Files
Sylpheed/docs/FORMAT.md
Sylpheed port agent 89de93b18f docs: the timeline lands on rest -- except on six elements, where the game
agrees with the timeline

P2's gate is the buttons sliding in, and `tools/screen-strip` renders the strip
that shows it. But the useful result came out of checking where the animation
settles.

On 8 of 12 screens the settled timeline is BYTE-IDENTICAL to the declared `rest`
pose -- the port walks the keyframes with an authored time unit and arrives, to
the pixel, where the pinned decoders independently say the screen rests. On
`main_menu` the two differ in exactly one region, 400x470 at (440,108): the
bounding box of `ptframe1` and `ptframe2` and nothing else.

`rest` puts both at their first keyframe, off-position and transparent. The
capture of the running game shows them -- the bright circuit bracket around the
menu. Cropping the same region from the capture and from both renders puts the
ring and its elbow trace in the timeline render pixel-aligned with the game's,
and absent from the rest render. Geometry, so it does not depend on the
capture's gamma or on its having been taken with NEW GAME focused.

`ui_layout::rest_plateau` excludes a trailing run of identical keyframes because
it is normally the exit. On an element with NO exit animation the trailing run IS
the hold. The condition that identifies these exactly, with no false positives
here, is "the final untimed keyframe has the same pose as the last timed one" --
six elements, and `rest()` misses all six. Filed in BLOCKED.md for the RE agent:
the decoders are pinned and are not this port's to fix, and `sylpheed-cli screen
render` is missing the bracket too.

Worth saying plainly what this does to P1: the port and the reference agreed on
`main_menu` to 3/255 and BOTH were missing two elements the game draws. Two
renderers reading one field through one decoder agreeing is not evidence the
field is right. BLOCKED.md had already said that about the pivot; here it bit.

The title is NOT settled and P2 does not claim it. `rest` and the timeline
disagree there by 142-247/255, the only live title capture composites the PRESS A
plate over build 4 so it cannot be diffed against the title alone, and both of
the port's modes draw a cyan glow slab the game does not have -- a third problem,
P3's. Recorded as an open question rather than resolved by tuning.

Also reconciled against the RE agent's new work: Q8 is answered -- the SE waves
are located in `Static.slb` (move/confirm/back), which unblocks P6's audio; and
the title's transitions are a lookup by NAME, giving P3/P5 the game's own screen
vocabulary as candidate `goto` targets, marked as the name match it is.
2026-08-28 19:51:57 +00:00

