e31c3a1854
MCOL sits beside REGN in hidden/MiscBin.pak, 11 of each, never decoded. Over all 11: POF0 at data_size+16 11/11, bbox pad words 1.0/1.0/0.0 11/11, and extent == max-min 11/11. So the header prefix is the same shape as REGN's and the POF0 mechanism applies, which means the chunk+0x10 base and the loader's own pointer list -- the two things that cracked REGN -- are available here too. The map parameters are not merely similar but identical in distribution: bboxes 2/6/3 at 250k/50k/25k and the 0x40 triple 2 at 50000 and 9 at 10000, matching REGN exactly. Eleven maps, each with an MCOL and a REGN over the same volume at the same cell size. Noted that this matches distributions, not a demonstrated object-to-object pairing. Everything past 0x40 diverges from REGN and is open. Also recorded that my own POF0 delta decoder is wrong here -- eight leading zero deltas -- and that the working one is regn_decode.py on auto/regn-reader, which should be used rather than re-derived. Re-deriving it is the mistake I made.
60 lines
2.6 KiB
Markdown
60 lines
2.6 KiB
Markdown
# `MCOL` — the same container as `REGN`, and the same map parameters
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**🟡 Opened 2026-08-26.** `MCOL` sits beside `REGN` in `hidden/MiscBin.pak`, 11
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of each, and has never been decoded. This page establishes what it shares with
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`REGN` — which is a lot, and gives the next attempt a large head start.
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## ✅ Same container
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Over all **11** objects:
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| | |
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|---|---|
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| `POF0` fixup table at `data_size@+4` + 16 | **11 / 11** |
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| bbox pad words are `1.0` / `1.0` / `0.0` at `+0x1C`, `+0x2C`, `+0x3C` | **11 / 11** |
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| `extent == max − min` for the `0x30` block | **11 / 11** |
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So the header prefix is byte-for-byte the same shape as `REGN`'s: magic, data
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size, then bbox min / bbox max / extent as `f32[4]`, then a triple at `0x40`.
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The `POF0` mechanism applies, which means **the `chunk + 0x10` base and the
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loader's own pointer list are available here too** — the two things that cracked
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`REGN`.
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## ✅ And the same map parameters, exactly
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The bounding boxes and the `0x40` triple are not merely similar — the
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distributions are **identical**:
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| | `MCOL` | `REGN` |
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|---|---|---|
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| bbox ±250 000 | 2 | 2 |
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| bbox ±50 000 | 6 | 6 |
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| bbox ±25 000 | 3 | 3 |
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| `0x40` = 50 000 | 2 | 2 |
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| `0x40` = 10 000 | 9 | 9 |
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Eleven maps, and for each one an `MCOL` and a `REGN` describing the same volume
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at the same cell size. `0x40` is the **cell size** in `REGN`; the same values in
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the same multiplicities here is strong evidence it is the cell size in `MCOL`
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too — though note this is a match of *distributions*, not a demonstrated
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object-to-object pairing, which would need the two linked by name or by a stage's
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tables.
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## ❔ What is not yet known
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* **Everything past `0x40`.** `MCOL`'s words at `0x50`–`0x84` do **not** look
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like `REGN`'s (`REGN` has grid dims at `0x50`, six `u16` counts at `0x60` and
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six section pointers at `0x70`; `MCOL` has a large value, two mid-range values
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and `112` at `0x50`, mostly zeros at `0x60`, and `0x05050501` at `0x70`). The
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headers agree on the spatial prefix and diverge after it.
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* **My `POF0` delta decoder is wrong here** — it emits eight leading zero deltas
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before plausible offsets, so either the stream has a preamble I am not
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skipping or my 6/14/22-bit reading is off. The working decoder is
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`tools/re-capture/regn_decode.py` on branch `auto/regn-reader`; **use that
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rather than re-deriving it**, which is the mistake I made here.
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**First step for whoever continues**: run the known-good `POF0` reader over an
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`MCOL`, list which words are relocated, and read the header slots those pointers
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occupy. That is exactly the move that turned `REGN` from twenty failed
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correlations into a decode.
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