The audio stack we ship is whatever the packing machine had installed

pack-dist copies OpenAL32.dll out of the build machine's SysWOW64. That is
the same shape as the d3dx9_43 bug found this week - a runtime dependency
the dev box quietly satisfies - except here it does not fail outright, it
just means the audio implementation a customer gets is decided by whatever
was installed on the machine that happened to pack the release.

And what that machine has is Creative's 2009 stack. OpenAL32.dll v6.14 is
only a router; the real implementation is wrap_oal.dll v2.2.0.5 beside it,
with oalinst.exe bundled as a 791KB fallback installer. The router exists
so several vendors' OpenAL implementations could coexist on one machine,
which stopped being a thing about fifteen years ago.

Bundling OpenAL Soft instead is the fix: vendored like steam_api.dll is,
not lifted from the system. wrap_oal.dll and oalinst.exe go, dist gets
1.2MB smaller, and the same implementation runs on Windows and Linux -
which matters more than the size, because it means an audio bug reproduces
on both instead of being someone's Windows. It also removes the only
__declspec in the tree, which lives in Creative's al.h.

Only al.h, alc.h and efx.h are ever included, eleven sites across ten
files. efx-creative.h, EFX-Util.h and xram.h are vendored and referenced by
nothing, so they simply go.

Filed as a near-term item rather than a port phase, and written up in both
docs, because it stands on its own: OpenAL is not what makes the game hard
to move. The API is cross-platform and all ninety-one call sites compile
unchanged against libopenal - it is the reason audio barely appears in the
port plan at all. Dropping OpenAL itself would mean reimplementing EFX
reverb and rewriting ninety-one working call sites to remove a dependency
that is not in the way. The note says so, so nobody talks themselves into
it later.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

BUILD.md

@@ -30,6 +30,15 @@ Committed under [lib/](lib/), no install needed: `OpenAL32.lib`, `libsndfile-1.l
 `assets/RP411/oalinst.exe` — or beside the exe) and `libsndfile-1.dll` (beside the
 exe; a copy ships in `assets/RP411/`).
 
+It also needs **`d3dx9_43.dll`**, which is a hard import and is *not* part of
+Windows — it ships only with the June 2010 DirectX End-User Runtime. A dev box
+with the SDK installed has it system-wide and never notices; a clean Windows
+10/11 fails to start the exe at all (0xC0000135, before `WinMain`).
+[pack-dist.ps1](pack-dist.ps1) therefore extracts it from the SDK's
+`Redist\Jun2010_d3dx9_43_x86.cab` into `dist\`. That same file is also what
+makes the game run under Wine/Proton, whose builtin `d3dx9_43` stubs
+`D3DXConcatenateMeshes` — see [docs/RP412-LINUX.md](docs/RP412-LINUX.md).
+
 ## 2. Building
 
 ```powershell

MUNGA_L4/L4MFDVIEW.cpp

@@ -92,6 +92,46 @@ namespace
 	const int buttonDepth = 240;
 	const int indicatorStrip = 10;
 
+	//---------------------------------------------------------------
+	// Extra pixels of indicator strip, on top of the 10 above, so a
+	// FLASHING lamp is easier to notice on desktop glass - the pod's
+	// buttons were physical and backlit and never had that problem.
+	// Only the strip moves, so the button keeps its width and reaches
+	// the same distance behind the glass: this makes the lamp a
+	// LONGER bar, not a fatter face. The client size, the display
+	// offset and both banks all derive from strip_h/strip_w below, so
+	// the window grows to fit and nothing needs to know about it.
+	//
+	// DEFAULT 0 - Red Planet keeps the pod's geometry unless a player
+	// asks otherwise. (BattleTech 4.11 carries the same knob defaulted
+	// to 10, where the players asked for it; the two games are tuned
+	// separately on purpose.) Ported alongside RP412MFDLAYOUT, which
+	// took the same route from BT411's BT_GLASS_LAYOUT.
+	//---------------------------------------------------------------
+	const int defaultProtrude = 0;
+
+	int ProtrudeBonus()
+	{
+		static int bonus = -1;
+		if (bonus < 0)
+		{
+			const char *setting = getenv("RP412MFDPROTRUDE");
+			bonus = (setting != NULL && setting[0] != '\0')
+				? atoi(setting)			// a word parses to 0, i.e. off
+				: defaultProtrude;
+			if (bonus < 0)		bonus = 0;
+			if (bonus > 200)	bonus = 200;
+
+			if (bonus != 0)
+			{
+				DEBUG_STREAM << "MFDView: RP412MFDPROTRUDE=" << bonus
+					<< " (indicator strip " << indicatorStrip << " -> "
+					<< (indicatorStrip + bonus) << ")\n" << std::flush;
+			}
+		}
+		return bonus;
+	}
+
 	//---------------------------------------------------------------
 	// The map paints its own legend beside each side button, and that
 	// grid is not the naive height/6: measured off the 640-tall map,
@@ -649,7 +689,7 @@ void
 		// and the picture above/below it is the click target. Paint
 		// draws the buttons before the MFD image for that reason.
 		//-----------------------------------------------------------
-		int strip_h = indicatorStrip;
+		int strip_h = indicatorStrip + ProtrudeBonus();
 		int button_h = buttonDepth;
 
 		// on a scaled-down cockpit, keep the two banks from meeting
@@ -692,7 +732,7 @@ void
 		// indicatorStrip clearing the edge, so the lamp reads as a
 		// slim column and the map itself is the click target.
 		//-----------------------------------------------------------
-		int strip_w = indicatorStrip;
+		int strip_w = indicatorStrip + ProtrudeBonus();
 		int button_w = buttonDepth;
 
 		// keep the two columns from meeting behind a narrow map

README.md

@@ -127,6 +127,7 @@ mission. Full map with pad and keyboard diagrams:
 | [docs/STEAM-3-MACHINE-TEST.md](docs/STEAM-3-MACHINE-TEST.md) | Multiplayer test procedure, Steam Input notes, the abort key |
 | [docs/RP412-LINUX.md](docs/RP412-LINUX.md) | Linux compatibility assessment — Proton path vs native port; parked until late playtesting |
 | [docs/NET-TEST.md](docs/NET-TEST.md) | Network test protocol — WAN emulation profiles, the NetLog/NetStats telemetry, the stall-recovery test, `-spoolstats` |
+| [docs/RP412-UNIFIED-BUILD.md](docs/RP412-UNIFIED-BUILD.md) | Proposal (not scheduled) — one source tree building native on Windows and Linux; the portability survey behind it |
 | [BUILD.md](BUILD.md) | Toolchain and build steps |
 
 Dev tooling: `tools/two-pod-test.ps1` races two pods on loopback,

RP_L4/RPL4.CPP

@@ -83,6 +83,49 @@ HWND hWnd;
 //
 static LONG WINAPI RPL4CrashDumpFilter(EXCEPTION_POINTERS *exception)
 {
+	//
+	// Wine raises 0x80000100 (EXCEPTION_WINE_STUB) when the game calls an
+	// API Wine declares but has never implemented, and puts the module and
+	// function names in the first two exception parameters as plain ANSI
+	// strings. Wine prints that to its own stderr - which a player running
+	// through Steam never sees - and then this filter caught the exception
+	// and wrote a minidump, so a perfectly self-describing failure arrived
+	// as a mystery crash. That is exactly how D3DXConcatenateMeshes cost a
+	// full investigation on 4.12.233: one stubbed function out of the
+	// twenty d3dx9 imports, and nothing in our log named it.
