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Optional Classic HUD

Options -> Extras -> HUD cycles Original / Classic with Left/Right, Enter or a mouse click. Original remains the default. The choice applies immediately and persists through the existing CRC-protected settings file. Version8 uses byte11 bit7 for HUD style and its lower seven bits for sound volume; all version1..7 files load as Original without losing other preferences. Automap and Jump remain Off by default. Clear Data restores those defaults.

Original HUD preserves the original GBA constructor/controller coordinates and transparent sprite padding: lives top-left, weapon icon top-right, score/clock top-center, status bottom-left and ammo bottom-right. No margin normalization or rearrangement applies to its240x160 OAM. Software rendering anchors those same groups to the viewport, preserving their native distance from each edge. The Serious Engine positioning below describes Classic only.

Fixed crosshair (2026-10-22)

Classic uses the user's exact19x19 crosshair.png, padded into24x24 storage without resizing, pixel filtering or generated shading. Its isolated center dot at(12,12) stays exactly on the aim coordinate. The original light/dark OBJ81/206 colors and binary transparency match the PNG pixel for pixel without a target. Original HUD retains both original crosshair animations. Classic replaces type18 only in presentation OAM; its original controller and weapon/target behavior remain intact.

The color thresholds follow Croteam's PlayerWeapons.es RenderCrosshair: Serious Engine source. A living enemy is green at>=60% nominal species health, yellow at25..59%, red below25%; no enemy, pickups, obstructions and corpses use white. Prion health above the original species maximum stays green. The existing original activation table supplies nominal maxima without a duplicate health table.

View preparation samples the existing dedicated unlimited sight trace, with no combat callbacks or gameplay-query changes. Native vertical aim stays centered; GBA and native autoaim use the existing unbobbing projected cursor, including the third-person correction. Classic shows the fixed crosshair for every weapon. A separate center-anchored layer avoids accidental corner anchoring when autoaim moves the cursor over other HUD rows. The GBA RGB555 and Software/Vulkan RGB888 compositors share the art/palette helper. Death, automap and suppressed HUD hide it.

Focused checks cover exact25/60% boundaries, unchanged shape, palette colors, real-world target/dead-target/obstruction queries, all aiming policies, GBA/native composition, aspect-ratio anchoring and original-HUD restoration. These are focused renderer checks, not a campaign playthrough.

Serious Engine positioning

The current layout follows the Serious Engine HUD anchors with the retained GBA art at its original size. The reference's6px edge inset rounds to2px on the240x160 HUD canvas. Armor/health follow its40:32 row spacing; finite weapons use the175/640 horizontal anchor, infinite weapons205/640, the selector sits near70% view height and pickup text near82%. Pixel-art dimensions and the requested1px ammo/selector gaps are preserved, so this is an adaptation of the positions rather than an exact rendering of the PC textures. The latest user correction identifies the old top-center panel as HIGH SCORE. It now stays at X88, inset2px from above, showing max(saved high score,current run score), following the reference high-score logic. Windows level setup supplies the leading record from the loaded score table; the timer sits immediately underneath as a separate small counter. This supersedes the earlier request to leave the timer panel at88,0.

The eight-badge case shifts only the finite-weapon group left8px to leave6px between its counter backing and the first ammo badge. This accommodates the GBA's full-size badges; the reference instead scales its ammo row to80%. Both renderers use the same adjusted native layout. The software renderer anchors score/armor/health to the left edge and inbox/ammo to the right edge of the actual viewport. Their vertical edge insets also hold in4:3 windows. It keeps sprites uniformly scaled, centers the boss bar/selector/notices, and puts the weapon group at its screen-width anchor, applying clearance only if needed. This avoids an inset3:2 HUD box on wide screens. High score and timer now both follow the top edge. Inbox movement interpolates between the right-edge anchor and the upper-center analysis anchor; it never leaves a second panel behind. Boss/analysis rows leave clearance for the high-score/timer stack. The selector clears the armor row even with all ten weapons. Sprites, shading, flash durations, equipment and gameplay are unchanged. src/pc_renderer.c classifies the disjoint atlas regions in classic_region; future layout changes must update those region boundaries together with the native positions. No extra frame allocations or world resampling are needed.

