BT412/context/steamification.md

id, title, status, source_sections, related_topics, key_terms, open_questions

id	title	status	source_sections	related_topics	key_terms	open_questions
steamification	BT412 Steamification — status, seams, and merge notes	living	docs/BT412-ROADMAP.md; RP412 repo (C:\vwe\RP412) git history + docs	pod-hardware multiplayer gauges-hud build-and-run wintesla-port	egg RIO console	BT cockpit button-bank geometry source (no vRIO CockpitLayout exists for BT): l4gauge.cfg / pod photos / Nick Does BT's rebuilt L4D3D still have RP's NULL-texture AddRef crash pattern? Does L4CONTROLS=PAD set primaryControlType=PrimaryRIO so MechRIOMapper engages unchanged?

BT412 Steamification — status, seams, and merge notes

BT412 = BT411 made distributable on Steam and playable over the internet with no pod hardware, following the recipe RP412 proved end-to-end (RP411 → RP412). The full plan and phase order: docs/BT412-ROADMAP.md. RP412 (C:\vwe\RP412) is the reference implementation — its git history from commit 467934c onward is the steamification, grouped roughly: toolchain → PadRIO input → MFD-split cockpit → front end/LocalConsole → NetTransport/Steam sockets → lobby → bindings/KeyLight → packaging.

Repo rule [T0]: origin = VWE/BT412.git only. This repo must never touch the BT411 remote (no cross-pull remote — deliberate difference from RP412's rp411 pattern). Forked at BT411 4e72f0c (2026-07-14).

Status ledger

• Phase 0 bootstrap — DONE 2026-07-14. Tree copied (working tree + full history, build/ excluded), origin re-pointed, fast-forwarded to 4e72f0c, dev-state run/run.cmd working-tree edit discarded (committed version is the documented solo launcher), identity pass (README/CLAUDE.md/CMake project(bt412)), this topic + roadmap authored.
• Phase 1 (VS2022 v143): not started.
• Phases 2–7: not started — see the roadmap.

The seams (what plugs in where) [T0 unless noted]

• Input: LBE4ControlsManager PUSH model; L4CTRL.cpp parses L4CONTROLS tokens; RP412 adds token PAD → new PadRIO() (a RIOBase implementation from XInput+keyboard), and the stock RIO mapper runs against it unchanged. BT's mapper selection: btl4app.cpp MakeViewpointEntity switch on controls->primaryControlType (+0xc98) → MechRIOMapper for PrimaryRIO(4).
• Plasma: BT's plasma is identical hardware to RP's (128×32, L4PLASMA.h); RP412's PlasmaScreen renders the same Video8BitBuffered surface into a desktop window, selected in L4GREND.cpp on L4PLASMA=SCREEN.
• Displays: BT pod = main 800×600 3D view + 640×480 radar + five mono MFDs on one spanned 1280×480 surface (+ plasma). All cockpit surfaces are bit-plane masks over one shared SVGA16 pixelBuffer (see gauges-hud, pod-hardware). RP412's MFDSplitView (L4MFDVIEW.* + L4VB16.cpp split mode, L4MFDSPLIT=1) composes child panes on a fixed 1920×1080 canvas; 3D presents into the viewscreen pane via Present(hDestWindowOverride).
• Networking: arcade stack unchanged (see multiplayer); RP412 moved the wire behind NetTransport (L4NETTRANSPORT.*), default WinsockNetTransport, Steam implementation L4STEAMTRANSPORT.* (ISteamNetworkingSockets, FakeIP + SDR, degrade-to-TCP on any failure). Addresses stay SOCKADDR_IN-shaped so the egg [pilots] ip[:port] roster works over both wires.
• Session: console protocol (egg msgID 3, 1040-byte chunks + ACK; RunMission msgID 5 ×2; console must stay connected) — tools/btconsole.py is the working feeder and the spec for the in-process LocalConsole marshal (Phase 5).

Known merge risks (from the 3-way BT411 / RP411-baseline / RP412 comparison)

• L4VB16.cpp — HIGH. RP412 rebuilt ~3846–4046 (splitViews/canvas/present); BT rebuilt the same window-management region for dev-gauge docking (BT_DEV_GAUGES, BT_DEV_GAUGES_WINDOW, BT_DEV_GAUGES_DOCK, BT_GAUGE_SCALE, BT_GAUGE_SEC_ROT, BT_ALL — 15 sites). Hand-merge; write the 3-way diff notes HERE before editing.
• L4NET.CPP — MEDIUM. RP412 rerouted all ~22–26 Winsock call sites through NetTransport_Get(); BT's 5 BT_NET_TRACE diagnostic blocks sit exactly on those send/receive sites and must be re-sited onto the seam calls.
• L4RIO.*, L4CTRL.cpp, L4GREND.cpp — LOW. BT never customized these (verified: zero BT_ hits); take RP412's versions after the 3-way check.
• CMake: engine sources are explicit per-file lines (no globs) — every ported .cpp needs its own add_library line or it silently doesn't compile. New deps: xinput9_1_0.lib (PadRIO), C++/WinRT (KeyLight, per-file C++17), Steamworks SDK + steam_api.lib behind option(BT412_STEAM).
• No /Zp1 in BT's build (RP's engine builds /Zp1): RP412's packing-mismatch workarounds (WINDOWS_IGNORE_PACKING_MISMATCH, KeyLight default-packing carve-out, pack(push,8) around Steam headers) are no-ops here — keep them for verbatim-ness, but eyeball any copied code for /Zp1-layout assumptions.

Key Relationships

• Uses: pod-hardware · multiplayer · gauges-hud · build-and-run
• Feeds: open-questions (steamification investigate items)