re: a second save names Points, flight time and clear ratio — and shows the payload is pure state

Made a second save in-game (READY ROOM -> SYSTEM -> SAVE GAME -> empty slot) so
the format had a differential to read against. nav_probe.sh drives it: boot to
the READY ROOM, walk a scripted step list, screenshot after every step and stamp
every save file's md5, so the trail says which keypress wrote a save. That stamp
is what caught the first attempt failing -- the save confirm starts on YES,
unlike the load confirm which starts on NO, so the load flow's extra up-press
selected NO and wrote nothing.

Result 1: saving the same loaded state into a new slot produces a BYTE-IDENTICAL
545-byte payload. Only the GDHA header moves, and every byte that moves is either
the container FILETIME or one of the guest-pointer words -- which empirically
confirms those words are uninitialised padding rather than data. So the payload
holds no timestamp, no slot number and no name; a save's identity is entirely in
its content header.

Result 2: the LOAD/SAVE screen's Details panel prints Points 4101 P, Flight Time
000:05:24 and Clear Ratio 5 % for exactly this state, which names GHAD +24
(Points), +4 (flight time in ms -- 324773 ms = 5m24.773s) and +8 (clear ratio %).
Difficulty EASY and STAGE 02 both being 2, and three fields holding 2, is left
undecided on purpose: one save cannot separate them.

Result 3: the 16 SHAB records are not the UI's save slots. The UI has 20, slots
are separate gameNN files, and record 0's FILETIME stayed at 2026-07-23 in a save
written on 2026-08-11 -- so the table is part of the game state, most likely a
per-stage result record (one stage finished, one record filled), which the next
cleared stage will falsify or confirm.

The original save was backed up first and is untouched; the new save went to an
empty slot.

docs/re/structures/savegame-format.md

@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
-# Save file (`savedata`) — container ✅ exact, field meanings ❔ (2026-08-11)
+# Save file (`savedata`) — container ✅ exact, 3 fields named ✅, rest ❔ (2026-08-11)
 
 **Status: ✅ CONFIRMED for the container and the chunk layout** — parsed off the
 title's own serializer, not guessed, and verified by a byte-identical round-trip.
-**❔ for what most of the numbers mean**; those are marked below and none are
+**Points, flight time and clear ratio are ✅ named** off the game's own Details
-asserted.
+panel; **the rest is still ❔** and none of it is asserted.
 
 Parser + round-trip check: [`tools/re-capture/savegame.py`](../../../tools/re-capture/savegame.py)
 (`savegame.py <savedata> --verify` re-serializes the parse and asserts equality).
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ Every element below is read off the serializer, whose writer primitive is
 | `'GDAA'` | payload magic | `addis 0x4744 / ori 0x4141` at `0x822C00F8` |
 | `u32 len`, `char[len]` | **current game phase**, here `GP_BUNK` | `lwz r11,0(save)`; if `< 29`, index the GP_* name table at `0x820A5680` |
 | `'GHAD'` + 122 B | the progress block | `0x822BF678`, called with `save+8` |
-| `u32 16`, 16 × (`'SHAB'` + 5×u32) | the save-slot table | `addi r28,r0,16` / stride `addi r29,r29,20` |
+| `u32 16`, 16 × (`'SHAB'` + 5×u32) | a 16-record result table (**not** the UI's save slots — see Result 3) | `addi r28,r0,16` / stride `addi r29,r29,20` |
 | `u32 4`, `"BUNK"`, `'NETA'`, `u32` | trailer | — |
 
 **The in-memory struct is written field-by-field with no packing changes, so a
@@ -68,28 +68,31 @@ Ten u32, one u64 (`ld r11,40(r30)`), four u32, a raw 4-byte field and a raw
 54-byte blob. 10·4 + 8 + 4·4 + 4 + 54 = **122**, which is exactly what the file
 carries — the layout is closed, with nothing unaccounted for.
 
