Under the documented rig (launch_pod.ps1 with the GL bridge up) the 'couldn't
load object' count went to ZERO. .BGF loading was never a reconstruction
problem, only a missing bridge.
What blocks now is a series of authored AttributeWatchers: BTL4.RES binds
them BY NAME and the engine Fails outright on any that does not resolve, so
each is a name our subsystems must publish. Five rungs climbed, each
run-verified: UnstablePercentage, SpeedEffect (Myomers table), AnimationState
+ CollisionState/CollisionNormal + ReduceButton (Mech), and the full Torso
table (all six authentic names mapped onto existing members).
The method that makes this cheap is banked: the shipped binary's string pool
carries each class's attribute names CONTIGUOUSLY in ID ORDER after the class
name, and in every case so far our member declarations sit in the same order
-- which confirms the layout and lets ids be pinned rather than guessed.
Intersecting those names with BTL4.RES gives the exact work list.
A THIRD miswired SharedData found on the way: Myomers carried Subsystem's
tables where it derives from PoweredSubsystem, the same defect as
MissileLauncher (5.3.33). Worth a sweep across every subsystem.
Staged member TYPES are provisional and documented as such: AttributeWatcherOf
reads *(T*)attributePointer and the instantiation comes from the resource,
which the string pool does not reveal. Nothing drives them yet, so settle the
types with the models that write them.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
RUNG 1: BTL4VideoRenderer::LoadMissionImplementation, Fail -> bring-up no-op.
Legal, not a cheat: the engine's own VideoRenderer version (VIDREND.CPP:259)
is a bare Tell and our working GaugeRenderer ships the same, so the renderer
comes up and runs its frame loop with an empty scene -- exactly what we want
to measure before writing content. The authentic shape for the real body is
pinned by the surviving sibling header CODE/RP/RP_L4/RPL4VID.HPP (walk the
mission entities -> MakeEntityRenderables -> ReadSKLFile/RecurseSKLFile).
RUNG 2: Mech::EyepointRotation published. The engine then Failed at
SetupCull, which fetches that attribute BY NAME off the viewpoint entity and
composes it with the siteeyepoint segment to build worldToEyeMatrix. The
mech already HAD EulerAngles eyepointRotation with a getter -- only the
publication was missing. One enum id, one table row.
The run now reaches the full mech build, constructs the renderer, boots the
board (~907K VPX wire transactions), loads the mission, runs the per-frame
cull and enters geometry loading with ZERO Fails and zero exceptions. It
stops at 'couldn't load object buttee.bgf' / 'NULL instance' -- and that is
not a defect: the models are present and BTDPL.INI points at them, but .BGF
loading goes through the board to the external GL render bridge that the VPX
HLE tees over VPX_FIFOSOCK, and that bridge was not running. 'NULL instance'
comes from the prebuilt LIBDPL.LIB refusing to instance an object that never
loaded.
Next rung is the documented full rig (render-bridge/launch_pod.ps1).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
The gauges now read the real simulation: heat/power/sensor/mech attribute
tables published under the 1995 L4GAUGE.CFG spellings the widgets already
bind by name. Temperatures, coolant mass/capacity/leak rate, condenser
valve settings, generator voltages and numbers, radar percent, and the
mech's radar/speed rows all resolve to live members.
THE NUMBERING IS PINNED: the chain publishes 2..0x0E so
PoweredSubsystem::NextAttributeID lands on the authentic 0x0F -- the
surviving SENSOR.HPP numbers RadarPercent off it and MechWeapon's
binary-pinned table starts at 0x12, so its pads shrank 16 -> 3
(0x0F..0x11) exactly as the 5.3.x header comment predicted. Sensor's
authentic enum finally has its table defined; MechWeapon/Sensor rechain to
PoweredSubsystem and Reservoir/AggregateHeatSink to HeatSink so the whole
family is visible where the cfg expects it.