+	//
+	// Unlike an access violation this is an orderly raise from Wine with
+	// the heap intact, so the log stream is safe to use here. Written
+	// before the dump, in case the dump is what fails.
+	//
+	if (exception != NULL &&
+		exception->ExceptionRecord != NULL &&
+		exception->ExceptionRecord->ExceptionCode == 0x80000100 &&
+		exception->ExceptionRecord->NumberParameters >= 2)
+	{
+		const char *stub_module =
+			(const char *) exception->ExceptionRecord->ExceptionInformation[0];
+		const char *stub_function =
+			(const char *) exception->ExceptionRecord->ExceptionInformation[1];
+
+		if (stub_module != NULL && stub_function != NULL &&
+			!IsBadStringPtrA(stub_module, 128) &&
+			!IsBadStringPtrA(stub_function, 128))
+		{
+			DEBUG_STREAM << "\n*** WINE STUB: " << stub_module << "."
+				<< stub_function << " is not implemented by this Wine.\n"
+				<< "*** The game called an API Wine only declares. Shipping the"
+				<< " real DLL beside the exe overrides Wine's builtin and is"
+				<< " usually the whole fix; see docs/RP412-LINUX.md.\n"
+				<< std::flush;
+		}
+		else
+		{
+			DEBUG_STREAM << "\n*** WINE STUB: an unimplemented API was called"
+				<< " (names unreadable)\n" << std::flush;
+		}
+	}
+
 	HMODULE dbghelp = LoadLibraryA("dbghelp.dll");
 	if (dbghelp != NULL)
 	{
@@ -225,6 +268,34 @@ int WINAPI WinMain(HINSTANCE hInstance, HINSTANCE hPrevInstance, LPSTR lpCmdLine
    //
    DEBUG_STREAM << "Red Planet " << RP412_VERSION_LONG << std::endl << std::flush;
 
+   //
+   // And whether this is Windows at all.
+   //
+   // Wine exports wine_get_version from ntdll and Windows does not, so
+   // one GetProcAddress separates the two. It matters because the
+   // failure modes differ: Wine implements Direct3D and the D3DX helpers
+   // itself, and where a helper is only a stub the game dies at the call
+   // with no hint in its own log (see the filter above). A tester's log
+   // saying which platform it came from turns that from an investigation
+   // into a lookup. Never true on Windows, where the lookup fails and
+   // nothing is printed.
+   //
+   {
+      HMODULE ntdll = GetModuleHandleA("ntdll.dll");
+      if (ntdll != NULL)
+      {
+         typedef const char * (__cdecl *WineGetVersionFn)(void);
+         WineGetVersionFn wine_get_version =
+            (WineGetVersionFn) GetProcAddress(ntdll, "wine_get_version");
+         if (wine_get_version != NULL)
+         {
+            DEBUG_STREAM << "Platform: Wine " << wine_get_version()
+               << " (not Windows) - D3DX comes from Wine's own"
+               << " implementation\n" << std::flush;
+         }
+      }
+   }
+
    // load up our environment variables
    //controls
    if(getenv("L4CONTROLS") == NULL)

RP_L4/RPL4ENVIRON.cpp

@@ -178,6 +178,20 @@ namespace
 "L4MAPPOS=LEFT\n"
 "L4MAPSCALE=100\n"
 "\n"
+"# How far the lit buttons around each display reach past its edge, in\n"
+"# EXTRA pixels. The pod's buttons were physical and backlit; on a\n"
+"# desktop panel they are a thin bar along the glass edge, and a\n"
+"# FLASHING one is easy to miss. This lengthens that bar - the button\n"
+"# keeps its width and still reaches the same distance behind the\n"
+"# picture, so the display and the click target are unchanged. The red\n"
+"# MFD strips and the amber map columns only.\n"
+"#\n"
+"# 0 - the default - is the pod's own geometry, exactly as it shipped.\n"
+"# 1-200 adds that many pixels. Give it a number: a word counts as 0.\n"
+"# (BattleTech 4.11 carries the same setting defaulted to 10, where its\n"
+"# players asked for it; the two games are tuned separately.)\n"
+"#RP412MFDPROTRUDE=10\n"
+"\n"
 "# The Winners Circle: at the end of a race the finishers are stood on\n"
 "# the award platform in finishing order, with each pilot's callsign on\n"
 "# the plate beside their spot, and held there for a few seconds before\n"

RP_L4/RP_L4.vcxproj

@@ -77,6 +77,23 @@
            helper. -->
       <DelayLoadDLLs>steam_api.dll;%(DelayLoadDLLs)</DelayLoadDLLs>
       <RandomizedBaseAddress>false</RandomizedBaseAddress>
+      <!-- /LARGEADDRESSAWARE: a 32-bit process gets 2GB of user ADDRESS
+           SPACE by default, which is a separate and much scarcer resource
+           than memory. Measured standalone mission: 166MB committed
+           against 795MB of address space - the graphics driver maps VRAM
+           apertures and its own bookkeeping into our map, and managed-pool
+           resources are shadowed in system memory as well as VRAM, so the
+           map runs about five times the memory actually used. Under Wine
+           the same mission mapped 3193MB, because wined3d routes through
+           OpenGL and the NVIDIA driver maps far more aggressively; on an
+           older Wine that exhausted the space outright and the game died
+           before video init with nothing useful in the log. This raises
+           the ceiling to 4GB on any 64-bit host. It frees no memory and
+           changes no behaviour - it stops the process running out of
+           numbers. Equally worth having on Windows: 795MB of 2GB is
+           already 40% before 1080p, eight pods, and the 100MB spool
+           buffer RP412RECORDSIZE takes when recording is armed. -->
+      <LargeAddressAware>true</LargeAddressAware>
       <GenerateDebugInformation>true</GenerateDebugInformation>
     </Link>
     <!-- rpl4build.h is generated, not committed: the patch number is the

docs/RP412-LINUX.md

@@ -1,12 +1,15 @@
 # RP 4.12 on Linux — compatibility assessment
 
 Requirements exploration for making RP412 playable on Linux (desktop and Steam
-Deck). Status: assessment complete (2026-08-12), **parked until late
+Deck). A formatted copy of the original assessment lives at
-playtesting** — nothing has been run on Linux yet; the Proton test matrix in
-§3 is the next concrete step when this resumes. A formatted copy of this
-report lives at
 <https://claude.ai/code/artifact/47e4cf5f-a9a3-416e-bd5e-25c810983551>.
