Parse the level container header, naming each level's four extents
The first typed structure read from real data. Every one of the 27 level containers begins with the same 0x60-byte header, which turns the generic pair table into named assets: data, sound_bank, gameplay and occlusion, plus three chunk descriptors. Two things about this header are worth stating because both are silent failures rather than errors. Sizes here are sector counts, not byte counts. The generic G/ pair table on the same disc uses byte counts, so both readings type-check and the wrong one is off by a factor of 2048. The tiling check settles it: read as sectors, the four extents tile every one of the 27 containers exactly; read as bytes they overlap each other. Level id is not container order. LEVEL21.WAD reports id 30, so a level was cut from the disc and its number left a gap. Anything keying off file order -- a save slot, the planet select screen -- would mislabel that planet. There is also a second trap in the same area: the ISO filesystem sorts names alphabetically, so LEVEL10 precedes LEVEL2, and any tool needing order has to sort numerically. The header's field at 0x04 is zero on all 27 levels. It is not the container size despite looking like one, so the code reads it as a runtime field and takes the container length from the ISO entry instead. Measured across all 27 levels, three invariants now hold in tests: extents tile in file order; extent coverage plus chunks reaches at least the end of the container (21 levels land exactly on its length, 6 leave 134 to 689 sectors of trailing data); and exactly one level's id differs from its container index. The coverage assertion is >= rather than == on purpose -- 21 levels end one sector past the file end because the header occupies sector 0, and asserting equality would truncate a level's tail. gameplay is left unparsed and that is recorded rather than hidden. It begins "WAD" plus a per-level byte and does not decode with the WAD LZ77 decoder: all 27 levels produce plausible output for the first packet and then fail on a rule the format's own encoder never breaks, which means the input is wrong rather than the decoder. docs/plan/level-assets.md records what is ruled out and what to try next. 66 unit tests, plus 7 integration tests against the real disc. The unpack hash table is unchanged, so this adds parsing without altering the pipeline.
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# The level container (`LEVEL<n>.WAD`)
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Target: `SCUS_972.68` v1.01. 27 containers.
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The first typed structure in this project, and the one that turns the generic
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container table of [`global-wad.md`](global-wad.md) into named, individually
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parseable assets. Implementation: `crates/gc-formats/src/level_wad.rs`.
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## Header
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All 27 level containers begin with the same 0x60-byte header:
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```text
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offset size field
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0x00 4 header size, 0x60 on every level
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0x04 4 zero on every level; written by the game at load time
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0x08 4 level id
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0x0c 4 reverb configuration index
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0x10 8 data geometry: tfrag, tie, shrub, moby, sky, textures
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0x18 8 sound_bank
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0x20 8 gameplay
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0x28 8 occlusion
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0x30 48 three {offset, size} chunk descriptors
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```
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Sizes here are **sector counts**. This is the opposite of the generic pair table
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in the `G/` containers, where sizes are byte counts. Both appear on the same
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disc, so reading one as the other produces extents that are wrong by a factor of
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2048 and that still *look* plausible. See "Two fields, two meanings" below.
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## Extents
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The four named extents appear in the file in an order that is **not** the order
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of the fields in the header:
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```text
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sound_bank data gameplay occlusion
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```
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Level 0, measured:
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| Part | Offset | Sectors | Bytes | Unpacked to |
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|---|---:|---:|---:|---|
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| sound_bank | 1 | 734 | 1.50 MB | `level0/0002.bin` |
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| data | 735 | 6,484 | 13.28 MB | `level0/0001.bin` |
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| gameplay | 7,219 | 322 | 0.66 MB | `level0/0003.bin` |
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| occlusion | 7,541 | 12 | 0.02 MB | `level0/0004.bin` |
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The numbering of the unpacked files follows the header's field order, so the
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`data` extent is `0001.bin` while it is physically second in the container. Both
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orderings are worth keeping straight; the typed header exists so callers never
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have to.
