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OpenMaidEngine/docs/engine-re.md

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Native-engine reverse engineering (Ghidra + MCP)

Static RE of the unpacked AGE.EXE engine image, driving Ghidra 12.1.2 via the bethington/ghidra-mcp bridge. This is the home for decompiled native-op findings — the class of logic the scripts call but that lives compiled in the engine (decision→scene, call-script dispatch, op 0x60, the gfx command-buffer). Opcode semantics recovered here also flow into vm-map/opcodes.toml.

Related: docs/scjump-progression.md (the SCJUMP decoder that hit this wall), name-resolution.md §1 (call-script), vm-mapping-plan.md appendix (why the exe is packed + the runtime-dump route).

Runbook — the Ghidra + MCP loop

One-time setup (done 2026-07-07):

  • MCP server: bethington/ghidra-mcp, cloned to S:\Game Hacking\ghidra-mcp. We used the prebuilt extension GhidraMCP-5.14.2.zip (installed in Ghidra via File > Install Extensions) — this skips the Maven/Java-21 build. The Python bridge runs from a venv (.venv, Python 3.11, pip install .); no uv needed. Registered in Claude Code via .mcp.json at the workspace root: {"mcpServers":{"ghidra":{"command":"S:\\Game Hacking\\ghidra-mcp\\.venv\\Scripts\\bridge-mcp-ghidra.exe","args":["--transport","stdio"]}}}.
  • In Ghidra: enable the GhidraMCP plugin (File > Configure) and Tools > GhidraMCP > Start MCP Server (serves http://127.0.0.1:8089/). The bridge talks to that; Claude reaches the bridge over stdio.

Loading the engine image (IMPORTANT — the language gotcha):

  • Import age-reimpl/build/engine-dump/range_00400000.bin (the module dump: 2,490,368 bytes, the full 0x400000 module image; VA→file offset = VA − 0x400000).

  • Format = Raw Binary, Language = x86:LE:32:default, Image Base = 0x400000. Ghidra's language picker offers x86:LE:32:System Management Mode as the "closest" match — do NOT use it. SMM is a 16-bit segmented (segment:offset) variant for BIOS/SMRAM; it mis-decodes flat 32-bit code (it loaded with addresses like 0000:0000/0025:ffff and produced 0 functions). The plain default variant is correct and yielded 2,721 functions.

  • We drove the (re)import over MCP: import_file(language="x86:LE:32:default", compiler_spec="windows", auto_analyze=false) → set_image_base(0x400000) before analysis (so absolute-address refs resolve) → run_analysis.

  • Load sanity check (AGF-decoder landmark): at VA 0x474f23, CMP word ptr [ESI + 0x4], 0x4d42 (the BM/BMP-magic check) confirms the image is correctly based + decoded.

  • IAT reconstruction — tried, DOESN'T WORK on this binary (2026-07-09): bin/pe-sieve32.exe /pid <PID> /imp 3 /dmode 3 /dir build/pe-sieve (run from PowerShell, not Git Bash — it mangles /flags) ran fine but the game is packed with a zeroed IAT resolved via GetProcAddress at load, so there is no conventional import table to rebuild. Of 363 "imports" it emitted, only ~17 are genuine (in_main:1): the packer bootstrap (LoadLibraryA/GetProcAddress/GetModuleHandleA/VirtualAlloc/ VirtualFree) + a one-per-DLL seed block at RVA 0x202bfc (d3d9.Direct3DCreate9, user32.RegisterClassExA, gdi32.GetStockObject, winmm.timeSetEvent, advapi32.RegOpenKeyA, shell32.SHGetSpecialFolderPathA, oleaut32.Variant*, kernel32.RaiseException, …). The other 300+ are stray pointer-shaped DWORDs mis-resolved to "first export at module base" (e.g. msvcrt._wstrtime_s 30×, in_main:0, non-terminated). ⇒ do not graft pe-sieve output — grafting the noise would inject wrong import names. The game's hot APIs (ReadFile/CreateFileA/timeGetTime/d3d9 device methods) are GetProcAddress-resolved into private pointer tables, invisible to a static IAT scan. Report/dump left at build/pe-sieve/process_<pid>/ (disposable).

    → The Frida import-map approach — ✅ DONE 2026-07-09 (replaced pe-sieve). Named the dynamically-resolved APIs at their call sites via the LIVE process. tools/frida/map_imports.py (read-only, plain-JS): (1) Frida-reads all loaded modules' export tables → {runtime_addr → dll!Func} (23,342 exports); (2) scans the 0x400000 module for aligned DWORDs holding those addresses → RVA → name (ASLR-stable: RVAs into the fixed main module transfer to the dump even though the DLL targets relocate); (3) a run_script_inline pass labels the /v2 image imp_<dll>_<func>. Result: the packer's rebuilt core IAT lives at RVA 0x16f000 (VA 0x56f000) — 248 imports labeled (kernel32 129, user32 57, winmm 20, gdi32 17, advapi32/ole/oleaut/version/ntdll), 0 clobbers. Validated: FUN_0044f390 now reads (*imp_kernel32_CreateFileA) / (*imp_kernel32_SetFilePointer) at its resolver I/O; sleep_timer_arm reads (*imp_winmm_timeGetTime)() — pinning the long-standing DAT_0056f3d4 = timeGetTime. Tool: tools/frida/map_imports.py [--recon] → build/import-map.json; plan docs/superpowers/plans/2026-07-09-frida-import-map.md. Known limit (by design): only the module-resident IAT is labelable. d3d9/shell32/dsound/CRT are GetProcAddress-resolved into HEAP (not in the 0x400000 dump), so they aren't labeled — and D3D9 is used via COM vtables (Present = device vtable slot 17, see probe_present.py), not an import thunk, so this costs us nothing on the render path. 29 isolated singleton matches were set aside (build/import-map-singletons.json), not auto-applied.

Master key — the opcode→handler dispatch table (2026-07-07, anchored)

The interpreter dispatches each op via a per-context handler table, fully anchored:

handler(op) = ctx[0x26c93 + op] (word index) = *(ctx + 0x9b24c + op*4) — ctx = the engine context (esi in handlers, thiscall; param_1 in the decompile of the registration routine).

The registration routine FUN_00413860 first fills 0x400 (1024) slots starting at ctx[0x26c93] with a default handler FUN_004162b0 (op 0's slot), then overrides specific opcodes: ctx[0x26c93 + op] = <handler_va>. So opcode = (word_index − 0x26c93). Cross-check: ctx[0x26e3f] = 0x427fb0 (byte offset 0x9b8fc) → op 0x26e3f − 0x26c93 = 0x1ac.

Why this matters: the Kelebek u00XXXXXX opcode names encode handler VAs from Kelebek's build, which drift in ours. This table resolves the real handler for any opcode in our image — the general fix for VA drift project-wide. To find op N's handler: read ctx[0x26c93 + N] from the FUN_00413860 decompile (or *(ctx + 0x9b24c + N*4) at runtime).

Materialized + applied image-wide (2026-07-09)

The table is no longer resolved op-by-op by hand — it is extracted once and applied to the whole image. tools/ghidra_handler_map.py parses the override stores in FUN_00413860 (dump at build/engine-dump/FUN_00413860.disasm.txt) → build/op-handler-map.json ({op → handler VA}, 420 overrides). Regenerate: py -3.11 -X utf8 tools/ghidra_handler_map.py build/engine-dump/FUN_00413860.disasm.txt --check. The --check diffs the derived handlers against the handler VAs mentioned in vm-map/opcodes.toml prose and found 0 real drift — the only 7 flags are ops whose toml text records the worker VA, not the handler (0x20c→0x4174a0, and the 0x21c–0x243 cluster entries), each already matching the recon tables below.

A one-shot Ghidra script (via run_script_inline; needs GHIDRA_MCP_ALLOW_SCRIPTS=1) then labeled the image from that map: 281 raw FUN_/LAB_ handlers renamed op_0xNN_handler, 107 bare handler VAs turned into functions, 31 hand-named handlers preserved (source USER_DEFINED is never renamed), and a plate comment opcode 0xNN dispatch handler; ctx[0x26c93+op] in FUN_00413860 set on every one (appended to existing decode comments, never clobbering). The one shared handler 0x416650 (ops 0xaf/0x1a8) is op_0xaf_0x1a8_handler. ⇒ every dispatch handler in the image now self-identifies its opcode; a bare op_0xNN_handler is a handler not yet role-RE'd. Enrich with a descriptive name + decode when you reverse one (the generic name is a floor, not a final).

