Claude (auto-RE)
33ae20896e
Static only. Last commit left "REQUIREMENT is a bit index into a progress bitfield" with the space unidentified. It is the achievement space, and both halves are now readable off the disc and the executable. - GamePart_Debriefing (0x8218CF38-0x82191B18) awards them: sub_8218F9A8 walks the on-disc ACHIEVEMENTS_REQUIREMENTS list (tables.pak #16, schema 744c0519), and for entry index n tests bit n, evaluates the entry when clear, and sets the bit when satisfied. The list is literally ACHIEVEMENT01..ACHIEVEMENT24 -- 24 entries, which is exactly where the challenge gate splits word A from word B. - The XEX carries the definitions: XACH at .pe 0x8FBCBC, 36-byte records {id, name_id, unlocked_desc_id, locked_desc_id, image_id u32, gamerscore u16, pad, flags u32, 16 zero bytes}, strings from one XSTR per language (English is table #5). tools/xach_dump.py parses it. SELF-CHECK: the 24 gamerscores sum to exactly 1000, the retail total -- a wrong stride does not land on a round 1000. - The two sources agree on ORDER independently: the requirement types ShootDownAircrafts 1000/10000, ShootDownShips 100, ShootDownWeight MegaTons, GetAllWeapons and GetAllAchievements line up with ids 19-24 exactly as XACH names them. So bit n <-> achievement n+1 is evidence, not inference. (Those last two are requirement TYPES, not debug cheats, despite how they read.) - Corollary: TimeAttack's REQUIREMENT 16 -- the one value that sits in direct value-before-key adjacency, so it survives IDXD dedup -- is bit 16 = achievement 17, "Solar System Defense Award", i.e. finish the story campaign. The other five values (25-29) are >= 24 and so index word B, a second flag space, plausibly a challenge-clear chain. Still 🟡. REFUTED, from the last commit: the stores to +1956 in 0x822AF278 / sub_822C8748 are NOT this singleton. That object comes from 0x822CEB30, checks a +2652 flag and stores string POINTERS at +1956/+2024 -- and a pointer ANDed with 1<<n is meaningless as a gate. So nothing in the image writes this singleton's +1956 field-wise, and where the mask persists (save vs Xbox profile) is open. XEX imports are by ordinal, so absent XamUser* strings are not evidence either way.
279 lines
15 KiB
Markdown
279 lines
15 KiB
Markdown
# Challenge / EX missions — the stage set, the GamePart graph, and the kind field
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**Status:** ✅ for the static structure (stage set, GamePart ids, the config-section
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switch) and for the **unlock mechanism** (a bit test against the achievement mask);
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🟡 for the crash mechanism and for which mission consumes which bit; ❔ for where the
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mask persists.
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**Method:** static only — `.pe` string/pointer analysis + DuckDB disassembly + disc
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records. No emulator run, no gamepad input.
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**Evidence:** [`captures/challenge-map.txt`](captures/challenge-map.txt),
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[`captures/challenge-screen-config.txt`](captures/challenge-screen-config.txt),
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[`structures/achievements.md`](structures/achievements.md);
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`examples/challenge_map.rs`, `examples/challenge_screen.rs`.
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## Why this was worth doing
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The Route-B unit harvest is complete for the **story** campaign (68 of 110 units,
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7 115 defaulted-on-disc values) and stalled there: the remaining units are `*_EX4` /
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`*_EX5` / `*EX` variants that only the challenge missions field. The save's stage
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field addresses those stage records — but setting it to **27** boots to the title and
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then the emulator **exits during the load**, while 1–16 all load normally. This note
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answers *what the challenge missions are on disc* and *why the stage field alone is
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not enough*, so the next runtime attempt is targeted rather than another probe sweep.
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## 1. The disc has exactly 29 stage records, in three families ✅
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`StageResource` (schema `0x3c9ae32e`) in `dat/GP_MAIN_GAME_E.pak`:
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| ids | count | `BackGroundID` | reading |
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|---|---|---|---|
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| `S01`–`S16` | 16 | Lebendorf … PD (real locations) | the **story** campaign |
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| `S18`–`S23` | 6 | `Original` (all six) | the **tutorial** missions |
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| `S24`–`S29` | 6 | Anastasis, Hargenteen ×2, Planet_Lebendorf, Lebendorf, Earth | the **challenge** missions |
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| `Test` | 1 | Earth | developer stage |
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`S17` does not exist. This **matches `weapon.tbl`'s sprite-key set exactly** —
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`stage01…16` + `tutorial01…06` + `challenge01…06` (recorded in
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[static screen config](#)) — which is an independent confirmation of the three-way
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split: 16 + 6 + 6 + Test = 29.
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The `Original` six carry ~43 tokens each while the story and challenge records carry
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51–59, consistent with tutorials having no squadron/route/formation tables.
