goldeneye-pc-port/docs/dev/D176a-SKY-NOTES.md

D176(a) Sky — consolidated research notes (read-only)

Companion to the (since retired) GRAPHICS-BACKLOG.md D176(a) and findings.md M-37/M-47. Purpose: make the next implementation session mechanical. No code changed by this doc.

State of play

• Root cause (M-37): skyRenderTri/skyRenderFull emit geometry only as G_RDPHALF_* immediates; gfx_pc.cpp:2901-2903 deliberately no-ops them (same in the PD port) → solid black sky on every cloud-sky level. Clean headless repro: -level_22 (Statue), frame ~360.
• M-47 draft (Path B) — scratchpad/sky.patch: #ifdef PORT hooks in both functions re-emit the sky as ordinary screen-space GBI via skyPortRenderPoly (ortho pixel projection + gSPVertex/triangles). Geometry reaches GL and textures (top-half luma 0.1 → ~174 on -level_22). Two open defects (below). Draft, not shippable.
• Path A (decode RDPHALF in fast3d) is the backlog's original suggestion; the wire format is now fully decoded (next section), so it is a viable fallback if Path B's units can't be pinned.

RDPHALF wire format (decoded from src/game/sky.c + include/PR/gbi.h)

• Opcodes (gbi.h:102-164,216-223): G_RDPHALF_1 = 0xe1, G_RDPHALF_2 = 0xf1 (final word of a stream), G_RDPHALF_CONT (= G_IMMFIRST-13). Tri ops: G_TRI_FILL 0xc8, G_TRI_FILL_ZBUFF 0xc9, G_TRI_SHADE_TXTR 0xce, G_TRI_SHADE_TXTR_ZBUFF 0xcf.
• All payload values are S15.1 fixed point — converter is sub_GAME_7F094298 (sky.c:218): clamp(x, ±32767.9) × 65536, u32.
• Packing: each (G_RDPHALF_1, G_RDPHALF_CONT) pair carries four halfwords = two S15.1 values: valueA = (w1.hi16, w2.lo16), valueB = (w1.lo16, w2.hi16). Multi-value groups are streamed in two passes — all high halves first, then all low halves (see the explicit (x & 0xffff0000) | (y & 0xffff0000) >> 16 packing at sky.c:1854-1870).
• skyRenderTri header (sky.c:1725-1728): first word = (op << 24) | (winding/sign flag bit23) | lo16(first value); the stream then carries screen-space positions (unk28×0.25 = pixel X, unk2c = Y×4 family) plus per-vertex attributes. The RSP ucode reassembles and DMAs a real edge-walked RDP tri command (per the M-46 comment in sky.patch).
• Vertex attribute vectors are 8 components (sky.c:1759-1776): (r, g, b, a, S·w′, T·w′, 32767·w′, z) with perspective weight w′ = unk34 × min(unk0c)/2 — i.e. color + perspective-corrected S/T + depth. SkyRelated38 fields: unk28 = screenX×4, unk2c = screenY×4, unk30 = z (0..0x7fff), unk34 = 1/w, unk20/unk24 = S/T.
• GE emits RDPHALF nowhere except sky.c — the command surface is closed and small.

Defect 1 — texcoord shear (clouds smeared into streaks)

skyPortRenderPoly uses tc = unk20 × 32.0f — a magic number.

M-82 update — the scale is right, the magnitude is the bug

• Cloud texture is s_skywaterimages[0] = IMAGE_CLOUDS_GRAYSCALE, 0x40 × 0x40 (64×64), G_IM_FMT_IA / G_IM_SIZ_8b, G_TX_WRAP/G_TX_WRAP (assets/oddtextures.c:646). Not a fraction-indexed texture — it tiles.
• GE's own screen-space textured-quad idiom is tc = width << 5 (src/game/glass2.c:678,689 — sImageTableEntry.width << 5 / .height << 5). << 5 = ×32 = the S10.5 texel fixed-point fast3d expects, and it divides tc by tex_width before GL_REPEAT. So the patch's × 32.0f is the correct scale — provided unk20/unk24 are already in texel units (they are: the cloud-tiling math in sub_GAME_7F097388 / CloudRepeat(skyheight)=10000 produces texel coords in the thousands, and M-47 measured unk20 reaching ±20 000 near the horizon).
• The bug: (s16)(20000 * 32) overflows. Vtx.tc is s16 (±32767); a horizon vertex needs tc ≈ 640 000. It wraps/saturates → the streak.
• Fix (no fast3d change, no grid needed for the near/mid sky): phase-fold every vertex of one primitive by the same multiple of the tile period (64 texels), so inter-vertex deltas are preserved but magnitudes stay in s16 range:

  s32 foldS = (s32)floorf(vmin_unk20 / 64.0f) * 64;   // vmin over this prim's verts
  s32 foldT = (s32)floorf(vmin_unk24 / 64.0f) * 64;
  tc[0] = (s16)((v[i]->unk20 - foldS) * 32.0f);
  tc[1] = (s16)((v[i]->unk24 - foldT) * 32.0f);
  

  This is exact wherever the S/T span across a single triangle is < ~1000 texels (s16 range ÷ 32). It holds for the corner-quad tessellation the current patch emits everywhere except triangles that straddle the horizon line, where the span diverges — those still need Defect-2's finer/adaptive tessellation. Land the fold first (fixes most of the frame), keep the grid as the horizon-band follow-up.

Defect 2 — vertical coverage (band fills only top ~25%)

Leading hypothesis, from reading the N64 path: the quad is not a plain corner quad. The N64 stream's four vertices are perspective-interpolated points computed in the big interpolation block (sky.c:1797-1813, the sp210/sp290/sp2b0/sp230 vectors), not the raw TL/TR/BL/BR corners that Path B's hook passes through. If those interpolated y-values differ from the corner ys (they will, wherever w varies across the quad), the re-emitted quad lands short.

Next steps (one focused session):

1. Per-call probe on skyPortRenderPoly: log nverts + each vertex's (x, y) + the tri op-header word; A/B against N64 reference footage of -level_22/-level_36.
2. If confirmed, either (a) replicate the interpolation block under PORT and emit the 4 computed vertices, or (b) drop to Path A with the decoder spec above (the ucode's own reassembly is then irrelevant — we decode the same values directly).

Recommendation

Finish Path B first — geometry already works; both defects are unit/ vertex-set questions answerable in one render-iterate session. Keep Path A as fallback; it is now fully specified by this doc if B stalls.

Verification ask (M-82 — for the next session with a display)

The Defect-1 phase-fold is committed to PR #18 but unverified visually (this session had no display). One check settles it:

1. ./build-pc/ge007.x86_64.exe -level_22 (Statue, night). At the intro the camera faces the horizon within a few seconds.
2. Look at the upper half of the frame:
   • Black → Path B still not emitting (regression from the rebase — check skyPortRenderPoly is reached; GE_D176=1).
   • Clouds, but smeared into horizontal streaks → the fold didn't take; re-check unk20/unk24 really are texels (probe their range).
   • Recognisable tiled cloud texture, correct near/mid, ragged or missing right at the horizon line → fold works; that ragged band is Defect 2 → adaptive tessellation is the next task.
   • Looks right → close Defect 1, mark PR #18 ready pending a -level_36/-29/Dam-exterior spot check.
3. A GE_PCDUMP="330-390:30" capture of that run attached to PR #18 is enough for a remote reviewer to make the same call.