⚠ Two-program gotcha (cost time 2026-07-09). The Ghidra project holds two imports named range_00400000.bin: the GOOD one at project path /v2/range_00400000.bin (x86:LE:32:default, image base 0x400000, 4308 functions — all our annotations live here) and a BROKEN early import at /range_00400000.bin (the x86:LE:32:System Management Mode mis-import: base 0000:0000, 0 functions; see the language gotcha in the runbook). After a Ghidra restart the broken one can become active. Always confirm get_current_program_info shows base 0x400000 / 4308 functions (or switch_program /v2/range_00400000.bin) before doing anything — run_script_inline runs against the GUI's active program, so a wrong-program script would mutate/measure garbage.

Other confirmed engine-context offsets (ctx/esi): +0x53d14 = current gfx-object index; +0x53d88 = per-object cmd-type table (stride 0x78 = 120 bytes); operand-fetch helper = vm_operand_fetch@0x41b940 (thiscall, ecx=ctx, arg = operand index → returns the operand value); vm_operand_write@0x425fb0 = the counterpart store; vm_operand_lvalue@0x415f30 = the companion index/pointer accessor.

Hot-helper naming pass (2026-07-09, lever #2). Ghidra's Function ID analyzer names 0 functions on this image (the bundled FidDbs don't cover the VC9/VS2008 static runtime; ~3,660 of 4,428 funcs stay FUN_), and the library workers we actually touch were already hand-named (gfx_object_query_source_slot, etc.). So "STL/CRT auto-naming" had little to add — but the recon (rank unnamed funcs by call-count) surfaced the real win: ubiquitous documented-but-unnamed helpers. Named the top 5 (~2,400 call sites): vm_operand_fetch@0x41b940 (1021 refs), vm_operand_write@0x425fb0 (188), vm_operand_lvalue@0x415f30, plus two CRT primitives identified by behavior — __security_check_cookie@0x54f981 (692; compares __security_cookie=DAT_005c28c0) and operator_new@0x5502be (533; _malloc+__callnewh+throw bad_alloc). ⇒ every handler now reads e.g. vm_operand_fetch(2) not FUN_0041b940(2). No FidDb generation (out of scope, low ROI). Rename hot unnamed funcs by call-count when de-noising further; there is no registry file for these — the Ghidra name is the record.

These ctx offsets are now a typed struct (2026-07-09). The canonical field map is vm-map/engine-ctx.toml → generated docs/engine-ctx-reference.md; a run_script_inline pass created an EngineCtx Ghidra struct and retyped all 419 dispatch handlers' this to EngineCtx *, so they decompile ctx->cur_ctx_index / ctx->cmd_type_table / ctx->run_state_flags instead of param_1 + 0x… (verified: sleep_op_0xc8, gfx_op_0x215_query_source_slot). Add a field: edit engine-ctx.toml, run engine_ctx_build.py --build, re-apply the struct. (The VM global bank G[…] is separate — globals.toml.)

Findings

op 0x1a2 (u00428010) is a GRAPHICS command-buffer op — NOT save, NOT decision→scene (2026-07-07)

The SCJUMP slice assumed u00428010 resolved a decision value to a scene. That premise is wrong, and pinning the real handler via the dispatch table above corrects two layers of confusion:

  • VA-drift trap: Kelebek's u00428010 = op 0x1a2. But Kelebek's raw VA 0x428010, in our build, sits inside a different handler 0x427fb0, which is op 0x1ac (per the table: ctx[0x26e3f]=0x427fb0). Op 0x1ac is a save-path op — its handler formats %s\SAVE%2.2d.DAT (format string 0x571e70) and is multi-operand. Reading the raw VA gave the wrong opcode.
  • Op 0x1a2's real handler = FUN_0042d360 (= ctx[0x26c93+0x1a2] = ctx[0x26e35]), argc 1. It: sets the current gfx-object cmd-type to 3 (*(ctx+0x53d88 + ctx[0x53d14]*0x78) = 3), fetches operand 1, formats a key with "%c%8.8x" (format string 0x5714e0) of (3, operand), and calls FUN_0042cf70(key, &operand). This is a graphics command-buffer registration op, not save and not scene-load.
  • Consequence — the decision→scene premise is discredited. The FIELD snippet lookup(0x5f0ed, 0x62ccf); mov(ptr,1); lookup(0x5f0ed, 0x62ccf); u00428010(ptr) (next op 0x21b, also gfx-family) is a graphics/UI operation, not scene sequencing. So u00428010 does not resolve decision→scene. The real decision→scene mechanism is unidentified — it belongs with the call-script / script-load dispatch (name-resolution.md §1), the next target for this loop (now armed with the dispatch table to resolve the call-script handler directly).

Lesson: never analyze a native op by its Kelebek u00XXXXXX VA directly — always resolve the real handler through the dispatch table (ctx[0x26c93 + op]). The raw VA is off by whole functions.

op 0x03 (call-script) is a raw index into the SYS4INI file table — SOLVED (2026-07-07)

The long-deferred call-script <id> registry (name-resolution.md §1) is cracked. Resolved through the dispatch table (op 0x03 → ctx[0x26c93+3] = FUN_0041bc90), then the loader/resolver chain:

  • FUN_0041bc90 (handler): fetches operand 1 (the id), bounds-checks call depth (≤ 0x26), pushes a script frame, and calls the loader.
  • FUN_0040e980 (loader): opens the resource by id, reads the 0x20-byte SYS4 header, checks magic, allocates per-frame code/local buffers from the header var-counts, reads the bytecode body, and pushes a script frame (stride 0x1e = 30 dwords, indexed by ctx[0x14f45]). Returns to the caller when the callee ends.
  • FUN_0044f390 (resolver — the key): record = [ctx+0x414] + id*0x50. The record is exactly the SYS4INI 80-byte layout {name[64], arc_id@0x40, file_number@0x44, offset@0x48, size@0x4c} (count = [ctx+0x40c], archive-name table = [ctx+0x410]). It tries a loose override first (CreateFileA on record.name → the mod/patch hook point), else opens archive [record.arc_id*0x100 + ctx+0x410], SetFilePointer to record.offset, size = record.size. High-byte-tagged ids (id & 0xff000000) select an alternate pack via [ctx+0x3028] — unused by the corpus (0/297 ids carry a high byte).

So call-script <id> = a direct RAW index into the SYS4INI global file table — the same table parse_sys4ini.py reads, but indexed without skipping @ placeholders (13208 records, 2 placeholders). There is no separate on-disk id→code registry; SYS4INI is the registry, and we already had it. Statically confirmed: all 297/297 distinct corpus call-script ids resolve to a .BIN script with a semantically-exact name (0x1ab→ADDITEM, 0x2ae7→MES, 0x143→BUNKI, 0x329d→CALCREVISE, 0x2add→CALCBTPARAM), 0 out-of-range, 0 pack-branch. Tooling: parse_sys4ini.py emits build/callscript-names.json (id→name); sys4load annotates call-script 0x1ab =ADDITEM.BIN; the whole build/disasm/*.asm call graph now reads by name. See name-resolution.md §1.

Companion — op 0x8f (call) is INTRA-script, not cross-script. Its handler FUN_0041fba0 sets [frame PC @+0x53d2c] = [frame codebase @+0x53d28] + operand*4 and pushes a return address on the per-frame return stack ([ctx+0x552e8]/[ctx+0x55248]). The operand is a code offset within the current script (matches header table T3, tag 0x8F = local call targets). So 0x8f is a local JSR; only 0x03 loads another script.

Follow-up (functional): the C# VM still stubs call-script. With the id→resource mapping now known, it can be implemented for real (load the target .BIN from the archive via the SYS4INI record, push a frame, run, return) — the unlock for subroutine-using scripts and, via the same path, decision→scene (scenes are just SCxxxx.BIN records loaded by their SYS4INI index).

op 0x215 (query-gfx-object?) is a native command-buffer op — settles the render drift as (b) (2026-07-07)

This is the canonical account of the background/sprite "drift" bug (background pinned off-centre / bottom-right, rest grey — Screenshot 2026-07-06 211353.png). It supersedes the earlier "drift = state-divergence, seed state and it's fixed" conclusion in docs/phase-a-slice-plan.md and the status memory, which are corrected to point here.

Resolved via the dispatch table (ctx[0x26c93 + 0x215]): the registration routine FUN_00413860 stores [ESI + 0x9baa0] = 0x42a0b0, so op 0x215's real handler is FUN_0042a0b0. (Kelebek's 0x421160 is VA-drift — it lands inside the unrelated FUN_00421090. Same lesson as 0x1a2: never trust a Kelebek raw VA.)

