CydandClaude Opus 4.8
9df87f2c01
Network-agnostic, air-gapped pod install for the two DOSBox titles (BT/RP 4.10), fitting the existing TeslaConsole/TeslaLauncher pod-bay architecture. emulator/DEPLOYMENT-PLAN.md Full design: bridge on the one NIC (pods form a source-proven P2P TCP mesh, so NAT/slirp is out); launcher keeps the bay IP, the DOSBox guest bridges at bayIP+100 (egg/mesh/game endpoint); two-edit +100 convention (postinstall + console DOSBox flag); static, air-gapped, <=32 pods. emulator/pod-launch/ (C# net8 supervising entry-point) Creates a Job Object (KILL_ON_JOB_CLOSE), launches DOSBox-X + the render bridge into it and blocks -- kill this process and both die (kernel-enforced, even on a hard TerminateProcess of a hung session; verified). Mode dispatch: bt/rp wired (also serve camera + live mission-review via egg hostType); review + diagnostics recognized but fail clean until their DOS launch args are known. emulator/deploy/ (install side) postinstall.bat (thin elevated wrapper) + configure.ps1 (NIC detect, realnic bind as a contiguous letter-leading GUID fragment, game IP = bayIP+100, stable MAC, render net_*.conf templates, stamp WATTCP.CFG my_ip) + tokenized conf templates + package.ps1 (assemble the zip). Render/bind/stamp + packaging verified against a scratch tree. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
pod-launch
The supervising launch entry-point for the two DOSBox titles (BattleTech /
Red Planet 4.10). TeslaConsole → TeslaLauncher invokes this exe in the game dir
with args selecting game/mode; it is the single authoritative handle for the
whole session. See ../DEPLOYMENT-PLAN.md.
Why an exe, not a batch/script
The entry-point must own the child processes' lifetime, not hand off and
exit. pod-launch:
- Creates a Windows Job Object with
JOB_OBJECT_LIMIT_KILL_ON_JOB_CLOSE. - Launches DOSBox-X and the render bridge into the job.
- Blocks on DOSBox for the whole mission.
Kill this process (TeslaLauncher force-killing a hung DOSBox on a console
command) → the job's last handle closes → the kernel kills DOSBox + the
renderer. This holds even on a hard TerminateProcess, where no cooperative
shutdown can run. When DOSBox exits on its own (mission end) the supervisor
tears the job down and returns DOSBox's exit code.
A batch file / cmd.exe / start / Start-Process can't do this: they decouple
from the child, which then survives the parent. Verified: hard-killing the
supervisor reaps its child via the kernel (see the job-object cascade test).
Build
Dev (needs the .NET 8 runtime present):
dotnet build -c Release
Deploy — self-contained single-file, so the air-gapped pod needs no .NET runtime installed:
dotnet publish -c Release -r win-x64 --self-contained true -p:PublishSingleFile=true -p:IncludeNativeLibrariesForSelfExtract=true
Usage
pod-launch [mode] [options]
Modes (the console's ExitCodeID vocabulary → a launch): bt → net_loop.conf,
rp → net_rp.conf (supported). bt/rp also serve the camera ship and
live mission-review roles — the console assigns those per-IP via the egg
hostType, so they're not separate modes (see ../CAMERA-REVIEW-NOTES.md).
review (playback of last.spl) and the diagnostics (test-plasma,
reset-rio, audio-test) are recognized but fail clean (exit 3 + reason) until
their DOS launch mechanics are confirmed.
Paths resolve relative to --root (default: the exe's own dir = the deployed
game dir), with dev fallbacks so the same exe runs against the emulator/ tree:
pod-launch bt --root C:\VWE\TeslaRel410\emulator --dry-run
--dry-run prints the resolved plan (dosbox / conf / renderer / work / layout)
without launching — use it to validate a rig's layout. Key flags: --layout cockpit|explode, --no-sound, --mipmap, --dosbox-xy x,y, --bridge-pos x,y, --renderer <exe> (frozen renderer; else falls back to pyw live_bridge.py). -h for the full list.
Deploy layout it expects (under the game dir / --root)
pod-launch.exe dosbox-x.exe net_loop.conf net_rp.conf
renderer.exe (frozen) roms\awe32.raw <game content + net-boot drivers>
postinstall.bat lays this out and renders the net_*.conf (paths, realnic,
WATTCP my_ip = bayIP+100). This exe just selects + launches.
TODO (tracked in DEPLOYMENT-PLAN.md OPEN items)
- Wire the distinct non-networked modes once their DOS launch args are
confirmed:
review(playback app +last.spl) and the diagnostics. (The mode table inModes.csis the single place to add each.) - Swap the dev
pyw live_bridge.pyfor the frozen renderer exe once packaging is decided (freeze vs embedded Python — with David). - Per-rig cockpit head RECTS (currently the
pod_deploy.ps1defaults).