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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 P 0cd84690af lane P: SetResearched cascade read; 10 new addresses.json entries 
Read TechTree::SetResearched (0x00581e10) end to end while wiring the research event
posts into ours (sots-engine wip/post-events). Two things it settles:

- SetResearched invokes the owner callback as vft+0x10(def, (flags>>2)&1), so bit 2 of
  flags IS OnTechResearched's "silent" argument. ProcessResearch passes flags = 2, so
  silent is FALSE and the completion event IS posted. Previously this was only
  inferable from lane R's observation that a completion call moved EvNxID by two.
- The unlock cascade in full: the node's child edges set child state 0->1 and
  child.costRP = min(child.costRP, edge.costRP); then a whole-tree sweep sets state 2
  and stamps turnAvailable from ModCount ONLY when it currently reads -1 (so it is
  sticky, and a node re-entering state 2 is not re-announced), and recurses into any
  zero-cost available node. Both loops test the node itself, not a parent -- there is
  no parent clause anywhere in the function, confirming lane E's correction.

Also records what is and is not known about vector<ObservedTech> at ServerPlayer+0x274:
the on-disk element shape is confirmed against turn3-state.sav (its string holds a tech
name), while sizeof(ObservedTech) and the append call site are still unpinned. The
cheapest route to the stride is now a measurement from the new observed_techs region,
not a search -- find-constant-uses does not index lea displacements.

New entries: ServerPlayer_off_ObservedTechs, TechNode_off_TurnAvailable /
TurnResearched / Order / Children, TechEdge_off_CostRP / ChildDef,
TechTree_off_OrderCounter, TechTree_SetResearched_flag_Force / _flag_Silent.
Generated header regenerated with tools/gen_addresses.py (386 -> 396 entries).
2026-09-08 04:16:59 -04:00
campaign board: VM140 holder = lane F 2026-09-08 03:54:10 -04:00
findings lane P: SetResearched cascade read; 10 new addresses.json entries 2026-09-08 04:16:59 -04:00
ghidra lane P: SetResearched cascade read; 10 new addresses.json entries 2026-09-08 04:16:59 -04:00
guides 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
notes init commit 2026-09-07 12:31:56 -04:00
scripts campaign: forgejo issues sync script; issues are the published board 2026-09-07 15:04:57 -04:00
tools reva_call.py: HTTP fallback for Ghidra when the MCP link drops; claim VM140 for recapture lane 2026-09-08 02:12:16 -04:00
verify board: lane C state-checksum landed; fpu_cw experiment queued; event-posting lane 2026-09-08 03:47:21 -04:00
.gitignore ignore pycache 2026-09-07 15:55:37 -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.