Those three fields all hold 2, and "difficulty or stage, undecidable from one
save" has been the reading since the format was parsed. Writing saves makes it
decidable and the answer is neither.
boot_menu.sh boots to the title menu WITHOUT loading anything, and LOAD GAME's
slot list renders each slot's Details panel from that slot's payload. Extra
slots can be fabricated (copy the directory plus a gameNN.header with its
UTF-16BE display string and ASCII name patched), so four probes fit in one boot,
read-only.
Probed: +36 at 1/3/9, +52 and +56 at 1/9, and +0, +16, +32, +48, +28,
SHAB[0].a. Every one left the panel at STAGE 02 / EASY / At Standby /
Times Cleared 0.
The negative is meaningful because the panel does read each payload -- slot 02
shows 5% clear ratio against the others' 6%, and Points tracked +24 exactly.
Two controls: patching a slot header to "STAGE09 HARD" changed nothing (the
display is payload-driven, not header text), and the row date follows the
container FILETIME.
Remaining candidates: +12, +20, +40 (u64), +60, +64, or the phase string.
Also here: savegame_edit.py --slot for SHAB records, and boot_menu.sh itself --
nav_probe.sh's boot loads a save, which with probe slots on disc loads a probe,
and a dropped d-pad step there put A on TAKE OFF and spent a boot loading a
mission.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
The container's derived fields turned out to be reproducible -- length+10 at
+0x30, payload length at +0x8c, adler32(payload) at +0x8e, everything else
copied -- and savegame_edit.py re-wraps a real save BYTE-IDENTICALLY, which is
the check that those three are the only ones. A hand-written save then loaded.
That replaced a blocked experiment (the tail question needed a mission payout,
and none of the currently developable items even sit in the disputed range) with
a direct one: write the blob, read the Arsenal.
- controls: 4 at index 9 -> STILETTO BG1 Developed, 21 -> FALCON 9AM
Developed. A hand-written 4 reaches the screen.
- tail: 4 at 33 and 45 left their rows dashed (both on screen, not below the
fold), and 38 left TOMAHAWK ALPHA RAIL GUN at "0 P" -- not owned. So the
tail is not the weapon.tbl order continued.
- clearing the real save's {22,26,39,46,47} cost the Tomahawk its Developed
status, which puts its flag in that set (39 positionally) -- but a uniform
+1 fails for SPECIAL, so no shift is asserted. Indices >=32 stay marked.
Two behaviours fell out. The title RE-DERIVES developable state on load and
announces it ("You can now develop Broad Sword ..."), so only the 4s are stored
state and a written 2 is pointless. And a no-cost item is bought for 0 P rather
than granted -- TOMAHAWK at "0 P" is what unowned looks like -- which is the
actual reason items read Developed in a save where nothing was spent.
Slot 03 was restored from its archived original (md5 verified); slots 01/02 were
never touched.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
