firestorm/README.md

BattleTech: FireStorm — workspace layout

This is the working tree for the FireStorm total-conversion built on the MechWarrior 4 (Gameleap / GameOS) engine. Only three trees feed the build/deploy; everything else is output (regenerable), design reference, or archived clutter. See CLAUDE.md for the full build/runtime reconstruction notes.

The folders that matter (build inputs)

Folder	Role	Notes
Gameleap\code\	Source code + compiled binaries	C++ engine/game source (mw4\Code, CoreTech, mw4\Libraries). Build mw4\Code\MechWarrior4.dsw in VC6. Outputs land in rel.bin\ (Release MW4.exe, MW4pro.exe), pro.bin\ (editor MW4Ed2.exe), arm.bin\/dbg.bin\.
Gameleap\mw4\	Game data source	The content tree the resource packer reads (Content\, and the generated resource\*.mw4, plus hsh\, Assets\, Stats\, runtime DLLs). This is the live data set — not GameleapCode5_03\Content (that was an old 2005 duplicate, now in _UNUSED).
build-env\	Toolchain + scripts	Self-contained VC6 (VisualStudio6\), DirectX 7.0a + DX Media 6 SDKs, stlnative\, the .reg env files, and the deploy scripts.

Build / deploy scripts (in build-env\)

• deploy-mw4.ps1 — packs resources from source (build-resources.ps1) then assembles the runnable game into c:\VWE\firestorm\MW4. Trims dev bloat, ships only the canonical game packages, optimizes mech BMPs to 256-color, applies the DirectDraw compat shim.
• build-resources.ps1 — (re)packs resource\*.mw4 from Gameleap\mw4\Content using the in-exe compiler (MW4pro.exe -build). Called by the deploy; can be run standalone.
• deploy-editor.ps1 — installs the mission editor in place into Gameleap\mw4 (the data tree it edits): drops MW4Ed2.exe + DDrawCompat there, neutralizes the DDraw-breaking DLLs, sets the shim, writes run-editor.bat. No separate editor directory. (build-resources.ps1 moves DDrawCompat aside while the builder runs, since it's fatal to MW4pro.exe.)
• RESOURCE-BUILD.md — how the .mw4 packaging works.

Outputs (regenerable — safe to delete and rebuild)

• MW4\ — runnable game deploy (from deploy-mw4.ps1). Move/copy this to production.
• The editor has no separate output dir — it runs in place from Gameleap\mw4 via Gameleap\mw4\run-editor.bat (installed by deploy-editor.ps1).

Design / reference (not build inputs)

• BTFrstrm\ — FireStorm design data: mech stat workbooks (MechInfo_*.xls, etc.).
• Finished HUDS from J&J\ — per-mech HUD source art (MFD + Radar).

_UNUSED\ — archived clutter (nothing here is read by the build)

Moved here to reduce confusion. Safe to delete once you're comfortable. Contents:

• Gameleap\{Archive, Drivers, EditorDocs, Notes, batch, utilities} — historical / original-machine utility data (the build only ever used Gameleap\mw4).
• GameleapCode5_03\{Content, hsh} — stale 2005 duplicate data trees (superseded by Gameleap\mw4).
• resource_fullbak\ — a one-off backup of the dev resource\ set taken during the from-scratch rebuild; redundant now that the dev tree is rebuilt.

TL;DR build flow

1. Compile code: VC6 build Gameleap\code\mw4\Code\MechWarrior4.dsw → rel.bin\ / pro.bin\.
2. Deploy game: build-env\deploy-mw4.ps1 → MW4\ (packs resources, assembles, optimizes).
3. (Optional) Install editor: build-env\deploy-editor.ps1 → runs in place from Gameleap\mw4 (run-editor.bat).

On a fresh Windows machine

1. Install Git for Windows (includes Git LFS) — or Git + git-lfs separately.
2. Enable long paths before cloning (this tree has deep VC98/MFC paths > 260 chars):

   git config --global core.longpaths true
   git config --global core.autocrlf false
   git lfs install
   

   (Also enable the OS setting: HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem\LongPathsEnabled = 1.)
3. Clone to the same location so the absolute paths baked into the toolchain config resolve:

   git clone https://gitea.mysticmachines.com/VWE/firestorm.git C:\VWE\firestorm
   

   git clone pulls LFS objects automatically. If any are missing: cd C:\VWE\firestorm && git lfs pull.

After restore — make it buildable / runnable

• Build toolchain (VC6): import the registry config (ELEVATED), per build-env\README.md:

  reg import C:\VWE\firestorm\build-env\vc6-hklm-registration.reg
  reg import C:\VWE\firestorm\build-env\vc6-directories.reg
  

  Then build Gameleap\code\mw4\Code\MechWarrior4.dsw (see CLAUDE.md STEP 1/3), or just use the already-mirrored Gameleap\code\rel.bin / pro.bin binaries.
• Run the game: build-env\deploy-mw4.ps1 reassembles C:\VWE\firestorm\MW4 and applies the Win11 DirectDraw compat shim; or run the already-mirrored C:\VWE\firestorm\MW4\MW4.exe after re-applying the shim (AppCompat is keyed on exe path, so a new machine needs it re-set — the deploy script does this).
• Editor: Gameleap\mw4\run-editor.bat (installed in place; see CLAUDE.md STEP 9).

Notes

• core.autocrlf=false — line endings are preserved byte-for-byte; keep it that way.
• The mirror includes machine-specific bits (registry exports, deploy AppCompat). They restore the files, but registry/AppCompat state must be re-imported on the new machine (steps above).
• See CLAUDE.md for the full build/runtime reconstruction history and README.md for the layout.