Emulator: parity-safe EMU8000 sample counter -- AWEUTIL runs; wire the

VGL_LABS cockpit test suite as pod-launch 'test' mode

The WC hang, root-caused in three layers (each necessary):
1. WC was rendered-samples + 100ms-capped interpolation; AWEUTIL's poll
   storm (~550k port-ops/s) starved the render thread of awe_lock, so the
   clock crawled ~90x slow. Fixed: free-running host-clock derivation +
   a fairness gate so the render thread can always take the lock.
2. Free-running at true 44.1kHz still failed: trapped port reads cost
   ~30us -- MORE than one 22.7us tick -- so consecutive reads skipped
   counter values, and AWEUTIL's WaitUntilWC (decoded at COM offset
   0x5F42) exits only on EQUALITY with a target tick: skipped value =
   missed target = 1.49s wrap penalty, or forever.
3. Advancing +1 per read still failed: WaitUntilWC reads WC TWICE per
   iteration, so its equality sample saw only every 2nd value -- wrong
   parity = infinite loop. Final semantics: during a poll storm the
   counter advances once per FOUR reads (every value observable by all
   of AWEUTIL's loop shapes; its 8192-unchanged-reads dead-clock bailout
   never trips), and resyncs to true wall time after any 50ms idle gap.
   Result: the full stock TEST.BAT (DIAGNOSE + AWEUTIL /S on both cards)
   completes in seconds.

Also: pod-launch 'test' mode -> vwetest.conf (stock TEST.BAT -> TSTALL),
DOSBox window defaults to 900,600 in test mode (the DOS screen is the
suite's UI), VWE_AWE_LOG gains storm bursts with guest cs:ip + caller and
rare-read tracing (the instrumentation that cracked this).

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

emulator/deploy/vwetest.conf.tmpl

@@ -0,0 +1,54 @@
+# DEPLOY TEMPLATE -- rendered to vwetest.conf by deploy/configure.ps1 at install.
+# Tokens (filled by postinstall): @@ROOT@@ = package dir (C:\games\<folder>),
+# @@REALNIC@@ = this pod's NIC GUID fragment, @@MACADDR@@ = stable derived MAC.
+# VGL_LABS factory cockpit test suite: the stock C:\VWETEST\TEST.BAT chain
+# (DIAGNOSE + AWEUTIL /S on both AWE cards, SETSVGA, VGLTEST\TSTALL.EXE --
+# RIO, plasma, audio, video/Division calibration, Munga-net). Launch:
+# pod-launch test. AWEUTIL's WC-timed init needs the parity-safe EMU8000
+# sample-counter readback (vweawe.cpp, 2026-07-16) -- on older dosbox-x.exe
+# builds it hangs at AWEUTIL. Drops to a DOS prompt when the suite exits.
+[sdl]
+output=opengl
+priority=highest,highest
+[dosbox]
+memsize=32
+machine=svga_s3
+[cpu]
+core=dynamic
+cputype=pentium
+cycles=max
+[ne2000]
+ne2000=true
+nicbase=340
+# IRQ 10, NOT 3: COM2 (plasma) owns IRQ 3 in the suite, same as in-game.
+nicirq=10
+macaddr=@@MACADDR@@
+backend=pcap
+[ethernet, pcap]
+realnic=@@REALNIC@@
+[sblaster]
+sbtype=sb16
+sbbase=220
+irq=5
+dma=1
+hdma=5
+[mixer]
+rate=44100
+blocksize=1024
+prebuffer=60
+[serial]
+serial1=directserial realport:COM1 rxpollus:100 rxburst:16
+serial2=directserial realport:COM2
+[autoexec]
+mount c "@@ROOT@@\ALPHA_1"
+mount d "@@ROOT@@\net-boot"
+d:
+echo === loading NE2000 packet-driver stack (for the Munga-net tests) ===
+d:\lsl
+d:\ne2000
+d:\odipkt
+c:
+cd \vwetest
+echo === VGL_LABS cockpit test suite (stock TEST.BAT) ===
+call test.bat
+echo === test suite exited -- DOS prompt ===