+Field names below come from the **LOAD/SAVE GAME screen's own Details panel**,
+photographed against this exact save (see "Naming the fields", further down).
+
 | off | value in this save | reading |
 |---|---|---|
 | +0 | 0 | ❔ |
-| +4 | **324773** | ❔ a large per-save counter — credits/score is the obvious guess, untested |
+| +4 | **324773** | ✅ **flight time, milliseconds** — the screen shows `Flight Time 000:05:24` and 324773 ms = 5 m 24.773 s |
-| +8 | 5 | ❔ the save-select screen shows this save at **5 %** |
+| +8 | 5 | ✅ **clear ratio, percent** — the screen shows `Clear Ratio 5 %` |
 | +12 | 0 | ❔ |
 | +16 | 1 | ❔ |
 | +20 | 0 | ❔ |
-| +24 | **4101** (`0x1005`) | ❔ same value as +28 and as slot 0's field b |
+| +24 | **4101** (`0x1005`) | ✅ **Points** — the Details panel shows `Points 4101 P` |
-| +28 | **4101** (`0x1005`) | ❔ |
+| +28 | **4101** (`0x1005`) | 🟡 Points again — a second copy (running vs. banked total?); one save cannot separate them |
 | +32 | 79 | ❔ |
-| +36 | 2 | ❔ equals slot 0's field a; the header calls this save `EASY` |
+| +36 | 2 | 🟡 **difficulty or stage** — the panel shows `Difficulty EASY` *and* `STAGE 02`, and +36/+52/+56 all hold 2, so which is which is **not** decidable from one save |
 | +40 (u64) | 2014400 | ❔ |
-| +48 | 0 | ❔ |
+| +48 | 0 | ❔ (`Times Cleared: 0` is on screen, so it is one of the zero fields) |
-| +52 | 2 | ❔ |
+| +52 | 2 | 🟡 see +36 |
-| +56 | 2 | ❔ |
+| +56 | 2 | 🟡 see +36 |
 | +60 | 0 | ❔ |
 | +64 (raw 4) | `09 15 00 00` | ❔ the trailer's u32 is the **same** value |
-| +68 (raw 54) | see below | ❔ 54 one-byte entries, values only ∈ {0, 2, 4} |
+| +68 (raw 54) | see below | ❔ 54 one-byte entries, values only ∈ {0, 2, 4} — histogram `{4: 10, 2: 6, 0: 38}` |
 
