CydandClaude Fable 5
c26d7baf8d
README gains "The team" -- the published VWE BattleTech credits roster (scan supplied July 2026) cross-referenced against the 1994-96 source in this tree; HISTORY.md links the podbay developer-script names to the credited team members. context/ adds the archive index README and its generator script. Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
189 lines
8.8 KiB
Markdown
189 lines
8.8 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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## The team
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From a published VWE BattleTech credits page (scan supplied to this archive,
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July 2026). The roster matches the 1994–1996 source in this tree — see the
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cross-references below the table.
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| Role | Name(s) |
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|------|---------|
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| Producer and Designer | Jordan Weisman |
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| Art Director | David McCoy |
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| Technical Director | J.M. Albertson |
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| Audio Director | Eric Huffman |
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| Corporate Director of Technology | Bill Redmann |
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| **Software Engineers** | |
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| — Framework and Simulation Design | J.M. Albertson |
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| — Secondary/Auxiliary Screens and Low Level I/O | Chris Brewer |
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| — Low Level I/O Design and Programming | Marek Ciolek |
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| — Framework and 3D Video Rendering | Greg Corson |
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| — Animation Simulations and Tools | Jerry Edsall |
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| — Macintosh Design and Programming | Garth Hermanson |
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| — Framework and 3D Audio System | Eric Huffman |
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| — Simulation Code and Cameras | Joanna Mason |
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| — Graphics Research and Art Tools | Ken Olsen |
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| — Simulation Code and 'Mech Internal Systems | Gabe Underwood |
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| **Artists & Animators** | |
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| — 3D Art and Animations | Tom Burlington, Duane Molitor, David McCoy, Lex Story |
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| — Allen Workshop 2D Art | Victor Bonilla, Tom Peters |
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| Software Tools Group Leader | Ken Olsen |
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| Sound Samples/Designs | Bing McCoy, Tom Effinger, Eric Huffman |
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Cross-references to this tree:
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- `// Author:` headers in `CODE/` name four of the credited engineers:
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**J.M. Albertson** (MUNGA math/debug bricks — `LINE`, `SPHERE`, `DEBUG*`),
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**Jerry Edsall** (`TOOL`, `FILEUTIL`, the BT/RP `*TOOL` modules),
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**Ken Olsen** (`NAMELIST`, `NOTATION` template containers), and
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**Eric Huffman** (`CSTR`, `MEMREG`, `SCHAIN`).
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- The pod-lab per-developer update scripts on the recovered developer drive
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(see [HISTORY.md](HISTORY.md)) are named Chris, Gabe, Joanna, and Jordan —
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matching **Chris Brewer**, **Gabe Underwood**, **Joanna Mason**, and
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**Jordan Weisman**.
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- **Garth Hermanson**'s "Macintosh Design and Programming" credit fits the
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venue side: the operator console the pods connect to was a Macintosh
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application.
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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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