Verified with BT_GAUGE_ATTR_LOG: 48 OK / 2 NULL (was 33/17, and 0/50 at
the block's birth). The two remaining have no member to bind --
HeatSink/AmbientTemperature (a sim constant) and Searchlight/LightOn (a
memberless subclass) -- and fall to the documented zero cell. Gauge
fight (15/15 rounds, 127 zone hits), smoke and novice all clean.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Scoring roles bound (binary ctor tail @004c0bc8): the mission role dict ->
Player::scenarioRole; TEST.EGG's Role::Default = the baked dfltrole
(lives=1000, killBonus=500) -- authored data flowing. The three score
handlers are live per the decomp derivations (@004c02e4 / @004c0200 /
@004c02a8 + CalcInflictedScore @004c052c; tonnage/bias staged); the
producers post damage scores per delivered hit and the kill credit from
the death transition with the latched killing-blow magnitude. First live
kill: award=3.43, kills=1, score=123.6.
Out of lives -> the mission END: the binary's +10s review post sits in the
one decomp gap, so the staged stand-in enters the engine's own cascade
(StopMissionMessage +10s) -- EndingMission -> the 3s fade -> the second
Stop -> Application::Stop -> RunMissions exits. The BTL4/L4 stop layers
run authentically (plasma score display off, egress lamps).
VERIFIED END-TO-END: a 2-lives egg (role-page return=2 override) -- death
#1 debits and respawns healed; death #2 is OUT OF LIVES; +10s later the
mission ends and BTL4OPT.EXE exits CLEANLY to DOS (GAME-RC prints). The
full 1995 pod mission loop -- egg, boot, spawn, fight, score, die,
respawn, die, mission end, exit -- now runs from reconstructed source.
Zero faults; fight/smoke/novice regressions green. Dev knob:
BT_PLAYER_PASSIVE=1 (piloted mechs hold force-fire).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
The full circuit, workflow-researched (5 parallel dossiers over BT411 + the
engine) and adversarially reviewed (3 lenses) before landing:
Mech side: the once-per-death transition in Simulate (freeze, motion kill,
DeathShutdown sweep, MASTER-only VehicleDead(-1) to the player link);
Mech::Reset @0049fb74 (reposition + heal every hull zone + the roster
DeathReset sweep + PreRun -- the reset-based respawn that REUSES the entity);
dead-owner terms in both weapon hard gates (wrecks fall silent).
Player side: the VehicleDead(-1) branch (deathPending dedup, deathCount
bump+stamp, scenario-role life debit, +5s re-post -> the engine drop-zone
hunt) and the DropZoneReply respawn branch (reset the dead mech at the
replied drop zone; probes on a live mech are moot).
Subsystem side: the engine base virtual DeathReset implemented across the
family -- MechSubsystem (zone heal + DestroyedState clear), MechWeapon (full
powered/thermal restore + fresh Loading cycle), AmmoBin (restock from the
ctor-cached count), HeatSink/HeatWatcher/PowerWatcher/Generator/Sensor/
MissileLauncher.
Review catches fixed before commit: AmmoBin restocked through the FREED
padBuffer pointer (use-after-free -> initialAmmoCount; MechSubsystem::
resource is now documented as never-deref-post-ctor); died-hot weapons
respawned at FailureHeat (now full thermal re-init); Generator tap counts
desynced across reset (preserved); Sensor skipped the base heal; PowerWatcher
inherited a statically-bound reset; cooling toggle + connect mode restored.
Verified: kill -> wreck (0 shots while dead) -> +5s -> drop-zone hunt ->
HEALED + placed at a real drop zone -> 134 shots after respawn incl. 12 SRM
(restock proof); unowned enemy wreck settles silently; fight/smoke/novice
regressions green, zero faults.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
DMGTABLE born (type-29 streams, BT411 byte-verified format): the height x
angle grid -- DamageLookupTable rows by height, PieSlice cells by angle
(rotate-with-torso rows add the live twist), DamageZonePercentTable = the
cumulative hit-distribution roll (first threshold above the roll -- the
BattleTech dice scatter). Loaded in the Mech ctor by the DamageZoneStream
member's NAME (mech+0x444, resident); Mech::TakeDamageMessageHandler
resolves invalidDamageZone hits through it (binary @0x4a0264 tail).
