# Movie subtitles & the movie ↔ mission ↔ text chain

Reverse-engineered 2026-07-19 (static, from the extracted disc). The full chain
that links a cutscene movie to its on-screen subtitle text is now closed.

## Files involved

- `dat/movie/*.wmv` — the cutscene videos. **Named by mission** (see below).
- `dat/movie/<lang>.pak` + `<lang>.p00` — per-language **subtitle timing tracks**
  (`eng`, `jpn`, `deu`, `fra`, `esp`, `ita`) plus the caption font.
- `dat/GP_MAIN_GAME_<L>.pak` + `.p00` — per-language **caption TEXT**
  (`E`=Eng, `J`=Jpn, `D`=Deu, `F`=Fra, `I`=Ita, `S`=Esp).
- `dat/tables.pak` entry `ADVERTISE_MOVIE` (hash `0x5B983A08`) — the master
  **movie manifest**: all 101 `.wmv` names in mission-progression order, each
  bound to its subtitle track and (optionally) its **voice bank** (see below).

## Movie filename → mission

Purely from the filename:

| Pattern | Meaning |
|---------|---------|
| `S<NN><P>.wmv` | Stage `NN` **story** cutscene, part `P` (A/B/C…) — e.g. `S02C` = stage 2, 3rd story scene |
| `RT<NN><P>.wmv` | Stage `NN` **radio / briefing** transmission, part `P` (`_1`/`_2` = split clips) |
| `hokyu_<LS\|DS>_s<NN><P>.wmv` | Stage `NN` **resupply** scene (`hokyu` = 補給). `LS`/`DS` = the two resupply-ship variants |
| `ADV.wmv` | Intro / title movie |

97 movies total: 27 story, 50 radio, 19 resupply, 1 intro. (Some referenced
stages — s24, s27, RT16 — exist as keys but the .wmv isn't in this extract.)

## Subtitle timing track — `<lang>.pak`

IPFB archive (`IPFB`, BE-u32 count, 16-byte header; TOC of
`[name_hash u32][offset u32][size u32]` triples, sorted by hash, into `.p00`).

- **Track key = `name_hash("subtitle_<movie_basename>.tbl")`** (the hash
  lowercases internally, so basename case is irrelevant). This is the movie→track
  link. Verified: `subtitle_S00A.tbl` → `0x6F2D9663`, `subtitle_hokyu_DS_s02A.tbl`
  → `0x3662B1F8`, `subtitle_RT01C_1.tbl` → `0x756F69FB`.
- The archive also holds **RATC** pre-rendered title-card / number textures
  (`pwterop_s01a1.t32`, `pwrt_rt01_str.t32`, `pwnum0-9.t32`) + one TrueType font.
- **Each track data block is `Z1`+zlib**: bytes `5A 31` ("Z1"), a small header,
  then a raw zlib stream (`78 DA`/`78 9C`). `zlib.decompress(blob[blob.find(b"\x78\xda"):])`.
- Decompressed = an **IXUD** container. Payload (UTF-16LE) is the timing sheet:
  `SUBTITLE  MSG_DEMO_<demo>  <mm:ss.cc>  MSG_DEMO_<demo>  <mm:ss.cc> …`.
  So the track says *which* demo-message shows *when*, not the text itself.

## Caption text — `GP_MAIN_GAME_<L>.pak`

Same IPFB+`.p00`. Among its ~1119 entries, **32 blocks are `Z1`+zlib → IXUD**
string containers holding the movie caption text. Layout: `IXUD`, u32 version,
hash@0x08, count@0x14, then `(recordhash,offset,len)` triples, then a UTF-16LE
string region where **each line is stored as `text` immediately followed by its
key** `MSG_DEMO_<demo>_<page>_<line>` (captions wrap across `_00`,`_01`, …).
537 English lines recovered. Entries 1 & 19 are the IDXD *schema* records
(`ID`, `PageCount`, `Character`=speaker e.g. `TCAFSUPPLY`, `Face`, line refs) —
no text, just structure.

## Movie → voice track: the manifest binding (`ADVERTISE_MOVIE`)

The `ADVERTISE_MOVIE` manifest is **also the authoritative movie→voice index**.
Its string pool emits, per movie, a run led by `<movie>.wmv` optionally followed
by `<pak>+….prt` (overlay art), `<pak>+SUBTITLE_<movie>.tbl`, and a bare
`VOICE_<token>`. Grouping the pool on `.wmv` (records are emitted in order)
recovers `movie → Option<voice_token>` without decoding the IDXD record binary
(`crate::movie_manifest`).

The voice token is **not** always `VOICE_<movie>`, so the manifest is required —
guessing both misses real bindings and invents tracks for silent movies:

- **83 / 101 movies have a voice token.** Story/radio movies use `VOICE_<movie>`
  in `<lang>\Movie\`.
- **5 `hokyu_*` resupply movies bind to in-mission radio clips** — e.g.
  `hokyu_LS_s02A → VOICE_D_450`, which lives in `<lang>\etc\`, *not* `Movie`.
  A `VOICE_<movie>` guess would never find these.
- **18 movies have no direct voice token** = 4 boot logos + 1 HD test pattern +
  **13 `hokyu_*` movies** (incl. `hokyu_DS_s13A`). Only the manifest's **direct**
  bindings are trusted for playback.

