Three rounds of source inspection produced three wrong suspects; one
instrumented run settled it:
[pl] PilotList slot=0 at (180,225) <- the only drawer
(no [ps] lines at all)
So the magenta blocks over the top-left title are PilotList's slot-0 entry
(the local pilot's name art + mech icon) on the Comm port -- content that
SHOULD draw; what is wrong is the entry's coordinate convention inside that
port. The port geometry itself is proven right: the Comm background
(btcomm.pcx, the KILLS/DEATHS columns) lands pixel-identical in both exes.
Second, separate finding: PlayerStatus never draws at all. The cfg builds
8 of them (sec port, 4x2, players 1..8) but our roster resolve is 0-based
against 1-based cfg player numbers, so every panel stays unbound and its
Execute returns early. Fixing that will add a whole scoreboard page, so it
belongs in an A/B session against the shipped reference rather than a blind
edit -- both leads are written up in GAUGE-BLOCK.NOTES.md.
Also recorded: the capture rig's occlusion failure mode (CopyFromScreen
grabs whatever is in front -- one run scored 77%/47% purely because an
editor covered half the window) and the PrintWindow fix for unattended runs.
Verified build, zero faults; last valid A/B measurement stands at 94.7%
identical / 92% coverage.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>