FUN_0042a0b0(ctx) does exactly two things:

  1. *(ctx + 0x53d88 + ctx[0x53d14]*0x78) = 5 — writes cmd-type 5 into the current gfx-object record. A command-buffer registration side-effect, directly parallel to op 0x1a2 (FUN_0042d360) writing cmd-type 3. So 0x215 is part of the gfx command-buffer subsystem, not a pure query.
  2. out = FUN_0047f280(FUN_0041b940(2)) — FUN_0041b940(2) fetches operand 2 (the bytecode handle key); FUN_0047f280 is a std::map::find over an engine-internal associative registry, returning the mapped value or 0xffffffff (not-found); FUN_00425fb0(1, out) writes it to operand 1. That registry is populated by sibling gfx ops — op 0x1a2's handler builds a "%c%8.8x" key and calls FUN_0042cf70, an open-addressing hash insert into the same kind of store.

(a) vs (b) — the verdict is (b). The value 0x215 returns is native command-buffer state: "has a gfx object already been registered under this handle?" (≥0 = existing → use its slot; -1 = new). That state lives in the engine's own registry, maintained by the gfx ops, not in the VM global bank. So seeding story-state globals cannot reproduce it — the drift is not the Phase-B state-divergence problem. Stubbing 0x215 returns a constant → label_12649's slot-select always takes one branch → every draw collapses onto slot 0 → the anchor-preserve math measures foreign-sized textures → cumulative drift.

Why the prior "state-divergence" conclusion was wrong. It was grounded in capture_gfx_objects.py, which polled the object-record array ([esi+0x53d64]) at ~2/s and saw only 3 persistent UI objects, "0 CG objects." But (i) the branch is driven by the map lookup (a different structure the poll never observed), and (ii) command-buffer records are transient — a 2/s poll can't prove CG records weren't used. Absence in that capture ≠ absence of the native path.

The fix is tractable and Frida-free. (b) does not mean an opaque native state machine. The subsystem is a modelable data structure: an object-record array (slot / geometry / cmd-type per object) plus a handle→object registry (a std::map). Geometry and draw workers lazily populate that retained-object map; query and erase workers read/remove the same entries. Op 0x1a2 also maintains an operand-descriptor hash, but that is a separate structure and is not what op 0x215 queries. The opcode-level source of truth is vm-map/opcodes.toml.

Op 0x215 queries the retained gfx-object's source slot (corrected 2026-07-09)

The decisive caller/callee detail is the owner pointer. Op 0x215's handler passes ECX = ctx+0x46614 to gfx_object_query_source_slot (0x47f280); that worker searches ECX+0x408. draw-texture passes the same owner to gfx_object_bind_draw (0x47e870), whose gfx_object_get_or_create uses the same owner+0x408 map and writes the source surface slot to obj+4. Therefore:

  • absent handle → 0x215 returns 0xffffffff (-1);
  • geometry-only/unbound object → its default source slot is -1;
  • draw-bound object → 0x215 returns the live source slot from obj+4.

The earlier “op 0x215 reads a registry populated only by 0x1a2” conclusion was wrong: it conflated the retained-object std::map with 0x1a2's open-addressing operand-descriptor hash. The useful part of the earlier fix remains: GetOrCreate must not fabricate a slot. A fresh object stays unbound (-1) until draw-texture supplies its real source slot.

This also explains the reported magic-circle retention end-to-end. AE001H.AGF (resource 0x37) is bound to the ritual object's surface slot. At the post-effect cleanup (SC0000 0x3321), the script queries that object with 0x215, sign-tests the returned slot, then executes 0x1f7(handle, 10) followed by 0x1fa(returned_slot). Native 0x1f7 removes the retained object group from this same map; 0x1fa releases the surface slot. The port's old separate-registry model returned -1, skipped the guarded cleanup, and left the circle compositing. GfxState.QuerySlot now returns GfxObject.SourceSlot; VM op 0x1fa clears that surface slot. The booted SC0000 regression ends with no visible resource 0x37; live clicked-path validation confirmed the corrected disappearance on 2026-07-10.

Note a second, still-latent gap this uncovered: label_125bd (which fills rec[s3]/G[0x3239] with the eight per-object slots 4..11, called at SC0000 0x50f) does not execute in a cold single-scene run — the scene coroutine framework (ops 0x7b/0x140 + the G[0xaba5c]==1 re-entry gate) routes cold flow past it, so every fresh CG is assigned slot 0. It doesn't break the opening (one full-screen CG shown at a time, so sharing slot 0 is harmless and the fresh-branch geometry is correct regardless), but a scene with several simultaneous distinct-slot objects would need the setup to run. Tracked as the scene-coroutine work, separate from this fix.

⇒ Scene-coroutine framework — INVESTIGATION COMPLETE (2026-07-09). The mechanism behind the slot-0 collapse is fully understood; the native finding and the implemented host-model disposition follow:

The gate G[0xaba5c] is NATIVE scene-entry state — no script sets it to 1. Across the whole corpus (429 references in 150 files) every aba5c reference is a read or a write of 0; nothing anywhere writes 1. So aba5c==1 is set by the engine's scene loader/scheduler on entry — the same class as the INIT2 handle array (native entry-state a cold single-scene harness skips), NOT a story flag. Cold, it reads 0.

Corrected roles of the two branches (the earlier head-start had them inverted). At SC0000 0x450 eq local0 = (aba5c==1); 0x457 jcc local0 label_462 <fallthrough>:

  • aba5c==1 → label_462 "ループ開始" (loop start) = the scene's intro/setup LOOP. Its body label_491 runs call label_125bd (@0x50f, the slot-table fill G[0x3239..0x324e]=4..11) plus ADV state init, UI-slot clears (a loop over G[0x3239]), intro draw — then jmp label_462 (@0x711). A real loop, exited only when its iterator makes G[0x6be]==exit-PC (→ mov aba5c 0, jmp label_45e).
  • aba5c!=1 → label_45e → call label_71b = the scene CONTENT: label_71b is a switch(G[0x62ccf]) on the SCJUMP decision → "序章 / プロローグ", play-bgm, call label_12649 (CG loads that read the slot table). So the intended lifecycle is enter aba5c=1 → intro loop fills slots → aba5c→0 → content uses slots. Cold we skip straight to content with an empty slot table → all layers collapse to slot 0 → grey.

The loop iterator op 0x140 is a native video-service call — not statically reproducible. Handler = 0x4299c0 (dispatch ctx[0x9b74c]=0x4299c0; created+typed EngineCtx*+annotated; Kelebek u0041F9C0 is VA-drift). It writes gfx cmd-type 9, copies operand-2/3 strings ("LABEL", "J") + operand-4 int, calls (*DAT_005c6018)(8, ctx[0x54fe8], &{str,str,int}), and writes the returned PC-like value back to operand 1 (SC0000: G[0x6be]). DAT_005c6018 is a runtime-resolved function pointer (all 6 xrefs are READs, no static writer) — the engine's native video / transition / timing service: FUN_00405740 (a screen- transition/fade routine full of DirectDraw-layer calls) calls the same pointer with cmd_id=3 and branches on its return (1/2 = transition progress). It is the same class as the DirectDraw workers this project deliberately does not model. ⇒ faithfully emulating 0x140 = emulating the native video service = out of static scope, permanently.

The two companion ops (confirmed):

  • 0x7b (FUN_0041ebf0) — save yield handlers: writes op1→ctx[0x6da88+idx*4], op2→ctx[0x6db28+idx*4] (idx=ctx[0x53d14]). SC0000 0x79: op 0x7b label_3c9 label_41e — registers the per-frame ADV handlers.
  • 0x7c (FUN_00417cb0) — resume: requires run-state bit 0x2000000 (ctx[0x6dbc8]) — throws (__CxxThrowException) if unset, so it is only ever reached on a scheduler-driven re-entry, never cold; restores PC=ctx[0x53d28]+ctx[0x6dbcc]*4, clears the bit, resets input/line state.
  • label_3c9/label_41e (the 0x7b-saved handlers) are per-frame render → poll (call label_8c) → yield (0x7c) routines — i.e. this coroutine machinery IS the ADV per-frame loop, not just intro setup.

⇒ DESIGN (host-model, not emulate). To make cold single-scene runs correct: (1) supply aba5c=1 as scene-entry state (native, seedable, like INIT2); (2) give 0x140 a host-modeled bounded "labeled yield" that runs the intro body at least once (so label_125bd fills the slot table + ADV init runs) then reports completion so content plays — we reproduce the observable effect, not the video service. The idiom is byte-identical across all ~136 ADV scenes, so it generalizes with zero per-scene work. Payoff beyond the slot fix: the same 0x7b/0x7c + handler machinery is the ADV frame loop, so a clean host model becomes the seam for the interactive-ADV backlog (0x90 hotspots / EMPTY scenes) and likely fixes the stuck magic circle (scene-phase cleanup). Permanently out of static scope: the real intro-transition timing/pacing inside the loop (it lives in the native video service) — we approximate it host-side, as everywhere else. Host model implemented (2026-07-09). VirtualMachine recognizes only the ADV "LABEL","J" form (138 corpus scripts; all have the same terminal-check shape), synthesizes G[0xaba5c]=1 on top-level scene entry, forces one setup-body pass even if G[0x6be] is stale, then returns the terminal immediate discovered from the following mov/eq pair. Thus no SC0000 offset is hardcoded. Op 0x7b retains the saved handler PCs as frame metadata; op 0x7c is a host-scheduler marker because IHost.FrameYield and FrameClock already own per-frame pacing. TITLE.BIN's unrelated "BIN","SC????.BIN" service remains stubbed. The real video-service timing remains intentionally unmodeled.