 
+**Status: it runs.** The assessment below was written 2026-08-12 as prediction;
+on 2026-08-14 a field test on real hardware found and cleared the one blocker,
+and the game played a full mission on Linux. §0 is what the test found and what
+was done about it — read it first, it corrects several predictions in §2. The
+remaining work is the Deck-specific and DXVK items in §0's open list.
+
 **Verdict: target Proton as the official Linux path; treat a native port as a
 separately-scoped future project.** The existing 32-bit Win32/D3D9 build is
 squarely on Proton's best-supported path, every Proton-blocking issue found is
@@ -25,6 +28,120 @@ partner docs, the DXVK source, the steam-runtime repository, and Wine release
 notes as of August 2026, with unconfirmed items called out as needing live
 tests.
 
+## 0. Field test, 2026-08-14 — one stubbed function, and a Windows bug behind it
+
+Test environment: Linux Mint 22.3, RTX 5070 Ti (driver 595.84), Wine 10.0
+Staging from GE-Proton10-21, 32-bit prefix, **wined3d** renderer, windowed
+1920×1080, symbols from the shipped `rpl4opt.pdb`. Build 4.12.233.
+
+**The blocker was `D3DXConcatenateMeshes`.** Wine has never implemented it.
+The game calls it exactly once per session, from `ConsolidateStaticObjects`
+([MUNGA_L4/L4VIDEO.cpp](../MUNGA_L4/L4VIDEO.cpp)) via
+[MUNGA/APP.cpp](../MUNGA/APP.cpp)'s first-mission-load latch, so every player
+hits it on their first race. Wine raised `EXCEPTION_WINE_STUB` (0x80000100)
+naming the function in plain text; our own crash filter caught it and wrote
+`rpl4crash.dmp`, so it presented as a mystery crash. Of Wine's 329 `d3dx9_43`
+exports, 63 are stubs; the game imports 20 of them; exactly one is stubbed.
+There is no second landmine on the current code path.
+
+**The fix was already a Windows bug.** `d3dx9_43.dll` is a *hard* import of
+`rpl4opt.exe` — confirmed in the import table, and only `steam_api.dll` is
+delay-loaded — and it is **not part of Windows**. It ships solely with the
+June 2010 DirectX End-User Runtime. A customer on a clean Windows 10/11 who
+has never installed that redistributable cannot start the game at all: the
+loader fails at 0xC0000135 before `WinMain`, with no window and no log line.
+Every machine this was built or tested on had the SDK or some older game
+installed, which is why it went unnoticed. `pack-dist.ps1` now ships the DLL
+beside the exe, extracted from the SDK's redistributable cab. Wine prefers an
+application-directory DLL over its own builtin, so the same one file closes
+the Windows failure and the Linux blocker together — verified working on a
+stock prefix with no overrides and nothing installed.
+
+> **Licensing:** the DirectX SDK terms nominate DXSETUP as the delivery
+> method for this redistributable. Shipping the loose DLL is near-universal
+> practice and is what is verified working on both platforms, but confirm the
+> terms before a public release.
+
+**Address space, not memory.** The 32-bit process mapped **VmSize 3193 MB**
+under Wine, and on an older Wine that exhausted the address space outright —
+the game died before video init with nothing useful logged. It is not using
+that much memory: measured on Windows, a standalone mission peaks at **166 MB
+committed / 179 MB working set against 795 MB of address space**, already a
+~4.8× ratio. Address space is inflated by reservations, file mappings, and
+above all the graphics driver mapping VRAM apertures and its own bookkeeping
+into the process; under wined3d's OpenGL path with an NVIDIA driver that grows
+several-fold again. For a 32-bit process this is a hard 2 GB ceiling entirely
+separate from RAM, so it is possible to run out of *addresses* while using
+170 MB. `/LARGEADDRESSAWARE` is now set: it raises the ceiling to 4 GB on any
+64-bit host, frees no memory and changes no behaviour. Worth having on Windows
+too — 795 MB of 2 GB is already 40% before 1080p, eight pods, and the 100 MB
+buffer `RP412RECORDSIZE` takes when recording is armed.
+
+**Diagnostics added, so the next gap names itself.** The crash filter now
+decodes 0x80000100 and writes the offending `module.function` to `rpl4.log`
+before the minidump, and startup probes `wine_get_version` in `ntdll` and logs
+the platform next to the version banner. Neither line can ever appear on
+Windows. Together they would have reduced this entire investigation to reading
+one line of a tester's log.
+
+**Do NOT install the VC++ redistributable into a Wine prefix.** It *causes* a
+crash — a null dereference inside `std::mutex`, reached from
+`KeyLight_SetLogger` via `PadRIO::PadRIO`. Wine's builtin C++ runtime works
+correctly. This is a support-desk trap worth knowing, because installing the
+redistributable is a common first instinct. (On real Windows the VC++ runtime
+is genuinely required; Steam installs it as a depot prerequisite.)
+
+### Predictions in §2 that the test corrected
+
+- **The `windowsapp.lib` static-import worry was wrong.** §2 called it a
+  load-time failure risk under Wine. The game boots, and the VC++ trace above
+  runs *through* `KeyLight_SetLogger` — that code executes. Wine satisfies the
+  WinRT API-set imports.
+- **`d3dx9` was the right area, the wrong function.** §2 named
+  `D3DXLoadMeshFromXA` and `D3DXCreateTextureFromFile` as the heaviest leans on
+  Wine's reimplementation. Both are fully implemented. The lesson is method:
+  rank by *what Wine stubs*, not by what the game uses most — intersecting the
+  import table against Wine's stub list yields the answer directly.
+- **Address-space exhaustion was not predicted at all**, and static analysis
+  would not have found it.
+
+### Still open after this test
+
+- **DXVK is untested.** The test ran wined3d; Proton defaults to DXVK for
+  D3D9. The §2 headline risk — `Present` into a child `STATIC` via
+  `hDestWindowOverride` with GDI panes clipped over it — is specifically a
+  DXVK question, and whether the run exercised cockpit split mode
+  (`L4MFDSPLIT=1`) at all is not recorded. **This is the next test**, and the
+  rig now exists to do it cheaply.
+- **Steam networking under Proton** — SDR/FakeIP through the lsteamclient
+  bridge. The test's networking was almost certainly plain TCP.
