Tooling built to recover editable source for six 'Mech chassis that exist
in the parallel FS_Build_V4H build but not in this repo. Reverse-engineers
every compiled record type in the .mw4 package format back to the .data /
.instance / .subsystems / .damage / .contents / .torso / .engine /
.armature sources the content pipeline consumes.
Nothing here is wired into the game build. It is a standalone analysis
harness run from Linux.
Package format
--------------
"#VBD" container. Directory records are [len][name][FILETIME][origSize]
[storedSize][offset], payload base at dword 0x0C. A record is stored raw
when storedSize == origSize, otherwise LZW (9->12-bit LSB-first codes,
256=clear, 257=EOF, dict from 258), per Database.cpp:451.
GameModel records are flat /Zp4 structs following the C++ inheritance
chain Entity(0) -> Mover(28) -> MWObject(80) -> Vehicle(664) -> Mech(756),
1636 bytes total. CreateMessage records follow Replicator -> Entity ->
Mover -> MWMover -> MWObject -> Vehicle -> Mech from start=16 (the
undeclared Connection__Message header), ending at 341 and padded to 344.
tools/decompile/
----------------
datamap.py header-driven layout engine; CHAIN + ANCHORS
{Vehicle:664, Mech:756} assert the struct offsets
mw4msg.py CreateMessage reader/walker
data.py .data constants.py define/table symbol resolution
damage.py .damage contents.py .contents
smallmodel.py .torso + .engine instance.py .instance
armature.py / armature_parts.py .armature + armaturedata/armaturevideo
assembly.py joint hierarchy renderer
make_generic_doll.py builds generic MFD/Radar damage dolls
verify_*.py per-type round-trip verifiers
Verified round-trip across all 64 shared chassis:
.armature 2938/2976 pages .subsystems 7579/7585 keys
.data map 6071/6071 values .data trip 8291/8306 keys
.damage 6605/6605 keys .contents 7480/7480 keys
.torso+.engine 1280/1280 keys .instance 896/896 keys, 64/64 pages
armature_parts 1202/1202 .data, 1149/1202 .video
Layout-discovery lessons (documented in DECOMPILING.md)
-------------------------------------------------------
- Never let a field map be discovered by the values that verify it. A
value-matching pass reported 4288/4288 while mis-assigning 34 keys. The
map was rebuilt from header declaration order, anchored on uniquely
resolved fields.
- Read the factory, not the data. 12 .data fields and 5 Torso fields are
declared plain Stuff::Scalar but multiplied by Radians_Per_Degree in
Mech_Tool.cpp:889 / Torso_Tool.cpp.
- Strip typedefs before walking a header. A stray `typedef int AttributeID;`
masked a missing ClassID - two 4-byte errors cancelling out, caught only
by the ANCHORS assertion.
- A verifier that silently narrows its own input reports success. Braced
blocks must be hidden before splitting pages, replacing both CR and LF,
because a `Shadow={...}` block contains a line reading `[shadow]` and
splitlines() also splits on bare CR.
- NSWIZZLE is undefined, so the #else branch is live and orders members
differently. bool is 1 byte; char x[MaxStringLength] is 256.
- V4H carries stale Mech IDs (their Atlas is 5, ours 6), so 64 of 65 shared
chassis are off by one; --retarget-ids emits $(M_<Chassis>)/$(IDS_<Chassis>).
reports/ holds generated diffs. The two ~5 MB manifest-*.tsv intermediates
are gitignored; regenerate everything with run-comparison.sh.
Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 5 (Anthropic) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Co-authored-by: GitHub Copilot <copilot@github.com>
150 lines
5.1 KiB
Python
Executable File
150 lines
5.1 KiB
Python
Executable File
#!/usr/bin/env python3
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"""
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mw4db.py - reader for GameOS "#VBD" resource packages (*.mw4).
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Format (from mw4\\Libraries\\stuff\\Database.cpp):
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header (20 bytes, little-endian)
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char[4] tag "#VBD"
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u32 format
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u32 contentVersion (63 for this codebase, VER_CONTENTVERSION)
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u32 indexSize byte offset of the payload area
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u16 recordCount
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u16 nextId
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then `recordCount` directory records, packed, no alignment:
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s64 FILETIME when this entry was last (re)packed
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u32 dataLength decompressed size
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u32 recLength stored size
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u32 dataOffset offset from `indexSize`
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u16 recordId
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u8 nameLength
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char[] name (latin-1, backslash-separated, may carry
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{qualifier} / [page] suffixes)
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payload at indexSize + dataOffset, `recLength` bytes.
