Settles the 0x18-vs-0x1c contradiction lane X raised. 0x1c is right, everywhere,
and there is exactly one std::string instantiation in this binary:
_Bx@0, _Mysize@0x10, _Myres@0x14, _Alval@0x18.
ObservedTech+0x24 is that string's trailing empty-allocator word, not the
unaccounted data field it was read as. Three complete enumerations of the element
each skip it: ObservedTech::Write 0x00817cf0, the ctor 0x008562a0, and the copy
ctor inlined at 0x0079a184. Generalised with a new scanner, tools/strfootprint.py,
which recovers every (base, disp, tag) handed to the Mars::Stream string helpers:
65 std::string members off a non-stack base across every serializer in the exe,
ZERO with a sibling member inside the 0x1c span, and 51 of the 52 measurable
inter-member gaps exactly 0x1c. Corroborated by the vector<string> walk stride
(add esi,0x1c @0x00699c29), PostEvent's by-value strings at [ebp+8]/[ebp+0x24]
with RET 0x4c, and MoraleEvent 0x50 = name@0x34 + 0x1c.
Blast radius: zero recovered struct tables were wrong. Every string-bearing layout
already used 0x1c spans and 0x1c gaps -- ServerPlayer::pswd @0x2dc..0x2f7, the row
flagged for re-checking, included. Only prose carried the 0x18 number: the
loader-prototypes conventions line, the GlobalConst_ParseString prototype, and the
ObservedTech element table. struct-recovery S0 additionally had _Mysize/_Myres
transposed (size@0x14, res@0x18) while every table in the same file used the
correct offsets; fixed.
ObservedTech's four on-disk fields are now mapped rather than guessed, by reading
the serializer as lane X suggested: +0x04 uint16 otnF, +0x06 uint16 otnL, +0x08
bool odet (ONE BYTE, WriteBool), +0x0c std::string otch (0x1c), +0x28 int owith
= 0x2c exactly. That matches save_reader.py's on-disk order already. Game::
ObservedWeapon (0x00817bc0/0x00817b10) is the same element with tag owep.
Oracles unaffected and re-run: save_reader 36/36 and --strict exit 0 on all three
real saves; state_checksum 38 tests OK, coverage PROVED byte-for-byte on turn1 and
turn3. sots-engine wip/strings 32d3e36 syncs the header and corrects two stale
"unpinned" comments: clean_room_check OK, host ctest 33/33.
Standing rule this produced: never size a struct member from the offsets the code
touches. This build's STL puts the empty allocator LAST in both string (0x1c) and
vector (0x10), and an empty allocator is never loaded or stored, so a touch-scan
undercounts by exactly 4 every time. Size from an enumeration instead.
Seven End Turns from ref-turn2.sav on VM140, six control words, whole-state
checksum on every post-turn autosave.
53-bit and 64-bit x87 give byte-identical state across all 35,394 leaves, so
an x64/SSE port computing in IEEE double has NO double-rounding budget to
preserve and floats=bits is free. Two settings do move state, each reproduced
on a repeat run:
0x007f (24-bit) Sys[112 "Gamma Cephei"]/Pop2/PopG/PopC 540000000 -> 540000002
0x1a7f (round-up) Flt[34 "Beta Fleet"]/Pos/.[0] and /Pos/.[2], 1 ULP each
So the port must hold intermediates at 53 bits and use round-to-nearest --
both SSE defaults, now measured rather than assumed, each with a named
regression witness.
The briefed triple was under-powered: 0x027f is 53-bit (it differs from 0x127f
only in bit 12, infinity control, ignored since the 387) and 0x137f is 64-bit,
not a rounding change. Run as written all three come back identical, and that
would have "proved" something false on both axes that matter.
Evidence the forced word actually held: read-back at each force site plus 38
independent in-pipeline hook samples per run spanning turn phases 4, 6 and 8,
all reading the forced value. Mars::Application::Run calls
_controlfp(0x50000,0x3070300) at 0x0089f606 every frame, which is 0x127f, so
forcing at StrategyClient::EndTurn is wiped before the turn runs;
StrategyServer::BeginProcessTurn is the point that works.
Also re-confirms the End-Turn determinism oracle on engine cef889e:
bb4fd9ac... / 978041ac... unchanged.
New tools: verify/fpu-cw/cw_census.py, verify/fpu-cw/trace_bitdiff.py (the
latter exists because under a forced 24-bit word the CRT's own %g rendering
degrades, so trace text is not a valid comparison surface).
The complement to the per-function compare harness. Instead of "did this
function's declared outputs match", it asks "is the entire simulation state
still identical" -- so no region-declaration mistake can hide from it.
Coverage is PROVED, not declared: the digest tree is re-serialised and compared
byte-for-byte against the inflated save on every run. When that reconstruction
reproduces the stream, the whole file is a function of the digest's inputs. A
run that cannot account for the file says so and exits non-zero. This is the
direct answer to B4's three hooks that printed "0 diverged" over an empty
region set.
It localises. The root is the fold of a per-subsystem / per-object tree with
named objects, so the known load->re-save delta reports as exactly five leaves
-- /Summary/Checksum and four /Sim/players/Player[...]/Status 4->0 -- naming the
two Singularity players by id where the raw byte diff could only say "1st of
two". One real End Turn reports as 108 fully attributed differences.
Float-parity policy is explicit and strict by default (STATE_CHECKSUM.md 3):
raw IEEE-754 bits; a `canonical` policy for signed zero and NaN payloads only;
and deliberately NO tolerant hashing mode, because quantisation moves the cliff
rather than removing it and destroys the roll-up. Tolerance lives in the differ
as --ulps, applied after localisation. Corpus census: 0 NaN, 0 -0.0, 0
subnormals across 4,474 float leaves, so the strict default costs nothing today
and a test fails the day that changes.
Validated on the real saves (verify/results/state-checksum/): 10 files, 4
distinct contents, all STABLE + COVERED; chain record/verify works on the real
turn1-3 saves. The VM-driven replay loop is designed (section 5) but UNRUN.
Section 3.5 names the one question the host side cannot settle -- whether the
turn pipeline depends on x87 intermediate precision -- and the experiment that
would: force fpu_cw to 0x027f / 0x127f / 0x137f across End Turn and checksum
the three autosaves.
Also recorded: Summary.Checksum is NOT a byte sum over the inflated stream nor
a sum over the int leaves (both ruled out), so nobody repeats those two.
38 tests; sots-engine untouched, clean_room_check.sh OK.
Five hooks recaptured, build recap-7584bad-20260908T0615Z, no source change.
- ProcessResearch: the over-budget event is now a compare divergence
(side.events.after.v.next_id orig=4 ours=3) instead of a 609 KB save diff.
15 calls over 5 turns, 3 diverged, RNG matched 15/15.
- ComputeBudget: 4284 compared, 0 diverged, guard quiet - but only 20 distinct
states and 13 of 22 slots always zero.
- MoveFleet: 8 of 45 calls diverge by 1 ULP of position. B4's clean verdict was
a one-sample verdict.
- First guarded captures for OnTechResearched (RollResearchEvent draw fired and
matched), the colony turn and MoveFleet.
- Guards mapped SetResearched live and found an undeclared ObservedTech append.
VM140 released at the main menu, hooks=trace.