+- **Everything Deck-specific**: gamescope with the plasma window and the
+  exploded MFD view, the gamepad-complete front end, the 9 px font floor.
+- **Optional load-time polish, both platforms**: 303 `d3dx_load_pixels_from_pixels`
+  calls (texture format conversion at load — shipping textures in device format
+  skips it) and 150 `OptimizeInplace` calls (the `.X` loader; baking meshes to
+  an in-house format at build time would retire the `.X` dependency).
+- **Swap Creative's OpenAL for OpenAL Soft** — the same shape of bug as the
+  `d3dx9_43.dll` one above: `pack-dist.ps1` copies `OpenAL32.dll` out of the
+  build machine's `SysWOW64`, and what ships is Creative's 2009 router +
+  `wrap_oal.dll` + a 791 KB installer. Bundling OpenAL Soft instead means the
+  same implementation runs on Windows and Linux. Scoped in
+  [RP412-UNIFIED-BUILD.md](RP412-UNIFIED-BUILD.md) — near-term, independent of
+  the port.
+- **The native port** is scoped separately in
+  [RP412-UNIFIED-BUILD.md](RP412-UNIFIED-BUILD.md) (proposal, not scheduled).
+  Its survey supersedes several figures in §1 and §3 below — notably that
+  `/Zp1` affects exactly one struct, that the `<windows.h>` leak into engine
+  core is `NETWORK.h` rather than `MATRIX.h`, and that ISO conformance rather
+  than include hygiene is what actually blocks a GCC compile.
+- **The durable fix for the blocker**: replace `D3DXConcatenateMeshes` with a
+  hand-written mesh merge, ~60–80 lines using only helpers Wine implements
+  (`D3DXCreateMesh`, `D3DXGetDeclVertexSize`, `D3DXVec3TransformCoordArray`,
+  `D3DXMatrixInverse`, …). Worth doing eventually because `D3DXSimplifyMesh`
+  and `D3DXSplitMesh` are stubs too, so any future mesh work hits the same
+  wall. Verify by comparing vertex/face counts and attribute ranges against
+  the D3DX output on Windows.
+
 ## 1. How the Windows dependency actually distributes
 
 The architecture is far more portable than the mechanics. The engine is
@@ -94,28 +211,32 @@ The multiplayer test matrix should pin that as the minimum version.
 
 ### Fix in the Windows build (confirmed in code)
 
+> Written 2026-08-12 as prediction. The first row is **disproven** by the
+> field test and is kept only so the reasoning is on the record; rows 2–5
+> stand and remain Deck work. See §0.
+
 | Item | Evidence | Candidate fix |
 |------|----------|---------------|
-| **WinRT lamp mirror is a static import.** `windowsapp.lib` via `#pragma comment` — unlike `steam_api.dll`, not delay-loaded. Wine has no `windows.devices.lights` at all; the in-code try/catch guards only run if the image loads. | [MUNGA_L4/L4KEYLIGHT.cpp](../MUNGA_L4/L4KEYLIGHT.cpp) line 33 | Delay-load it the way `steam_api.dll` is handled, or move activation behind a `LoadLibrary` probe. Cheap, and hardens the Windows build too. |
+| ~~**WinRT lamp mirror is a static import.**~~ **WRONG — see §0.** The reasoning was that `windowsapp.lib` is not delay-loaded and Wine has no `windows.devices.lights`, so the image would fail to load before the in-code guards could run. In practice Wine satisfies the WinRT API-set imports and the game boots; `KeyLight` code demonstrably executes. | [MUNGA_L4/L4KEYLIGHT.cpp](../MUNGA_L4/L4KEYLIGHT.cpp) line 33 | None needed. |
 | **Second top-level window fights gamescope.** The "Plasma Display" window plus the exploded `L4MFDSPLIT=2` mode (6 top-level panes) hit gamescope's known multi-window weakness on Deck. | [MUNGA_L4/L4PLASMASCREEN.cpp](../MUNGA_L4/L4PLASMASCREEN.cpp) line 271, [MUNGA_L4/L4MFDVIEW.cpp](../MUNGA_L4/L4MFDVIEW.cpp) line 297 | On Deck/gamescope, default the plasma glass into the cockpit window (the `SetParent` path already exists at `L4PLASMASCREEN.cpp:91`) and treat exploded view as desktop-only. |
 | **Implicit hit-test transparency.** Clicks fall through the viewscreen only because the stock STATIC proc returns `HTTRANSPARENT`; no explicit `WM_NCHITTEST` handler exists. If Wine's STATIC differs, all mouse input over the 3D view dies silently. | [MUNGA_L4/L4VB16.cpp](../MUNGA_L4/L4VB16.cpp) line 4659 | Handle `WM_NCHITTEST` explicitly in the viewscreen subclass. Removes the dependency on an undocumented control behavior everywhere. |
 | **Deck legibility floor.** The 1920×1080 canvas lands on Deck at 1280×720 — a 1.5× shrink. Valve's gate is 9 px minimum font height, so anything under ~14 px on the canvas fails. | Fixed canvas: [MUNGA_L4/L4APP.cpp](../MUNGA_L4/L4APP.cpp) line 269 | Audit the smallest cockpit and front-end type; bump or provide a Deck-scale preset. |
 | **Gamepad-complete front end.** The menu/lobby is mouse-driven GDI; callsign entry is a Win32 `EDIT` control. Deck Verified requires the full flow on pad alone, with the Steam on-screen keyboard for text. | [RP_L4/RPL4FE.cpp](../RP_L4/RPL4FE.cpp) line 2467 | Add pad navigation to the front end and invoke `ShowFloatingGamepadTextInput` for the callsign field. The largest Path-A work item. |
 
-### Verify under Proton (needs live testing; no code change assumed)
+### Verify under Proton (status as of the 2026-08-14 field test)
 
 - **Child-window Present**: `Present(…, hDestWindowOverride)` into a child
   STATIC under DXVK — supported per the DXVK source (per-HWND presenter map)
   and Wine 10's child-window Vulkan work, but this exact composition (GDI
   siblings clipped over the presented pane) is the least-exercised path in any
-  D3D9 stack. First thing to smoke-test.
+  D3D9 stack. **STILL OPEN — the field test ran wined3d, not DXVK.** Next test.
 - **Steam networking end-to-end**: repeat the three-machine SDR/FakeIP race
   ([STEAM-3-MACHINE-TEST.md](STEAM-3-MACHINE-TEST.md)) with one or more peers
   on Proton ≥ 10.0-4b. No Proton-specific FakeIP defects are on record, but
-  absence of reports is not confirmation.