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## 2. `GP_CHALLENGE.pak` is a screen, not mission data ✅
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151 entries, **0 IDXD objects** — sprites and layout only. So challenge missions are
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*not* a separate data set: they are ordinary `StageResource` records in
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`GP_MAIN_GAME_E.pak`, reached through a different menu. That is why the EX unit
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rosters show up in the same `EnumUnit_S<NN>` tables the story stages use.
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## 3. The GamePart id table — the game's whole screen graph ✅
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`.rdata` pointer array at **`0x820A1630`**, 29 entries, index = GamePart id:
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```
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0 GP_TITLE 10 GP_BUNK 20 GP_STAGE_CLEAR
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1 GP_ADVERTISE_DEMO 11 GP_READY_ROOM 21 GP_MISSION_LOG
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2 GP_SELECT_STORAGE 12 GP_HANGAR 22 GP_GAMEOVER
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3 GP_LOAD 13 GP_ARSENAL 23 GP_DEBRIEFING
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4 GP_SAVE 14 GP_PILOT_LOG 24 GP_DIALOG
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5 GP_EXTRAS 15 GP_SYSTEM 25 GP_TUTORIAL
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6 GP_MOVIE_THEATER 16 GP_DEMO *26 GP_CHALLENGE
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7 GP_MISSION_SELECT 17 GP_MAIN_GAME 27 GP_LEADERBOARD
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8 GP_OPTIONS 18 GP_SELECTOR 28 GP_TEST
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9 GP_MOVIE 19 GP_PAUSE_MENU
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```
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The indices are **not inferred from position** — the image carries the factory
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registration text, e.g.
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`silph::GamePartTask::RegisterToFactory<26, class silph::GamePart_ChallengeMission>::RegisterToFactory is failed!`
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and `<10, … GamePart_Bunk>`, both of which agree with this table. So `GP_CHALLENGE`
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is GamePart **26** and `GP_TUTORIAL` is **25**.
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## 4. A mission-**kind** field selects the stage config section ✅
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Immediately before the array above, `0x820A1600`–`0x820A162C` holds the stage-config
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key list: `BASE_INFO`, `StageResource`, `Background`, `PlayerUnit`,
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`EQUIIP_LIMITATION` *(sic)*, `MODEL_PATH`, `NEW_ITEM`, `LOADING`, `CHALLENGE`,
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`EXTRA`, `FILE`.
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The stage loader picks **one of the last three** by a field at **`object + 144`**, and
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the same three-way switch appears at two independent sites (`0x82184df0` inside the
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all-keys config reader, and `0x82185ed0` in `sub_82185E80`):
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```asm
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lwz r11, 144(r30)
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cmpi r11, 3 ; == 3 -> "EXTRA" (0x820A2160)
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beq extra
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addi r11, r11, -5
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cmpli r11, 1 ; == 5 or 6 -> "CHALLENGE" (0x820A2154)
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bgt file ; otherwise -> "FILE" (0x820A2168)
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```
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Two further sites (`0x82186a60`, `0x82186cb8`) classify the same field as
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`{3, 5, 6}` versus everything else — i.e. **EXTRA and CHALLENGE together are "not an
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ordinary story load"**. The field is initialised to **0** in the constructor
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(`sub_821783D8`, `0x8217851c`, alongside `+148 = 0` — the stage index — and
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`+132 = 2`, `+136/+140 = -1`), and every write to it inside this class
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(`0x82184b10`, `0x82185d48`, `0x82186ab4`) only *clears* it. Nothing in the image
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stores an immediate 3/5/6 into it, so the kind is **supplied from outside the class**
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— by whichever GamePart launches the mission — not derived from the stage number.
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### 4.1 Why the stage-field probe crashes 🟡
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That gives a mechanism for the observed failure: patching the save's stage field to
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27 selects the `S27` **record** while the kind stays **0**, so the loader reads the
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`FILE` section for a stage whose config lives under `CHALLENGE`. A missing section
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then propagates into the load, and the title exits. It fits the evidence (1–16 fine,
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every 24–29 the same failure, `/dev/shm` empty and disk free, so not the resource
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trap) but it is **not proven** — proving it needs a run.
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**Cheap untried discriminator, no new tooling:** patch the stage field to **18–23**
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(the tutorials). If those also die, the failure tracks "record outside the story
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range", and the kind field is the likely gate. It has never been tested — only
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1–16 and 24–29 were.
