TeslaSuite/Console/vPOD

vPOD — virtual pod / game-client stand-in

A test tool that impersonates a Tesla game client (Red Planet's rpl4opt.exe or BattleTech's btl4.exe) so the operator consoles can be exercised without real cockpit hardware. It speaks the Munga command/control protocol as a server on TCP 1501 — the console connects to it exactly as it would a real pod — emulates the pod ApplicationState machine, reassembles the streamed egg, and shows everything on a live display.

It also impersonates the pod's TeslaLauncher service (the "Launcher / Site Management" column), so the console's Manage Site — provisioning, Install / Uninstall Product, launch/kill, volume, restart/shutdown — can be tested end-to-end with no cockpit and no console changes. See Site management / virtual launcher.

What it does

• Listens on TCP 1501 (configurable) and answers the console's StateQuery with a StateResponse, reporting the game (ApplicationID) and the current ApplicationState.
• Walks the mission lifecycle the console drives it through: WaitingForEgg → LoadingMission → WaitingForLaunch → LaunchingMission → RunningMission → …, reacting to the egg stream and to Run / Stop / Abort / Suspend / Resume messages, and acknowledging the egg.
• End-mission graceful exit + watchdog restart — on the console's end-mission command the "game exe" exits (the listener closes, the console's connection drops), then a watchdog relaunches it a moment later and it comes back up in WaitingForEgg. This is the real pod's per-game cycle (autoRestart); the Restart game after mission ends (watchdog) checkbox (on by default) toggles it — unchecked, the pod just returns to WaitingForEgg without exiting.
• Power On / Power Off — Power Off closes the TCP listener so the console cannot connect, mimicking a pod with no game client running; Power On reopens it. Reset returns a live pod to WaitingForEgg.
• Reassembles and shows the egg the console streams (the EggFileMessage chunks), one field per line, with a summary line (adventure / map / scenario / pilot count). The last egg is kept across missions/restarts (so it can be copied for dev use) until the Clear button empties the viewer.
• Game toggle — a Red Planet ⇄ BattleTech switch on the window changes which ApplicationID the pod reports, live, so one vPOD can stand in for either game. (-app rp|bt sets the initial choice.)
• A newest-first protocol log of the traffic.

Running it

vPOD.exe [-net <port>] [-app rp|bt] [-lc|-mr] [-host <id>] [-res W H] [-nomanage]

• -net <port> Munga control port (default 1501).
• -app rp|bt which game to report initially (also switchable in the UI).
• -lc / -mr live-camera / mission-review role (cosmetic; the state model is identical to a game machine).
• -host <id> responding host id reported in state responses (default 1).
• -res W H accepted and ignored (real clients take it; kept for drop-in launch compatibility).
• -nomanage vPOD-only: disable the virtual launcher / site-management side (no provisioning beacons, no TCP 53290 listener) — e.g. when a real TeslaLauncher runs on the same machine, or for a second vPOD instance.

Site management / virtual launcher

vPOD's right-hand column is a stand-in for the pod's TeslaLauncher service: the OFB-encrypted, framed-JSON ILauncherService RPC on TCP 53290 that the console's Manage Site and squad/pod panel talk to (Tesla.Contract / Tesla.SecureConfig are the same shared wire libraries both real ends use).

Provisioning (first run)

The console only talks to a pod's launcher after minting a 32-byte session key for it via the SecureConfig Configure flow, so an unprovisioned vPOD behaves like a freshly-imaged pod — minus the NIC/registry changes (the assigned network config is shown in the window but never applied):

1. Run vPOD (no -nomanage). It broadcasts RQST beacons and displays a Request ID and Passphrase (the real pod shows these on its screen).
2. In the console: Manage Site — a "Configure <Request ID>" button appears at the bottom. Click it, enter the pod's name/squad, its IP (127.0.0.1 when vPOD runs on the console machine — accepted), any subnet (e.g. 255.255.255.0), and the passphrase from vPOD's window.
3. The console sends the encrypted config + session key; vPOD stores the key and starts the launcher RPC. The pod row goes healthy (Idle [<n> ms]).

The key persists in %LocalAppData%\vPOD\TeslaKeyStore.key (launcher format), so provisioning is one-time. Reprovision drops the key and returns to beacon mode — pair it with deleting the pod in Manage Site (the console's Reconfigure… does both ends automatically: its ClearStore makes vPOD drop the key and beacon again).

Product deployments

Right-click the pod row → Install Product ▸ works exactly as against a real pod: the console streams the package zip out-of-band on a second 53290 connection while polling progress on the first; vPOD extracts it into its virtual games root and reports the launcher's usual 0–50% receive / 50–95% extract / 99% Complete progression. Then:

• Installed apps land in the column's list (and in GetInstalledApps, so the Uninstall menu populates). Registrations persist in %LocalAppData%\vPOD\LaunchApps.json.
• Packages extract under %LocalAppData%\vPOD\Games\ (the virtual C:\Games). A packaged postinstall.bat is logged and removed but never executed.
• Launch/Kill from the squad panel are simulated (fake PIDs, no real process); Volume round-trips; Restart/Shutdown power-cycle the virtual pod (dark for a few seconds on restart).

Ports

Port	Proto	Direction	Purpose
1501	TCP	console → vPOD	Munga game control (existing)
53290	TCP	console → vPOD	Launcher RPC (ILauncherService)
53291	UDP	vPOD → console (broadcast)	RQST provisioning beacon
53292	UDP+TCP	console → vPOD	RPLY config broadcast + RSA key exchange

Same-machine testing needs no firewall changes (loopback). Running vPOD on a different machine needs inbound allows for TCP 1501/53290/53292 and UDP 53292 on the vPOD machine (the console installer already opens its own side).

Not emulated: the console's remote Windows-service control (ServiceController over SCM/SMB, used by some SitePanel service start/stop paths — dormant against real pods too, since it queries service name TeslaLauncherService while the launcher registers as Tesla Application Launcher), and really launching deployed exes (a second game client would fight vPOD for its own ports).

An end-to-end loopback test of this server against the console's real PodManagerConnection client lives in the differential suite: Console/tests/TeslaConsole.DiffTests/VPodLauncherServerTests.cs.

Deploying from the console (Manage Site → Install Product)

vPOD is a catalog product (RedPlanet\Apps.xml, id 0041C870-…) with Game Client / Live Camera / Mission Review entries, so it appears in Manage Site → Install Product like any game. Build the deployable package first:

pwsh -File pack.ps1        # produces dist\vPOD.zip

The zip lays out vPOD\vPOD.exe (+ Munga Net.dll) so the launcher extracts it to C:\Games\vPOD and the catalog entry launches C:\Games\vPOD\vPOD.exe.

Testing locally against the console

The default site ships a local pod at 127.0.0.1. Run vPOD on the console machine, open a game window (e.g. Games → Red Planet: Death Race), and enable the local pod — the console connects to 127.0.0.1:1501 (vPOD), and you can drive Load → Run → Stop and watch vPOD's state and egg viewer follow along.