Magic-circle retention fixed in the host model (2026-07-09). The effect is AE001H.AGF (resource 0x37). SC0000 already contains the correct teardown, but the port's wrong 0x215 query returned -1 and skipped it. The corrected source-slot query now reaches 0x1f7(handle,10) object erasure and 0x1fa(slot) surface release; the booted regression ends with no visible 0x37 object.

gfx command-buffer — op contract table (2026-07-07, full family reversed)

Every gfx op shares one shape: write a cmd-type into the current object record (*(ctx + 0x53d88 + ctx[0x53d14]*0x78) = <cmd>), fetch operands via FUN_0041b940(i) (1-based; docs = the 0x1a2 variant uses FUN_00415f30), then either SET object fields (call a native worker FUN_0047xxxx) or QUERY object fields (write results back to output operands via FUN_00425fb0(i, val)). Handlers resolved through the dispatch table (ctx[0x26c93+op]); all renamed in the Ghidra project gfx_op_0x<op>_<role>.

op handler cmd dir argc contract
0x1a2 0x42d360 3 set 1 operand-descriptor hash insert: key "%c%8.8x"(3, operand-desc) → FUN_0042cf70; separate from the retained object map
0x1f7 0x422270 5 erase 2 retained-object erase: op2>1 → gfx_object_erase_range(op1,op2) erases [op1,op1+op2), else gfx_object_erase(op1)
0x1fa 0x4224a0 3 set 1 release surface slot ctx+0x52bd4[op1] (vtbl free) + FUN_00474e40(op1)
0x1ff 0x4227b0 9 set 4 3 int→float params on obj op1 → FUN_0047e800(op1,f2,f3,f4)
0x202 0x4228d0 0xb set 5 blit obj op1 with (op2,op3) + packed ARGB from op4(alpha)/op5(color) → FUN_0047ea00
0x203 0x4229a0 9 set 4 draw obj op1 with op2 + packed color(op3/op4) → FUN_0047e9b0
0x212 0x4230c0 5 set 2 obj[ctx+0x14d54 + op1*4] -> +0x64 = op2
0x213 0x423110 7 set 3 obj[0x14d54+op1*4] -> +0x68 = op2 ; +0x6c = op3 (an (x,y) pair)
0x215 0x42a0b0 5 query 2 retained-object find(op2 handle) → op1 = obj+4 source slot / 0xffffffff. Drives setup and teardown.
0x216 0x42a0f0 5 query 2 read [ctx+0x46d14 + op2*0x14] → op1
0x217 0x4231b0 9 set 4 3 int→float on obj op1 → FUN_0047e960 (SETS a geom 3-vector)
0x218 0x42a130 9 query 4 FUN_0047f360(obj op1) → op2,op3,op4 (GETS a geom 3-vector)
0x219 0x423240 9 set 4 3 int→float on obj op1 → FUN_0047e910 (SETS a geom 3-vector)
0x21a 0x42a1b0 9 query 4 FUN_0047f2e0(obj op1) → op2,op3,op4 (GETS a geom 3-vector)

label_12649 correlation (the drift chain, confirmed). The recurring idiom is:

query-gfx-object? (G 0x62452) (G 0x6245X)   ; 0x215: handle G[0x6245X] -> working slot G[0x62452]
ui-elem?          (G 0x6245X) 0xa           ; 0x1f7: select that element
ui-clear?         (G 0x62452)               ; 0x1fa: clear the slot

G[0x62452] is the working slot; G[0x6245X] are per-object handles (the 0x62455[idx] family: 0x62456/7/8/a/b/c). The geometry ops move two per-object 3-vectors between object records and globals:

  • 0x217 SET anchor-vector G[0x6249b/c/d] into the object; 0x218 GET it back out.
  • 0x21a GET position-vector into G[0x62498/9/a]. These get-vectors are exactly the inputs to the anchor-preserve math (docs/superpowers/specs/2026-07-06-a2b-graphics-geometry-design.md: G[0x62498] = G[0x6249b] − w/2, foot-anchor at G[0x6249c]). So the drift has two stubbed drivers, not one: 0x215 (wrong slot → collapse to slot 0) and 0x218/0x21a (stale geometry vectors → the anchor math reads garbage). Both read object state the SET ops (0x217/0x219/0x212/0x213) wrote — all bytecode-driven, all host-modelable.

Model implication for the host-side reimplementation (Phase 2 input). The subsystem is a set of per-object records keyed by handle, carrying: a live source slot (written by draw-texture, queried by 0x215), a position 3-vector (0x21a get / a matching set), and an anchor 3-vector (0x218 get / 0x217 set), plus color/blit params (0x202/0x203). The native workers (FUN_0047xxxx = the DirectDraw/surface layer) need not be modelled — only the object-record data model, so the QUERY ops return what the SET ops stored. That makes 0x215/0x216/0x218/0x21a return correct values and the existing bytecode geometry math produces correct dst/w/h. Ancillary per-object tables observed: ctx+0x14d54 (obj pointers, fields +0x64/ +0x68/+0x6c), ctx+0x46d14 (stride 0x14), ctx+0x52bd4 (element pointers), plus the 0x408 registry.

Worker functions decoded + annotated in the Ghidra project (updated 2026-07-09): gfx_object_erase(0x47d850), gfx_object_erase_range(0x47d8b0), gfx_object_query_source_slot(0x47f280), gfx_object_get_or_create(0x47ddb0, inserts a zeroed default via gfx_object_init_default@0x472810), the setters gfx_set_vec18/24/16c(0x47e960/e910/e800), the getters gfx_get_vec18/24(0x47f360/f2e0).

The 0x21c–0x243 sprite transform / ANIMATION cluster (2026-07-10, partial implementation)

The scene-completeness tracker (tools/scene_opcode_coverage.py) flagged a dense band of GAP ops in 0x21c–0x243 (+ 0x2bd/0x2bf) — the largest remaining rendering unknown in SC0000 (e.g. 0x220×66, 0x22f×34, 0x228×33, 0x21e×25 static sites). Resolving every one through the dispatch table (ctx[0x26c93+op], read from FUN_00413860) shows it is one coherent subsystem: sprite transform + animation/tween — and two members were already named in prior RE (0x234 gfx_op_0x234_anim_start, 0x238 gfx_op_0x238_set_anim_clock). Kelebek VAs drift here as everywhere (op 0x220 real handler is 0x4234e0, not Kelebek's 0x4215D0). Op → real handler map:

op handler op handler op handler
0x21c 0x417520 (417xxx trivial) 0x229 0x423700 0x236 0x423ee0
0x21d 0x423310 0x22a 0x4237b0 0x237 0x4240a0
0x21e 0x423350 ✎ set_transform3_norm 0x22b 0x423850 0x238 anim_start's clock ✎
0x21f 0x423410 0x22c 0x423900 0x239 0x424120
0x220 0x4234e0 ✎ set_transform3_abs 0x22d 0x423990 0x23a 0x42a440
0x221 0x423590 0x22e 0x423a40 0x23b 0x424190
0x222 0x4235e0 0x22f 0x423b00 0x23c 0x417580 (417xxx)
0x223 0x423620 0x230 0x423ba0 0x23d 0x4175c0 (417xxx)
0x224 0x417550 (417xxx) 0x231 0x423be0 0x23e 0x42a4a0
0x225 0x4236a0 0x232 0x423c30 0x23f 0x42a520
0x226 0x42a230 0x233 0x423cf0 0x240 0x4245f0
0x227 0x42a2e0 0x234 set_rotation_cycle ✎ 0x241 0x4247e0
0x228 0x42a3a0 0x235 0x423e40 0x242 0x4249d0
0x243 0x4182d0 (417xxx)

(0x2bd→0x4251c0, 0x2bf→0x425240. The handful of 0x417xxx handlers are trivial/marker-shaped — the default-handler neighbourhood — and are almost certainly no-ops or arg-poppers; triage before modelling.)

Contract (completed 2026-07-10, representative ops 0x21e/0x220, both argc 6): these are independent matrix channels, not two encodings of one vec3 property.

