Claude (auto-RE)
8814df843b
The doc's open gap was "where does the screen's draw list live" -- the eff/deli/msg sprites have no .rat and loop1.rat turned out to be an animation. It is the bundle's own declaration table, which is NOT the child listing: children are grouped by type (all .t32, then all .rat) while the declaration table names ELEMENTS in a plausible back-to-front order and contains exactly the missing set. For the in-mission pause menu it lists 23 elements ending with loop1.rat, and it omits the focused button variants -- those are reached via each base record's "opt " link -- so it is the screen's element set, not an inventory. Also corrects the entry layout: it is FIVE words after the name, not "u32 x4 flags", and word +32 is a PARENT ELEMENT INDEX (0xffffffff = none). pgpeff02a carries 3 and element 3 is pgpeff02; pgpeff03a carries 5 and element 5 is pgpeff03. Verified on two independent language builds, no out-of-range value in any bundle, and the tutorial bundle (no "a" variants) is 0xffffffff throughout. Bounded honestly: what is drawn and in what order is now answered; WHERE the eff/deli/msg sprites land is not -- the declaration entry has a pivot but no X/Y. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
207 lines
12 KiB
Markdown
207 lines
12 KiB
Markdown
# `.rat` — the UI element layout / animation record
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**Status:** ✅ `CONFIRMED` for placement (2026-07-28). The retail UI can be
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**reassembled from the disc**: the tutorial PAUSE menu rebuilds pixel-accurately from its
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sprites placed at the coordinates in their `.rat` records — no fitting, no manual nudging.
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*Left: the running game (Canary screenshot). Right: rebuilt from `GP_PAUSE_MENU.pak` alone.
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The remaining differences are the animated frame/glow sprites (`*eff*`) that were not
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placed, and the live 3D background.*
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## Screen composition
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The UI is **one pak per screen** — `GP_TITLE`, `GP_PAUSE_MENU`, `GP_READY_ROOM`,
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`GP_SAVE_LOAD`, `GP_MISSION_SELECT`, `GP_OPTIONS`, `GP_SYSTEM`, `GP_TUTORIAL`,
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`GP_STAGE_CLEAR`, `GP_MOVIE_THEATER`, `GP_DEBRIEFING_PILOTLOG`, `GP_LEADERBOARD`,
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`GP_MISSION_LOG`, `GP_BUNK`, `GP_DIALOG`, `GP_GAMEOVER`, `GP_CHALLENGE`,
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`GP_HANGAR_ARSENAL`.
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Inside a screen pak, each top-level [RATC](../INDEX.md) bundle is **one (context × language)
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build of that screen**. Its own header is the screen's **element declaration table**, and
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the elements themselves follow as children:
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| child | what it is |
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|---|---|
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| `<name>.t32` | the sprite ([T8aD](texture-color-k8888.md)) |
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| `<name>.rat` | that sprite's **layout record** (this document) |
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| `<screen>loop1.rat` | a looping sprite animation (see below) |
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### The bundle header — element declaration table
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```
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0x14 u32 entry count
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0x20 entry[count], 60 bytes each:
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+0 char[28] element name, NUL-padded ("pgp_ttrl_eff10.t32", "pgp_ttrl_btn10.rat")
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+28 u32 0 on every entry seen
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+32 u32 PARENT element index, or 0xffffffff for "none" ← see below
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+36 u32 0xffffffff on every entry seen
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+40 u32 kind flags 0 for a plain sprite, 0x3002 for a button record,
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1 for an element that has a parent
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+44 u32 0xffffffff, but 0 on button records
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+48 u32 pivot X
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+52 u32 pivot Y
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+56 u32 0
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```
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**Corrected 2026-08-11:** this was previously written as "`+28` u32 ×4 flags" — it
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is **five** words, and the second of them is not a flag.
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**`+32` is a parent element index.** In the in-mission pause bundle,
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`pgpeff02a.t32` carries `3` and element 3 is `pgpeff02.t32`; `pgpeff03a.t32`
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carries `5` and element 5 is `pgpeff03.t32` — each `…a` variant naming its base
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element. Verified on two independent language builds of that screen (4 links, no
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out-of-range value anywhere in any bundle), and the tutorial bundle, which has no
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`…a` variants, carries `0xffffffff` throughout.
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The table lists **both** sprites and `.rat` records — it is the screen's element list.
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`pgp_ttrl` declares 11: six `eff*`, `msg`, and four `.rat`s (`title`, `btn10..12`).
