CydandClaude Fable 5
f7ebde2e0b
emulator/PLAN.md: run the unported DOS Rel 4.10 games in the surviving cockpits via a DOSBox-X fork with an HLE device impersonating the Division VPX board at its C012/B004 link interface (I/O port 0x150 per BTLIVE SETENV.BAT), rendering the frame stream in OpenGL. Cockpit RIO (COM1) and plasma (COM2) pass through to the game's original serial drivers (L4RIO.CPP). Eight phases with acceptance criteria, evidence table, protocol appendices, risks, and test strategy. Gauge displays deferred. Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
144 lines
6.7 KiB
Markdown
144 lines
6.7 KiB
Markdown
# Tesla Release 4.10 — Tesla:BattleTech & Tesla:Red Planet
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Source code and game content for **Tesla:BattleTech** and **Tesla:Red Planet**, the
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two games that ran on the **Tesla**-generation simulator cockpits built by
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**Virtual World Entertainment, Inc.** (VWE). Source file headers are dated
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1994–1996; this tree corresponds to release 4.10 of the Tesla software.
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This repository is an archival snapshot. The tree is preserved byte-for-byte as
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found (see `.gitattributes` — no line-ending conversion is applied).
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See [emulator/PLAN.md](emulator/PLAN.md) for the implementation plan to run
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these games on the surviving cockpits' Windows 10 computers via a VPX-board
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HLE device in DOSBox-X, with the cockpit RIO (COM1) and plasma display (COM2)
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passed through to the game's original drivers.
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See [HISTORY.md](HISTORY.md) for findings from a recovered VWE developer hard
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drive that accompanies this tree (excluded from the repo), including Division
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renderer source, runnable game builds, unreleased prototypes (Star Trek,
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Hull Pressure, Renegade Legion, and the Starship Troopers pitch that became
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DisneyQuest's "Invasion!"), and an analysis of whether these games can be
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rebuilt from the sources in this repository (summary: the engine can, the
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games cannot — most game-logic sources are absent from this cut).
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## Target hardware
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Each Tesla cockpit was driven by a server-class **Pentium Pro** machine running
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**Novell DOS**. Graphics were split across two adapters:
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- The **main (out-the-window) display** was rendered by one of the first
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pixel-pipeline 3D accelerator cards ever made, driven through **Division Ltd.'s
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dVS/DPL libraries** (`libDPL` — DPL, dsys, dvs, and the VPX headers; Division
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copyright 1995).
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- An **S3 video adapter** drove the other **six cockpit displays** (instrument
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and gauge screens — see the `GAUGE` content directories and the `PCPIC.INC` /
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`L4GAU*` gauge code).
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Other hardware/OS interfaces:
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- **Audio:** HMI **SOS** (Sound Operating System) — `sos/` libraries, with
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variants for Borland (`bc4`) and Watcom (`wc`).
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- **Networking:** pods were networked over Ethernet using **WATTCP** (DOS
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TCP/IP, with BOOTP) via VWE's **NetNub** layer.
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- **Input:** joystick/pedal/panel I/O in assembly (`JOYSTICK.ASM`) and the
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`L4CTRL*` control modules.
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## Toolchain
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- **Borland C++ 5.0** (`BCC`) with **TASM32** for assembly — see the `.MAK`
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makefiles (original build tree lived at `D:\TESLA_RP\` and `D:\BC5\`).
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- Precompiled-header discipline throughout (`.CSM` headers, `#pragma hdrstop`).
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- `VSSVER.SCC` / `MSSCCPRJ.SCC` files are remnants of the original **Visual
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SourceSafe** source control.
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- File extensions: `.CPP/.HPP` C++ source/headers, `.TCP/.THP` C++ template
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source/headers, `.MAK` Borland makefiles.
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## Repository layout
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```
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ARTTOOLS/ (empty placeholder — art tools were not included in this snapshot)
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BORLAND/ (empty placeholder — compiler was not included in this snapshot)
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CODE/ Game and engine source (~200k lines of C++/asm)
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CONTENT/ Game data: models, animations, audio, maps, textures, gauges
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HEADOFF/ Head/camera offset calibration configs for the cockpit displays
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```
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### CODE/
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Both games share the same architecture: a portable simulation engine
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(**MUNGA**, VWE's in-house engine) plus a hardware layer (**MUNGA_L4**, the
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"L4" Tesla pod platform layer), with game-specific code and a game-specific
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L4 layer on top.