  • 0x21e normalizes operands 4–6, then gfx_object_set_scale_channel (0x47eaa0) stores timing at obj+0x3c/+0x50 and calls 0x48af1d, which writes the three values onto a 4×4 matrix diagonal at obj+0xac: a scale matrix.
  • 0x220 passes raw operands 4–6 to gfx_object_set_translation_channel (0x47ecc0), stores timing at obj+0x44/+0x58, and calls 0x48afb1, which writes them into matrix entries 12–14 at obj+0x1ac: a translation matrix.
  • gfx_object_apply_transform_channels (0x472f00) supplies the timing contract. Both channels use shared start timestamp obj+0x34 and global frame-time ctx+0xb550, but have independent delay/duration: scale obj+0x3c/+0x50, translation obj+0x44/+0x58. Each holds its current matrix through the delay, linearly interpolates current→target for its duration, then commits the target and clears its own timing. Neither third component is opacity.

Port result (2026-07-10): GfxState now retains separate current/target scale and translation channels with the native shared-start/independent-timing model. Godot scales around V18 (anchor), applies translation independently, and never derives opacity from transform Z. The shared AnimTarget and TZ/100 alpha tween are gone.

anim_start/set_anim_clock decoded + opening confirmed (2026-07-07, animation-slice Task 1)

Decoding the two already-named clock/start ops (dispatch table → 0x234@0x00423da0, 0x238@0x004240e0; both annotated) and grepping the SC0000 opening settles the animation model and confirms the opening exercises it:

  • 0x238 set_anim_clock (argc 1, cmd-type 3): ctx+0x51b78 = 0 (elapsed), ctx+0x51b7c = operand1 (total duration). A GLOBAL, NON-BLOCKING clock — not per-object. The op only configures the clock; it does not loop/wait. The native render loop advances this clock each frame and interpolates all animating objects. Its own plate comment states the payoff: "our port can drive animation in the host's per-frame loop while the VM is parked at wait-for-input; no VM/host frame-lockstep." → validates the wall-clock-tween architecture directly. SC0000: set-anim-clock(G[0x624bb]) @0x123bd, set-anim-clock(0x190=400) @0x13858.
  • 0x234 anim_start (legacy mnemonic; argc 5, cmd-type 0xb): following worker gfx_object_set_rotation_cycle (0x47f060) into gfx_object_anim_interpolate (0x473ed0) corrects its ABI to (handle)(period_ms)(axis_x)(axis_y)(axis_z). Period is obj+0x228, axis is obj+0x244..0x24c, and the frame-clock consumer applies 360*((now-start)%period)/period degrees. This is a cyclic rotation channel, not a target vec3 for scale/translation and not opacity.
  • The opening path uses the whole subsystem, early. 0x21e/0x220 transform-sets fire from 0x00f73 onward (0x21e (G[0x6245b]) 0 0x12c l0 l1 0x64, 0x220 (G[0x62457]) 0x96 0x3e8 l1 l3 0), on the same INIT2 CG handles (G[0x62457],0x6245b,0x6245c) — this is the opening, not battle/debug. So the slice's ops are real and verifiable on screen.

Corrected host model: 0x21e scale and 0x220 translation run directly from frame-time ctx+0xb550 using their own delay/duration; they do not use op 0x238 as their duration. Op 0x234 is the independent rotation cycle above. Op 0x238 still configures the separate ctx+0x51b78/+0x51b7c animation service used by its own family.

The opening render path is RETAINED, not immediate-mode (2026-07-08, ground-truth correction)

A working note in the animation slice mis-called the SC0000 opening a set of "immediate-mode slot-0 blits." That was wrong, and it came from trusting our own Age.Cli gfx oracle (which executes our VM and mis-labeled the CG draws as "slot 0"). Verified against native code + the raw bytecode:

  • draw-texture (op 0x1fb, handler gfx_op_0x1fb_draw_bind@0x422510) is a RETAINED bind, not a blit. It writes cmd-type 0x11 and calls gfx_object_bind_draw@0x47e870, which on the object keyed by handle (operand 1) sets: flag|=1 (visible), obj+4 = source SLOT index, obj+8..0x14 = source rect, obj+0x24/28/2c = position. Its plate comment (prior RE) already states the key fact: the object stores the slot INDEX — a live ref to surface[slot], resolved each frame at render — NOT a texture snapshot. Objects persist and are composited each frame; this is exactly the surfaces+objects model in "The full gfx render model" above.
  • The SC0000 opening is a retained scene of distinct objects, sleep-paced. Raw bytecode: fixed-handle UI objects (0xcf08 slot 3 full-screen, 0xc350 slot 0xe, 0xe678 slot 0xd — a 400×30 element re-bound 20+ times), an animated sprite (draw-texture (G[0x62457]) (G[0x62452]) … (G[0x62498]) (G[0x62499]), computed position), and the CG loader (SC0000 @0x126e1/0x12970): set-texture G[0x62424] → slot G[0x62452], get-texture-size, centre it, then draw-texture (handle = CG_array[G[0x62450]] = INIT2 array G[0x62455..]) slot G[0x62452] …. sleep 0x64/0x3e8/0x2ee sits between steps. So different draws use different handles and per-object working slots — not one slot-0 canvas.
  • Why our port still doesn't animate the opening (conclusion unchanged, mechanism corrected): we execute the whole load/draw/sleep sequence instantly — no sleep timing, no per-frame present — so we only ever see the final retained state; the intermediate AE* frames (AE001D→AE002B→AE003B, surface swaps on the working slot between paced frames) never get a frame to display. The fix is frame-pacing (scene-coroutine / sleep 0xc8), a separate subsystem from the transform/alpha channel. Lesson: never characterise the engine's render mechanism from our own VM's oracle output — use native code + raw bytecode.

sleep (op 0xc8) — the frame-pacing primitive (2026-07-08, decoded)

Handler resolved via the dispatch table (ctx[0x26c93+0xc8] = param_1[0x26d5b] in FUN_00413860) → sleep_op_0xc8@0x420ec0 (was LAB_00420ec0; created + annotated). It is NON-BLOCKING:

  • It arms a timer — sleep_timer_arm@0x44cff0 on the object at ctx+0x5f304: +8 = 1 (active), +0x14 = (*DAT_0056f3d4)() (start tick — an ms source, timeGetTime/GetTickCount class, same DAT_0056f3d4 the boot uses to seed srand via time/100), +0x18 = duration (operand, min 1). The engine's main loop polls elapsed ≥ duration and resumes the script — rendering continues in the meantime. This is the native confirmation that the engine paces animation in its per-frame loop, not by blocking.
  • Operand unit = MILLISECONDS. duration < 10 fast-paths through import [0x56f0b8]; every real scene sleep (100/750/1000 in SC0000) is ≥ 10 → the timer-arm path.
  • The handler also writes gfx cmd-type 3 into the current object record (ctx+0x53d88+curidx*0x78) and runs two anti-tamper checks (call [ctx+0x5512c]; a rotate-checksum compare of ctx+0x55120/0x55124; __CxxThrowException on mismatch — integrity work piggybacked on a hot op). Neither is needed by our model.

Port equivalent (implemented): our VM runs on a background thread (like wait-for-input), so blocking that thread for duration ms while the main-thread compositor (Main.Recomposite in _Process) keeps presenting is behaviorally equivalent to the native non-blocking timer. This correctly reproduces the explicit one-shot sleeps (the dramatic 1000/750/200 ms holds). Headless/CLI hosts no-op Sleep (parity). IHost.Sleep(long) + VM case "sleep"; see vm-map/opcodes.toml 0xc8. ⚠ It does NOT make the rapid opening AE* burst animate — execution trace shows the back-to-back set-texture→draw-texture swaps have no sleep/wait/present/ coroutine between them, so bare sleep was never their pacer; what advances that burst is still unknown (an earlier claim that "the opening is sleep-paced" was inherited from this doc and never execution-verified — corrected). Profile the real Godot run (--trace-histogram) to find it.

Related — present-frame (op 0x20c): dispatch param_1[0x26e9f] = gfx_op_0x20c_present_frame → gfx_render_frame@0x4820b0 (buffer flip). Our compositor presents every frame regardless, so 0x20c is a VM no-op (noop_headless=true); the Kelebek label u00416200 was VA-drift. This corrects the earlier open item ("no per-frame present") above — present is host-implicit; only sleep timing was missing.

Frame cadence — the interpreter tick, and why our port "speeds through" (2026-07-08)

Answers the open question the sleep section above left ("what advances the rapid opening burst is still unknown"). The pace is an engine-level execution cadence, not any bytecode primitive. Corroborated in-game by Ctrl fast-forwarding ADV (a speed governor). Motivated by the user's observation that our port visibly speeds through the opening — which contradicted, and correctly overturned, an earlier same-day overclaim that "there is no missing pacer" (that was inferred from headless op-counts, which cannot render).