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✅ **Verified:** for all 7 `.t32` entries the declared pivot is *exactly* half the decoded
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texture's dimensions — `eff10` 408×120 → 204,60; `eff21` 428×360 → 214,180; `msg` 381×38 →
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190,19; and so on, 7/7 with no mismatch (`tools/re-capture/ratc_decls.py`).
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`GP_PAUSE_MENU.pak`'s six bundles are `{in-mission, tutorial} × {English, Japanese}`, with
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the two in-mission builds each present twice at identical size. The purpose of that
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duplicate is **NEEDS-HUMAN** (resolution or aspect variant?), and where the other four
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shipped languages live is likewise unresolved — this pak holds only EN and JP.
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Naming is transparent: `pgp` = pause screen, `pgp_ttrl_` = its tutorial context, `btnNN` =
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menu item, `btnNNf` = that item's **focused** sprite, `eff*` = frame/glow decoration,
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`deli*` = the item divider, `title`, `msg`.
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## Record layout
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Big-endian u32 throughout (Xbox 360), and **tag-driven**: 4-char ASCII tags (`opt `,
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`PRMD`, `end `) mark sections, so a record is a stream of blocks rather than a fixed struct.
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A minimal record (a static button) is 165 bytes:
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```
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0x00 "RATC" magic — a RATC bundle reused as a data record
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0x08 u32 payload size
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0x14 u32 entry count (loop1.rat: 3, matching its 3 sprite names)
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0x18 u32 design width = 1280
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0x1c u32 design height = 720
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0x20 char[16] the sprite this record places, e.g. "pgpbtn00.t32"
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0x50 u32 pivot X = texture width / 2
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0x54 u32 pivot Y = texture height / 2
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...
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── placement block ──
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u32 scale X = 100 (percent)
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u32 scale Y = 100
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u32 tint = 0xffffffff (RGBA, white = untinted)
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u32 X ← top-left position
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u32 Y ←
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u32 time (keyframe records only)
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...
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"opt " u32 len char[len] link to another record, e.g. "pgpbtn00f.rat"
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```
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- **X/Y is the sprite's top-left**, not its centre: compositing at these coordinates
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reproduces the screenshot, which drawing centred on them would not.
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- **The pivot at 0x50/0x54 is half the texture size** — 4 of the 5 plain sprites match
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exactly (`pgpbtn00` 86×42 → 43,21; `pgpbtn05` 221×42 → 110,21; `pgptitle` 202×73 →
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101,36; `pgpbtn04` 172×43 → 86,22). It is a rotation/scale centre, not a draw offset.
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- **Animated elements are a keyframe list.** `pgptitle.rat` (752 B) is the same placement
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block repeated with a varying trailing `time` field — the PAUSE title's fly-in.
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- **`opt `** carries a length-prefixed record name. On `pgpbtn00.rat` it points at
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`pgpbtn00f.rat`, i.e. *normal state → focused state*. Focused records place their sprite
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42 px left and 8 px up of the base, because the focused art includes the selection ring
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that hangs off the left edge; their pivot is a constant (21,25) rather than half-size.
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- `<screen>loop1.rat` is **not** a screen composition — it is a looping sprite animation:
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a 3-name table (`pgpeff34/35/36.t32`) plus ~30 keyframes all at one position.
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- The small (380 B) top-level entries are **`PRMD` primitives**, not sprites: a colour and
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four explicit corner coordinates `(0,0) (1280,0) (0,720) (1280,720)` — the full-screen
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quad that dims the scene behind the pause menu — terminated by `end `.
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### The records are language-independent
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`pgpbtn00.rat` is **byte-identical** in the English and Japanese bundles. The layout is
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authored once and only the `.t32` sprites are swapped, which has two consequences:
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- The baked pivot belongs to *whichever build the record was authored from*, not to the
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sprite actually shipped beside it. That is why `pgpbtn01`'s pivot (113 → a 226 px wide
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texture) matches neither the English sprite (207) nor the Japanese one (148).
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- The split is visible inside a single bundle: in the **English** tutorial build, every
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`.t32` declaration carries the correct English pivot (7/7), while the `.rat` declarations
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carry Japanese-derived ones (`btn10` → 43,21 = 86/2, the *Japanese* sprite). So the
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`.t32` table is regenerated per language and the `.rat` layer is inherited from the
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Japanese master.
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- **Do not infer anything about a language from a texture size** — see the traps below.
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## Evidence
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Positions were read out of the records and checked against a screenshot of the running
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game, twice, in that order — the records were never fitted to the picture.