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# The open export format — v2
The format the disc is converted *into*, and the one the Godot project and any
modding tool read. **It is versioned, so a change is a deliberate act with a
version bump**, not a silent edit. [Changes from v1](#changes-from-v1) is at the
bottom, with a reason for each.
Design rules, in priority order:
1. **A human can read and edit it.** Modding is a goal of this port, which makes
the layout part of the product rather than a temp directory.
2. **Names, never hashes.** Where the disc's own name was never recovered — the
six `*2D` archives and `GP_READY_ROOM` — emit a stable synthetic id **and say
in the file that the real name is unknown**. A modder must be able to tell a
recovered name from an invented one.
3. **Provenance travels with the data.** Source archive, entry index, exporter
version, decoder revision. This is what keeps the export auditable against the
disc instead of drifting into an unverifiable fork.
4. **Say what is unknown.** A field we could not decode is absent and listed in
`unresolved` — never guessed, never silently defaulted.
**JSON, not XML.** Godot parses JSON natively with `JSON.parse_string`; its
`XMLParser` is a SAX-style API that would need a hand-written binding per schema.
**The format is executable.** `sylpheed-export check --out export` validates a
tree against this document with no disc in hand, reading it the way Godot will —
as a stranger. Where the prose here and `crates/sylpheed-export/src/check.rs`
disagree, that is a bug in one of them and worth saying which.
## Layout
```
export/ # DERIVED. Regenerable. Gitignored. Never hand-edited.
manifest.json
screens/title/*.json
sprites/title/<screen>/*.png
audio/music/*.ogg audio/sfx/*.ogg audio/cues.json
video/*.ogv
authored/ # AUTHORED. Hand-written. Committed. Survives re-export.
screen_names.json # which build is which screen
flow.json # boot sequence + what each button does
cue_bindings.json # which cue fires on move / confirm / back
```
Sprites are **per screen**, not a flat pool: a sprite name is unique within a
bundle and not across them, and `main_menu`'s `ptbase.t32` and `extras`'
`ptbase.t32` are different pictures.
`authored/screen_names.json` is the one authored file the *exporter* reads; the
rest are applied by the runtime over `export/`.
## Common header
```json
{
"format": "sylpheed.screen/2",
"exporter": "sylpheed-export 0.1.0",
"formats_rev": "8b6dbcf",
"source": { "archive": "dat/GP_TITLE.pak", "entry": 5, "build": 5 }
}
```
`source.entry` is the pak **entry index** — the stable locator. `source.build` is
the index into that pak's list of screen builds (what `sylpheed-cli screen
--build N` takes), which is stable only as long as the enumeration rule is.
`formats_rev` pins which decoders produced the file.
## `screens/*.json`
```json
{
"format": "sylpheed.screen/2",
"exporter": "sylpheed-export 0.1.0",
"formats_rev": "8b6dbcf",
"source": { "archive": "dat/GP_TITLE.pak", "entry": 5, "build": 5 },
"name": "main_menu",
"name_source": "authored",
"name_why": "HANDOFF Q2: builds 5/8 are the five-button main menu; 5 is English…",
"design": [1280, 720],
"elements": [
{
"index": 10,
"id": "ptbtn01",
"declared": "ptbtn01.rat",
"role": "button",
"kind_raw": "0x3002",
"sprite": "sprites/title/main_menu/ptbtn01.png",
"focus_sprite": "sprites/title/main_menu/ptbtn01f.png",
"opt_link": "ptbtn01f.rat",
"pivot": [42, 22],
"layer_source": "sprite",
"layer": "0x00008110",
"rest": { "pos": [542, 162], "scale": [100, 100],
"tint_rgba": "0xffffffff", "fade_argb": "0xffffffff", "t": 64 },
"keyframes": [
{ "t": 28, "pos": [542, 142], "scale": [100, 100],
"tint_rgba": "0xffffffff", "fade_argb": "0x00ffffff" }
]
}
],
"paint_order": [1, 3, 4, 2, 5, 8, 9, 6, 7, 15, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 0],
"buttons": ["ptbtn01", "ptbtn02", "ptbtn03", "ptbtn04", "ptbtn05"],
"unresolved": ["keyframe_time_unit", "paint_order_ties", "fade_out_duration"]
}
```
### `name` / `name_source` / `name_why`
`name_source` is `"authored"` or `"index"` and nothing else. `"authored"` means
the name came from `authored/screen_names.json` and **requires** a `name_why`
saying who decided it and on what evidence. `"index"` means nobody has
identified this build and the name is `build_NN` — a locator, not a claim.
### `elements[]`
`index` is the declaration index and is also the key `paint_order` uses; it
always equals the element's position in the array. `id` is `declared` with its
extension stripped.
