Deploy: freeze the render bridge to renderer.exe -- archive is now complete

render-bridge/freeze.ps1: PyInstaller onefile of live_bridge.py + Dave's
vrboard/vrview/vrview_gl (+glcontext collected for moderngl) -> dist\
renderer.exe (~33 MB). GL backend live-verified from a pure-dist launch
(no --root/--renderer overrides) on 2026-07-10. package.ps1 bundles the
frozen exe automatically when present; DEPLOYMENT-PLAN's renderer OPEN
item is resolved. Ignore the build-artifact dirs.

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

.gitignore

@@ -5,3 +5,10 @@
 /emulator/dbx_*.txt
 /emulator/screen*.png
 __pycache__/
+
+# Deployment build artifacts (rebuild: deploy/package.ps1 + render-bridge/freeze.ps1)
+/emulator/dist/
+/emulator/render-bridge/dist/
+/emulator/pod-launch/publish/
+/emulator/pod-launch/bin/pkg/
+/emulator/bld*.log

emulator/DEPLOYMENT-PLAN.md

@@ -134,8 +134,10 @@ Single root folder + `postinstall.bat`. Everything the install needs is inside:
   affair that survives game updates. postinstall detects an existing install
   and only warns when absent (a bundled `deploy\npcap.exe` is still honored
   if shipped)
-- The renderer (**OPEN:** freeze to one exe vs bundle embeddable Python -- decide
-  with David; "decide later")
+- The renderer -- **RESOLVED 2026-07-10: frozen to one exe** (PyInstaller
+  onefile, `render-bridge\freeze.ps1` -> `dist\renderer.exe`, ~33 MB, GL
+  backend live-verified from a pure-dist launch). `package.ps1` bundles it
+  automatically when present.
 - `net_*.conf` **templates** with `@@ROOT@@` / `@@REALNIC@@` tokens, launch
   dispatcher, `postinstall.bat`
 

emulator/deploy/package.ps1

@@ -74,9 +74,13 @@ if ($NoContent) {
     Copy-Item (Join-Path $Emu 'net-boot') $root -Recurse
 }
 
-# renderer (frozen exe) -- else flagged
-if ($Renderer) { Copy-Item $Renderer (Join-Path $root 'renderer.exe'); Log "bundled renderer -> renderer.exe" }
-else { Warn "no -Renderer: renderer NOT bundled (freeze pending). pod-launch needs --renderer or a bundled render-bridge at runtime." }
+# renderer (frozen exe): default to render-bridge\freeze.ps1's output -- else flagged
+if (-not $Renderer) {
+    $frozen = Join-Path $Emu 'render-bridge\dist\renderer.exe'
+    if (Test-Path $frozen) { $Renderer = $frozen }
+}
+if ($Renderer) { Copy-Item $Renderer (Join-Path $root 'renderer.exe'); Log "bundled renderer -> renderer.exe ($Renderer)" }
+else { Warn "no renderer: run render-bridge\freeze.ps1 (or pass -Renderer). pod-launch needs --renderer or a render bridge at runtime." }
 
 # Npcap installer -- optional: policy (2026-07-10) is a one-time MANUAL install
 # per cockpit; postinstall detects it and only warns when absent.

emulator/render-bridge/freeze.ps1

@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+# freeze.ps1 -- PyInstaller onefile of live_bridge.py -> dist\renderer.exe,
+# the deployable render bridge (package.ps1 bundles it automatically when
+# present). pod-launch invokes it as: renderer.exe tcp:8621 <live.fifodump>.
+#
+# Needs the Windows CPython (py -3.13) with the render-bridge wheels plus
+# pyinstaller:  py -3.13 -m pip install numpy pygame-ce moderngl pillow pyinstaller
+#
+# Dave's modules (vrboard/vrview/vrview_gl) come from ..\..\dpl3-revive\patha
+# and are baked into the exe; _backend's runtime sys.path insert becomes a
+# harmless no-op in the frozen build. glcontext is moderngl's dynamically
+# imported binary backend -- PyInstaller misses it without --collect-all.
+# First frozen + live-verified (GL backend) 2026-07-10.
+$ErrorActionPreference = 'Stop'
+Set-Location $PSScriptRoot
+py -3.13 -m PyInstaller --onefile --noconsole --name renderer `
+    --paths ..\..\dpl3-revive\patha `
+    --hidden-import vrview_gl --hidden-import vrview --hidden-import vrboard `
+    --collect-all glcontext `
+    --distpath .\dist `
+    --workpath (Join-Path $env:TEMP 'pyi-renderer') `
+    --specpath (Join-Path $env:TEMP 'pyi-renderer') `
+    live_bridge.py
+if ($LASTEXITCODE -ne 0) { throw "PyInstaller failed" }
+Write-Host "[freeze] dist\renderer.exe ready ($('{0:N1} MB' -f ((Get-Item .\dist\renderer.exe).Length / 1MB)))"