Confirmed from the engine image (annotated in Ghidra):

  • The interpreter is a cooperative one-op-per-tick step, not a run-to-completion loop. adv_interpreter_tick@0x410fb0 (renamed from FUN_00410fb0) executes exactly one opcode per call: op = **(ctx+0x53d2c + curCtx*0x78); if 0 ≤ op ≤ 0x3ff it dispatches (*(ctx+0x9b24c+op*4))() (the handler table = ctx[0x26c93+op]) then advances PC += *(ctx+0x53d88+curCtx*0x78) * 4 (decoded cmd size), else the default handler FUN_004162b0. It also runs the message-skip / click / auto-advance logic each tick (s_set_CancelMesSkipOnClick, s_message_ReadTextSkip, skip bit ctx+0xa0ce4 & 0x8000000) — i.e. the Ctrl fast-forward governor lives at the per-op level, and a click can reposition the PC (skip-to-next).
  • Script contexts are coroutine records. curCtx = *(ctx+0x53d14) indexes 0x78-byte records at ctx+0x53d60/ctx+0x53d2c (PC, codebase, cmd-size). The engine multiplexes script "threads." Init/reset = scene_context_init_reset@0x40b3b0 (zeroes 0x53d14 + 0xa0ce4, allocs surfaces ctx+0x52bd4[1000]).
  • Advancement is gated by an interpreter run-state flags word ctx+0xa0ce4 (bit1 = sleeping, plus wait/ skip/etc.), read+written by ~40 state functions. sleep_op_0xc8 sets bit1 + arms the ms timer and returns — it does not block. So the outer loop consults 0xa0ce4 to decide whether to step the script this frame.
  • Effects are frame-stepped. Screen transitions FUN_0043cdb0 (12 wipe/slide modes) render one frame per step and take a step-count parameter (the natural place a speed multiplier applies); present-frame (0x20c) and the anim clock (0x238) advance per frame. A CG transition therefore spreads over many real frames.
  • Timing source = the ms-clock function pointer *DAT_0056f3d4 (timeGetTime-class), used throughout.

Model: single-threaded, vsync-timed frame loop; each frame it steps opcodes until the context yields (sleep armed / wait-for-input 0x72 / active frame-stepped transition/anim / present), renders (gfx_render_frame), waits on the clock, continues. Back-to-back draws inside one page compose into a single frame (fine); the opening's CG-to-CG advances are gated by frame-stepped transitions + sleeps, which spread them over real time.

⚠ Not statically resolvable (honest boundary): the outer frame loop itself is not readable from this dump. adv_interpreter_tick is invoked through a runtime-set mode function pointer (heap/vtable slot) — it has zero static xrefs, and its address bytes (b0 10 41 00) appear nowhere in range_00400000 (0x400000– 0x65ffff). The functions touching the scheduler state (0x53d14, 0xa0ce4) are init/reset, save (context_state_serialize@0x40d320), and op-handlers — never the loop. The "run-until-yield then render" statement above is a reconstruction from those pieces, not a line read from the loop; pinning the actual loop + its exact per-frame step budget / vsync wait needs a live-debugger break (attach + break in the frame loop), or a wider memory dump that includes the mode object.

Port relevance (the speed-through root cause). Our Godot VM runs on a free-running background thread (Task.Run(() => vm.Run()) in Main.cs) with no frame binding — it executes an entire page's ops in microseconds; only WaitForInput and Sleep pause it, and the compositor merely samples GfxState at 60fps. So every no-sleep CG/state advance collapses to its end state → the speed-through. Fix shape: throttle the VM to a bounded wall-clock op rate (see the measured numbers below) via a per-opcode host yield; retire the free-running thread. Spec: docs/superpowers/specs/2026-07-08-frame-stepped-vm-design.md.

Frame cadence — live measurement (2026-07-08, Frida read-only)

The static pass couldn't reach the outer loop, so we measured the running game. Read-only / import-only only (tools/frida/probe_frame_cadence.py, probe_present.py): a plain-JS hook on the proven operand-fetch 0x41b940 (grab ctx + count exec rate) + system-DLL hooks; no engine-code patching. Lesson learned the hard way: a first attempt with a CModule hook on the hyper-hot adv_interpreter_tick crashed the game instantly (bad native callback into the hottest path — not anti-tamper; our other scripts hook engine code via plain JS and survive). Use plain-JS hooks on proven addresses + memory polling.

Findings:

  • Execution is rate-limited, not free-running. Normal active rate ≈ 1,788 operand-fetches/sec (peak ~5,796) — far below an unthrottled interpreter (millions/sec), so the engine paces itself. Execution is bursty (parked at wait-for-input prompts, then a bounded burst), confirming per-iteration op-budgeting.
  • Fast-forward (Ctrl) scales the rate ~4× (≈7,738/sec avg, peak ~15,572), gated by the engine skip bit ctx+0xa0ce4 & 0x8000000 (set only while fast-forwarding). It runs more ops per unit time — it does not skip content. (Ctrl is ADV-scoped; it does not speed up gameplay/menus.)
  • Rendering = Direct3D 9, UNCAPPED. ddraw.dll is not loaded; the game uses d3d9.dll (+ nvd3dum.dll). IDirect3DDevice9::Present (device vtable slot 17, found by scanning ctx for a d3d9-vtable object with a full ~119-method table) fires ~1,908/sec with no vsync; BeginScene/EndScene never fire → a 2D StretchRect-style compositor, not a 3D scene. So there is no fixed display-frame rate; Present rate ≈ op rate (~1 op per present). ⇒ the pacing quantity is the wall-clock op rate, not a per-frame budget.
  • Implication for the port: throttle our VM to ~1,800 ops/sec wall-clock (≈30 ops per 60 fps Godot _Process, tunable), ~4× under a future Ctrl multiplier; Godot's 60 fps compositor + wall-clock tweens then show the smoothly-advancing state. This measured mechanism replaces the earlier present-driven guess (present is rare in our path and uncapped natively).

The render drift's SECOND half: missing system-boot state (2026-07-07, resolved)

Implementing the gfx ops (above) was necessary but not sufficient — a cold single-scene run of SC0000 still drifted. Runtime tracing found the CG handle array G[0x62455..0x6245c] was all zeros, so every CG collapsed onto object 0 and its geometry accumulated. Those handles are set by the boot script INIT2 (mov 0x62455=0xcb20 … 0x6245c=0xcbc0), which is call-scripted by the real entrypoint SYSTEM4.BIN (LOADCONFIG → INITCONFIG → INIT2 → LOGO → OP → INIT → TITLE → …). Our harness teleports straight into SC0000, skipping that boot. Fix: run the system-boot state prefix (INITCONFIG/INIT2/INIT, skipping the UI scripts) before the scene — Age.Cli gfx --boot and Godot --boot (both via GameSession). With boot, the CGs de-collapse and render correctly (screenshot-confirmed). This is the synthesis of the old (a)-vs-(b) debate: the drift needed BOTH the native gfx ops (b) AND boot state (a) — specifically INIT2's handle array, never before identified (it is not a story flag). Note two distinct boots: our Phase-B --boot runs the data *INIT scripts (skills/items/…); this is the system boot (SYSTEM4 prefix) — a "full boot" should run both. Residual: the AE* fade/flash effects still draw opaque (alpha/blend deferred — Phase 2 scope), and some object-slot CGs start with a zero anchor (cold gfx objects vs the real game's warm ones; default object geometry is confirmed (0,0) in gfx_object_init_default, so it is not a missing-default bug). See docs/phase-a-slice-plan.md A2b-Geometry.

The gfx animation/effects subsystem — the AE* fades (2026-07-07)

The AE* flash/glow effects (and sprite motion) are a native time-animated retained render loop, not per-frame bytecode. Reversed + annotated in Ghidra:

  • Retained objects carry cyclic rotation state: flag value 4 at obj+0, start timestamp obj+0x214, period obj+0x228, and axis obj+0x244/248/24c.
  • gfx_object_set_rotation_cycle (0x47f060, worker for legacy op 0x234) configures that channel. gfx_object_anim_interpolate consumes it from frame-time ctx+0xb550 as a repeating 0..360-degree axis rotation. Op 0x1fd is a separate scaled 3-vector setter.
  • Op 0x238 (gfx_op_0x238_set_anim_clock) sets a global animation clock, non-blocking: ctx+0x51b78 = 0 (elapsed), ctx+0x51b7c = duration (the max per-object duration; SC0000 label_1235a maxes a table to compute it). It does not loop/wait.
  • Frame model: the bytecode does configure anims (0x234/0x1fd) → set clock (0x238) → show-text → wait-for-input and continues; the native render loop advances the clock + per-object progress each frame, interpolates, composites, presents. Render/present family nearby: 0x243/0x20c/0x21c/0x224 (u004162xx, not yet fully RE'd). ⇒ the port can drive animation in the HOST per-frame loop while the VM is parked at wait-for-input — no blocking present op, no VM/host frame-lockstep (the answer to the "frame loop" question).

