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Sword of the Stars (2006) reverse-engineering worklog. Infra docs live in trikilli services/re-lab.md.
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lane-l4 0c162e5831 L4: the research tie set -- k = 6, named, and the mechanism measured twice 
Two processes, same workload. Phase 18 tries three producers; only ONE of the
three AI players reaches the candidate walk at all, which is why the other two
are stable across every run of both lanes -- different code path, not better luck.

For that player the candidate stream is ONE entry, {2, 12}, in BOTH runs -- a
category, not a tech. So arrival order in the candidate vector is not the
mechanism (a vector of one has no order), and the three-arm fallback never ran
(both probes zero, both runs). The variation is inside the resolver that turns a
category into a tech, and it produced XNC_TrnsMorr2 (techId 288) in one process
and XNC_TrnsHum2 (techId 282) in the next.

k is nameable from the shipped tech data: XNC_ROOT allows six tier-1 techs at an
identical 2000 RP, one per species, each allowing exactly one tier-2 successor --
the six XNC_Trns<Species>2. Four of the six have been observed across six runs
between lanes L4 and L5, and their costs differ (13000-30000), so the resolver is
not ranking by cost; it takes whichever member of the available set it reaches
first.

Bonus rule-19 result: run R2's autosave is byte-identical to the hooks=off control
of the same workload. Twenty detours installed, same tiebreak, same bytes -- the
only free variable in the whole turn is the tiebreak itself.

Still open and flagged: BIO_GnMod, the one observed value outside that family.
Seven more addresses in ghidra/addresses.d/lane-l4.json; the eighth collided with
lane AI4's cl_SetResearchTarget and was dropped with the agreement recorded.
2026-09-08 18:30:05 -04:00
campaign board: lane L1 - hive creation draws in BeginProcessTurn; CDiff edges played forward; SnLv verified; VM140 free 2026-09-08 18:26:51 -04:00
findings L4: the research tie set -- k = 6, named, and the mechanism measured twice 2026-09-08 18:30:05 -04:00
ghidra L4: the research tie set -- k = 6, named, and the mechanism measured twice 2026-09-08 18:30:05 -04:00
guides standalone 209 -> 124 (closed 85); rule 24: never reuse a build directory across trees 2026-09-08 17:01:57 -04:00
notes init commit 2026-09-07 12:31:56 -04:00
objects regenerate both headers (669 addresses); track objects/generated so the shared clone stops sitting dirty 2026-09-08 07:36:16 -04:00
scripts lane V2: vtable inversion — resolve indirect call edges image-wide 2026-09-08 12:05:05 -04:00
tools determinism qualified: oracle holds only where no AI must choose; Rung B = command-stream replay, Rung C = behavioural AI; canonical pair now turn2->turn3 2026-09-08 18:02:58 -04:00
verify L4: the research tie set -- k = 6, named, and the mechanism measured twice 2026-09-08 18:30:05 -04:00
.gitignore lane D: automated struct recovery from the IStreamable serializers 2026-09-08 05:51:37 -04:00
README.md guides: RE how-to for 2000s MSVC/DX9 games (98 sources); queue replay-checksum, class recovery, apitrace/TTD 2026-09-07 18:05:58 -04:00

README.md

sots-re

Reverse-engineering worklog for Sword of the Stars (2006, SOTS1) — the 32-bit DX9 original + expansions. The nitty-gritty: static/dynamic analysis notes, Ghidra & ReVa scripts, function/struct maps, D3D9 call traces, decomp progress, findings.

Where this runs

Analysis lab on spicy (PVE, 192.168.3.201):

  • CT111 sots-re — Linux workspace: Ghidra + headless ReVa server, radare2/rizin/cutter, binwalk. Hosts the Samba share and this repo's working tree at /srv/re-lab/notes.
  • VM140 sots-re-win10 — Win10 runtime + dynamic analysis (x64dbg, Cheat Engine, RenderDoc/apitrace, DXVK→CPU-Vulkan for GPU-less rendering).

Infra (guests, storage, network, share, ReVa endpoint) is documented from the system-maintainer POV in trikilli → services/re-lab.md. This repo is everything else.

Layout

  • findings/ — the running findings log (append-only), one file per subsystem.
  • ghidra/ — exported scripts, data-type archives, struct definitions.
  • traces/ — D3D9 / Win32 API call captures + analysis.
  • scripts/ — helper tooling (loaders, extractors, parsers).
  • notes/ — session notes, scratch, hypotheses.

Ownership / legality

Game binaries come from the owner's own GOG/Steam copy. RE is for personal interoperability, bug-fixing, and preservation. Binaries themselves are not committed here (see .gitignore) — they live on the lab's Samba share /srv/re-lab/samples.

Campaign (how this repo is run)

A 4-agent crew (defined in ~/.claude/agents/re-*.md) runs the exploration: re-quartermaster (backlog + board) → re-analyst (maps via ReVa) → re-verifier (proves vs real data; old-vs-new differential once reimpl starts) → re-scribe (files the note, links it, commits).

  • campaign/board.md — live status board (start here).
  • Live tracking = Forgejo issues on alex/sots-re (labels status/* are the kanban columns; type/*, conf/*). campaign/board.md is the editable mirror — publish with scripts/forgejo_campaign.py bootstrap (needs FORGEJO_TOKEN).
  • campaign/backlog.md — prioritized target queue.
  • campaign/open-questions.md — unresolved threads.
  • findings/_template.md — the record format every finding follows.
  • findings/{objects,control-flow,subsystems}/ — the growing engine map.
  • verify/{parsers,traces,harness,results}/ — validation: struct parsers now, golden-trace replay + shim compare-mode for reimplementation.
  • ghidra/ — exported scripts + datatype archives.

Approach & north star: findings/00-strategy.md. Binary facts: findings/01-fingerprint.md.

Sibling repo

alex/sots-engine — the from-scratch engine source (clean-room, public-capable). This repo keeps the evidence + planning for both; binary facts cross over only via ghidra/addresses.json → tools/gen_addresses.py.

  • guides/re-windows-2000s-howto.md — annotated bibliography + how-to for RE of mid-2000s MSVC/DX9 Windows games, with our-experience call-outs.