 The 54-byte blob is the interesting one — a fixed-length array of small
-enumerated states, 20 of the 54 non-zero:
+enumerated states, **16 of the 54 non-zero** (ten 4s, six 2s):
 
 ```
 04 02 00 00 00 02 00 00 00 04 02 00 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 04 04 00 00 00 04
@@ -99,7 +102,7 @@ enumerated states, 20 of the 54 non-zero:
 54 matches no count we have already established (22 stages, 110 units, 126
 weapons, ~61 Arsenal entries), so **do not** assume which list it indexes.
 
-### The slot table (16 × 20 bytes)
+### The 16-record `SHAB` table (16 × 20 bytes)
 
 | slot | a | b | c | FILETIME |
 |---|---|---|---|---|
@@ -112,8 +115,76 @@ own display string — written by the game, parsed by nobody here — says
 `07/23/2026 21:08` (UTC+1). The 15 unused slots all hold 2006-01-01, a plausible
 epoch default rather than zero, which is a second check on the same reading.
 
-Fields a/b/c of slot 0 are copies of GHAD +36, +24/+28 and +4. So the slot record
+Fields a/b/c of record 0 are copies of GHAD +36, +24/+28 and +4 — i.e.
-is a **summary** of a save, which is what a slot-select screen needs.
+difficulty/stage, Points and flight time, the same triple the Details panel
+prints. What the table is a table *of* is settled in Result 3 below: not saves.
+
+## Naming the fields — a second save, made in-game (2026-08-11)
+
+The one save on disc could not name anything, so a second one was made. Route,
+all with 60 ms d-pad taps, driven by
+[`tools/re-capture/nav_probe.sh`](../../../tools/re-capture/nav_probe.sh) (boots
+to the READY ROOM, then walks a scripted step list, screenshotting after every
+step **and stamping every save file's md5** — so the trail says exactly which
+keypress wrote a save):
+
+> READY ROOM → ↓×4 **SYSTEM** → A → *(≈50 s to load under lavapipe)* →
+> SYSTEM MENU `BACK / LOAD GAME / SAVE GAME / OPTIONS / BACK TO TITLE` → ↓↓
+> **SAVE GAME** → A → slot list, **first empty slot preselected** → A →
+> `Save game?` → **cursor starts on YES** → A.
+
+Two traps, both paid for: the SYSTEM screen takes **>15 s** to load and inputs
+sent during it are dropped; and the save confirm starts on **YES**, unlike the
+load confirm which starts on NO — the first attempt sent the load flow's extra
+`↑` and so pressed **NO**, writing nothing (the md5 stamp is what showed this).
+
+### Result 1 — the payload is a pure function of game state ✅
+
+Saving the just-loaded state into empty slot 02 produced `game02/savedata`. Its
+**545-byte payload is byte-identical** to `game01`'s — same phase, same GHAD
+block, same slot table, same FILETIME inside it. Only the GDHA *header* differs,
+and every differing byte is either the container FILETIME at `0x0A` or one of the
+guest-pointer words (`0xBC455680`→`0xBC474020`, `0xBD4B6200`→`0xBD3B5180`,
+`0x70D8FD50`→`0x70A8FD50`, …). **That empirically confirms the "uninitialised
+padding" call**: those words moved between two saves of identical state, by the
+deltas you would expect of heap addresses.
+
+So the payload carries **no timestamp, no slot number and no save name** — a
+save's identity lives entirely in its content header (`Game02 08/11/2026 06:55
+STAGE02 EASY` vs `Game01 07/23/2026 21:08 STAGE02 EASY`; the `__thumbnail.png`s
+are identical too). Everything in the 545 bytes is game state, which is also a
+second check that the parse leaves nothing unexplained.
+
+### Result 2 — the Details panel names the numbers
+
+Highlighting a slot fills a **Details** panel. Against this save it reads:
+
+> `STAGE 02 — Declaration of War` · `Game Status: At Standby` ·
+> `Points 4101 P` · `Times Cleared: 0 Times` ·
+> `Difficulty EASY` · `Flight Time 000:05:24` · `Clear Ratio 5 %`
+
+![LOAD GAME details for the state this save holds](../captures/savegame-details-slot02.png)
+
+`4101`, `324773` and `5` are all in the GHAD block, which is what pins **Points**,
+**flight time (ms)** and **clear ratio** above. Note `Clear Ratio 5 %` with
+`Times Cleared: 0` and one stage finished is consistent with clear ratio =
+stages cleared ÷ 20 — the slot list is also 20 entries — but that is ❔.
+
+**What one save still cannot decide:** `Difficulty EASY`, `STAGE 02` and two other
+fields all have the value **2**, and `Times Cleared: 0` collides with five zero
+fields. Separating them needs a save whose stage or difficulty differs, not
+another copy of this one.
+
+### Result 3 — the 16 `SHAB` records are not the UI's save slots
+
+The save UI has **20** slots; the payload has **16** records. Slot 0's FILETIME
+stayed at 2026-07-23 in a save written on 2026-08-11, and the 20-slot list is
+built from separate `gameNN` files. So `SHAB[]` is **part of the game state**,
+not a directory of saves. Record 0 is `(2, 4101, 324773, 2026-07-23 20:07:23)` —
+difficulty/stage, Points, flight time in ms, and when — i.e. the same summary as
