CydandClaude Fable 5
fdb1cfcf6c
Four-dossier workflow synthesis: the engine half of BOTH render paths (DPLRenderer/libDPL for the division-card 3D view; the L4 gauge stack for the cockpit instruments) ALREADY compiles and links into btl4opt.exe from the CODE originals, and the emulator's VPX board-side device is EXE-agnostic (pure wire-level). What's missing is game-TU work with complete BT411 donors: the 6 gauge TUs (~302 fns, the first rendered milestone -- diffable against the shipped exe on the same GAUGE content) and then btl4vid (the 3D world renderable factory). Full protocol map, env gates, and the staged plan in RENDER-ROADMAP.NOTES.md. Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
4.9 KiB
The render roadmap — from headless to visible (researched 2026-07-24)
Four-dossier workflow synthesis (card protocol / video-TU delta / emulator side / gauge path). The headline: the render seam is far closer than expected — the engine half of BOTH render paths already compiles and links into our btl4opt.exe from the CODE originals, and the emulator's board-side device is EXE-agnostic.
The two independent render paths (either can run without the other)
- The 3D main view (division card): the game speaks dPL — a
RETAINED-mode scene graph API (never pixels, never transformed polys) —
through the statically linked libDPL, which frames every call into
vr_action messages on the INMOS C012 link adapter at port 0x150
(FIFO fast path: body as REP OUTSW words to 0x154, trailing length word
to 0x151 commits). Gate:
DPLARGenv (set by SETENV.BAT when L4VIDEO != OFF); NULL DPLARG = the headless shape we run today (MakeVideoRenderer()returns NULL, tolerated).- Per-frame submission: engine code —
DPLRenderer:: ExecuteImplementation(CODE/RP/MUNGA_L4/L4VIDEO.CPP:5065) walks the dplRenderableSocket; renderables (L4VIDRND.CPP, ~30 classes) set DCS matrices;dpl_FlushDCSArticulations= wire action 0x1f (batched poses, absolute 3x3+T or [sin,cos] joint records);vr_draw_scene(9) kicks the frame;velocirender_sync(0x2d, exe @0x48D220) is the ack-less bulk-op fence. - Our build ALREADY COMPILES this whole engine layer (mungal4.lib: l4video/l4vidrnd/l4dplmem + prebuilt 1995 STARTDPL.obj + LIBDPL.LIB; see build410 obj logs). The missing piece is GAME code: btl4vid (BTL4VideoRenderer — MakeEntityRenderables/MakeMechRenderables/ effects/wreck swap/material substitution; BT411 donor 3039/848 lines with per-method @ADDR evidence, binary extent @4cc40c..@4d2bbc; our stub Fails at LoadMissionImplementation).
- Per-frame submission: engine code —
- The gauge path (cockpit instruments): completely separate hardware —
the PC's own SVGA (VESA 0x111, 640x480x16, L4SVGA16.ASM banked blits),
split across VGA heads by the VDB board (port 0x300, palette groups; the
octopus-cable 5-mono-MFDs + color-radar decode). Gate:
L4GAUGEenv. The plasma readout is a gauge-renderer graphics port (PlasmaDisplay on COM2), not a separate renderer.- Engine half (GaugeRenderer/L4GaugeRenderer/the 5171-line L4GAUGE widget interpreter/GAUGMAP/L4VB16) already compiles + links in build410; one documented deviation (interpreter table 46864 -> 262144 for BT's larger CFG).
- Missing: the 6 BT gauge TUs — btl4gaug (130 fn) / btl4gau2 (77) / btl4gau3 (46) / btl4rdr (36) / btl4grnd (13, ours is a 4-fn stub) / btl4galm — ~302 functions/~43KB, binary extent 0x4c19fc-0x4cc40c, the largest function-count block left in btl4.lib. BT411 donors are COMPLETE (semantic .cpp/.hpp with @ADDR evidence, ~5900 donor lines); the work is RE-HOSTING onto 1995 engine APIs, not fresh decompilation. Class inventory per TU in the dossier (widget primitives / composite clusters / MP-HUD / radar MapDisplay / the renderer / alarm manager).
The emulator side is READY and EXE-agnostic
The DOSBox-X fork's VPX device (emulator/vpx-device/vpxlog.cpp, ports 0x150-0x161 + VDB 0x300-0x31A) implements the BOARD side purely at the wire level: blind firmware absorb, iserver handshake (VPX_RESPOND=1), generic acks, the 0x2d sync echo, draw_scene frame-acks with a REAL raycast reticle pick against its own decoded scene, and the GL renderer (VPX_RENDER=1) that draws the main view + cockpit windows. It never reads game memory and keys only on wire contents — our reconstructed exe drives it unmodified once it emits the same traffic. The AWE32 pair is mandatory for any timed run (SOS FAST clock); gauges also render live on the emulated S3 with the shipped exe (GAUGE-NOTES.md: HEAPSIZE=15000000 + granularityInKB=64).
The plan (order of value)
- Gauges-only first (decisively cheaper): set
L4GAUGE=640x480x16(+ HEAPSIZE), reconstruct the 6 gauge TUs from the BT411 donors. Built-in oracle: the shipped exe renders reference output from the SAME GAUGE content — per-head diffable. Live instruments need the attribute sources, which the 5.3.x waves have largely built (weapon states, heat, power, damage, radar). - Then btl4vid (the 3D world renderer) + DPLARG on: the engine DPLRenderer + libDPL do the wire; btl4vid builds the renderables per entity; verify against the VPX device's GL window and the dpl3-revive bridge.
- The review/playback pair (btl4pb + the BTL4.CPP review branch) closes the last absent TUs.
Message-id / protocol quick refs: vr_create=1 (host-assigned handles), vr_flush=3 (node structs; VIEW proves 832x512), geometry 0x17/0x19/0x1a (texel word [pad,B,G,R]), artics 0x1f, draw 9, sync 0x2d, fire 0x23, reticle 0x26. DPLARG reference value in emulator/baseline.conf:21.