Consequence: animation needs a retained per-frame compositor. That architecture is live; the 2026-07-10 matrix slice adds native one-shot scale/translation, while cyclic rotation remains a later affine step.

The full gfx render model — surfaces + objects + composite (2026-07-07)

Reversed the create/set/draw-texture handlers + the render loop (all annotated in Ghidra). This is the canonical model (an earlier flat "draw layers to one screen" attempt was WRONG — it had no surface concept and snapshotted textures at draw time; symptoms: alternating grey, glow over backgrounds, vanishing sprites).

Two distinct stores:

  • Surfaces — image buffers at ctx+0x52bd4[slot], indexed by slot. gfx_op_0x1f8_create_surface (0x4222d0) allocates a blank one (releasing any old); gfx_op_0x1f9_load_surface (0x422360, op 0x1f9 set-texture) resolves resId via the SYS4INI resolver (FUN_0044f390) and loads the file into the slot's surface with a colorkey/chromakey (op arg 3 — never modelled before), also releasing the old surface. A surface persists at its slot until the next set-texture overwrites it.
  • Objects — the ctx+0x408 registry, keyed by handle (a std::map). gfx_op_0x1fb_draw_bind (0x422510, op 0x1fb draw-texture) → gfx_object_bind_draw (0x47e870): sets the object's source slot (obj+4), source rect (obj+8..0x14 = left,top,right,bottom), position (obj+0x24/28/2c = V24), and the visible flag (bit 0). The object references its surface by slot index, live (re-resolved each frame), NOT a snapshot. Objects also carry anchor V18 (obj+0x18), independent scale and translation matrices/timing, cyclic rotation state, and color/alpha (0x202/0x203).

Render frame — gfx_render_frame (0x4820b0), driven by op 0x20c present (gfx_op_0x20c_present_frame 0x4174a0, which also updates the frame timer ctx+0x51b64/68): iterate the object registry in ascending handle order — that IS the z-order (lower handle behind, higher on top; std::map key order). For each object with visible bit 0, gfx_object_composite (0x47f650) computes its transform from geometry, applies the animation interpolation if bit 2 is set, and blits surface[obj.slot] with alpha/colorkey. Then swap buffers (present). Slot 0 is NOT special — a normal slot; several objects may share one surface.

⇒ Faithful port: a SurfaceStore (slot → {image, colorkey}, from create/set-texture) + an ObjectStore (handle → {slot, srcRect, position, anchor, scale, anim, alpha, visible}, from draw-texture + the gfx ops) + a host per-frame compositor that draws visible objects in ascending-handle order from their live surface, interpolating animations by elapsed time. No VM/host lockstep: animations play during the wait-for-input park. Scale/translation timing and anchored composition are implemented; full affine rotation remains deferred.

Blend & transparency — colorkey + 0x202/0x203 color/alpha (2026-07-08)

Reversed for graphics slice A (spec docs/superpowers/specs/2026-07-08-blend-transparency-design.md; Ghidra functions renamed + plate-commented, saved).

  • Colorkey format (gfx_op_0x1f9_load_surface 0x422360): read op arg 3; if (int)key < 0 → no colorkey (opaque); else the operand is 0xRRGGBB, converted to 0xFFRRGGBB and passed to the surface creator FUN_00477c40 as the transparent key (so operand 0 = key black). Colorkey is baked at surface-load (matching texels → transparent), NOT compared per-blit. Port: interpret arg 3 as RGB888; <0 = none; else texels whose (R,G,B) equal the key become transparent when the surface image is loaded/cached.
  • 0x202 (gfx_op_0x202_worker_set_color_anim 0x47ea00): sets an animated color/alpha target obj+0x64 = packedARGB, the color-anim active bit, resets progress obj+0x34=0. Animates over the global clock (0x238).
  • 0x203 (gfx_op_0x203_worker_set_color 0x47e9b0): sets a static color/alpha obj+0x60, no anim bit. Immediate per-object modulation.
  • Blit (gfx_object_blit_d3d9 0x4774c0): selects a blend mode (local_2c: 0 opaque, 1 alpha SRCALPHA/INVSRCALPHA, 2/3 additive/special for glow/flash) and passes a modulation color/alpha to the device draw. Slice A ports the alpha path (fades); additive (glow) is deferred (its local_2c source field is not yet pinned).

Interpolation RE pass (2026-07-08, stalled → both deferrals confirmed). Attempted to pin how a 0x202 fade animates so smooth ramping could join slice A. Findings (Ghidra gfx_object_anim_interpolate 0x473ed0, annotated+saved): the bit-2 anim family (op 0x234) interpolates 5 independent sub-channels (color obj+0x240/period obj+0x220, two matrices, rotation 0x168=360°, src-rect scroll), each on the global frame clock ctx+0xb550 (advanced per present, NOT the op-0x238 clock ctx+0x51b7c), and each ping-pongs (triangle wave, folded at period/2) — i.e. these are oscillating/pulsing effects, not one-shot fades. The 0x202/0x203 color (obj+0x60 static / obj+0x64 animated, sets ctx+0xb558/0xb560) is a separate channel whose blit consumer was not located in this pass. So a one-shot fade's exact source→target→easing is still unresolved and would take a dedicated dig (find the obj+0x64 consumer + the color→obj+0x240 path + the clock advance). ⇒ smooth color-anim interpolation stays deferred; slice A ships the static end-state (which reaches the correct final alpha/tint and fixes the stuck-opaque bug), with interpolation as a scoped follow-up.

SC0000 anim/transform/spritesheet cluster — op→field map (2026-07-08)

Reversed for the animation cluster slice (spec docs/superpowers/specs/2026-07-08-sc0000-anim-transform-cluster-design.md). Every cluster handler resolved via the dispatch table handler(op)=ctx[0x26c93+op] (the opcodes.toml u004xxxx labels are Kelebek VA drift — do not use them). Each op is a thin wrapper (FUN_0041b940(n) fetches operand n) → a worker that writes object fields; the interpolator gfx_object_anim_interpolate (0x473ed0) is the consumer. The cluster is heterogeneous — setters, queries, and a movie op. Renamed + annotated in Ghidra, saved.

In scope (built this slice):

op handler / worker semantics
0x22f gfx_op_0x22f_set_position_anim → gfx_worker_set_translation set object position (translation vec obj+0x5d4); base transform, not a ping-pong channel
0x229 gfx_op_0x229_set_position (FUN_00472bb0+FUN_00472be0) set object position/geometry immediately (obj+0x420/0x424 + vec obj+0x440..0x448)
0x239 gfx_op_0x239_set_srcrect_cell → gfx_worker_set_srcrect_cell set spritesheet grid obj+0x238/0x23c + static cell obj+0x234
0x231 gfx_op_0x231_anim_srcrect → gfx_worker_anim_srcrect animate spritesheet cell: bit2 active, period obj+0x230, grid obj+0x238/0x23c → interpolator SRC-RECT SCROLL channel (ping-pong across the row)
0x232 gfx_op_0x232_anim_color → gfx_worker_anim_color animate color (pulsing GLOW): bit2 active, period obj+0x220, target obj+0x240 → interpolator COLOR channel (ping-pong). Distinct from static 0x202/0x203 (obj+0x60/0x64)
0x228 gfx_op_0x228_query_position (FUN_0047cdd0) query current computed (x,y,z) → operand slots 3/4/5 (script logic, not render)
0x23f gfx_op_0x23f_query_object (FUN_0042a520) query an object status/value → operand slot 1

Deferred (own follow-ups, per scope decision): 0x21f (FUN_0047eb70, 4-float scale/matrix), 0x223 (FUN_0047f440, 8-arg matrix row) → need affine rendering; 0x236 (gfx_op_0x236 @0x423ee0) a timed/animated-surface (movie-like) op; plus the unclassified 0x21c/0x21d/0x224/0x242/0x23d/0x20a/0x20e/0x243 tail (2-arg flags / inline). These stay GAP until a follow-up slice or are safe-noop'd if the opening tolerates it.

Grey-background root cause — slot collision + tint-strength (2026-07-08, gfx-log)

Diagnosed with the new --gfx-log compositor/op trace (docs/tools-reference.md). The grey background has two distinct causes, both now proven:

  1. CORRECTION to the blend section above — op 0x202/0x203 "alpha" is a TINT STRENGTH, not object opacity. Evidence: the primary CG is drawn with 0x203 (alpha=0, color=white) = 0x00ffffff. That means "blend the tint (white) into the texel by strength 0" = no tint, fully opaque CG — but slice-A treated the alpha byte as the object's opacity → the CG rendered fully transparent → grey. Fix (commit 5e4fdda): RenderObject.TintStrength split from Alpha (opacity); textured objects stay opaque and the tint LERPs the RGB by strength (0=keep texel, 1=full tint). Surfaceless fills use the strength as fill opacity. Verified: the opening event CGs render again (shot-confirmed).

