Syplheed-Reborn/docs/re/flight-controls-runtime.md

In-flight control mapping — measured, not assumed

Status: ✅ for the weapon bindings (ammo counters move), 🟡 for the rest (HUD observation only). Probes: tools/re-capture/fire_probe.sh (hold each input, photograph the ammo counters) and lock_probe.sh (tap each, watch the reticle). Stage 02, in flight. Evidence: captures/fire-probe-ammo-counters.png.

input	effect	confidence
RB	Nose gun. NOSE BM 06000 → 05956 in a 4 s hold ≈ 11 rounds/s; HEAT bar rises	✅
Y	Main mount (missiles). MAIN MPM 00300 → 00299 per tap	✅
RT / LT	Throttle up / brake, a persistent setting (488 → 1510 → 174 u/s)	✅ (earlier session)
d-pad	Tactical map overlay (grid with contact blips) — not target cycling	🟡
LB, X, B, A, LS, RS	No change to either ammo counter	✅ (as "not a weapon")

Targeting appears to be automatic, and that is the lethality problem

No input was found that cycles a target. The green TARGET marker is already present in idle frames with nothing pressed, so the game selects for us — most likely whatever sits nearest the reticle — and a guided missile's lock is then a time-on-target mechanic rather than a button.

That fits the measurements end to end:

• the guns fire fine (11 rounds/s) but the kill counters read 0000 after five gun-only runs → we shoot and miss;
• guided missiles (Missile_P, Power 200, GuidanceType 5) got the first kills, WARPLANES 0002, but only 2 per 98 launches;
• the pilot's own log shows aim error wandering between ~10° and ~40° for most of a pass.

So the remaining bottleneck is not the target choice (escort weighting), not the ballistics (now taken from the confirmed Shell records), and not the input mapping (measured above). It is that the steering loop never holds the nose on one contact long enough to complete a lock. The next thing worth doing is making aim dwell — and the cheapest oracle for whether a lock ever completes is the reticle itself, or finding the lock timer in the player object with the same anchoring trick used for hull.

The game's own action list (from the OPTIONS key-config screen)

Decoded from dat/GP_OPTIONS.pak (po_keys_btn* sprites) — this is the authoritative set of bindable in-flight actions, straight off the disc, no probing required:

#	Action	Our mapping
1	Aircraft Control	LX/LY ✅
2	View Point Control	RX/RY (unused by the pilot)
3 / 4	Left / Right Yaw Control	— (separate from pitch/roll!)
5 / 6	Accelerate / Decelerate	RT / LT ✅
7	Use Main Weapon	Y ✅
8	Use Nose Weapon	RB ✅
9	Special Move	❔
10	Maneuver	❔
11	Resupply	❔
12	Change Target	❔ — this is the target-select the loop needs
13	Change Main Weapon	❔ (would reach ASMissile, Power 5000)
14	Padlock Mode Toggle	❔ — the aim-dwell mechanism
15	Radar Map Toggle	d-pad 🟡 (matches the observed map overlay)

Two entries change the plan outright:

• Change Target exists, so target selection is an input after all. The earlier probe swept LB/X/B/A/LS/RS and found no ammo change — consistent with those being exactly these non-weapon actions. The probe simply watched the wrong indicator.
• Padlock Mode Toggle is a view/aim lock onto the selected target. That is the aim-dwell problem solved by a game mechanic rather than by tuning a PD controller — and it is why a human player can hold a contact long enough to lock a missile.

Also note CONTROL SETTINGS carries a Control Type preset plus Yaw / Pitch / Roll Sensitivity and a separate Throttle option: the mapping is not fixed, and the craft's response to a given stick deflection is configurable. Any calibration done against one profile (e.g. the ctrl_probe.py throttle numbers) is only valid for the save's current settings.

Next: bind physical buttons to actions 9–14 by watching the reticle and target panel (not the ammo counters) — and once Change Target and Padlock are identified, re-run the missile test with a locked target.

Notes for the reimplementation

• Two independent weapons with separate ammo pools and separate HUD counters: NOSE BM (gun, 6000) and MAIN MPM (missiles, 300).
• The gun has a HEAT bar that fills while firing — a sustained-fire limit the reimplementation needs; its cap and cool-down rate are not measured yet.
• The tactical map is a full-screen overlay bound to the d-pad and does not pause flight (the craft kept taking fire with it open).