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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 d46b3f8391 state_checksum: --relabel-new-ids, comparing a pair modulo this turn's new id labelling 
Implements the 2026-09-09 fleet-id-order resolution, section 3 item 1.  Given the
pre-turn save, compute the ids new in each post-turn save, match the client-minted
(node nibble != 0) new fleets by a key that does not mention the id -- (LocID or
FPlan destination, sorted ship-id set) -- build the bijection pi, rewrite every
fleet reference, compare the master id lists as sets, mask /Summary/Checksum with
its reason on the line, and print pi.

Acceptance, both halves:
  bp-pinA vs bp-pinB     IDENTICAL modulo pi = {1970<->1986}   (35 leaves -> 0)
  ad-oracle-A vs -B      REFUSED, then DIVERGED: 94 leaves     (unchanged)

Five guards, every one refusing rather than degrading: only ids absent from the
pre-turn save; only non-zero node nibbles; pi must permute one set; content keys
must correspond one-to-one and be unique per side; and no leaf anywhere may hold a
permuted id at an unmodelled site (matched on raw bytes, not the reader's typed
value).  A refusal rewrites nothing and falls back to the ordinary comparison.

Three corrections to the specification from contact with the data, in
findings/subsystems/relabel-new-ids.md section 4: FtName is an id-attached label
and needs the same treatment as the id; relabelling the Flt[] keys is the wrong
operation (exchange the bodies -- the fleet table is id-ordered and identical in
both saves); a node's new-id set spans object kinds.

Default path proven unchanged: pre- and post-change modules agree on the root
digest, coverage, mask hits and every (path, digest) in the tree over all 43 saves
under two policies, and on 5,602 lines of CLI stdout across every mode.

Also fixes a pre-existing, unrelated test failure: the re-save localisation test
enumerated pairs over sorted filenames and hard-coded the direction 4 -> 0, which
a later corpus addition reversed.  Suite 38 -> 62 tests, all passing.
2026-09-09 04:12:01 -04:00
campaign board: the gather ordering contract is bound in the engine 2026-09-09 03:41:44 -04:00
findings state_checksum: --relabel-new-ids, comparing a pair modulo this turn's new id labelling 2026-09-09 04:12:01 -04:00
ghidra lane BU: the fleet-visit-order prediction, committed before the run 2026-09-09 03:15:19 -04:00
guides lane BS merged: the per-history residue is an absent Colonize task; BR's generator row scoped to encounter-free turns 2026-09-09 03:14:28 -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 vmshot: make Pillow optional so --one works anywhere, and document the invocation that supplies it 2026-09-09 02:52:56 -04:00
verify state_checksum: --relabel-new-ids, comparing a pair modulo this turn's new id labelling 2026-09-09 04:12:01 -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.