Classic uses retained ROM sprites and the OBJ palette: green panels63..65, status icons80..88, meters89..98, weapon icons67..75, and digit sets110..129. It displays health, armor and selected-weapon ammunition below, score inside the top-left frame, with the entire armor icon/frame/counter hidden when armor is zero, and high score/time/unread NETRICSA dossiers above. Eight finite ammunition slots run along the bottom right, with no counters or bars above them. Each icon overlays a retained three-pixel-wide vertical meter on its right side, inside its frame. The ammo icon and its frame hide when its count is zero and reappear when ammo is acquired. Visible icons pack against the right edge, in weapon order, with one clear pixel between their frames. Boss encounters add a green health bar below the central header. Infinite-ammo weapons (chainsaw and single/dual Colts) hide the selected ammo counter and its frame; the weapon icon remains visible. Counters suppress padding zeros and remain right-aligned; meaningful zeros (100 health, for example) remain, and clock seconds retain two digits. Spending finite ammo flashes that pool's meter and the selected ammo digits with a green-to-neutral palette swap for40 simulation ticks (about0.67s), then green again. Matching brightness levels preserve the original numeral shading, black and transparency; the glyphs are never flattened to one white color. Meters use the same green artwork and palette swap, keeping identical shapes throughout the flash. Repeat use refreshes the flash, pickups do not trigger it, and pause freezes it. Comparing inventory after pickups and before/after weapon controllers handles same-frame pickups. Draw calls never age or reset the feedback. Original HUD behavior is unchanged. New weapon/enemy dossiers show retained green analyzing sprite79 for120 simulation ticks (2s), without a backing rectangle. It keeps its ROM pixels and spelling near20% view height. The inbox then travels from215,2 to108,28 over30 ticks, holds120 ticks, and returns over30 ticks. With a boss, text and inbox attention move down12px to clear the boss bar. The full timeline lasts300 ticks (5s). Green65/white66 artwork and shaded digits blink every15 ticks during it. The reference uses the same2s analysis and .5s/2s/.5s inbox movement timing; the existing requested green/white blink and retained GBA art remain native adaptations. A genuinely new unread type refreshes the timer; repeated kills, repeated acquisitions, rendering and old carried dossiers do not. Reading every entry clears it. Pause freezes the timer; automap, death, completion and clean overlay captures omit the effect. The inbox retains its translucent backing; analysis has none. No unread entries means no inbox panel. Both counter digits fit inside the retained frame; the corner panel is absent while the inbox is moved inward. Positions follow the reference HUD's upper-right inbox and upper-center analysis text. The requested green/white blink is native presentation policy, not a claim that the PC reference or the original GBA retail HUD uses this exact color animation. The selected weapon's ammo icon stays white inside its square frame through the same shade-preserving palette swap. Only its13x13 interior is recolored; frame and spacing remain green/transparent. The highlight follows the requested weapon immediately, including during a pending switch. The meter is composited afterward and retains its separate consumption flash. Taking damage flashes only the health digits through the same shaded neutral palette for40 ticks (~0.67s). Repeat damage refreshes it, healing does not, and pause freezes it. Health is sampled at frame/entity boundaries; once observed, damage feedback survives a later pickup restoring health.

Changing weapons opens a horizontal selector centered at the bottom half of the view (native Y103), above the permanent status row. Available weapons follow weapon order, with one single-Colt icon shared by both single/dual variants, as requested in the First Encounter style. Retained weapon icons keep their shaded green palette; the requested weapon, including its complete frame, swaps to matching neutral shades. The Colt entry highlights for either equipped variant. Weapon and ammo highlights update as soon as selection changes, before the store/draw animation completes or the new weapon can fire. Rapid selection changes immediately move the highlight again; gameplay switching/firing timing is unchanged. The read-only Classic projection uses the requested weapon rather than the currently committed controller weapon for this presentation. Items have16px footprints and17px spacing, leaving a1px gap. The supplied Time Strike artwork retains its exact pixels. Individual backings use the same transparency as the rest of Classic, with clear gaps between items. Selection and completed changes refresh a180-tick (3s) timer. Pause freezes it; rendering does not advance it. Fire clicks, including very short or buffered clicks and infinite-ammo weapons, dismiss it immediately. A pending handoff cannot reopen a selector dismissed by firing. Original HUD, automap and clean NETRICSA/completion captures omit the selector.