+the Details panel, which makes **a per-stage result record** the obvious 🟡 read
+(one stage finished → one record filled). Falsifiable the moment a second stage
+is cleared: `SHAB[1]` should fill.
 
 ## What this does and does not unlock
 
@@ -122,13 +193,16 @@ state, so it does not yet answer the question that motivated it — whether stag
 progress can be reached without winning missions
 ([mission outcome](../mission-outcome-stage02.md)).
 
-**The naming oracle is a differential, and only one save exists** (all four
+**The differential has been run once** (see above) and it named three fields, but
-copies on disk — the live one, both `content-backup-*` snapshots and the `prof2`
+a same-state save cannot separate the fields that share a value. The next
-profile — are byte-identical, md5 `142b4f432e0e…`). So the next step is to
+differentials, in order of what they would settle:
-*make* a second save: change one thing in-game that the player can change
+
-cheaply, save, and diff. Developing or buying a single Arsenal item should move
+1. **A save at a different difficulty** — start a new game on NORMAL, save,
-+4 (if it is currency) and one entry of the 54-byte blob, which would name two
+   compare: whichever of +36/+52/+56 moves is the difficulty.
-fields at once.
+2. **A save after clearing a stage** — settles stage vs. difficulty, `Times
+   Cleared`, whether `SHAB[1]` fills, and whether the clear ratio steps by 5 %.
+3. **A save after developing one Arsenal item** — should move one entry of the
+   54-byte blob and name it.
 
 **Nothing here has been written back to a save.** Editing is a separate decision
 and needs the user's go-ahead; the round-trip in `savegame.py` exists so that an

tools/re-capture/nav_probe.sh

@@ -0,0 +1,68 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Boot to the READY ROOM and walk a scripted d-pad sequence, screenshotting after
+# every step and stamping the save file's md5+mtime alongside — so the trail says
+# not just what was on screen but exactly which keypress wrote a save.
+#
+# Boot half is launch_mission.sh's verified route, stopped at the READY ROOM.
+# Run as ONE BLOCKING FOREGROUND call (see docs/re/session-lifetime notes).
+#
+# Usage: nav_probe.sh <tag> <step> [<step>...]
+#   step = "d"/"u"/"l"/"r" (d-pad), "A"/"B"/"X"/"Y" (button), "wN" (wait N s)
+set -u
+export HOME=/sylph-home/re SDL_AUDIODRIVER=dummy DISPLAY=:98
+SD="$(cd "$(dirname "$0")" && pwd)"
+SHOTS=/sylph-home/re/shots
+SAVE=/sylph-home/re/.local/share/Xenia/content/E0300000EFBEA3D4/535107D4/00000001/game01/savedata
+TAG="${1:?tag}"; shift
+OUT="/sylph-home/re/$TAG"; mkdir -p "$OUT" "$SHOTS"
+
+alive(){ ps -o pid=,stat= -C xenia_canary 2>/dev/null | awk '$2 !~ /^Z/ {print $1}'; }
+ensure_display(){
+  if ! xdpyinfo -display "$DISPLAY" >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+    rm -f "/tmp/.X${DISPLAY#:}-lock" 2>/dev/null || true
+    nohup bash -c 'Xvfb "$0" -screen 0 1280x720x24 -ac -nolisten tcp \
+        +extension GLX +extension RANDR >/tmp/xvfb98.log 2>&1' "$DISPLAY" </dev/null >/dev/null 2>&1 &
+    for _ in $(seq 1 50); do xdpyinfo -display "$DISPLAY" >/dev/null 2>&1 && break; sleep 0.2; done
+    nohup env DISPLAY="$DISPLAY" HOME=/sylph-home openbox </dev/null >/tmp/openbox98.log 2>&1 &
+    sleep 1
+  fi
+  xdpyinfo -display "$DISPLAY" >/dev/null 2>&1 || { echo "DISPLAY UNAVAILABLE"; exit 1; }
+}
+CDIR=/sylph-home/re/.local/share/Xenia/content/E0300000EFBEA3D4/535107D4/00000001
+stamp(){ printf '%-14s %s\n' "$1" \
+    "$(find "$CDIR" -name savedata -printf '%f ' -exec md5sum {} \; 2>/dev/null \
+       | awk '{printf "%s=%s ", $3, substr($2,1,8)}' | sed 's#.*/00000001/##g')"; }
+step(){ vgamepad dpad "$1"; sleep 0.25; vgamepad dpad center; sleep 0.7; }
+
+pkill -x xenia_canary 2>/dev/null; sleep 2
+[ -n "$(alive)" ] && { kill -9 $(alive) 2>/dev/null; sleep 2; }
+rm -f /dev/shm/xenia_memory_* /dev/shm/xenia_code_cache_* 2>/dev/null
+ensure_display
+cd /sylph-home/re
+nohup run-canary --audio --apu=sdl --log_mask=13 \
+  --logged_profile_slot_0_xuid=E0300000EFBEA3D4 </dev/null >/dev/null 2>&1 &
+sleep 5
+"$SD/skip_intro.sh" 600 || { echo "BOOT FAILED (skip_intro exit $?)"; exit 1; }
+sleep 14
+step down                      # NEW GAME -> LOAD GAME
+vgamepad tap A 250; sleep 8
+vgamepad tap A 250; sleep 4    # "Load game?" -- cursor starts on NO
+step up
+vgamepad tap A 250
+sleep 28
+screenshot "$SHOTS/$TAG-00-readyroom.png" >/dev/null 2>&1
+stamp "boot"
+
+i=0
+for s in "$@"; do
+  i=$((i+1))
+  case "$s" in
+    d) step down ;; u) step up ;; l) step left ;; r) step right ;;
+    A|B|X|Y) vgamepad tap "$s" 250; sleep 2 ;;
+    w*) sleep "${s#w}" ;;
+    *) echo "unknown step $s"; continue ;;
+  esac
+  screenshot "$(printf '%s/%s-%02d-%s.png' "$SHOTS" "$TAG" "$i" "$s")" >/dev/null 2>&1
+  stamp "$i:$s"
+done
+echo "NAV PROBE DONE ($TAG, $i steps)"