The missile fuse becomes the authentic unaimed producer: zone -1 + the
round's world position as the impact point (ENTITY3.HPP: "damage zones are
only valid via reticle based weapons").
Fight-verified on the authentic 7-row bhk1 table: flat-flying SRMs strike
low -> row 0 -> FEET AND LEG zones, side-correct by impact angle (+x right,
-x left), identical geometry spread across the cell distribution by the
roll. 17/17 missile lifecycle, zero faults; smoke + novice green. Also
fixed: the ctor's reservedState zero-loop counted past the shrunken array.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Mech::DamageZone::TakeDamage is the full binary cascade (@0049c690): LOD
artifact router with same-attacker clustering (@0049c40c, hysteresis 0.33),
artifact parent level = mean of children, Energy-hit generator shorts
through the crit plug binding (novice-exempt), weighted CriticalHit
(@0049ccc4), zone-death allotment push (SendSubsystemDamage @0049c9a8) and
the segment-table destruction descent (RecurseSegmentTable @0049cad4 --
SIBS + DESCEND via the engine EntitySegment iterators).
Supporting bricks: Mech's OWN handler table with the TakeDamage override
(latches lastInflictingID @0x43c; gyro feed staged; cylinder table
deferred); friend class Mech__DamageZone (authentic); subsystem private
zones ARMED (structureReference + armorByFacing[5] normalized -- crits are
measurable); ApplyDamageAndMeasure; ForceCriticalFailure sets
DestroyedState so the weapon FSMs' GetSimulationState()==1 hard gate went
live; Generator::ForceShort + PoweredSubsystem::ForceShortRecovery.
Fight-verified (mutual BT_SPAWN_ENEMY + BT_FORCE_ZONE=8 concentrated fire):
arm zone to 1.0 -> sibling searchlight zone dies (Searchlight2/ThermalSight
crits destroyed, HUD degrading) -> DESCEND kills the gun zone -> PPC_2 +
ERMLaser_2 + Condenser6 DESTROYED and FALL SILENT (0 shots after death;
undamaged PPC_1 keeps firing); vital-zone hit = MECH KILL; PPC hit shorted
GeneratorD. This art has zero artifact zones (redirect=0 across all 20 --
router verified dormant-correct). Smoke + novice regressions clean.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
The simulation is now a FIGHT. Mech target slot (+0x388), authentic
Loaded->Firing gate (viewFireEnable && HasActiveTarget), UpdateTargeting
range refresh, and SendDamage via the engine TakeDamageMessage.
MECHDMG.CPP is BORN against the AUTHENTIC surviving CODE/BT/BT/MECHDMG.HPP:
the Mech ctor's Pass-3 hull zone fill constructs Mech__DamageZone per zone
(the Entity base only allocates the raw pointer array -- unfilled slots were
crash #1; a base-class fill parses each record short and skews the stream --
crash #2). Streamed ctor parses the full BT tail (flags / Scalar-weighted
criticals with the Master+Dynamic plug gate / LOD redirect table) and
normalizes the armor economy: scale[type]=1/(raw x armorPoints), legs
halved -- BT411-verified @0049ce50.
Live two-mech verification (BT_SPAWN_ENEMY harness in DropZoneReply):
20 named hull zones stream on both mechs; PPC lands 11.77/hit (12 x
chargeRatio^2, type 4), ER-M laser 3.43 (type 3), SRM6 salvos 5.83 x 6
rounds on independent zones (type 2, one message per missile -- burstCount
is NOT in the zone formula); repeat hits climb linearly, leg zones absorb
at half scale, zones reach 1.0 Burning/Destroyed. No-target and novice
regressions hold (weapons load but never fire without a target).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Reconstructs the binary's five-state LOOK machine (controls mapper tail,
part_013.c:396-459) as proper members/methods:
- MECHMPPR: LookState enum (None/Left/Right/Behind/Down) + lookState/
previousLookState (out of reserved[24] -> [22]). InterpretControls picks the
state from the look buttons each frame and on a CHANGE calls
Mech::CommitLookState. BT_FORCE_LOOK=<1..4> dev hook.