The old type5 health-digit controller selects the health animations; the remaining missing data bindings are native presentation code using canonical current game state. The top-right number counts unread NETRICSA weapon and enemy dossiers (up to22), as corrected by the user. Each weapon/enemy type contributes at most one entry. Weapon ownership unlocks a dossier. Starting equipment on every level is familiar and creates no new unread entries or alerts, including password/level selection and alternate loadouts. The first simulation tick commits this baseline before pickups; weapons discovered during play still notify. Existing unread dossiers carry through level changes without being acknowledged. The earlier first-level Schofield familiarity also remains. All owned dossiers stay browsable; read status survives levels/retries. Enemies unlock only after a kill, never merely from spawning or attacking. A fully visible dossier is marked read only after its frame is presented. Opening a briefing/statistics page or fading does not mark unseen dossiers read. Discovery/read masks carry across levels and retries, and reset for a fresh run; no save-file format changes are needed. Original HUD's life counter continues to show remaining lives independently.

Classic notice text uses the original static8px menu font, decoded once from ROM0B7A60 with original character mapping/metrics and shaded white palette tones. Pickup text (original IDs8C..AB) is centered at native Y127, below the selector's Y103..119 row and above the bottom status row. It stays there when the selector is hidden. Boss/death notices retain their original vertical placement. All notices keep the original localized strings and shared timer. The old animated type13 glyphs and type14 backdrop are omitted only from Classic's OAM snapshot; controllers, animation and cache state still run normally, preserving immediate Original restoration. Classic composes the static text and its translucent backing into both renderer layers without changing the source sprites or their palette.

Classic panels and icons now have black backings with45% transparency (55% black opacity). A separate coverage mask follows visible score/time/unread panels, health, positive armor, weapon, finite selected-ammo counter, nonempty ammo icons and boss panel. Ammo backings cover15 pixels of each16-pixel slot, keeping the one-pixel gaps transparent. Hidden elements produce no backing. The indexed foreground stays fully opaque, with its original palette, pixel layout and shading. Backings blend once above the world/weapon layer and below the HUD art: RGB555 in GBA mode and RGB888 at the actual software-renderer resolution, retaining45% of each source channel with rounding. Automap, clean captures and Original HUD suppress this mask along with Classic. Pause and NETRICSA use their existing capture/fade flows.

The initial layout followed visible panels/icons in the user's May16,2002 prototype footage reference. YouTube's public135x90 storyboard frames were inspected, including gameplay previews. They establish the broad panel arrangement, but do not establish exact pixel positions or all counters' meanings. The time binding, boss display and the new ammo-indicator layout are explicit reconstructions. This is a usable optional presentation, not proof of recovery of the missing old constructor or the unidentified original GAME+34C field. See legacy-hud.md for the separate original-code audit.

The score stays inside the first frame, without its former health fill. The selected weapon/ammo panel makes room for up to eight original-size16pixel ammo icons at Y142. Visible15px frames end at X237; with all eight present the first starts at X111. The old meter sprites89..98 sit at icon X+10, bottom-aligned at Y+12, three pixels wide with up to11 filled pixels (one pixel up/left from the preceding layout). A black backing keeps the meter readable over the icon, entirely inside the frame. The green set has no four-pixel image, so that level composes its retained three-pixel and one-pixel images. The white99..109 sprite set is not used for feedback. Ratios use the original per-weapon capacity records at0844BC8C, not invented shared ammunition pools. Tommygun and minigun therefore have separate indicators even though their old bullet artwork is shared. The retail HUD handlers F1C0/F27C select animations42..4B/DF..E8 from the requested weapon at player+78;40 whole original-routine calls verify those bindings and automap visibility. The green art is associated by visual identity:

There is no retained green Time Strike weapon icon. The replacement now uses the actual user file, copied unchanged from C:\Users\brian\Desktop\download.png to assets/classic-hud/time-strike-reference.png. It is16x24, with its framed device in the top17 rows and transparent padding below. The icon blits at X66/Y141 (X58 when all eight ammo badges are present) without resizing, cropping or fitting: its frame and all opaque/transparent pixels keep their supplied positions. scripts/import-classic-time-strike.ps1 embeds its RGB555 pixels in src/classic_time_strike.inc. Runtime changes colors only: maximum RGB brightness maps to the original green OBJ ramp, opaque black stays opaque, and saturated-green frame pixels match the HUD's bright green. The original palette and user PNG remain unchanged. The former reduced world-sprite lookup is removed; it did not match the supplied artwork.

