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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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alex 834eb09a19 T: read ServerPlayer::ProcessTurn and StrategyServer::ProcessTurn from the instruction stream 
Phase map for both turn drivers, byte-for-byte from objdump rather than the
decompiler. Corrections that matter:

- the end-of-turn tail is UNCONDITIONAL. turn-spine.md 2.4 step 11 said it is
  deferred when encounters are pending; that came from reading an inlined
  std::vector destructor as a branch (both arms converge at 0x007dcb38). There
  is no branch on the encounter snapshot in the function, and 0x00794ad0 does
  not build an encounter list -- it builds the 15 ship-action type ids.
- ServerPlayer::ProcessTurn takes one float argument and never reads it.
- the ResearchRollPending site runs AFTER ProcessResearch, not before, and
  clears the flag only when the roll actually fires. Threshold is a strict
  0.5f < progress/Cost. Both consumers located by a full displacement scan.
- EVENT_NO_RESEARCH's gate is 'completed nothing this turn', not 'nothing
  available' -- 0x00584e50 collects RESEARCHED techs, not available ones.
- a fired research roll costs one or two RNG words, not one: the plague branch
  draws a second NextInt and posts EVENT_PLAGUE_OUTBREAK.
- two StrategyServer bases four bytes apart, and two per-turn counters.
- new: the research refund at 0x008914aa, previously unmodelled.

45 addresses in ghidra/addresses.d/lane-t.json (669 -> 722 entries, no dupes).
2026-09-08 08:08:36 -04:00
campaign dashboard refresh 2026-09-08 07:36:41 -04:00
findings T: read ServerPlayer::ProcessTurn and StrategyServer::ProcessTurn from the instruction stream 2026-09-08 08:08:36 -04:00
ghidra T: read ServerPlayer::ProcessTurn and StrategyServer::ProcessTurn from the instruction stream 2026-09-08 08:08:36 -04:00
guides lane S: std::string is 0x1c binary-wide; ObservedTech element fully mapped 2026-09-08 05:09:33 -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 campaign: forgejo issues sync script; issues are the published board 2026-09-07 15:04:57 -04:00
tools lane G: wire-schema channel — layouts.json -> generated stream schema for sots-engine 2026-09-08 06:29:30 -04:00
verify lane W: SvSctOb variant factories; fix the four save_reader.py defects openly 2026-09-08 07:05:09 -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.