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```
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CODE/BT/ Tesla:BattleTech
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BT/ Game logic: mechs, weapons (PPC, Gauss, missiles),
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damage tables, teams, missions, scenario rules
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BT_L4/ BattleTech pod application layer (app modes, arena,
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radar, playback, version)
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MUNGA/ Engine bricks: math (matrices, angles, splines),
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containers, file streams, audio manager, events
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MUNGA_L4/ Pod hardware layer: video renderer manager, keyboard,
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mouse, audio hardware, warehouse (resource loading)
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LIBDPL/ Division Ltd. dVS/DPL graphics library (headers +
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LIBDPL.LIB + VREND*.BTL renderer modules)
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NETNUB/ WATTCP-based pod networking (headers + WATTCPLG.LIB)
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SOS/ HMI Sound Operating System libraries + drivers
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CODE/RP/ Tesla:Red Planet (same structure)
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RP/ Game logic: VTV (hover racer) power/subsystems,
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pickups (booster, blocker, crusher, thruster)
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RP_L4/ Red Planet pod application layer
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MUNGA/ Engine (fullest copy — 351 files incl. all .CPP)
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MUNGA_L4/ Pod hardware layer (fullest copy, incl. JOYSTICK.ASM)
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libDPL/, NetNub/, sos/ as above
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*/opt/ Compiled Borland C++ 5.0 object files from the
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original build (preserved as found)
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```
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Note: the BT copies of MUNGA/MUNGA_L4 are partial (69/68 files) while the RP
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copies are complete (351/231 files) — the BT tree appears to hold only the
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files that diverged from the shared engine.
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### CONTENT/
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```
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CONTENT/BT/ Tesla:BattleTech content
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CONTENT/BT3025/ Parallel BattleTech content set (3025-era variant;
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mostly identical to BT/ with a different mech roster)
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CONTENT/RP/ Tesla:Red Planet content
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```
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Per-game content directories:
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| Dir | Contents |
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|----------|----------|
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| `MODELS` | `.MOD/.SUB/.DMG/.TBL` — vehicle/mech models, subsystems, damage tables |
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| `ANIMS` | `.ANI` — animations (BT only) |
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| `AUDIO` | `.MID` MIDI music, `.SCP` audio scripts, `.BNK/.BLD` banks |
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| `GAUGE` | `.GIM` — gauge images for the six S3-driven cockpit displays |
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| `MAPS` | `.MAP/.ZNE` — arena/terrain maps and zones |
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| `SOLIDS` | `.SLD` — collision solids |
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| `VIDEO` | Division renderer data: `GEO/` geometry, `MAT/` materials, and `TEX/` textures per environment (ARENA, DAY, NIGHT, DESERT, POLAR, CAVERN, …), `.DZM` skins, `.BMF/.BGF` binary geometry, `BUILD/` sources |
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| `SCENES` | Scene definitions (RP only) |
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| `BTCAM` | Camera batch setups (BT only) |
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`DIVISION.SAV` subdirectories inside `VIDEO/` are backup saves written by
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Division's tools. `MTMCDAI.SYS` (Mitsumi) and `TAISATAP.SYS` are DOS CD-ROM
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device drivers used on the pod machines.
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### HEADOFF/
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INI-style calibration files (`.XST/.CAM/.BAK`) defining viewing extents and
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camera offsets ("head offset") for the cockpit's main display, including a
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`[LAB_ONLY]` configuration.
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## Provenance
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- Copyright (C) 1994–1996 Virtual World Entertainment, Inc. All rights
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reserved worldwide. Original headers mark the source as proprietary and
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confidential.
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- Third-party components retain their own copyrights: Division Ltd. (dVS/DPL),
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Human Machine Interfaces (SOS), Erick Engelke / University of Waterloo
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(WATTCP).
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