The latest user-directed ammo symbols assign the original radioactive image86 to UMT. Prion Gun now has a biohazard and Time Strike an analog clock with hands pointing up/right. The corrected variants copy the actual shaded circle image88, including its frame, round silhouette and original highlight pattern. The circular interior expands from11x11 to13x13 with centered sampling, enlarging the green face to11x11 to match UMT. The16x16 icon frame stays fixed, and the symbols remain centered. Dark inset symbols sit on the face, lifted halfway toward maximum green through the existing OBJ ramp for contrast; the template and palette stay unchanged. The biohazard uses a9x9 coverage mask of the standard three crescents and center hole, with contrast hinting to retain the fine tips and openings. Its public-domain vector reference and sampling details are kept in assets/classic-hud. The clock uses hands and four hour marks on the circular face. Both keep the same16x16 slot and frame alignment; neither uses the former empty frame87 layout. These symbols are new UI artwork, not recovered ROM images. No ROM assets are modified. Original source does not establish the missing old full-layout constructor or gauge behavior; the indicator presentation follows the user's request while counts, limits and retail fallback bindings use original data.

classic_hud.c draws a transparent240x160 indexed foreground plus an optional backing mask. Both the GBA renderer and software renderer composite it through the original palette and existing HUD scaling. Classic hides retail statistics in a private OAM snapshot, retaining weapons, crosshair and transient sprites. Original controllers, pool objects and cache continue normally; toggling does not reset weapons, inventory or simulation. Dual-Colt presentation still uses the existing mirrored weapon path. Automap hides Classic. NETRICSA captures remove it with the other HUD while preserving the weapon, and completion captures remove the entire HUD/weapon. Pause keeps and darkens the frozen HUD.

Validation commands:

wsl -d Ubuntu --exec /mnt/c/SeriousEngine/Coding/ss-advance-decomp/.venv-linux/bin/python /mnt/c/SeriousEngine/Coding/ss-advance-decomp/tests/test_classic_hud.py
.\scripts\test-classic-hud.ps1 -SkipBuild
.\scripts\test-audio-settings.ps1 -SkipBuild
.\scripts\test-intermission.ps1 -SkipBuild
.\scripts\test-native-startup.ps1 -SkipBuild

Pre-level switching fix (2026-10-19): the reported session log build/logs/launch-21297-16128-9372/stderr.log was empty. The exit was reproduced with Enhanced weapons On, as in the saved settings. The menu's native HUD setter tried to build OAM while the starting Colt still had unresolved previous_frameFFFF; the alternate weapon builder rejected that image, and settings_change marked the app failed without a diagnostic. Before the first simulation frame, the setter now records the style and leaves OAM untouched. The ordinary first-frame sprite/ animation/cache stages construct it. No dummy ticks, item grants or cache resets are added. A failed later rebuild restores the previous style; the frontend now logs a HUD-application failure rather than exiting silently.

