Entry 286

Open questions after the triage: battle

battle

This entry answers the question left open by Game data tables, decoded through their DWARF types, How an area picks its enemies, Battle rules: stats, damage, protect break, status, experience, checked against the game code, piney-battle: the rules of combat, the enemies' and party's decisions and items, checked against the game, Battle in motion: Kite's combat, Orca following and fighting, path finding, the magic portals and the first field's enemies, Skeith's rules: ccBoss01 run against the port frame by frame, and the effects' lives measured, The party follows Kite in town: the members as the battle's characters under ActInTown, "The party's chat lines: ccAI::ChatMessage* and ChatMessageSender", The story dungeons' symbols: ccGimSymbol, "The lakes' symbols: ccGimSymbol::objMain", The gold goblins: thinkGold, moveGold and actEscapeGold, The other enemy races: every constructor, and the motion of 2, C, F, H, I and U, "The enemy races' motion: A, D, E, S, T, W, 3, 4 and Z", "ccEnemyL: the snakoids, wyrms and dragons", Equipment changed in a field stays, and the new weapon hangs on the model, "Skeith's death clears the party's conditions (ccClearSpcCondition); the records' reload keeps what the world changed between frames", Mutation's grown tables and its battle rules, Mutation's item use, its new remarks and a carry fix, Mutation's party AI, Data Drain leaves the drained form, The members' item uses carried out, Event 107 under the autopilot: to Innis and past the breeder, Kyvia's first fight and its disc, Event 108 under the autopilot: shut doors, Kyvia's parts and its healing gomora, Magus and its leaves.

FilesUNKNOWNS.md

This entry closes the open questions of 25 entries about battle: the tables, the rules, the enemies' and the party's decisions, items, Data Drain and the bosses' rules. The triage of 2026-09-28 (UNKNOWNS.md) split every entry's open paragraph into single questions and checked each one against the later log, the docs and the code. The answered ones are listed below with their evidence. What is still open is restated at the end, with the entry that asked it, the play questions first. Open questions of these entries that belong to another subsystem are restated in that subsystem's entry: 282, 284, 285, 287, 288 and 291.