+  absence of reports is not confirmation. **STILL OPEN.**
-- **Wine's d3dx9**: `D3DXLoadMeshFromXA` (.x meshes) and
+- ~~**Wine's d3dx9**: `D3DXLoadMeshFromXA` and `D3DXCreateTextureFromFile`~~ —
-  `D3DXCreateTextureFromFile` (PNG) are the two heaviest leans on Wine's
+  **DONE, and both are fine.** The stubbed import was `D3DXConcatenateMeshes`;
-  reimplementation.
+  see §0.
 - **Input odds and ends**: the `IG_` RawInput device-path heuristic for XInput
   de-duplication (`L4JOY.cpp:72-146`) assumes Windows-shaped HID paths;
   `GetAsyncKeyState` + foreground-window focus gating under gamescope's focus

docs/RP412-UNIFIED-BUILD.md

@@ -0,0 +1,351 @@
+# RP 4.12 — unified Linux/Windows native build (proposal)
+
+**Status: proposal, not scheduled.** Written 2026-08-14 against HEAD `9fae440`.
+Nothing here is committed to. It is filed so the measurements survive — the
+survey behind it took three full sweeps of the tree, and the numbers are the
+durable part whether or not the plan is ever run.
+
+The shipping Linux path today is **Proton**, and it works: see
+[RP412-LINUX.md](RP412-LINUX.md) §0 for the field test and the `d3dx9_43.dll`
+fix that unblocked it. This document describes the *other* thing — one source
+tree producing a native binary on both platforms — and exists because the
+question "what would that actually take?" deserved a real answer rather than a
+guess.
+
+## Do this one now, independent of the plan
+
+**Swap Creative's OpenAL for OpenAL Soft.** This is not port work. It is the
+same shape of problem as the `d3dx9_43.dll` bug found on 2026-08-14 — a runtime
+dependency the build machine quietly satisfies — and it is worth fixing on
+Windows whether or not any of the phases below ever run.
+
+What ships today is Creative's 2009-era stack: `OpenAL32.dll` v6.14 is only a
+**router** that dispatches to `wrap_oal.dll` v2.2.0.5 (the real implementation),
+with `oalinst.exe` (791 KB) bundled as a fallback installer. Worse,
+`pack-dist.ps1` copies `OpenAL32.dll` **out of the build machine's `SysWOW64`**,
+so the audio stack that ships is whatever happened to be installed on the
+machine that packed it. The router architecture exists so multiple vendors'
+implementations could coexist, which stopped mattering fifteen years ago.
+
+The work:
+
+- Bundle **OpenAL Soft** — ship its `soft_oal.dll` renamed to `OpenAL32.dll`,
+  vendored in the repo like `steam_api.dll` is, not copied from the system.
+- Delete `wrap_oal.dll` and `oalinst.exe` from `dist\` and from
+  `pack-dist.ps1`; drop the "copy from `SysWOW64` if present" branch. Net
+  ~1.2 MB smaller.
+- Replace the vendored Creative headers in `MUNGA_L4\openal\` with OpenAL
+  Soft's. Only `al.h`, `alc.h` and `efx.h` are ever included (11 sites across
+  10 files) — `efx-creative.h`, `EFX-Util.h` and `xram.h` are referenced by
+  **nothing** and can simply go.
+- Replace `lib\OpenAL32.lib` with OpenAL Soft's import library.
+
+Why it is worth doing on its own merits:
+
+- **The same implementation then runs on both platforms**, since Linux distros
+  ship OpenAL Soft as `libopenal.so`. Audio bugs reproduce across platforms
+  instead of being "works on my Windows."
+- It removes the **only `__declspec` in the entire tree**, which lives in
+  Creative's `al.h`.
+- It ends the silent dependency on the packing machine's system state.
+
+Licensing is unremarkable: OpenAL Soft is LGPL, and shipping it as a separate,
+dynamically-linked DLL is the standard compliant arrangement for a closed-source
+game.
+
+*Verify: audio plays in a mission; EFX reverb still engages (`EFX_Available()`
+in `L4AUDEFX.cpp` — it probes `ALC_EXT_EFX` and degrades silently, so confirm
+the log does **not** say "filters and reverb inert"); the two-pod harness
+passes; `dist\` contains no `wrap_oal.dll` or `oalinst.exe`.*
+
+**What this does *not* do: remove OpenAL.** The API is cross-platform and is
+precisely why audio barely features in the phases below — all ~91 call sites
+compile unchanged against `libopenal.so`. Dropping OpenAL entirely is possible
+in principle (the game disables OpenAL's own attenuation and Doppler, does its
+own 3D math, and never streams — it is using OpenAL as little more than a
+mixer) but would mean reimplementing EFX reverb and rewriting ~91 working call
+sites to remove a dependency that causes no portability problem. Not
+recommended.
+
+## The four decisions this plan assumes
+
+Taken 2026-08-14. Changing any of them changes the plan's shape.
+
+| Question | Decision | Consequence |
+|----------|----------|-------------|
+| Cross-play Windows↔Linux? | **Yes, same race** | Serialized platform-sized types must be pinned to fixed width |
+| Renderer | **GL on Linux now, converge Windows later** | The GL path must be Windows-capable from day one — SDL context creation, portable GL loader, no GLX-specific code |
+| Build system | **One CMake for both** | The working MSBuild build gets migrated; highest-regression-risk step |
+| What ships meanwhile | **Proton stays the shipping path** | No deadline pressure; Deck work proceeds separately and benefits both |
+
+## What was measured
+
+The survey is the reason to keep this document. Three findings materially
+changed the risk picture from the earlier 2026-08-12 assessment.
+
+### 1. `/Zp1` is nearly a non-issue
+
+The prior audit flagged project-wide 1-byte struct packing as a serious
+entanglement with "no manifest of which structs matter." There is now a
+manifest. Of **31 distinct whole-object stream types**, 29 are enums, scalar
+typedefs, or all-`float` aggregates. Modelled at both packings and compared by
+`sizeof`, exactly **one** struct changes layout:
+
+```c
+// MUNGA_L4/L4D3D.cpp:264-273 — read whole from every .met file at :282
+struct { unsigned char minify, magnify, alpha, wrap_u, wrap_v;
+         bool doScroll; float scrollUDelta, scrollVDelta; } fileTexOp;
+// /Zp1 = 14 bytes; default packing = 16 (padding after the bool)
+```
+
+Dropping `/Zp1` costs one `#pragma pack(1)`. It also retires
+`WINDOWS_IGNORE_PACKING_MISMATCH`, the Steamworks `pack(push,8)` guards, and
+the latent `RPL4TOOL`-vs-`rpl4opt` packing divergence that `/FORCE:MULTIPLE`
+currently hides.