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1. **Differential.** Across `pgpbtn00/01/04/05.rat`, exactly one field varies and it steps
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`268 → 338 → 408 → 478` — a constant 70 px pitch — while the field before it is 226 in
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all four. A vertical menu: constant X, evenly spaced Y.
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2. **Absolute placement — the decisive test.** The *tutorial* build's records give
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546/288, 546/358, 546/428 and 540/119. Compositing its sprites at exactly those numbers,
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with no offset and no fitting, reproduces the screenshot (image above).
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3. **Pivot.** 4 of 5 plain sprites carry exactly half their texture's dimensions at
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0x50/0x54 (above).
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> A caution on step 2, because the first pass here got it subtly wrong: the screenshot is
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> of the **tutorial** pause menu, so only the `pgp_ttrl_*` records can be checked against
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> it. The in-mission records (X = 226) also map onto the same screenshot under a single
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> constant offset — but that only works because both builds share the 70 px pitch, and it
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> proves nothing. The in-mission coordinates remain **unverified**: confirming them needs a
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> screenshot of a pause during an actual mission.
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## It generalizes — the title screen
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The same method run against `GP_TITLE.pak` reproduces the **main menu**, which is a
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different screen with a different item count and a different pitch:
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`ptbtn01..05.rat` give X = 542 for all five and Y = 162 / 242 / 322 / 402 / 482 — an
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**80 px** pitch, where the pause menu used 70. Measured against the screenshot, the sprite
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tops land at a constant **+46 px** for all five (one reads 45, a 1-px edge-detection
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wobble), and 46 is exactly the 45 px of Xenia window chrome plus one. So the record's Y is
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the sprite's top edge in the guest framebuffer, to the pixel, on a second screen.
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`GP_TITLE.pak` also splits by sub-screen the way the pause pak splits by context:
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`ptbtn00` alone (the `PRESS Ⓐ BUTTON` prompt), `ptbtn01..05` (main menu), `ptbtn11..13`
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(the EXTRAS submenu), plus `pgloading_*` for the loading screen.
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## Two traps this caught
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Both were mistakes made during this analysis, caught by comparing against the real game —
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recording them because a static-only reading would have shipped them:
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- **Texture width does not identify a language.** English `RESUME` (166 px) and Japanese
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`再開` (86 px) differ hugely, but Japanese `通信ログ` (148 px) is within a few px of an
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English label. The first language assignment made here was wrong; rendering the sprites
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is the only reliable check. (The records being language-independent makes this worse:
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a record's baked pivot implies a texture width that matches *no* shipped sprite.)
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- **The in-mission and tutorial pause menus are different sprite sets, not one set
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re-packed.** In-mission is `RESUME / RADIO LOG / OPTIONS / BACK TO TITLE` (4 items,
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`pgpbtnNN`); the tutorial is `RESUME / OPTIONS / BACK TO MENU` (3 items,
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`pgp_ttrl_btn1N`). Matching the 3-item screenshot against the 4-item set suggests a
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runtime slot-packing rule that does not exist.
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## Next
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- **Half of this gap is now closed.** The `eff*` / `deli*` / `msg` sprites have no
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`.rat` of their own, and `loop1.rat` is an animation, so the question was where the
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screen's draw list lives. **It is the bundle's own declaration table** (above): that
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table is not the child listing — the children are grouped by type (every `.t32`, then
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every `.rat`), while the declaration table names *elements*, in a plausible back-to-front
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order, and it is exactly the missing set that appears there. For the in-mission pause
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menu it lists 23: `eff11/12/10`, `eff02(+a)`, `eff03(+a)`, `eff01`, `title.rat`,
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`btn00/01/04/05.rat`, `msg`, `deli1…4`, `eff30…33`, `loop1.rat`. Note what it does
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**not** list: the focused button variants, which are reached through each base record's
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`opt ` link — so the table is the screen's element set, not a resource inventory.
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- **What is still missing is only the position** for the elements that have no `.rat`:
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the declaration entry carries a pivot but no X/Y. So *what* is drawn and *in what order*
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is answered; *where* the `eff*` / `deli*` / `msg` sprites land is not.
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- The same method should now unroll the other screens directly; `GP_HANGAR_ARSENAL.pak`
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(789 T8aD + 510 RATC) is the big one, and the ARSENAL `DATA SHEET` panel documented in
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[weapon-datasheet-runtime.md](../weapon-datasheet-runtime.md) is a ready-made oracle for it.
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- Tooling: `crates/sylpheed-formats/examples/ui_screen.rs` (inventory a screen pak, carve a
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named RATC child), `sylpheed-cli pak textures` (decode every sprite).
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