RP experiment finding: RP runs on the BT pod emulator (shared MUNGA stack) but
its cockpit VDB heads mis-decode. Root causes captured live (VDB_PALDUMP +
vpxresp log): (1) framebuffer identical to BT (mode 0x111, 640x480); (2) RP
loads pal0 (BT's dynamic color-radar palette) as ALL ZEROS -> radar head black;
(3) RP actively drives the VGA-DAC pixel-mask register that BT leaves at 0xFF,
and pal_draw ignored it -> likely the MFD garble.
Device change: pixel-mask writes now log their VALUE on change
("# VDB pixel-mask[gN] = 0xXX"); pal_draw ANDs the palette index with the
group mask under VDB_APPLYMASK=1 (default off = BT-identical); masks default to
0xFF in vdb_reset so an un-driven group still decodes. Built clean under MINGW64.
Also: Mac Console 4.10 retired from regular use (host .NET console is the daily
driver); tap2_mirror.py PARKED with revive notes for console A/B only. The
SendToRxAdapters registry stays set (serves the .NET host console).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
With SendToRxAdapters serving the host .NET console, the SheepShaver Mac
console was deaf (pod frames go up instead of out to TAP members). The
mirror daemon turns TAP2's free application side into a userspace bridge
port: pod frames destined for the Mac are written into TAP2 (bridge
forwards them to TAP1/SheepShaver), and a reader thread drains the
unicasts the bridge's poisoned MAC table steers into TAP2 and re-injects
them where the pod's pcap hears them. Loop guards: no pod-sourced
re-injection + short frame-hash dedup. Verified live: Console 4.10
readied the pod through the mirror while the .NET console path stayed
intact -- operator can now alternate between the 1996 Mac console and
the modern one without touching the driver config.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Captured a real mission egg delivered from the SheepShaver console to the
DOSBox pod on TCP 1501, no -egg bypass: 8x ReceiveEggFileMessage chunks,
7514 bytes, reassembled byte-perfect (declared notationFileLength=7514).
The egg is the operator's own mission (BattleTech / cavern / night /
freeforall, pilot "cyd", vehicle madcat). This closes the networking
workstream end to end.
- net-tools/decode_egg.py: reassemble an egg from a captured console->pod
TCP payload hex dump (skips interleaved StateQuery polls).
- net-tools/captured_cavern_mission.egg: the delivered egg.
- NET-NOTES.md: milestone writeup + the pod's mission-LOAD crash. The pod
faults loading the mission (page fault, wild ptr 0xFF008B5B, exception
000E at game 00FF:219D, NetNub Munga exit 14) -- a game-side bug in the
mission-load path, separate from networking. Leading suspect: RIO was
disabled for this run and the player vehicle/control setup derefs null.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
The emulated SheepShaver console and DOSBox pod now exchange the live
console protocol on TCP 1501. Required chain: rebuild the DOSBox pcap
backend + launch with C:\Windows\System32\Npcap on PATH (npcap DLL
location); a two-TAP Windows bridge (single shared TAP fails); TAP2
MediaStatus=Always-Connected; and binding the pod's pcap to the BRIDGE
MINIPORT (not a member TAP -- member-injected frames aren't re-forwarded),
via realnic=DB5521D (letter-leading GUID fragment; leading-digit is parsed
as an interface index). Captured + decoded the real protocol values
(StateResponse clientID=5/flags=1/host=0/state=1/app=1=BattleTech), which
corrects the earlier synthetic guesses. Full writeup in NET-NOTES.md.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Listens on TCP 1501 as a stand-in pod, logs the console's egg-delivery
bytes, and auto-decodes each NetworkPacket in both byte orders to pin the
framing + PPC/x86 endianness (the two open caveats). Works whether the
console reaches it via a slirp gateway redirect or a bridged segment.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
CydandClaude Fable 5