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Storage rule (Database.cpp:451): recLength == dataLength -> raw,
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otherwise LZW-compressed with gos_LZCompress.
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The decompressor is a faithful port of gos_LZDecompress from
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CoreTech\\Libraries\\GameOS\\FileIO.cpp - variable-width LZW, LSB-first,
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9 -> 12 bits, CLEAR = 256, EOF = 257, dictionary starts at 258.
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"""
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import struct, hashlib, os
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def lz_decompress(src: bytes) -> bytes:
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src = bytes(src) + b"\x00\x00\x00\x00" # u32-read padding margin
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bitpos = 0
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def getcode(width, mask):
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nonlocal bitpos
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i = bitpos >> 3
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v = src[i] | (src[i + 1] << 8) | (src[i + 2] << 16) | (src[i + 3] << 24)
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v = (v >> (bitpos & 7)) & mask
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bitpos += width
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return v
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CLEAR, EOF, FREE = 256, 257, 258
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chain = [0] * 8192
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suffix = [0] * 8192
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width, mask, maxindex, free = 9, 511, 512, FREE
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oldchain = oldsuffix = 0
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out = bytearray()
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while True:
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code = getcode(width, mask)
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if code == EOF:
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break
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if code == CLEAR:
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width, mask, maxindex, free = 9, 511, 512, FREE
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code = getcode(width, mask) # ClearHash emits one literal
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out.append(code & 0xFF)
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oldchain, oldsuffix = code, code & 0xFF
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continue
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stack = []
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if code >= free: # KwKwK special case
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stack.append(oldsuffix)
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suffix[code] = oldsuffix
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chain[code] = oldchain
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walk = oldchain
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else:
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walk = code
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while walk >= 256:
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stack.append(suffix[walk])
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walk = chain[walk]
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stack.append(walk)
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oldsuffix = walk & 0xFF
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out += bytes(reversed(stack))
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suffix[free] = oldsuffix
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chain[free] = oldchain
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free += 1
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oldchain = code
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if free == maxindex and width != 12:
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width += 1
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maxindex <<= 1
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mask = (mask << 1) | 1
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return bytes(out)
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def read_index(path):
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"""Parse directory only. Fast - no decompression.
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Returns (contentVersion, [(recordId, name, dataLen, recLen, storedBytes), ...])
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or None when the file is not a #VBD package.
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"""
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with open(path, "rb") as fh:
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data = fh.read()
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if data[:4] != b"#VBD":
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return None
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_tag, _fmt, content, indexsize, nrec, _nextid = struct.unpack_from("<4sIIIHH", data, 0)
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out, off = [], 20
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for _ in range(nrec):
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off += 8 # FILETIME
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dlen, rlen, doff = struct.unpack_from("<III", data, off); off += 12
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rid, nlen = struct.unpack_from("<HB", data, off); off += 3
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name = data[off:off + nlen].decode("latin-1"); off += nlen
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raw = data[indexsize + doff: indexsize + doff + rlen] if dlen else b""
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out.append((rid, name, dlen, rlen, raw))
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return content, out
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def read_records(path):
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"""Parse and decode every record.
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Returns (contentVersion, [(recordId, name, dataLen, recLen, decodedBytes), ...])
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"""
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r = read_index(path)
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if r is None:
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return None
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content, recs = r
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out = []
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for rid, name, dlen, rlen, raw in recs:
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blob = b"" if not dlen else (raw if rlen == dlen else lz_decompress(raw))
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out.append((rid, name, dlen, rlen, blob))
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return content, out
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def norm(name: str) -> str:
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"""Canonical comparison key for an entry name.
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Package entry names are case-inconsistent between builds (V4H's packer
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lowercased everything) and use backslashes. Always compare through this.
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"""
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return name.lower().replace("\\", "/")
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def md5(b: bytes) -> str:
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return hashlib.md5(b).hexdigest()
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def walk_packages(root):
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"""Yield (absolutePath, relativePathWithForwardSlashes) for every *.mw4 under root."""
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for dirpath, _dirs, files in os.walk(root):
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for f in sorted(files):
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if f.lower().endswith(".mw4"):
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p = os.path.join(dirpath, f)
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yield p, os.path.relpath(p, root).replace("\\", "/")
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