The focused GCC sanitizer test and matching MSVC test pass121,632 checks over368 draws, including Egypt/Rome, both renderers, all ten weapon projections, live counters, boss health, automap/suppression, dual Colts and exact same-frame Original restoration. Additional checks isolate score changes to the top-left frame. Original-mode captures also verify the live life digit (Normal3) in both renderers, after fixing the missing native game_value projection. Separate native death/retry checks cover5/3/2 starts, reduced counts and final0. Other checks verify all nine retained green weapon images, isolate each ammo pool's changes to its own slot and verify empty/full/low meters inside the frame. An actual Tommygun shot checks shaded neutral digits and the same three-pixel meter geometry, read-only redraws, paused feedback, all39 intervening ticks and the40th-tick return to green, with both renderer captures. Backing checks verify the45% source-color retention in both real compositors, opaque foreground colors, hidden armor and disabled backing in suppressed and automap views. Original same-frame restoration still passes. Weapon-selector checks cover the centered ten-entry row, shaded white frames, the shared Colt icon before/after a dual toggle, read-only draws, pause, the 180th-tick timeout, mouse-wheel/Q handoffs, and both an infinite-ammo shot and a short buffered click during a pending finite-weapon switch. Fire dismissal survives the later handoff. Both renderer captures were visually checked. Immediate-selection checks queue Tommygun, Rocket Launcher and Tommygun again while the committed weapon is still dual Colts, without advancing simulation. Each read-only draw highlights the latest requested weapon/frame and matching ammo interior; other ammo art and frames preserve their source indices. The pending-switch captures show white Tommygun selection while Colt models remain drawn in both renderers. Damage checks apply actual native combat damage and verify shaded white health digits, read-only draws, pause,40-tick expiry and no healing flash. Notice checks exercise all three localized pickup strings through the static white font below the visible selector and original timer; Classic omits type13/14 OAM art. They also check white Game Over text at its original central Y64. Software/reference text captures and the right-aligned single-ammo capture were inspected. Sparse ammo fixtures verify the rightmost frame ends at X237, with empty pools omitted. Notification checks compare all640 sprite pixels directly against the decoded ROM image and verify its backing is empty. Captures cover analysis and the centered inbox in both renderers and widescreen. Checks verify120-tick analysis, 30-tick travel,120-tick hold,30-tick return, blink, pause, no duplicate refresh and read cancellation. High-score checks isolate record changes, verify max(record,current score), isolate timer updates, and bind a real frontend score table. The suite also verifies screen-edge/weapon anchors in854x480 and640x480, with separate high-score/timer, boss and analysis rows. Whole-layout captures include all ten selector entries, armor, score, boss and eight ammo badges in both chapters. See the current check/draw counts in classic-hud-validation.json and windows-classic-hud-validation.json. The current focused sanitizer/MSVC result is124,829 checks/383 draws, with286 Windows presentation checks and768 direct supplied-PNG comparisons. Native, software, widescreen and4:3 whole-layout captures were visually inspected. Starter checks verify all36 campaign level/difficulty loadouts are silent before and after their first tick, plus alternate starts on all12 maps. They retain normal later weapon/kill alerts and carried unread messages. Windows reading presents a genuinely new shotgun dossier and retains its read mask after retry. Journal checks reject spawn-only discoveries, perform actual combat kills, acquire another weapon, verify one entry per type, check that unread changes affect only the Classic top-right panel, and preserve read masks through a campaign carry. Windows276 checks include presenting the selected weapon dossier to clear its unread flag and retaining that read flag through retry reload, in both renderers. Original HUD continues to display actual lives. The Time Strike case checks the supplied full-width frame, shadow, original transparent hole, larger device detail and multiple green shades. The Windows script additionally compares every visible icon pixel directly against the user PNG after palette conversion, and verifies that the clipped padding is transparent. A cold-start regression also verifies repeated changes with the starting alternate Colt, unchanged inventory/OAM/counter and successful first-frame rendering. Windows frontend checks cover keyboard and mouse changes before gameplay with Enhanced weapons Off/On in both renderers, disk round trips, and pause, NETRICSA and clean completion captures in both renderers. Settings/localization/audio regression checks pass38,922 native assertions and23,381 Windows assertions, including saved style changes and version7 migration. Existing intermission tests pass143,825 native checks and all12 Windows pause/six completion routes.

Reports: classic-hud-validation.json, windows-classic-hud-validation.json, audio-settings-validation.json, windows-audio-settings-validation.json, intermission-validation.json, windows-intermission-validation.json and windows-native-startup-validation.json. Captures under build/classic-hud-tests and the three localized Extras captures were visually inspected. The static Windows executable and125 libraries are rebuilt. These are focused checks; physical input and a full campaign playthrough were not performed. The original ROM is unchanged, and this presentation work adds no exact matching claims.

HUD refinements (2026-10-19): Classic timer backing is now26x7 pixels at105,14 (previously29x10). Analyzing keeps sprite79 and its green shading but pulses opacity using TFE Player.es2393..2398's sin(seconds*10)*127+128 formula. The notification's simulation clock supplies phase, so pause freezes it. RGB555 and software RGB888 blend over the current scene, without a black text rectangle. Inbox travel, its separate green/white blink and starter/unread rules remain. Reference: https://github.com/Croteam-official/Serious-Engine/blob/master/Sources/EntitiesMP/Player.es#L2393

Classic now shows retained Use sprite77 at112,92 while an unlatched button is in the original64-unit interaction sweep. Its olive source ramp now shares the Analyzing palette mapping, matching the HUD's bright green while preserving shaded pixels, black and transparency. A separately owned use_query refreshes a presentation cache after simulation; it does not activate buttons, share scratch with gameplay/world/camera or change the world's blocking entity. Activation removes the prompt on that tick; death, completion and automap omit it. The Tommygun badge uses a new shaded box magazine inside the original15px frame, with the original OBJ palette. Minigun retains83. Ammo meters, flashing and selection palette swaps apply to both independently. This is new native UI art, not recovered ROM artwork.

