the slewed position ([0x9a] translate,
contained by push/pop); the designator ring tracks the target's
projected point (subB9 hot / subB8 designated, BTProjectToReticle);
edge arrows when off-screen/behind.
- AUTHENTIC gating: no fire arc exists in the binary (FireWeapon fires
whenever HasActiveTarget, part_013.c:7758) -> BT_FIRE_ARC is now an
explicit OPT-IN presentation clamp; the hardwired gEnemyMech lock and
the projectile path's gEnemyMech fallback are removed.
- Fixed en route: every renderable rebuild stomped mCamera back to the
chase eye (start-inside silently lost the cockpit camera; the aim feed
exposed it). BTL4VideoRenderer::mViewInside persists the chosen view.
Verified headless: BT_AIM="0 0" -> HOT lock, pick hits the hull face at
exact range, aimed zones resolve; BT_AIM="0.8 0.3" -> no lock, zero
damage, zero missile launches; kill chain completes to wreck + smoke.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
The engine Reticle struct (the mech's "TargetReticle" attribute) is the
acquisition chain: slewable screen-space crosshair -> pick-ray -> the
entity + damage zone under it become mech+0x388/0x38c, the intersection
point mech+0x37c. Convergence-on-lock is authentic (FireWeapon has no
aim test); targetWithinRange = dist < (1-damage) x weaponRange
(FUN_004b9bdc). Port acquisition is a bring-up stand-in (hardwired lock
+ BT_FIRE_ARC cone) -> tracked as the next combat-fidelity step.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
- dpl2d API fully recovered from the binary recorders (@487f34-488630):
opcode model (points/lines/polyline/circle/color/width/matrix/push-pop),
CallList = INLINE include (state persists to caller), centered coordinate
frame (unit = half viewport height). game/reconstructed/dpl2d.cpp rework.
- BTReticleRenderable ctor @004cc40c transcribed with the authentic
calibration (originX .35, originY .25, scaleY .5, 0..1200m right range
ladder, bottom heading tape, FUN_004cd938 tick ladders, lock rings,
turn arrows); range caret slides from the live target range fed by the
mech4 targeting step (BTSetHudTargetRange).
- Weapon pips: the binary gate is IsDerivedFrom(0x511830 =
MechWeapon::ClassDerivations) [T1: part_014.c:5386 hard-aborts on missing
weapon attrs; part_012 counts + roster ORs capabilityFlags@+0x334] so ALL
7 BLH weapons register (3 lasers + 2 PPCs + 2 MissileLaunchers). Pip A
(lit, authored PipColor) on TargetWithinRange, else dark ring B.
- AddWeapon @004cdac0 store map corrected to the verified order
(part_014.c:4827-4837); both state attrs are literally named
"SimulationState" (strings @51d526/51d577) -> weapon simulationState.
- Mech roster this[0x1ef] renamed poweredSubsystems -> weaponRoster
(0x511830 is MechWeapon, not PoweredSubsystem=0x50f4bc); derivation-tag
table added to context/decomp-reference.md.
- Draw hook BTDrawReticle after the 3D scene, cockpit view only. Binary
Execute @004cdcf0 is an un-exported gap -> Draw dynamics [T3], tracked
in context/open-questions.md with the blx_cop canopy + PNAME pip meshes.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Every dpl2d_ recorder in the binary self-identifies via its debug-name string
(part_010.c 0x487f34..0x4888c0) -- the complete API + opcode map is recorded
in phases/phase-02-dpl2d-reticle.md: point sets (2/3), closed polylines (4/5),
open line strips (6/7), AddPoint (8), AddCircle (9), SetColor (0xF),
Set/ConcatMatrix (0x10/0x11, 2x3 affine), Push/PopState (0x12/0x13),
SetLineWidth (0x15), CallDisplayList (nested glyphs), FullScreenClipRegion.
dpl2d.cpp reworked to that model: command-stream recorder (open-primitive
vertex runs, state commands, nested list calls) + a recursive ExecuteList
rasteriser (XYZRHW points/strips/loops/circles, 2x3 transform + state stacks,
save/restore). CORRECTION: the old "PushMatrix/MoveTo/PopMatrix" trio was a
misreading of OpenPolypoint/AddPoint/ClosePolypoint ("draw a point") -- kept
as aliases mapping to the true semantics.
Reticle findings recorded: the ctor (@004cc40c) builds ~15 display lists (the
dotted-cross reticle, tick ladders via FUN_004cd938, side arrows, arcs) plus a
3D marker chain and the PNAME1-8.bgf pip meshes (all ship). Next: transcribe
ctor+Execute, wire the 1996 caller's AddWeapon arguments, hook the draw.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
- V toggles the authentic cockpit eyepoint <-> the chase camera. Both eyes
coexist; DPLEyeRenderable::Execute now writes the VIEW only when it IS
mCamera (unconditional writes let the last-executed eye stomp the toggle).