Answered

  • 12: what the enemy table's type, Exdefense, entry.* and AI fields drive — answered by 22, 67, 78 / docs/engine/battle.md (the type bits, Exdefense at +0x64, entryEnemy); only type bits 0x100 and 0x200 remain, below
  • 12: how enemyList00..15 and enemyOfs pick rows — answered by 13, 275 / crates/piney-battle/src/entry.rs register_list (tools/test_battle_spawn_rs.py)
  • 12: the skill and item effect fields — answered by 22, 67 / docs/engine/battle.md, crates/piney-battle/src/skill.rs, item.rs
  • 12: the msg pointer in the character and boss rows — answered by 208 (an address of its message table)
  • 13: the race and drain expansion for type-64 entries — answered by 78: 0x40 rows are middle bosses, their base and drained forms registered (crates/piney-battle/src/entry.rs Register::register; tools/test_battle_spawn_rs.py)
  • 13: what ccGame.field holds — answered by 84 / docs/engine/evarea.md (the story area number, eventAreaNumber; 0 for a generated area)
  • 13: how the three registered enemies become encounters (magic portals, circleOfs) — answered by 78, 164 / docs/engine/battle.md "Where the entries come from"
  • 13: how itemOfs picks treasure — answered by 68 / crates/piney-fieldui/src/menus/getitem.rs area_item (tools/test_battle_flow_rs.py, 67)
  • 22: the Data Drain drop roll and side-effect table, read not run — answered by 102 (tools/test_battle_drain_rs.py; tools/test_fieldui_rs.py test_data_drain), 141
  • 22: _ccSkillRequest's attribute-critical roll and area splash damage — answered by 67 (tools/test_battle_rs.py: ccSkillDamage single, area and point; _ccSkillRequest)
  • 22: the effects of sleep, paralysis, charm and confusion on behaviour — answered by 67, 78 / docs/engine/battle.md "Enemy AI", "Status effects"
  • 22: boss skills (_ccBossSkillDamage) — answered by 109 / docs/engine/boss.md
  • 22: item use — answered by 67, 230 / crates/piney-battle/src/item.rs (tools/test_battle_items_rs.py)
  • 22: enemy AI beyond its structure — answered by 67, 78 (tools/test_battle_enemy_ai_rs.py)
  • 22: what noDeathFlag means — answered by docs/engine/battle.md (a member with it: HP and SP only rise), 192
  • 22: whether plcol is the bracelet — answered by docs/engine/battle.md (data_drain sets it with Kite's skill 2)
  • 22: whether volumes 2-4 changed the battle rules — answered by 25 (Exdefense, the area skill), 221
  • 67: the run-time's animation and notes — answered by 78, 139, 278
  • 67: enemy spawning and portals (ccThEntryCtrl, entryEnemy, entryMagicCircle) — answered by 78, 80, 164
  • 67: enemy movement and each race's action() — answered by 78, 168, 169, 171
  • 67: party movement (FollowPlayer to ActInTown) and ccFellow::Action/Main — answered by 78, 110
  • 67: the spells' element systems — answered by 79, 81 (the five spell systems)
  • 67: the Data Drain movie and transformation — answered by 105, 229
  • 67: damage numbers, hit marks and sounds — answered by 79, 81
  • 67: the bosses: _ccBossSkillDamage, their affects and AI — answered by 109 (Skeith); 266, 272, 274 (Mutation's)
  • 67: ccEnemyG::thinkGold — answered by 167
  • 67: the chat text — answered by 123
  • 67: ChangeEquipReport in a field or dungeon — answered by 123 (FieldWorld::equip_report); the town's is in the menus' entry
  • 78: piney-world's field and dungeon ran stand-ins with no entry control — answered by 80
  • 78: F_Note records skipped by the animation reader — answered by 138, 139, 278
  • 78: ccThGameCtrl's SetInBattle — answered by 80 (tools/test_gamectrl_rs.py, in battle)
  • 78: the enemies' skills — answered by 81, 83
  • 78: the weapon and dust effects — answered by 118, 119, 170, 197
  • 78: the camera shake — answered by 165
  • 78: the gimmicks' mains and CloseDoor — answered by 87, 98, 116, 140
  • 78: the Data Drain movie — answered by 105
  • 109: which EVENTAREAB0 area event 30 loads; SwitchLayer and DMY_center01 — answered by 112, 113
  • 109: the boss entry (type 7) and present/absent 7 in the field's run-time — answered by 113 / docs/engine/boss.md
  • 109: CMP_trall, the afterimages, the cross's trail, ccBossCam, the stage fader, the reversed layer, the effects' pictures — answered by 113, 115, 117 / docs/engine/boss.md (tools/test_bosscam_rs.py)
  • 109: menu 74 (StreamMenu) — answered by 113
  • 110: the members' chat lines and window; ChatMessageEnteredTown and EnteredField — answered by 123
  • 149: row 18's objMain (the lakes' symbol) — answered by 155
  • 168, 171: the fire breath (ccEnemyBreath) not drawn — answered by 172
  • 168: the motion of L, W, D, E, T, A, 4 and S — answered by 169, 171
  • 169: ccEnemyL (dragons and snakoids) stands still — answered by 171
  • 169: the turtles' foot dust and the Cerberus's breath not drawn — answered by 172 (GAPS.md: drawn)
  • 221: Mutation's ccAI::UseItem changes (CheckAction(7), held members, remarks) — answered by 222
  • 221: Mutation's four new chat tables (tolerances, only one buff or debuff) — answered by 222, 223
  • 221: the items, fellow, kite, party AI, enemy AI, spawn, event, chat and drain harnesses fail on Mutation — answered by 222, 223, 224
  • 222: the callers of the other remarks (ChatCommandExecute, BuffPlz, DeBuffPlz, FulfilCheck) — answered by 223
  • 222: the party AI harness's five failures on Mutation — answered by 223
  • 223: the fellow, kite, event, navi and spawn harnesses not rerun on Mutation — answered by 224 (all five rerun there)
  • 229: no test drains an enemy on Mutation's disc — answered by 266, 268 (Innis drained)
Still unknown