+
+### 2. ISO conformance is the real blocker, not includes
+
+Under GCC 15 with `-fsyntax-only`, **172 of 172 `MUNGA`+`RP` translation units
+fail — and 171 still fail with every 64-bit-related error removed.** The
+keystone is one line:
+
+```cpp
+// MUNGA/SCHAIN.h — friend-declared name used as a type
+class SChainLink : public Link {
+    friend class SChain;                        // :10
+    SChainLink(SChain *chain, Plug *plug, …);   // :18  ← not a type under ISO
+};
+```
+
+`schain.h` sits in `MUNGA.h`'s precompiled block, so that single line breaks
+the entire core. The same pattern appears at **155 `friend class` sites over
+117 names**. Other classes: iterator typedefs of friend-declared names (66
+TUs), `Now()`/`HiResNow()` declared friend-only inside `SystemClock` but called
+at 50+ sites (25 TUs), `new (Subsystem (*[n]))` array syntax GCC parses as a
+lambda (4 sites), `__try`/`__except`, `std::ios::_Openprot`, MSVC `<float.h>`
+`SW_*` constants, `goto` crossing initialization.
+
+Roughly **30 distinct sites across ~20 headers** — small in absolute terms,
+but they gate all 241 TUs.
+
+### 3. LP64 has two systemic breaks
+
+- `MEMSTRM.H:20` `void Rewind() { SetPointer(0U); }` becomes ambiguous between
+  `SetPointer(void*)` and `SetPointer(size_t)` the moment `size_t` ≠
+  `unsigned int`. **Fails in 171 of 172 TUs on 64-bit, zero on 32-bit.**
+- On LP64, `size_t` matches **none** of the eight `MemoryStream_Read`
+  overloads. On ILP32 it silently binds to the `unsigned int` one.
+
+### The good news, quantified
+
+- **`RP\` is 100% clean** — 0 of 20 TUs touch a platform API. Of 241 compiled
+  TUs, **190 touch no Win32/D3D/Winsock symbol at all**.
+- **The renderer's distinct surface is tiny**: 19 render states, 7
+  texture-stage states (stages 1–2 only ever `D3DTOP_DISABLE`, so effectively
+  one texture unit), 5 sampler states hardcoded to linear, 5 FVFs, **one** mesh
+  draw call, no shaders, no indexed draws, no render targets, no stencil, no
+  scissor, one directional light.
+- **The assets are a small closed subset**: all 224 `.X` files are *text*
+  format using 8 templates, no skinning, no vertex colours; 56,521 verts total,
+  largest single mesh 2,195. All 104 PNGs are 8-bit RGBA.
+- **The gauge/MFD production path is already portable C++** — `GRAPH2D`,
+  `GAUGREND`, `GAUGE`, `GAUGMAP`, `L4VB8`, `L4GAUGE`, `L4GREND`, `L4GAUIMA`,
+  `RPL4GAUG` all measure zero Win32/D3D hits, plus **~4,700 of `L4VB16.cpp`'s
+  7,230 lines** (the software rasterizer, the `L4GraphicsPort` channel packing
+  that emulates the pod's five-MFDs-in-two-video-outputs trick, the palette
+  fades). Only its *destination* is platform-bound.
+- **`RIOBase` — the whole input seam — is 2 pure virtuals** (`GetNextEvent`,
+  `SetLamp`), 13 virtuals with working empty bodies, and 5 public `Scalar`s.
+  `PadRIO` implements it in 6 methods.
+- **The GDI vocabulary is minimal**: no `Rectangle`, `Ellipse`, `LineTo` or
+  `CreatePen` anywhere. The entire visual language is `FillRect`, `FrameRect`,
+  `DrawTextA`, one `Polygon` (a combo arrow), `BitBlt`, `StretchDIBits`.
+
+### Counts at HEAD
+
+1856 quoted includes · 351 with backslashes · **1764 case-wrong** (only 30
+fully correct) across 468 files · 226 `#pragma hdrstop` · 129 `stricmp` in 28
+files · 12 `stdext::hash_map` in 5 files · **54 `PostQuitMessage`** in 17 files
+· 111 `getenv` in 38 files · 421 user32/gdi32 calls in 27 files · 54 backslash
+path literals in 17 files, of which 8 are directory-case and 3 file-case
+mismatches against disk.
+
+### Confirmed dead — delete rather than port
+
+`DivLoader` (zero references tree-wide; `DivLoader.lib` is 2.6 MB and linked by
+nothing) · `RPL4Lobby_Room`/`_Join` plus `RunRoom`/`PaintRoom`/`RoomWndProc`,
+~410 lines with no callers — the front end absorbed the room · `L4KEYBD` (only
+call site commented out) · `L4MOUSE` (fully stubbed) · `MUNGA_L4/sos/` and
+`libDPL/` · `LOGGER.cpp` (on disk, in no project) · the 44 `.tcp` test includes.
+
+## The strategic shape
+
+**Almost all the work happens on Windows, verified by the existing build and
+the two-pod harness, before a single Linux compile is attempted.** Phases 0–3
+make the *Windows* build ISO-conformant, platform-decoupled, fixed-width and
+CMake-built, each step green against a live race. Only Phase 4 adds Linux.
+
+That ordering is the point. It is what stops a year-long project from having a
+six-month stretch where nothing runs and nothing can be tested.
+
+## Phases
+
+### Phase 0 — ISO conformance and hygiene *(Windows only)*
+
+Fix the `friend class`-as-type family (keystone `SCHAIN.h:18`; same shape in
+`CAMINST.h`, `ENTITY.h`, `INTORGN.h`, `PLUG.h`, `TRACE.h`, `L4AUDHDW.h`, and
+the iterator typedefs in `HOSTMGR.h`, `HOST.h`, `COLLORGN.h`, `COLLASST.h`,
+`RNDORGN.h`, `MISSION.h`). Declare `Now()`/`HiResNow()`/
+`Get_Frame_Percent_Used()` at namespace scope. Clear the ~30 remaining
+conformance sites. Scripted include normalization across 468 files. A CRT
+compat header (`stricmp`, Annex K `_s`, `ostrstream`→`ostringstream`, `itoa`).
+Drop `#pragma hdrstop`. Delete the dead list.
+
+*Gate: MSBuild Release clean · two-pod passes · `g++ -fsyntax-only` reaches
+zero errors over `MUNGA`+`RP` on a 32-bit target.*
+
+### Phase 1 — Break platform coupling *(Windows only)*
+
+- **`MUNGA/NETWORK.h:8-9` is the real `<windows.h>` leak** — `<Winsock2.h>`
+  reaches `APP.h` and **157 TUs**, and is why `APPMGR.h:5`'s bare
+  `extern HWND ghWnd;` compiles at all. (`MATRIX.h`'s `<D3DX9.h>` is the other
+  route and is much narrower: 10 files, 2 members.) Replace `SOCKADDR_IN` in
+  engine headers with a portable address struct.
+- `VIDREND.h:60` `std::vector<MONITORINFO>` → portable rect struct.
