The user was right: a dead mech turns into a pile of wreckage. The authentic
1995 chain, recovered end-to-end:
kill -> the victim's per-mech DEATH ModelList ('blhdead'/'lokdead'/'owndead'/
'thrdead', .RES ids 22-25) -> its authored effects: 104 (the WRECK script) +
1007 (dnboom big explosion) + 1001 (ddthsmk rubble smoke plume) + a damage-
smoke burst (3/4/5/15).
Effect 104 = ExplosionScripts case 4 (part_008.c:2663, LIVE in the 1996 binary;
the "disabled" warning is case 6): loads the destroyed hulk + flamesml/flamebig
flame meshes with sweep flicker. Every mech ships its hulk (BLHDBR/MADDBR/
LOKDBR/... + GENDBR generic); the 1996 script hardcoded thrdbr.bgf (dev
shortcut) -- we use the victim's own.
Reconstructed as BTL4VideoRenderer::SwapToWreck: hide every segment mesh, hang
"<prefix>dbr.bgf" on the tree root (pending-swap if death precedes tree build);
routed from the engine's ExplosionClassID dispatch (effect 104 ->
BTSwapMechToWreck(explosion->GetEntityHit())). The kill now fires the
authentic 'blhdead' resource (manual 7+1 pfx calls removed -- the list carries
1007/1001 itself). Verified live:
[death] firing authentic death list 'blhdead' id=22
** effect_number = 104
[BTrender] wreck swap: victim -> 'blhdbr.bgf'
Follow-ups noted: mesh flames + hulk settle (cosmetic), DeathSplash.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
