Therons Quest Technical Reference

Theron's Quest Technical Reference

Scope

Theron's Quest is a PC Engine CD target. Firestaff accepts original Track 02 media through a strict CUE/BIN handoff and verifies known media identities. It does not assume ISO-9660 files or create a directory from a disc image.

Record-Based CD Layout

System Card access is record-based relative to a CD base. Official Hu7 layouts compile record constants into the executable, so the final disc has no runtime file directory to enumerate. Firestaff follows observed loader record handoffs rather than filename scans.

The verified JP/US Track 02 chain is:

• CD_EXEC record 0x0003e7 into local RAM at $4000;
• a traced stage-two one-sector CD_READ into local RAM at $3800;
• record 0x0004df for JP and 0x0004e0 for US;
• a payload beginning BRK $ff with a bounded $0308 envelope.

The resulting 218-entry manifest is structural provenance only. It has no object, level, palette, bitmap, or text meaning until loader control flow proves that meaning.

Startup, Levels, and Saves

M12-to-M11 receipts preserve CUE declarations, raw-sector form, known hash, IPL, stage-two record, user-data span, header, and payload hash. Incomplete bitmap or object-table evidence blocks title, Soul Room, Continue, and dungeon entry rather than producing a synthetic route.

Level/object candidates are staged and committed atomically only when every original-data receipt validates. Descriptor proximity and repeated byte shapes are not semantic evidence.

SRM discovery validates gzip framing, optional header fields, CRC32, and ISIZE. Opaque original bodies remain unavailable until their layout is correlated with evidence. Firestaff-native export is no-replace atomic, protecting original Save Disk artifacts. Continue itself is transactional and carries the consumed media route mask, checksum, and selected level bank.

Verification

cmake --build build --target firestaff_theron_v1_track02_ipl_loader_probe \
  firestaff_theron_v1_track02_level_handoff_probe \
  test_theron_v1_startup_save_resume_pc34 --parallel

FIRESTAFF_THERON_TRACK02_US_BIN="/path/to/us-track02.bin" \
FIRESTAFF_THERON_TRACK02_JP_BIN="/path/to/jp-track02.bin" \
  ./build/firestaff_theron_v1_track02_level_handoff_probe

Open technical work remains semantic binding for later loader records, object tables, non-startup levels, original SRM bodies, and packaged-app capture.

For strict CUE/record handling and Stage 2/3 receipts, see Theron's Quest Track 02 Internals.