+  `APPMGR.h`/`SPOOLER.h` `HWND`/`HINSTANCE` → opaque handle.
+- Split `RIOBase` out of `L4RIO.h` (lines 16–220 have no Win32 dependency; only
+  `RIO` below needs `l4pcspak.h` → `<windows.h>`). Retype ~8 `RIO::` →
+  `RIOBase::` in `L4CTRL.h`.
+- `PostQuitMessage` → the portable abort hook whose prototype is still
+  commented out at `MUNGA/STYLE.H:31` (54 sites).
+- Remove `<dos.h>` from `MUNGAL4.H:6` (reaches 62 TUs). Fix the 3 OpenAL calls
+  leaking into `MUNGA/AUDIO.cpp`.
+- One `ResolveAssetPath()` for separator, case, and an **exe-relative base** —
+  `GetModuleFileName` is called *nowhere* today, so everything resolves against
+  the working directory, which breaks read-only installs and XDG conventions.
+  **Careful:** `RPL4VID.cpp:1099` does `TempFileName[8] = skeleton_type;`,
+  hardcoding the `"video\\"` prefix length.
+
+*Gate: MSBuild clean · two-pod passes · a race against an **unmodified** build
+still works, since nothing on the wire has changed yet.*
+
+### Phase 2 — Fixed-width formats and LP64 readiness *(Windows only)*
+
+Retype, don't redesign — the files already contain 32-bit values.
+
+Pin to `uint32_t`: `RESOURCE.h:208-210` and the `.RES` offset table
+(`RESOURCE.cpp:658/807/867` — note `:867` already writes `sizeof(long)` against
+`:658`'s `sizeof(size_t)`, a latent inconsistency) · `RECEIVER.h:172`
+`messageLength`, which is in every wire packet and every spool byte ·
+`SIMULATE.h:57`, `DAMAGE.h:137`, `BOXSOLID.h:171`, `CAMINST.h:12` ·
+`TIME.h:53` `Time::ticks` · the spool headers in `SPOOLER.cpp` and
+`L4CTRL.cpp:2662` · `L4VIDEO.cpp:920/970` `fread(sizeof(size_t))`.
+
+`L4NET.H:404/431` `unsigned long streamPointer` carries a `SOCKET` **and those
+classes are on the wire** — must become a fixed-width handle.
+
+Fix the `MemoryStream` overload set for LP64. Handle `VDATA.h:9/12`
+(`RegisteredClassMemoryAddress` is a truncating pointer cast used as a
+container key) and `VERIFY.cpp:132/213` `*(int*)(0xFFFFFFFF)`, a hard 64-bit
+compile error.
+
+Drop `/Zp1`; add `#pragma pack(1)` to `fileTexOp`.
+
+**Egg text rasterization**: `AppendNameBitmap` (`RPL4FE.cpp:1809`) uses GDI to
+rasterize the callsign into 1bpp hex rows **inside the egg**. With cross-play
+on, both platforms must emit identical bytes — so this moves to a bundled
+bitmap font used on **both**, not a native text API on each.
+
+*Gate: `.RES` loads unchanged (validated through
+`tools/resbuild/build-res.ps1`, the only regeneration path) · `.met` textures
+still read · a cross-version race proving the wire is byte-identical.*
+
+### Phase 3 — CMake migration *(Windows first)*
+
+Reproduce the settings exactly: Unicode charset, the four defines,
+`/FORCE:MULTIPLE`, `steam_api.dll` delay-load + `delayimp`, `/DYNAMICBASE:NO`,
+`LargeAddressAware`, LTCG/COMDAT in Release, `$(DXSDK_DIR)` paths appended
+*after* the Windows SDK, and the `stamp-version` pre-build step (~30 lines of
+CMake; the logic has nothing PowerShell-specific).
+
+**Use `-iquote`, never `-I`** for the source directories: `MUNGA/TIME.h`,
+`SET.h`, `RANDOM.h`, `ITERATOR.h` collide with standard headers — verified to
+break `<pthread.h>` → `<time.h>` → `MUNGA/TIME.h`.
+
+*Gate: the CMake-built Windows exe passes the two-pod harness and a smoke
+mission before MSBuild is retired.*
+
+### Phase 4 — The Linux platform layer
+
+- **SDL3** for window, events, timers, input. **Map SDL scancodes into the
+  Windows VK namespace** — `bindings.txt` stores VK codes and is a shipped,
+  user-editable file; changing the namespace breaks every existing profile.
+- **GL 2.1 compatibility profile** implementing `VideoRenderer` — a near-1:1
+  mapping for fixed-function. `D3DZB_USEW` has no GL equivalent: use a normal
+  depth buffer and `glPolygonOffset` for the decal pass, which is the correct
+  GL tool and replaces the `_33 -= 5e-7` projection hack.
+- **Asset loaders**: a text `.X` parser for the 8 templates in use; `stb_image`
+  for PNG; a hand-written mesh merge replacing `D3DXConcatenateMeshes`. **The
+  merge must reproduce D3DX's subset-numbering order exactly** —
+  `ConsolidateSingleObject` remaps attribute IDs against it and both
+  lookup-failure branches are empty `//Freak out` blocks. It must also preserve
+  one-texture-object-per-image, because `HashDrawOp` hashes the raw texture
+  pointer (which is why the 1×1 per-plate marker textures exist).
+- **BSD sockets** behind the existing `NetTransport` seam (3 errno branches).
+  **Steam via `dlopen` + `steam_api_flat.h`** — ELF has no delay-load
+  equivalent and C++ vtable calls can't be resolved by `dlsym`. The
+  `linux32`/`linux64` `.so` files are already on disk but `.gitignore`d.
+- **Shims**: `FILESTUB` (6 syscalls; `_lseek`'s `long` caps files at 2 GB) ·
+  `L4TIME` → `clock_gettime` · the console thread → `std::thread` · the crash
+  handler → `signal` + `backtrace`.
+- **Fix the particle VB lock length** (`L4PARTICLES.cpp:513` requests 1/6 of
+  what it writes) — benign under `D3DLOCK_DISCARD`, not under a mapped GL range.
+
+*Gate: a Linux binary reaching `LocalConsole: mission running` with no crash,
+then a Linux↔Windows two-machine race.*
+
+### Phase 5 — The UI
+
+Reimplement the front end's drawing against a portable primitive set: rect
+fill, rect frame, single-line text with ellipsis, a monospace font at a
+requested pixel height, a text-extent query, plus dropdown and single-line-entry
+widgets. `RPL4FE.cpp` is ~32% drawing/windowing and ~68% already portable, and
+`LayoutMenu` is 137 lines of pure rect arithmetic before it touches Win32.