- MECH: authored look angles lookLeft/Right/Front/BackAngle (deg->rad from the
GameModel resource, guarded) + lookPitch/lookYaw + CommitLookState(int):
side looks yaw by the authored angle, look-behind = yaw pi + lookBackAngle
pitch, look-down = lookFrontAngle pitch, forward = identity. The per-frame
eyepoint compose in Simulate adds the live Torso elevation on top.
(reservedState [208] -> [202].)
- Deferred inside the commit (needs MechWeapon viewFireEnable/rearFiring):
per-view weapon fire re-arm + HUD pip group-mask flip.
Verified headlessly: model reads clean authored angles (L=60 R=-60 F=-10 B=0
deg -- ModelResource layout confirmed again); BT_FORCE_LOOK=3 fires ONE commit
([look] state=3 yaw=3.14159 pitch=0) and the per-frame compose holds eyeYaw=pi
with eyePitch=0.349066 (lookBackAngle + the 20deg-clamped elevation). Zero Fail.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Investigated the next planned binding (elevation -> gun joints jointlgun/
jointrgun) before implementing it, and found it was the wrong target: BT411's
own reverse-engineering history records that NO gun/arm elevation joint exists
in the authentic engine. The pod's stick-Y aim pitches the COCKPIT EYE and the
weapon boresight directly (mech4.cpp @~5219, pixel-calibrated against real
screenshots) -- the torso geometry never tilts for elevation on this mech
family. Reconstructing a gun-joint binding would have been invented behavior.
- MECH.HPP: EulerAngles eyepointRotation member (out of reservedState, now
[208]) + GetEyepointRotation() accessor.
- MECH.CPP: composed each frame in Simulate -- eyepointRotation =
EulerAngles(Radian(Normalize(lookPitch+elevation)), Radian(Normalize(lookYaw)),
Radian(0)), reading Torso::CurrentElevation() via sinkSourceSubsystem.
lookPitch/lookYaw are 0 until the look-button wave (BTCommitLookState) lands.
Verified: BT_FORCE_ELEV=0.8 -> torsoElev and eyePitch both read 0.349066 (the
authentic 20 degree resource limit) every frame, exact match; neutral -> 0.
Zero Fail. Corrected TORSO.NOTES.md's prior (wrong) "next: gun joints" note.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Reconstructs the shared skeleton-joint resolver and binds the first subsystem
(Torso) to the live skeleton.
- Mech::ResolveJoint(name) (mech.cpp @00424b60): GetSegment(name) -> segment
joint index -> GetJointSubsystem()->GetJoint(idx).
- Verified the JointedMover base streams the full skeleton headlessly:
jointCount=19, 40 named segments (gun joints jointlgun/jointrgun, shoulders,
hip, leg joints jointlthigh..jointrankle). BT_MECH_LOG [skel] summary;
BT_SKEL_DUMP lists every segment/jointIdx.
- Torso resolves + binds its twist joint (ResolveJoint(torsoHorizontalJoint))
and pushes currentTwist onto it via Joint::SetRotation (hinge->Radian,
ball->EulerAngles yaw). The TEST.EGG mech has a fixed torso (horizJoint='',
enabled=0) so its twist path is inert -- correct + guarded, zero Fail.
Next joint piece: elevation -> gun joints (jointlgun/jointrgun, the fixed-torso
aim mechanism) via weapon-joint binding; then gait leg animation. Both are
VISIBLE only under the renderer; headlessly the joint transforms are loggable.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Installs Mech::Simulate as the mech's per-frame Performance (was DoNothingOnce).
Reconstructs the load-bearing spine of the 1995 Simulate (mech4.cpp @004ab430):
integrate the body velocity into localOrigin (linearPosition.AddScaled(..,
worldLinearVelocity, dt)) and commit the Origin to the world transform with the
engine idiom (localToWorld = localOrigin, per ENTITY.cpp:988 / MOVER.cpp:850).