- EyepointRotation is a real zeroed EulerAngles member on Mech (was bound to
the shared junk attrPad -- the eye composes this attribute into the view
EVERY frame, so the cockpit camera was rotated by garbage: the canted
horizon, then the black screen). The eye-slew systems write it later.
- The cockpit eye mounts at the eyepoint's REST position with a clean upright
forward basis on the tree root (the live joint chain fed it the site tilt +
torso pose; authentic pitch/yaw is the deferred gyro eye chain).
- The inside view swaps the player to the INSIDE skeleton mesh set
(SkeletonType_A): 19 body segments hide, exactly one mesh remains --
blx_cop.bgf, the authentic cockpit canopy shell around the eyepoint. It
currently renders as a black enclosure (the black-screen report), so it is
HIDDEN pending its interior/punch-material rendering (BT_INSIDE_COCKPIT=1
shows it for that work). Damage gstates respected in both directions;
RemakeEntity keys off the DISPLAYED skeleton.
- Dev: BT_START_INSIDE=1 starts in the cockpit view.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Answers "can I keep targeting the dead mech?": the lock isn't cleared by
anything we've found, but the binary REFUSES to sustain energy beams on a
destroyed mech: ServiceDischarge (@004ba8d0) and ContinueDischarge (@004baa20)
check the beam's target EVERY discharge frame -- IsDerivedFrom(Mech) then
Mech::IsDestroyed (FUN_0049fb54 = movementMode 2||9) -- and kill the beam the
moment it dies. EmitterSimulation (@004baa88) applies the same check to the
OWNER (a dead mech's own weapons drop everything).
Our recon had FUN_0049fb54 as a mislabeled "cockpit/HUD query" no-op stub
called with NULL, and never set the beam's target (0x474) at fire -- all three
authentic gates were dead. Now: FireWeapon stashes the owner's target entity;
both discharge paths + the owner gate run the real check (BTMechDestroyed).
Verified: 40 beam samples before the kill, 0 after -- lasers flash-fail on the
wreck instead of cutting it like butter (heat is still spent per the binary's
FireWeapon, which fires blind; only the DISCHARGE checks the corpse).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
The "cartoonish" beams: the port drew the ermlaser tube INFLATED -- a 3.0x
glow + 0.9x core two-layer hack, 13x the authored radius. Parsed the beam
models: ERMLASER/MLASER 0.22u radius, SLASER 0.11, LLASER 0.32, PPC 0.62 --
thin pencil beams with an authored per-class size progression; the PPC bolt
is genuinely ~3x fatter with its own 62-vert shape.
Now: ONE draw per beam at natural model scale (width multiplier 1.0), using
the weapon's OWN tube model (ermlaser for lasers, ppc.bgf for PPCs; the
s/m/llaser tubes load for other mechs' loadouts). BTPushBeamKind carries the
model selector; BTPushBeam keeps its signature (kind 0). Tint = 40+215x the
authored PipColor; the thin natural tubes stay under additive saturation so
the scrolling grit reads without a hand-dimmed core layer.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
The visible beams now come from each weapon's own live state instead of the
hardcoded single-look stagger: FireWeapon arms beamFlag + dischargeTimer (the
weapon's authored DischargeTime), ServiceDischarge ends the window, recharge
gates cadence -- so volley-vs-stagger patterns, cadence and colours all emerge
from each mech's real loadout (BLH: 3 lasers + 2 PPCs). Per weapon: live
muzzle (its own mount; gun-port ordinal fallback when the mount doesn't
resolve -- GetMuzzlePoint returns the feet otherwise), the fire's stored world
endpoint, and the authored PipColor (lasers red 1,0,0 / PPC blue 0,0,1
straight from the .SUB data). PPC draws as a thicker, brighter bolt.
Filter is by EXACT classID (Emitter 3016 / PPC 3028) -- the derivation check
matched shared recon-stub chains (a Sensor and the MissileLauncher passed and
drew garbage beams from misinterpreted offsets).
The target slot (MECH_TARGET_POS) now carries the TORSO aim point (all
consumers -- beam endpoints, missiles, reticle -- want center-mass, not the
ground between the feet); the projectile fallback lift moved to match.
Accessors: Emitter::BeamOn/BeamEndpoint, MechWeapon::MuzzlePoint/PipColor.
BT_BEAM_LOG=1 samples the live per-weapon beam state.
Verified: [beam] PPC mz=(...,4.49,...) end=(...,7,...) rgb=(0,0,1) -- gun-port
muzzles, torso endpoints, authored colours; kill chain intact (10 hits).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