+Candidate substrate: the engine's own `GraphicsDisplay` interface
+(`MUNGA/GRAPH2D.h:213`), which already provides `DrawFilledRectangle`,
+`DrawText` and `DrawBitMap`.
+
+### Phase 6 — Convergence
+
+Switch Windows to the GL renderer, retiring the D3D9 path, the June-2010 SDK
+dependency and `d3dx9_43.dll` shipping — but only after the GL path has field
+time on Linux.
+
+## Risks
+
+- **`.gitattributes` forces `eol=crlf`** on all source in the working tree, so a
+  Linux checkout gets CRLF. Decide early: normalize to LF, or keep and ensure
+  tooling tolerates it.
+- **Resource-embedded filenames** (`GRAPH2D.cpp:188/614/801`,
+  `RPL4VID.cpp:1093`) concatenate a prefix with names read out of `RPL4.RES`;
+  their case cannot be determined from source and needs a resource-table dump.
+- **Phase 3 is the highest-regression-risk step** — it replaces a working build
+  system for a shipping product. It is deliberately placed after the code is
+  already portable, so a rollback to MSBuild stays possible.
+- **`bindings.txt` and the egg name bitmaps are user- and wire-visible
+  formats.** Both are handled above, but a mistake in either is a silent
+  compatibility break.
+
+## When this would *not* be worth doing
+
+Stated plainly, because the honest answer matters more than the plan:
+
+Proton already delivers the Linux player experience, and Phases 0–2 are the
+only parts with standalone value (ISO conformance, decoupled seams, fixed-width
+formats and an exe-relative path layer would each improve the Windows build on
+their own). If the goal is "Linux players can buy and play it," that goal is
+**already met** by the shipping path. This project is worth starting when the
+goal is different: retiring a 2010-era closed SDK dependency, owning the render
+path outright, or removing Wine as a variable in support. If none of those
+becomes pressing, Phases 0–2 can be cherry-picked as ordinary maintenance and
+the rest left on the shelf.

docs/rp412-handbook.html

@@ -1133,6 +1133,7 @@
           <tr><th>L4MFDSCALE_<span style="color:var(--phosphor)">xx</span></th><td>Any one on its own — <span class="addr" style="font-family:var(--mono)">UL UC UR LL LR</span>. Unset inherits the line above.</td></tr>
           <tr><th>L4RADARSCALE</th><td>The radar alone. It already sits at 1.35× the MFDs.</td></tr>
           <tr><th>L4RADARPOS</th><td class="mono">CENTER · LEFT · RIGHT · MIDLEFT · MIDRIGHT</td></tr>
+          <tr><th>RP412MFDPROTRUDE</th><td>Extra pixels of lit button reaching past each display edge, so a flashing one is easier to catch. A longer bar, not a wider button — the picture and the click target are unchanged. <span style="color:var(--ink-quiet)">0–200, default 0 (the pod's own geometry)</span></td></tr>
         </tbody>
       </table>
     </div>

pack-dist.ps1

@@ -8,6 +8,8 @@
 #      TEST.EGG) - but not the arcade launch scripts or the old 4.10 exe
 #    - libsndfile-1.dll beside the exe; OpenAL32.dll copied from the system
 #      when installed, with oalinst.exe included as the fallback installer
+#    - d3dx9_43.dll from the DirectX SDK redist cab: a hard import that is
+#      NOT part of Windows, and also what makes the game run under Proton
 #    (environ.ini is NOT shipped - the exe writes it on first run)
 #    - start/joyconfig scripts, HANDBOOK.html, VTV-PRESETS.html, TRACKS.html,
 #      CONTROLS.txt and a README
@@ -192,6 +194,53 @@ $handbookPage
     "$dist\TRACKS.html",
     [System.IO.File]::ReadAllBytes((Join-Path $root 'docs\tracks.html')))
 
+# --- D3DX runtime ----------------------------------------------------------
+# d3dx9_43.dll is a HARD import of the exe, and it is NOT part of Windows.
+# It ships only with the June 2010 DirectX End-User Runtime, so a customer
+# who has never installed that redistributable - which is most of them, on a
+# clean Windows 10 or 11 - cannot start the game at all: the loader fails at
+# 0xC0000135 before WinMain, with no window and no log line. Every machine
+# this has ever been built or tested on had the SDK or some older game
+# installed, which is exactly why it went unnoticed.
+#
+# The same file is also what makes the game work under Wine/Proton. Wine
+# implements 63 of d3dx9_43's 329 exports as stubs, and the game imports
+# exactly one of them - D3DXConcatenateMeshes, called once per session from
+# ConsolidateStaticObjects on first mission load. Wine loads a DLL from the
+# application directory in preference to its own builtin, so shipping the
+# Microsoft one here means the stub is never reached. One file closes a
+# hard Windows failure and the entire Linux blocker at once.
+#
+# Taken from the SDK's redistributable cab rather than from SysWOW64: that
+# cab is the licensed redistribution source, and it is the same signed
+# Microsoft binary. NOTE: the DirectX SDK terms nominate DXSETUP as the
+# delivery method for this redistributable - shipping the loose DLL is
+# near-universal practice and is what is verified working on both
+# platforms, but confirm the terms before a public release.
+$d3dxCab = Join-Path $env:DXSDK_DIR 'Redist\Jun2010_d3dx9_43_x86.cab'
+$d3dxDll = Join-Path $dist 'd3dx9_43.dll'
+if ($env:DXSDK_DIR -and (Test-Path $d3dxCab)) {
+    & expand.exe $d3dxCab -F:d3dx9_43.dll $dist | Out-Null
+    if (Test-Path $d3dxDll) {
+        Write-Host "  d3dx9_43.dll extracted from the DirectX SDK redist cab"
+    }
+}
+if (-not (Test-Path $d3dxDll)) {
+    # Fall back to an installed copy so a machine without the SDK can still
+    # produce a working package.
+    $d3dxSystem = "$env:WINDIR\SysWOW64\d3dx9_43.dll"
+    if (-not (Test-Path $d3dxSystem)) { $d3dxSystem = "$env:WINDIR\System32\d3dx9_43.dll" }
+    if (Test-Path $d3dxSystem) {
+        Copy-Item $d3dxSystem $dist
+        Write-Host "  d3dx9_43.dll copied from $(Split-Path $d3dxSystem)"
+    } else {
+        Write-Warning ("d3dx9_43.dll NOT FOUND - this package will fail to start on any " +
+                       "machine without the June 2010 DirectX runtime, and will crash " +
+                       "under Wine/Proton on first mission load. Install the DirectX SDK " +
+                       "or the end-user runtime and repack.")
+    }
+}
+
 # --- OpenAL runtime --------------------------------------------------------
 # The exe links OpenAL32.dll (32-bit). Prefer shipping the already-installed
 # runtime beside the exe; oalinst.exe covers machines where that misses.