  2. Effect pages: everything collapses into slot 0. set-texture is dominantly set-texture (GLOBAL resId)(GLOBAL slot)(local colorkey) (543× across the corpus); the slot is a global. In our run every such global resolves to 0, so the background (BG030A), event CGs, and the effect spritesheet (AE001H, an 800×400 4×2 grid of blob frames) all set-texture into slot 0. Objects live-reference their slot, so loading the effect evicts the BG → grey; and the effect is drawn full-screen from slot 0 (its object src=(0,0 800x600)) → the whole sheet (blob grid) covers the screen. ⇒ The layering failure is a slot-assignment problem. CONFIRMED CAUSE (2026-07-08, live AGE_DIAG_SETTEX trace): every set-texture slot = G[0x62452], written by query-gfx-object? (0x215) which returns -1 for the (correctly-unregistered) CG/effect handles → the fallback at SC0000 label_12649 does G[0x62452] = lookup-array-2d(rec[s3]=G[0x3239], G[0x62450], 3, 0) = 0 because the slot table rec[s3]/G[0x3239] is empty. That table is filled by call label_125bd (SC0000 0x50f, slots 4..11), which is reached only through the scene-coroutine framework — the G[0xaba5c] gate (0x450) + op 0x140 (u0041F9C0, coroutine LABEL/yield "LABEL" "J" @ 0x46d). Fixed by the bounded scene-coroutine host model: 0x140 runs the setup body once, label_125bd fills the eight slot records, and SC0000 resource 0x23 loads into assigned slot 5 instead of slot 0. This was not a compositor/z-order/blend bug. Diagnostics: AGE_DIAG_SETTEX=1 env → VM logs each set-texture slot operand + query-gfx-object? result.

Differential offset-path oracle — engine-vs-VM control-flow diff (2026-07-09)

Method (lever #3 of the RE-front-loading program). Run the same scene in the real engine and our C# VM and diff the executed script-offset path. Both run the same bytecode, so the opcode at each offset is static (from disasm); the first place the two offset sequences differ is exactly the branch/opcode/state we modeled wrong — cheaper and higher-signal than diffing effects, and precisely where the render-drift walk-backs lived. Tools: tools/frida/trace_engine_ops.py (engine capture) · Age.Cli trace <SCENE> --boot --trace-json (VM capture) · tools/diff_optrace.py (align + first-divergence). Spec/plan: docs/superpowers/{specs,plans}/2026-07-09-differential-oracle*.

Capture method that WORKS = the operand hook vm_operand_fetch@0x41b940 (thiscall ecx=ctx; per op, offset=(pc−codebase)/4 from cur_ctx_index@0x53d14 / frame_pc@0x53d2c / frame_codebase@0x53d28, per-context stride 0x78). Validation: 100% of captured offsets land on valid SC0000 instruction starts — proves both the ctx-field offsets and the (pc−codebase)/4 math. The tick hook adv_interpreter_tick@0x410fb0 does NOT work — plain-JS Interceptor.attach there sees ecx≠ctx (0 entries), so the recon gate's tick path is closed too, not just the CModule path noted under Frame cadence. Two capture caveats, both handled:

  • Frida must hook BEFORE the scene loads. The scene-entry setup (decl preamble + first CG load at 0x802 mov G[0x62424]=0x23; call label_12649) runs in a µs burst at load; a capture started mid-scene floors at ~0x80d and misses it. trace_engine_ops.py writes build/tracer-live.flag once the hook is installed → launch it in the background and gate the New-Game trigger on that flag.
  • Operand mode skips zero-operand ops (stmt-begin/end markers, script-entry 0x259) — they never trigger an operand fetch. diff_optrace.py filters the VM trace to argc≥1 ops (same subsequence); control flow is preserved (markers don't branch). --full disables it for a hypothetical tick capture.

Codebase identification. The engine trace tags each op with its script's codebase pointer (a per-run heap address). pick_scene_codebase picks the codebase whose offset sequence shares the longest common prefix with the VM trace. From a boot→opening capture (7 codebases / 265k ops), SC0000 = 0x09c1afe8 (13252 ops, 100% valid, first offset 1 = offset 0 filtered).

FIRST DIVERGENCE FOUND (the tool's first catch + self-test). On the SC0000 opening the VM and engine agree for 27 ops (including the coroutine op 0x7b @ 0x79, which matched), then diverge at offset 0x8d = op 0xa0 (jcc) on global-int G[0x6c1]: the engine falls through to 0x94 (the op-0x90 hotspot-chrome registration block) ⇒ G[0x6c1]≠0; the VM jumps to label_df (0xdf) ⇒ G[0x6c1]==0. Because both ran 1..0x8d identically, G[0x6c1] is set before SC0000 — by pre-scene system boot the VM's cold --boot (INITCONFIG/INIT2/INIT) doesn't replicate (the two-boot gap). G[0x6c1] is an unlabeled but heavily-used scalar (766 uses) in the same cluster as the op-0x90 hotspot flags G[0x6c9..0x6cd] = ADV-chrome/input state. Headlessly benign (no input) but a genuine VM-side state gap — and a clean demonstration that the oracle localizes a mis-modeled branch to a single instruction. It is NOT the predicted coroutine yield (0x140/~0x50f); the oracle reports whatever diverges first, and it surfaced an earlier state hole. This is now the repeatable way to localize a mis-modeled op/state. Phase-2 extension (deferred): effects-diff (global-bank / gfx-registry writes) for branchy scenes.

Scene-entry state snapshot — auto-seeding single-scene runs (2026-07-09)

Problem the oracle surfaced: single-scene VM runs diverge from the engine because they lack the pre-scene global state the engine accumulates over SYSTEM4 → … → TITLE → New Game. --boot reproduces only the data *INIT scripts; flags like G[0x6c1] (ADV-chrome enable) are set later and missed.

Solution — capture_global_writes.py hooks vm_operand_write@0x425fb0 and logs every global-int write as (codebase, index, PLAINTEXT value). Key: the helper receives the plaintext value before the engine encodes it into the obfuscated global store (rotate+XOR with the per-session cookie ctx+0x55120) — which is exactly why the shelved flat-int32 scans (global-memory-re.md) found nothing, and why hooking the WRITER is clean (no de-obfuscation). ABI: thiscall ecx=ctx, [esp+4]=operand index, [esp+8]=value; the global index/type come from the instruction's operand slot (framePc + idx*8; type=*(opnd-4), index=*opnd), type 3 = global-int.

Packer gotcha (solved): AGE.EXE unpacks in-place at 0x400000, so a --spawn-time hook hits packed bytes → Frida "unable to intercept function at 00425FB0". Fix: poll 0x425fb0 until the real prologue (6aff 6836a85600 64a1…) appears (unpack done), THEN attach. --spawn is required for completeness (attach misses pre-attach boot writes); the tool also kills the spawned pid on setup failure so a JS error can't leave a suspended windowless orphan. (First bug hit: SIG hex without 0x → JS create_script SyntaxError → resume never ran → orphaned suspended game.)

Validated: a real boot→New-Game→SC0000 capture (34,008 globals incl. G[0x6c1]=1, G[0x62424]=0x23 the resId) loaded via Age.Cli trace SC0000 --state <snap> --trace-json seeds the VM to match the engine's entire opening (542 ops, no non-realignable fork) with ZERO manual seeding — confirming the pre-scene-state theory and giving a general auto-seed for single-scene fidelity. Residual: a 2-op color detour (0x202/0x203 @ 0x122d0, writing G[0x62451]) the full state does NOT fix = a real branch/op difference to chase (not state). Caveats: snapshot is playthrough-specific (best for canonical entry points — new-game opening, chapter starts); v1 captures global-INTS only (type 3; strings/floats TODO); includes the scene's own early writes (can exclude by codebase for a pure pre-scene boundary).

Native walls backlog (targets for this loop)

  • call-script dispatch — SOLVED (above): call-script <id> = raw SYS4INI file index.
  • decision→scene — how 0x62ccf/the decision selects the next SCxxxx. Now narrower: scenes load via call-script/the same SYS4INI-index loader, so the open question is only where the decision value is turned into a scene id (a caller of SCJUMP; re-aimed away from u00428010).
  • op 0x60 (u0041A270) — the rand-like value gating 1732/1755 SCJUMP decisions.
  • gfx command-buffer — DONE (the 0x212–0x21a positioned-object subsystem = the rendering drift): all 14 ops reversed + implemented against a host-side GfxState, and the missing INIT2 boot state supplied via --boot. CGs render (screenshot-confirmed). See the op 0x215 finding + "The render drift's SECOND half" above. Remaining: AE* alpha/blend (deferred) and cold-object anchors.
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