Entry 292

Key items were never used: the Key Items menu's use call, and the epitaphs' pages

uibattlevolumes

Filescrates/piney-fieldui/src/menus/keyitem.rscrates/piney-fieldui/src/menus/useitem.rscrates/piney-gen/src/manifest.rscrates/piney-battle/src/item.rs

The triage of the open questions (UNKNOWNS.md, 288) listed "an epitaph or a book used does nothing" as a play gap. The port logged "item step not carried out" for Step::Epitaph. The cause was wider than that step.

The menu's call

ImportantItemMenu (menu 6) calls ccUseItemRequest at its proccess 2, then waits seven frames at proccess 12 before its list answers again. The port's menu pushed Request::UseItem without holding the menu task in the call (useitem::call, which starts an ItemRun). The runtime answers a use only while the task waits in one (FieldUi::item_asked), so the request fell through AreaMode::menu_request unanswered. No key item did anything when used from the menu, not only the epitaphs.

The menu now calls it as the Items menu does. A new Resume::KeyItem puts it back at proccess 12. The Grunty Flute and the Ryu Books keep their own paths.

ccEpitaphMsg

ccEpitaphMsg(strs, pages) (INF gcmn 0x0057c3e0) runs inside the use:

  • 8 frames of Disp and a breath;
  • for each page: ccKanjiStrSeparate 0, 1 and 2 of the page's text, each a null line when empty, into ChangeInfo(l0, l1, l2, 0, -1, -1); ccMessage +0x1e and +0x34 (window_status, window_alpha) zeroed, so the lines show without the window; 5 frames; then frames until OK is pushed;
  • Close, and 8 frames more.

The use-item runner does this as Wait::Epitaph, with the pages in ItemRun::epitaph. Step::Epitaph now names the item and the parody mode, not Infection's table address.

The pages in the build

The tables are char *[pages], each page three NUL-ended lines: epitaphStr00 (item 42, 2 pages), 01 (43, 1), 02 (44, 3), 03 (45, 2), 04 (46, 3), 10 (48, 3), 11 (68, 4), each followed by its parody table, and M0-M3 (287-290, one table for both modes). They are now in the fieldui group as epitaph_00 .. epitaph_m3, placed on each volume by the carry (only 00, 01, 03 and M3 carry names past Infection). Outbreak's and Quarantine's parody tables are empty. Data version 15.

an_epitaph_reads_its_pages gives item 42 and reads it from the Key Items: both pages show in order, then the list answers again. It fails without the menu's call. tools/test_battle_items_rs.py still matches the game; its probe gives the ccEpitaphMsg call as Infection's address for the item.

Still unknown
  • The Ryu Books (273-280): ccStartThread(ccThBook, 35, 0x1000) and the steps after it (BookStart, CloseChat, WaitBook) are not ported, so reading one still does nothing. - Whether the key items other than the epitaphs, the flute and the books have uses whose steps the runtime does not carry out: none was tried.