### Shared resupply voice — UNRESOLVED for unbound movies

The manifest directly binds only **5** resupply movies, each to a shared
`VOICE_D_45x` clip in `<lang>\etc\`:

| bound movie | subtitle demo | clip |
|-------------|---------------|------|
| `hokyu_LS_s02A` | 600 | `VOICE_D_450` |
| `hokyu_LS_s09A` | 601 | `VOICE_D_451` |
| `hokyu_DS_s02A` | 602 | `VOICE_D_452` |
| `hokyu_LS_s02H` | 603 | `VOICE_D_453` |
| `hokyu_DS_s07H` | 604 | `VOICE_D_454` |

The resupply cutscenes clearly **share** voice recordings (only the video varies
per mission), so the 13 unbound `hokyu_*` movies must reuse one of these — but
the **correct join key is not yet known**:

- Keying by subtitle **demo id** (so `hokyu_DS_s13A`, demo 602 → `VOICE_D_452`)
  was tried and is **WRONG** — it plays the wrong recording in-game. Do not use.
- Only `VOICE_D_450..454` exist (no 44x/45x neighbours). Decoded durations are
  suspicious — `450`=2.8s, `451`=1.6s, `452`=2.2s, but `453`=**0.14s**,
  `454`=**0.43s** — far too short for the spoken line, so these `.slb` banks are
  likely **multi-subwave / not cleanly sliced** by the current extractor (same
  class as the deferred B/C banks).

⇒ The unbound-hokyu voice mapping is **open** (needs either the real join key
from mission data, or a proper multi-subwave `.slb` decode + audio verification).
`hokyu_LS_s24A`/`s27A` have no subtitle track at all (stages absent from this
extract).

The token's `sound.pak` **subdirectory is not fixed** (`Movie` / `etc` / `Voice`),
so resolve it via `sounds.tbl` (which lists the full `<lang>\…\<token>.slb` path)
rather than assuming a directory. `movie_manifest::resolve_voice_entry` does the
full chain. Verified: all 83 resolved entries exist in `sound.pak`.

## Caption packing quirks (parser must handle)

- **Multi-line captions are split into consecutive text tokens** that share one
  trailing timing, e.g. S13A stores `"Look at it father"` + `"& beautiful isn't
  it"` before `01:14.80-01:17.60`. Accumulate every text token since the last
  timing and join with `\n`; pairing strictly 1:1 silently drops all but the last
  line.
- **Overlapping spans**: some tracks show two captions at once (an open-ended
  radio line still up when the next range line starts). The viewer stacks every
  cue active at `t` (`MovieSubtitles::active_cues`) instead of showing only the
  first.

## The full join

```
tables.pak / ADVERTISE_MOVIE        → list of movies (mission order)
<movie>            ─ nh("subtitle_<movie>.tbl") ─→  <lang>.pak track
track (IXUD)       → [ (MSG_DEMO_<d>, timecode), … ]
MSG_DEMO_<d>       → GP_MAIN_GAME_<L>  → "the localized caption line(s)"
```

## Coverage

- 92 / 97 movies have a subtitle track.
- **66 movies carry timed `MSG_DEMO` captions** — the **radio (`RT*`)** and
  **resupply (`hokyu_*`)** movies. These fully decode to timed text.
- The **27 story (`S*`) movies have a track but 0 timed captions** — their text
  is delivered as the **pre-rendered title-card textures** (`pwterop_*`, burned
  styling), not MSG_DEMO lines.

## Worked examples (English)

```
RT01C_1.wmv  (Stage 1 radio, part C):
  00:00.50  [14] We did it! Okay, all pilots follow my lead!
  00:06.80  [15] Rhino Leader to ACROPOLIS. We made it through and we're coming
                 home. Roger. It's good to see you're all safe.
  00:19.30  [17] Yeah, but Brandon ...  Damn. There's only seven of us. …

hokyu_DS_s02A.wmv  (Stage 2 resupply):
  00:00.00  [602] Resupply complete. You are cleared for take-off!
```

## Reusable extractor

`tools/extract_movie_subtitles.py` — parses `<lang>.pak`, resolves each movie's
track, cross-references `GP_MAIN_GAME_<L>` text, and prints per-movie timed
transcripts + the movie→mission table.

## In-mission dialogue (future work)

`GP_MAIN_GAME_<L>.pak` is the **global** message store, not just movie captions:
its `MSG_DEMO_*` table also holds the in-mission radio/dialogue lines (same demo
id space). So the *text* of gameplay dialogue is already decodable with
[`crate::movie_subtitle::build_demo_text`]. What's missing is the **trigger** —
which demo id fires at which mission event — and that lives in the **mission
data** (mission scripts / `GP_MAIN_GAME` IDXD tables), not in the text pack. When
reversing mission data, look for demo-id references there to bind dialogue to
events; the IDXD "Message" schema records also carry `Character` (speaker) and
`Face` (portrait) per line.