**`role`** comes from the decoded element kind: `0x3002``button`, `0x10`
without a sprite → `primitive`, `0x0``decoration`. Anything else is
`"unknown"` with the raw value in `kind_raw`. Do not invent a name for a kind
nobody has decoded.
> ⚠️ `0x3002` is **not** a general button test. It is one member of a `0x3000`
> family with sub-bits, and `GP_READY_ROOM` uses `0x3000` / `0x3004` / `0x300c` /
> `0x3008` with zero `0x3002`. Every screen in this milestone is `GP_TITLE`,
> where the mapping is decoded. A consumer meeting `role: "unknown"` should read
> `kind_raw`, not assume.
> ⚠️ **`kind & 0x4` is a repeated instance of a template.** On the title screen
> those are motion-trail ghosts and are *not* on screen at rest — the draw
> capture shows one quad where the bundle declares three. A runtime should skip a
> `kind & 0x4` element **when another element in the same screen has the same
> `id` and does not have that bit**, and only then: 174 elements on the disc are
> `0x4` with no such template, and a blanket skip erases them. Both are visible
> in this format from `kind_raw` and `id`.
**`pivot`** is the declared pivot, and it is the **anchor scale grows about**
`pos` is the element's top-left at 1:1, and at scale `s` the drawn top-left is
`pos pivot·(s1)`. At 100 % the pivot cancels, which is why it went unnoticed
for a long time.
> 🟡 The decoders document the pivot as "exactly half the decoded texture's
> dimensions (verified 7/7 on the tutorial bundle)". **That does not hold on
> `GP_TITLE`**: 38 of its 93 sprite-bearing `.t32` elements disagree, some
> grossly (`ptlogo_back2`, 1118×262, pivot 500,117 where half is 559,131). It is
> not a problem for this port — the exporter emits the declared pivot and never
> derives one — but it is a claim a consumer should not lean on. Raised in
> `docs/BLOCKED.md`.
**`sprite`** / **`focus_sprite`** are paths relative to `export/`. The highlight
pairs **by name** on the sprite — `ptbtn01.t32``ptbtn01f.t32` — which is 🟡 a
naming convention that holds for all 54 real pairs on the disc, not a decoded
field.
**`opt_link`** is the raw `opt ` link inside the element's `.rat` record, carried
through unresolved. ⚠️ **It is not a focus link.** That reading was measured and
refuted: on the main menu it chains `ptloop01 → ptloop02 → ptbtn01`, across two
decorations and into a button. It is exported so whoever decodes it has it, and
named so nothing downstream mistakes it for navigation.
**`layer` / `layer_source`** are the paint-order key. `"sprite"` means it was
read from the `u16` at `+0x0A` of the element's `T8aD` header — a decoded disc
field. `"implied"` means the element carries no header and the key came from the
decoders' table of keys **measured off the running game**. `"none"` means neither
is known, and the element sorts last. A consumer that needs to know whether a
layer is a fact or a measurement reads `layer_source`.
**`size`** appears only on a `primitive`, which has no texture to take a size
from: the quad is `pivot × 2`, and its colour is the keyframe's `fade_argb`.
**`keyframes`** carry the on-disc time verbatim in `t`. A keyframe is the
**start of a ramp toward the next**, not a pose that is held, and the ramp is
linear. The **last keyframe of a group has no `t`** — the disc has no time slot
there — and a file that puts one on it is wrong, not merely odd. The unit of `t`
is measured, not on the disc, and so lives in `authored/` and is applied in
exactly one place.
**Two colours multiply.** `tint_rgba` is RGBA and is `0xffffffff` on essentially
every keyframe; `fade_argb` is **ARGB**, and its high byte is the alpha that ramps
during a fade. The byte order is in the key name because getting it backwards is
silent and looks like an art bug. The drawn modulate is their per-channel product.
**`rest`** is the resting pose: **the hold** — the longest run of consecutive
keyframes with an identical pose that does not end the group. Neither the first
nor the last keyframe, and not the longest-dwell frame either: a long gap after
keyframe *k* means the screen spends that time *arriving at* `k+1`.
> ⚠️ **`rest` is a heuristic over the keyframes, and it misfires.** The rule
> excludes a run that ends the group, because that run is usually the exit. On
> an element with **no exit animation** the trailing run *is* the hold, and the
> rule then falls back to an earlier run — usually the invisible pre-roll. Six
> elements in this export are affected, and the condition that identifies them
> exactly is *"the final untimed keyframe has the same pose as the last timed
> one"*: `ptframe1`/`ptframe2` on both main menus, and `pteff02` on both titles.