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## 5. The challenge screen, its six missions, and the unlock gate ✅
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The factory registration sites (`0x8280C000`–`0x8280F800`) give **id → creator** for
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22 of the 24 registered parts, and the creators bound each class's code block. So
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`GamePart_ChallengeMission`'s methods are **`0x82187E60`–`0x8218CF10`** (between
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`GP_BUNK`'s creator `0x82187E38` and its own `0x8218CF10`). Resolving every string
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that range references gives the screen's whole config schema:
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```
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MISSIONS · MISSION_ID · RECORD_TYPE · REQUIREMENT · REQUIREMENT_DESC
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NORMAL_BUTTON · GRAY_BUTTON · THUMBNAIL · STAGE_DESC · TEXT_STAGE
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TEXT_RECORD · NEW_STAGE · "Always" · "Time" · BASE_INFO
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```
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**The record itself is on disc**, in `tables.pak` (schema `54a10697`, one copy per
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language — English is entry #64), *not* in `GP_CHALLENGE.pak`. It names six missions:
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| slot | `MISSION_ID` | buttons / thumbnail | record |
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|---|---|---|---|
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| 1 | `TimeAttack` | `Button_TimeAttack{,_Gray}`, `Thumbnail_TimeAttack` | `Time` |
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| 2 | `ScoreAttack` | `Button_ScoreAttack{,_Gray}` | `Points` |
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| 3–6 | `Extra01`…`Extra04` | `Button_Extra0N{,_Gray}` | — |
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`GRAY_BUTTON` is the locked art, `NORMAL_BUTTON` the unlocked art — so the screen
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always shows all six and greys out what you have not earned. Full dump:
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[`captures/challenge-screen-config.txt`](captures/challenge-screen-config.txt).
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### 5.1 The gate is a bit test against a progress bitfield ✅
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`0x82189870` builds the list, and `0x82189970`–`0x821899D8` is the availability
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decision for each mission:
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```asm
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lookup REQUIREMENT in the mission record ; bl 0x82448C50
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absent -> AVAILABLE
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== "Always" -> AVAILABLE ; strcmp, bl 0x825EDD20
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else n = atoi(v) ; bl 0x825EDCD0
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n == 0 -> LOCKED
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n < 24 -> bit n of word A
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n >= 24 -> bit (n-24) of word B
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bit set ? AVAILABLE : LOCKED
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```
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Word A and word B are read from a **singleton** (`0x821707C0`; the object pointer
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lives at the global `0x828F48B0`, with a construct-once flag at `0x828F48BC`) at
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offsets **`+80`** and **`+1956`**. So challenge
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availability is one bit in a progress bitfield, and `REQUIREMENT` is that bit's index
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— **not** a stage number, a score, or a difficulty.
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### 5.2 The bit space is the game's 24 ACHIEVEMENTS ✅
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The `< 24` / `>= 24` split is not arbitrary. `GamePart_Debriefing`
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(`0x8218CF38`–`0x82191B18`) walks a disc config list called
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**`ACHIEVEMENTS_REQUIREMENTS`** (`tables.pak` entry #16, schema `744c0519`) and, for
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entry index `n`, tests and sets **bit `n`** of an awarded-mask — and that list is
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exactly `ACHIEVEMENT01` … `ACHIEVEMENT24`, **24 entries**. The XEX's own `XACH`
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resource holds the matching 24 achievement definitions, summing to **1000G**, the
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retail total. Full table and record layout:
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[`structures/achievements.md`](structures/achievements.md).
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So **word A (`+80`) is the earned-achievement mask** (bit `n` = achievement `n+1`),
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and **word B (`+1956`) is a second, different flag space** that requirement values
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`≥ 24` index as `bit n-24`.
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### 5.3 What the six requirement values are 🟡
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The record's numeric tokens are `16`, `25`, `26`, `27`, `29`, and `24`/`28` are
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already in the pool earlier (they double as font metrics), so they would be **deduped
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away** if used. **IDXD dedupes the string pool, so positional key/value pairing is not
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sound here** (the same trap the movie/subtitle map hit) — with one exception: `16` sits
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*immediately* before `REQUIREMENT` (tokens 96 → 97), which is the documented
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value-before-key adjacency, so the **first** mission (`TimeAttack`) requiring **bit 16**
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is well-supported.
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Bit 16 is achievement **17, "Solar System Defense Award"** — *"great achievements
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during the campaign to defend the Solar System"*, i.e. **finish the story campaign**.
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That is exactly the shape of gate you would expect on the first challenge mission, and
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it is independent corroboration that the bit space is the achievement space.
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The remaining five values (`25`–`29`, all `≥ 24`) therefore index **word B**, not
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achievements — most plausibly a challenge-clear chain, since there are six challenge
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missions and word B's bits `0`–`5` would be `24`–`29`. Recorded as a hypothesis;
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resolving the per-mission pairing needs the record's binary index section, not the
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pool.
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**Negative worth keeping:** the requirement *text* (`TimeAttackRequirement`,
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`Extra01Requirement`, …) is **not** in `GP_CHALLENGE.pak` — building a `TextIndex`
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over it yields **0 entries** and its only wordy payload is embedded font copyright.
