Sword of the Stars (2006) reverse-engineering worklog. Infra docs live in trikilli services/re-lab.md.
Find a file
alex bebdee1ceb income-term: the output -> money chain read from the instruction stream; the BnkEl oracle goes 6/25 -> 25/25
`output-term.md` §6 said the verified output total did not unblock the budget
because a system's MONEY is a second chain. This is that chain, disassembled to
the next function start throughout.

The multiplier `formula-gaps.md` Q3 could not name is a three-row table the
executable BUILDS IN CODE from .rdata float literals -- no data-file key, no
GlobalConst slot, the same shape lane N found for the pop-type table.
ServerPlayer+0x36c is an unnamed, unsaved pointer to {int id; float ai[3];
float other[3]}, filled from that table by ServerPlayer::Read and selected per
player by `is-AI && !NPC`. Every corpus save carries aidf == 1, whose AI income
column is 1.1f. The record's other two columns are a fleet-maintenance DIVISOR
and a RESEARCH multiplier -- Q3 called the third a trade multiplier and it is not.

25/25 on the oracle, from 6/25. The prediction of WHERE the remaining misses were
was wrong and is written down as wrong: the twelve Zuul records were not missing
the suitability cost (every corpus colony sits at its species' ideal, so that
whole term is multiplied by zero and stays unexercised). They were missing
SpeciesDef +0x4c/+0x50, which are PER SPECIES and were carried as one global
pair -- 400 output points, 2000 money, per Zuul colony, and the observed 4400 and
5566 shortfalls fall out to the unit.

New wire fact: the Sim block's ISsp/ISsu pairs ARE server->IdealSuit[], the
float[7] CalcSuitMod indexes. The array is randomised per game by the map
generator and cross-checks against every ServerPlayer's own IdealSuit field in
all 11 saves, so the suitability cost needs no data file.

Also states plainly what this does NOT unblock: ComputeBudget's turn path takes
its per-system money from ComputeOutput with the system's OWN rate sliders, not
from ComputeMaxIncome, so P01/P02/P03/P05/P06 and the two research RNG words stay
blocked on a strictly larger function.
2026-09-08 13:49:48 -04:00
campaign standalone report regenerated from main: 209 -> 158 leaves, closed 51 regressed 0, 16/44 phases 2026-09-08 13:46:17 -04:00
findings income-term: the output -> money chain read from the instruction stream; the BnkEl oracle goes 6/25 -> 25/25 2026-09-08 13:49:48 -04:00
ghidra income-term: the output -> money chain read from the instruction stream; the BnkEl oracle goes 6/25 -> 25/25 2026-09-08 13:49:48 -04:00
guides rules: 18 - measure first, the lab exists; static reading explains what you measured 2026-09-08 11:20:30 -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 income-term: the output -> money chain read from the instruction stream; the BnkEl oracle goes 6/25 -> 25/25 2026-09-08 13:49:48 -04:00
verify standalone report regenerated from main: 209 -> 158 leaves, closed 51 regressed 0, 16/44 phases 2026-09-08 13:46:17 -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

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.