> A live capture of the running main menu shows `ptframe1`/`ptframe2` on screen;
> `rest` says they are invisible.
>
> A consumer that wants the pose after arrival should therefore take **the last
> timed keyframe**, not `rest`. `rest` is kept in the format because it is what
> the pinned decoders say and removing it would hide the disagreement — see
> `docs/DECISIONS.md`. The format is unchanged at **v2**: no field changed
> meaning, this is a warning about one of them.
**`paint_order`** is back-to-front, as declaration indices, and is a permutation
of them. It is the stable sort by `layer`. See `unresolved: paint_order_ties`.
**`buttons`** is navigation order: `button`-role elements sorted by resting Y.
This is **geometric, not a decoded neighbour graph** — the disc's real navigation
structure is unknown. It is right for a vertical menu and should not be trusted
for anything else.
**`unresolved`** lists what this file does not answer; a consumer needing one of
those must get it from `authored/`. An empty list is a claim that nothing is
missing; an absent list is a gap, and `check` rejects it.
## `authored/screen_names.json`
Which build is which screen, keyed by archive and build index, each with a
`why`. The exporter reads this and stamps `name` / `name_source` / `name_why`
into the screen file. A build with no entry exports as `build_NN`.
## `authored/flow.json`
```json
{
"format": "sylpheed.flow/1",
"boot": ["splash_developer", "intro_video", "title", "main_menu"],
"screens": {
"main_menu": {
"actions": {
"ptbtn01": { "label": "NEW GAME", "goto": "new_game_intro",
"why": "label read off the sprite; target is a placeholder for HANDOFF Q4" }
}
}
}
}
```
`goto` may name an exported screen or a **GamePart id** from the executable's own
table (29 entries at `.rdata 0x820A1630` — that table is a disc fact; which button
reaches which entry is Q4 and is not).
## `export/manifest.json`
```json
{
"format": "sylpheed.manifest/1",
"exporter": "sylpheed-export 0.1.0",
"formats_rev": "8b6dbcf",
"disc": "/disc",
"screens": [{ "name": "main_menu", "file": "screens/title/main_menu.json",
"sprites": 18, "missing_sprites": [] }],
"video_transcode": "ffmpeg -i ADV.wmv -c:v libtheora -q:v 8 -c:a libvorbis -q:a 5 ADV.ogv",
"warnings": ["GP_READY_ROOM not exported -- out of scope"]
}
```
`video_transcode` will record the exact command so a modder can re-run it rather
than reverse-engineer what was done. It is absent until P4 writes a video.
## Changes from v1
v1 was written before HANDOFF answered Q1 and Q3, and before the two-colour
modulate was known. Each change below is a thing v1 could not have said.
| Change | Why |
|---|---|
| `rest.tint` (one `#rrggbbaa`) → `tint_rgba` **and** `fade_argb` | There are two modulate colours on the disc, in *different byte orders*, and they multiply. One field could not carry both, and a single `#rrggbbaa` silently discarded the alpha that every fade ramps. |
| `scale` is percent integers, not floats | It is a percent integer on the disc. Emitting `1.0` invents a precision the file does not have. |
| `paint_order` added, `"paint_order"` dropped from `unresolved` | Q3 decoded it: a `u16` layer key at `+0x0A`, stable-sorted. It is now derived, so it belongs in `export/` rather than `authored/`. `paint_order_ties` remains unresolved. |
| `layer` / `layer_source` added | Some keys are read from the file and some are measured off the running game. A consumer must be able to tell which. |
| `focus_sprite` now pairs by sprite **name**; `opt_link` exported raw | v1 implied `opt ` was the focus link. That was refuted. Pairing by name is the convention that survives. |
| `kind_raw` on every element, not only on `unknown` | The `0x3002` button test is not general and `kind & 0x4` changes whether an element draws at all. Both need the raw value present unconditionally. |
| `index`, `declared`, `parent`, `size`, `layer` added | Needed to reconstruct the screen: `paint_order` keys on `index`, primitives have no texture to take a size from, and `declared` keeps the disc's own spelling next to the derived `id`. |
| `name_why` required whenever `name_source` is `authored` | Rule 2. A name presented without its evidence is indistinguishable from a recovered one. |
| sprites moved from `sprites/*.png` to `sprites/<subdir>/<screen>/*.png` | Sprite names collide across builds. `main_menu` and `extras` both ship a `ptbase.t32`, and they are different pictures. |
| `unresolved` is required, and may be empty | An empty list is a claim; an absent one is a gap. |