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The config's `PATH` is `dat\GP_CHALLENGE.pak+eng\`, a per-language branch, so those
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keys resolve through a naming scheme the current loader does not reproduce. Reading
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them would say in plain English what each mission asks for — worth one more attempt
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via `hash::TOC_NAME_SCHEMES`.
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### 5.4 Why this matters operationally — and one lead already refuted
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If word A / word B are restored from the save, a **hand-written save with those bits
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set unlocks all six challenge missions** — and the savegame round-trip is already
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solved. That would turn the last 42 units of the Route-B harvest into one run instead
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of an unreachable menu.
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**The obvious lead is dead.** The three `stw`s to `+1956` in `0x822AF278` /
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`sub_822C8748` looked promising because they sit in the save serializer's code region
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— they are on a **different object**. That one is fetched through `0x822CEB30`, has a
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`+2652` flag the code checks first, and stores **string pointers** at `+1956`/`+2024`
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(built by `0x822D35F8`); a pointer `AND`ed with `1 << n` would be meaningless as a
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gate. So **nothing in the image stores to this singleton's `+1956` field-wise**, which
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means it is filled by a bulk copy or by a path not yet found.
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Two candidates remain and they need different levers: the **save** (hand-write it) or
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the **Xbox profile** (the emulator's profile data). Note that XEX imports are resolved
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**by ordinal**, so the absence of `XamUser*` name strings in the `.pe` is not evidence
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against the profile route. `+80` at least is handled as a small struct by address
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(`addi r4, obj, 80` → copy helper `0x82175110`, written back via `0x8216FF70`), which
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is what a serialised value object looks like.
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## 6. The unlock condition, from the strings ❔
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Three strings say challenge missions are *announced*, not menu-browsed:
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- `AVSCRIPT_COMMAND_ATTAINMENT_CHALLENGE_MISSION_CARGO_SCORE` — a mission-script
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command that grants challenge-mission attainment from a **cargo score**;
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- `DLG_CHALLENGE_MISSION_AVAILABLE` — the "a challenge mission is now available"
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dialog;
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- `DLG_GO_CHALLENGE_MISSION_MENU` — the prompt that takes you to GamePart 26.
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So the gate is plausibly an in-mission achievement, not a title-menu state — which is
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consistent with `Game Status = GAME_CLEAR` unlocking nothing (measured, refuted).
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Neither dialog key is reachable by xref: they are selected **by index** through a
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config lookup, exactly like the save screen's sprite keys, so there is nothing to
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grep back to. Naming the flag needs the challenge-availability check disassembled
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from the screen side.
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## 7. What this makes actionable
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`roster_target` against the harvested CSV, with the stage families now named:
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| stage | family | roster units not yet read |
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|---|---|---|
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| `S27` | challenge | `f003_ArrowHead_EX4`, `e107_AAFrigate_EX4`, `e010_Attacker_S_EX4`, `e011_Attacker_B_EX4`, `e007_Turret_EX4`, `e008_TurretPlus_EX4` |
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| `S28` | challenge | `f004_DeltaSaber_A_Player`, `f001_DeltaSaber_T_EX5(_el)`, `f003_ArrowHead_EX5`, `f104_Battleship_EX5`, `f105_Cruiser_EX5` |
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| `S25` | challenge | `e101_SDBattleshipEX`, `e102_BattleshipEX`, `e105_CruiserEX`, `e108_ASFrigateEX` |
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| `S29` | challenge | `e101_SDBattleshipEX`, `e102_BattleshipEX`, `e105_CruiserEX` |
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| `S24` | challenge | `e105_CruiserEX`, `e106_DestroyerEX` |
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| `S10` | **story** | `e005_ADAN_ElanTypeQ_Margras` |
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⚠️ **The `S10` row contradicts "the story campaign is complete."** One story stage
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still fields a unit that has never been read. Either `S10` was never flown (it is the
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smallest stage container on the disc — 7 XBG7 resources — so it may be a cutscene
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stage that is not flyable), or the completeness claim was one unit optimistic. Flagged
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rather than resolved: it costs one ordinary story run to settle.
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Remaining coverage: 42 units missing, of which the rosters above account for ~23. The
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rest are not in any stage roster table and need a different lever.
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## Reproduce
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```bash
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cargo run --release -q -p sylpheed-formats --example challenge_map -- <disc-root>
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cargo run --release -q -p sylpheed-formats --example challenge_screen -- <disc-root>
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python3 xenia-rs/zq.py dis 0x82184df0 0x82184e30 # the three-way section switch
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python3 xenia-rs/zq.py dis 0x82185ed0 0x82185f10 # the same switch, second site
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python3 xenia-rs/zq.py dis 0x82189860 0x821899f0 # the challenge availability gate
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```
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