  • (play) [[268]]: Innis's drains at its breaks gave item drops and no Epitaph in the survey, where innis_drained_through_the_menus reaches the Epitaph; possibly the queued-affect bug [[274]] fixed (a lost 21), not rechecked — Mutation's first boss fight may skip its Epitaph phase. - (play) [[272]]: Kyvia's gomoras do not push each other; the pad's sway, the arm's picture and the particles are missing (docs/engine/boss-kyvia.md) — Mutation's Kyvia 01 fight. - (play) [[274]]: Magus's shock beams are taken to meet the ground (no ccHitCheckLM on the land); EntryFlash2 and 3 are one flash; the grow's looping SE plays once (docs/engine/boss-magus.md) — Mutation's Magus fight. - (volumes) [[21]]: whether ccRegisterDifficultyEnemy matches on the other volumes; read on all four ([[275]]), never run in eemu there. - (volumes) [[67]]: piney-battle is checked against Infection and Mutation ([[219]] to [[224]]); not against Outbreak and Quarantine. - (volumes) [[278]]: how Outbreak's enemy tables changed row by row; only the offsets are compared. - [[12]], [[22]]: what type bits 0x100 and 0x200 mean; set on spells, read by no rule (docs/engine/battle.md Unknown). - [[22]]: that the protect break is the Data Drain window is still inferred (docs/engine/battle.md Unknown). - [[22]]: normal (non-drain) drops: nothing found; ccExpDistributor gives experience only; not surveyed. - [[12]]: whether the placeholder enemies can appear. - [[95]], [[101]]: what bit 0 of a skill row's +0x2c (ccGetSkillParam(sid) + 0x2c) means. - [[171]]: ccEnemyL's type 3 (rows 203-206): what they are and whether any event places them; not ported, and no Δ list registers them (GAPS.md). - [[105]]: the race's base form ccThDrainEnemy builds for a state 2 that no caller sets. - [[275]]: what the community note's enemyList00 refers to; the code gives story areas column 6. - [[78]]: a dungeon way of 55 cells or more overwrites the beacon pointer, and unset destinations read stack garbage (game quirks; docs/engine/battle.md Unknown). - [[78]]: the third swing is never reached, and ctrlType 1 and 2 are unused (inferred; docs/engine/battle.md Unknown). - [[78]]: the equal-priority task order within ccThSpc (inferred). - [[98]]: whether ccThEntryCtrl's first slice runs in the frame of ccEnableThEvent(4) or the next (inferred from the task order). - [[110]]: ccThSpc and ccThAISystem run before a leaver's task ends, where the game's ends at slot 50, after them (docs/engine/field-game.md Unknown). - [[73]]: CalcReal skips a worn piece of -1 where the game reads the row before; no new-game member wears -1. - [[123]]: levelOld from the game's heap when a member is built in town (docs/engine/battle.md Unknown). - [[123]]: whether the stray # lines freeze a real console (docs/engine/battle.md Unknown). - [[123]]: the raised lines are said after the task, not inside the hit, so their rand() draws come later. - [[123]]: what sets saveData +0x220d (id 1's garbled lines) (docs/engine/battle.md Unknown). - [[223]]: the game's windowed history walk never moves past a delivered item use that casts nothing; the port passes it over instead of hanging. - [[223]]: Ctx::item_first reads a member without an AI as having no hit, where the game reads through a null pointer. - [[223]]: who sends message kind 0xc and broadcasts 23 and 24. - [[230]]: a member's item use is carried out after the AI's frame, one frame late for a reader in the same frame. - [[230]]: CHAT's heal order out of battle plans once and drops it, as the code has it. - [[192]]: whether a menu or script writes a party record in the same frame gap as the world's clears. - [[158]]: the party under manual control and ccClearConditionAllEnemy at the game over are not run; nothing after the freeze reads them. - [[167]]: goldVolume outside 1-4 leaves wear to a register; checkGold never makes one. - [[167]]: a gold goblin's acts 2 (wander) and 4 (home) did not come up in the sample. - [[168]]: how often setBreath and the scorpions' spin come up; counted roughly. - [[171]]: the wyrms' and dragons' setBreath did not come up in a 300-case count. - [[187]]: how many frames the game's weapon load takes before EquipWeapon. - [[155]], [[162]]: ccGimSymbol::objMain is read from the code, not run in eemu against the port. - [[79]]: the magic portal is ported twice (piney-battle's entry.rs and piney-effect); both are checked. - [[266]]: act 7 (the shake) on Innis itself is never reached. - [[274]]: Magus's acts 30 and 31 and a leaf's 23 are never reached; whether any path reaches them. - [[274]]: whether Skeith's and Innis's drains through the menus lost their 21 before [[274]]'s fix. - [[109]], [[117]]: the bosses' rules and effects are not checked together against the game; the effects' particles draw from the game's generators; IceBreak's Create order and ccRand (docs/engine/boss.md "Not described yet"). - [[103]]: the fellow task's own frames (a dismissed leaver's exit and walk away) are not run against the game in a field; the rules are compared. - [[75]]: idle animations under an event's manual control are not compared frame by frame (the game's rule, ccFellow::Action). - [[238]]: the party AI's skills through the same request are not watched in play. - [[67]]: party_ai::Ai::new has no check. - [[167]]: a shaken-off hold is not played through. - [[229]]: no test drains an area skill's sub-targets (Drain Arc, Drain Heart). - [[230]]: no test drives a member's own item decision end to end. - [[265]], [[268]]: whether a party at a player's level beats the Squidbod and breaks Innis's protect sooner; the pilot's party is the start's. - [[273]], [[276]]: the lowest level at which the pilot beats Kyvia 01, whether a run without the level aid does, and a player's level and gear there. - [[272]], [[273]]: why the Hackberry King in area 47's dungeon recovers under the pilot's fight, and whether the game's would as fast. - [[279]]: which enemy and area the report's staff came from, and whether it was drained.