# BTPLAYER.CPP / .HPP — reconstruction notes

**Status: constructor / dtor / Make / TestInstance / GetExperienceLevel +
message-handler table + DropZoneReply dispatch RECONSTRUCTED; the scoring/death
handlers, PlayerSimulation, and CreatePlayerVehicle/InitializePlayerLink (the
Mech-subsystem frontier) still staged.**

## Message-handler table (wired 2026-07-19)

DefaultData now uses `BTPlayer::MessageHandlers` (chained onto
`Player::MessageHandlers`) instead of reusing the base set — the earlier reuse
left BTPlayer's own handlers unwired, so a DropZoneReply reached the base
`Player::DropZoneReplyMessageHandler` stub that Fails "should not be handled by
base player class!" (PLAYER.CPP:179). Table entries (BT411 .data @005130c0):
DropZoneReply, VehicleDead, Score, ScoreInflicted, ScoreUpdate. ScoreInflicted/
ScoreUpdate add two BT message IDs (`Player::NextMessageID`+0/+1). MissionStarting/
MissionEnding are inherited from Player unchanged (not re-listed — BT411 lists
them but they point at the same base handlers).

`DropZoneReplyMessageHandler` is the real spawn/respawn dispatch skeleton; its
mech-placement tail (vehicle-class performance select, Mech::Reset respawn) is
deferred with the Mech subsystem. On the first fresh-drop reply it calls
`CreatePlayerVehicle` → the current boot frontier.

## Sources

- BT411 `game/reconstructed/btplayer.cpp` (Ghidra-recovered ctor @004c0bc8,
  Make @004c0ecc, dtor @004c0efc, TestInstance @004c0f28) — byte-offset
  annotated body.
- Surviving 1995 headers pin every base API: PLAYER.HPP (base members
  currentScore/scenarioRole/deathCount/playerMission, GetMission), SIMULATE.HPP
  (lastPerformance/lastUpdate/simulationFlags/activePerformance — `lastPerformance`
  is a BASE member, not BT-own), ENTITY.HPP (GetInstance/ReplicantInstance),
  NTTMGR.HPP (EntityManager::FindGroup, EntityGroup::groupMembers = ChainOf<Node*>),
  TEAM.HPP (Team::teamName[64], public — BTTeam inherits it), BTMSSN.HPP
  (BTMission::ExperienceLevel()/AdvancedDamageOn(), enum Novice/Standard/
  Veteran/Expert = 0..3), SCNROLE.HPP.

## Member layout note

The staged header's `int reserved[38]` placeholder was replaced with the real
BT-own members (btMission, teamName[64], teamEntity, freeForAll, consoleAttached,
suppressConsole, the experience-flag block, killCount/padScore, objectiveMech,
lastConsoleUpdate, deathPending). Byte offsets do NOT need to match the shipped
0x294-byte object — this is a fresh self-consistent build; only wire-format
structs (MakeMessage) must match the binary, and those are unchanged.

## Experience-level flag mapping — the [T1] correction

The ctor derives the game-mode flags from **btMission->ExperienceLevel()**
(mission+0xe4, the egg's per-pilot "experience" key), NOT from the scenario
role's returnFromDeath — see [[bt-experience-levels]]. BT411's ported ctor uses
`scenarioRole->GetReturnFromDeath()` as a stand-in and marks it [T3]; this 1995
reconstruction encodes the binary-accurate reading instead.

Binary switch rows (member ← value per level), from the [T1] disassembly:

| level    | showDamageReceived (0x25c) | showKills (0x260) | roleReturnDelay2 (0x26c) | showScore (0x270) |
|----------|:--:|:--:|:--:|:--:|
| novice   | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| standard | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| veteran  | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| expert   | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |

Plus `showDamageInflicted` (0x264) = `roleReturnDelay` (0x268) = advancedDamageOn.

**Member NAMES are wrong-but-kept** (they date from the earlier scoring work):
`showKills` is really the HEAT-MODEL master switch (FUN_004ad7d4), `showDamageReceived`
is the "sim live / novice lockout" gate, `showScore`/`roleReturnDelay2` consumers
not fully located ([T4]). Rename is a follow-up wiring task; the VALUES are correct.

## Deliberate differences from BT411's port

- Make: the 1995 `return new BTPlayer(creation_message);` — BT411's replicant
  `SetValidFlag()` is a P6 network-bring-up addition, dropped.
- Replicant-mission caching uses `application->GetCurrentMission()` (the real
  1995 accessor, PLAYER.CPP:689) instead of BT411's raw `application+0xc8`.

## Still staged (next bricks, in boot order)

1. **CreatePlayerVehicle → Mech::Make** (CURRENT FRONTIER) — the spawn chain
   pulls in the whole Mech subsystem: Mech ctor + mech2/mech3/mech4, mechsub,
   the subsystems (sensor, gnrator, gyro, torso, hud, myomers), and the weapons
   (mechweap, ppc, gauss, projtile, missile...). Mech::Make is still Fail-staged
   in MECH.CPP. This is the large game-content frontier — a major milestone, not
   a single brick.
2. InitializePlayerLink, the mech-placement tail of DropZoneReply (Mech::Reset).
3. VehicleDead / Score / ScoreInflicted / ScoreUpdate handlers (scoring wave),
   PlayerSimulation (console update), CalcInflictedScore.