Uses the NAMED engine base Mover fields (localOrigin/localToWorld/
worldLinearVelocity) -- BT411's MechBaseLayoutCheck proved the WinTesla decomp's
raw this+0x100/0x260 offsets actually stomp those base fields; the clean 1995
build addresses them by name.
- MECH.HPP: Mech Performance typedef + SetPerformance + Simulate() decl.
- MECH.CPP: SetPerformance(&Mech::Simulate) at ctor tail; Simulate body.
Verified headlessly (BT_MECH_LOG "[sim] mech pos=" 1Hz): BT_DRIVE="5,0,10"
advances the mech +5.0/s x, +10.0/s z (y fixed) = exactly the injected world
velocity; no BT_DRIVE -> worldLinearVelocity is 0, mech holds spawn pose. Zero
Fail/Exception either way. BT_DRIVE is a retained dev hook for headless motion.
Deferred (locomotion wave): gait-cycle self-propulsion feeding worldLinearVelocity
(IntegrateMotion->AdvanceBodyAnimation, steered by mapper throttle/turn), heading
integration, terrain-height drop, cockpit telemetry filters.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Replaced MECH.HPP reserved[331] with the named Mech-own members: cached subsystem
pointers (sensor/gyro/sinkSource/hud) + messageManager + weaponCount, the 5
capability chains (ChainOf<Subsystem*>), and the embedded status/animation state
(4 AlarmIndicators, Reticle, 3 StateIndicators, 2 SequenceControllers, NameFilter,
telemetryFilter[5]=AverageOf<Scalar>, 3 CStrings) + a reservedState pad for the
phase-5 per-frame fields. The subsystem ROSTER (subsystemArray/subsystemCount)
lives in the base Entity (GetSubsystem/GetSubsystemCount), so the Mech only caches
back-pointers.
The Mech ctor now CONSTRUCTS all embedded members (alarms Initialize'd, reticle
armed, state indicators sized, telemetry filters sized, sequence controllers
Init'd) -- compile-verified -- then halts at the segment walk (the remaining
piece). BT: 42 ok; tree links clean.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
All 10 surviving original TUs plus the reconstructed BTL4APP.CPP pilot build
clean with the authentic OPT.MAK flags (compile410.sh --sweep). First time
the 4.10 BattleTech source has compiled since 1996.
- layout_probe.cpp: the period compiler measures 1995 layouts from the
surviving headers; validated 3/3 against binary alloc sizes (BTMission
0xFC, BTL4ModeManager 0xC, BTRegistry 0x10). Base boundary: Simulation
0xD0 / Entity 0x1C4 / Mover 0x300 / JointedMover 0x328 => Mech-own region
0x328-0x854 (MECH-LAYOUT.md staging worksheet).
- 13 staged headers close the family ([T3] reserved[]-parked layouts;
interfaces PROVEN by the surviving consumers): MECH, MECHSUB, HEAT,
POWERSUB, MECHWEAP, EMITTER, MECHMPPR, BTPLAYER (BTPlayer__MakeMessage =
Player's 8 args + roleName/teamName [T1 via BTREG]), PROJTILE, MISSILE,
BTL4MPPR, BTL4VID + the round-2 BTCNSL/BTSCNRL.
- compile410.sh: PCH gate retired (bt.hpp/mungal4.hpp full include sets),
DPL SDK roots on the include line.
- BTL4APP.CPP: appmgr include + GetApplicationManager()->GetFrameRate() +
ResourceDescription:: scoping; Fail() held at its recorded line 400.
- Evidence ledgers: STAGED-HEADERS.NOTES.md, MECH-LAYOUT.md, BACKFILLS,
BTCNSL (binary-recovered console wire IDs), BTSCNRL.
Remaining for a linkable BTL4OPT: the ~40 missing TU bodies (917-function
manifest) - the header skeleton they grow into now exists and compiles.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
CydandClaude Fable 5