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`data` is where the level's visible content lives and is the target of the next
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phase.
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## Two fields, two meanings
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This is the trap in this format, and it is worth stating plainly because both
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readings type-check.
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| Where | Size field is |
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|---|---|
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| `G/*.WAD` generic pair table | **bytes** |
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| `LEVEL<n>.WAD` named extents | **sectors** |
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Measured across all 92 indexed pair containers, the byte reading places every
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entry inside its file while the sector reading does not. Measured across all 27
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level headers, the sector reading tiles each container exactly.
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If the level header's sizes were read as bytes, `sound_bank` on level 0 would
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claim 734 bytes starting at sector 1, and `data` would start at byte offset 735
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— inside the sound bank. The extents would overlap, which is the symptom to
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look for.
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## Invariants, as measured on all 27 levels
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These are the checks the parser is validated against, and each holds everywhere
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rather than on one sample:
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1. **Extent order and tiling.** Each extent's end is the next extent's start.
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27 of 27.
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2. **The runtime sector field at `0x04` is zero.** 27 of 27. It is not the
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container size and must not be used as one — the container's length comes
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from the ISO directory entry.
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3. **Extent coverage.** `sound_bank + data + gameplay + occlusion + chunks`
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always reaches at least the end of the container. 21 of 27 land on exactly
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the container's sector length; 6 leave between 134 and 689 sectors of trailing
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data past the last named extent (levels 1, 2, 4, 11, 19, 20).
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The 21-level case ends *one sector past* the file end. The header occupies
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sector 0 and the extents begin at sector 1, so this is ordinary sector
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rounding rather than an error. The correct assertion is therefore `>=`, not
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equality — asserting equality would truncate the tail of a level.
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4. **Level id equals container index on 26 of 27 levels.** `LEVEL21.WAD`
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reports **id 30**.
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## Level ids are not file order
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Point 4 matters enough to state separately. `LEVEL21.WAD` has `id = 30`, so the
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container's position in the directory is not the level's identity. Some level
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was cut from the disc and its number is not reused, leaving a gap.
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Anything that keys off file order — a save slot, a planet select screen, the
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moby class table — would silently mislabel that planet. Use the header's `id`.
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The ISO filesystem also sorts names alphabetically, so `LEVEL10.WAD` precedes
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`LEVEL2.WAD`. Tests and tools that care about order must sort numerically.
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## Chunk descriptors
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`0x30..0x60` holds three `{offset, size}` pairs in sector counts, following the
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named extents. They are populated on 6 levels (1, 2, 4, 7, 8, 11, 19, 20 — of
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which some are the trailing-data levels) and zero elsewhere. Their contents are
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not yet identified.
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## Not yet parsed
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- **`data`** — the geometry. This is the next target and where the visible
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level comes from: tfrag terrain, tie instances, shrub foliage, moby classes,
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sky shells and textures.
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- **`gameplay`** — begins `WAD` + a per-level id byte + a count, and behaves
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like an LZ77 stream but does **not** decode with the WAD decoder (all 27
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levels fail with "adjacent literal packets", which the format forbids). It is
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a different compression, or a different framing. Recorded in
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[`../plan/level-assets.md`](../plan/level-assets.md).
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- **`sound_bank`** — begins with `SBlk` at `+24` and `DAW` at `+36`; both
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signatures are present in all 27 levels.
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- **`occlusion`** — 2 to 25 sectors. Small enough to read fully.
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## Provenance
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The header layout matches the `GcUyaLevelWadHeader` structure documented by the
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Wrench project (<https://github.com/chaoticgd/wrench>, GPLv3). **No Wrench code
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is copied** — see `PROVENANCE.md`. The structure here is written from the
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specification and every field is verified against all 27 levels on this disc.
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The two facts that the documentation does not state — the sector-count sizes and
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the `LEVEL21` id divergence — were measured here.
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