Original HUD now groups score upper-left, lives upper-right, status bars lower-left and selected weapon/ammo lower-right, keeping clock centered above. Private sprite copies relocate the layout; original controllers, live object coordinates, art and animations are retained. Status Y coordinates stay native so the original scanline health/armor/boss palette changes remain correct. Six cached OAM snapshots separate corners, top-center clock and central weapon/ reticle/notices. PC output anchors only their appropriate axes to the viewport; weapon models and reticle remain centered. Native240x160 uses the same corner layout. Pause/NETRICSA captures save/restore these snapshots with the full OAM, including failure paths; completion keeps its clean scene.

Validation: GCC ASan/UBSan/leaks=1 and matching MSVC pass133,104 checks/395 draws across both renderers. This includes a real map button before/after actual activation, all source Use pixels, genuine RGB555/RGB888 opacity blending, and every visible Original corner/clock pixel at854x480 and640x480. Captures for both chapters, Use, ammo, analysis and both aspect ratios were inspected. Windows Classic menu/overlay checks pass286 assertions plus768 supplied Time Strike PNG comparisons. Additional hidden-window intermission regression: 6,205 checks,12 pause paths,6 completion routes and6 Main-menu quits, two renderers/three languages (build/intermission-tests/hud-regression.json). 125 static Windows libraries and frontend rebuilt; executable SHA256: b07c3e0e16b122ad01680491511fda73516ea30ce3294bcdf1381d8b2e4ac53a. ROM SHA1 remains4ff48d8c18b70a5184758f1917343ae85a70858e. No campaign playthrough, physical input validation or new exact-match claim. Launcher verification also passes on this executable: normal software/GBA startup, raw-input registration, repaint/restart, map transitions, error logging and two concurrent launches. See windows-native-startup-validation.json. No full replay.

Classic resource alert colors (2026-10-19): checked Croteam's Common/HUD.cpp GetCurrentColor and DrawHUD health/armor/ammo sections, especially778..845 and 898..914. Apply the requested red/gray alerts while retaining Classic green for other resource amounts: health below25 is red; positive armor below25 is light gray; selected ammo count below15% of its own capacity is red; each small ammo meter below25% of its own capacity is red. All comparisons are strict, as in GetCurrentColor: exactly25 health/armor,15% count and25% meter are not low. No difficulty-dependent health/armor normalization is added (the reference explicitly uses100). Keep the existing independent GBA ammo capacities; one UMT round out of its three-round capacity is above both alert thresholds. References: https://github.com/Croteam-official/Serious-Engine/blob/master/Sources/EntitiesMP/Common/HUD.cpp#L778 https://github.com/Croteam-official/Serious-Engine/blob/master/Sources/EntitiesMP/Common/HUD.cpp#L898 https://github.com/Croteam-official/Serious-Engine/blob/master/Sources/Engine/Graphics/Color.h#L21

Recolor the original green shading ramp through existing OBJ palette indices, not flat silhouettes or changed assets. Red uses the nearest retained red shades; armor gray scales the ramp by23/31 (TFE light gray0xBF), so it remains distinct from the white flash. Black/shadows, transparency, glyph geometry, badge/frame colors, selected icon highlights and zero/empty hiding policies are preserved. The user's existing40-tick white health/ammo consumption cues override alert colors; on expiry the current resource value determines the resulting color. Original HUD and gameplay rules are unaffected.

Final focused GCC sanitizer and matching MSVC result:170,256 checks/403 draws, two renderers. Tests cover health/armor0,1,24,25,50,100,200; all eight real ammo capacities at zero and immediately below/at/above15% and25%, full and overfull; white priority over low values, omitted empty badges, read-only draws, and actual RGB555/RGB888 palette output. Existing actual-damage/shot tests retain pause and 40-tick expiry, now returning low ammo to red instead of green. Egypt/Rome low resource and separated counter/meter threshold captures were visually inspected. The static Windows frontend and125 libraries are rebuilt. Executable SHA256: a8c889df55809079a0f68492ea3028c6ccbd21459282bf6330e7a68ca619ae7a. ROM SHA1 remains4ff48d8c18b70a5184758f1917343ae85a70858e. No campaign replay, new exact matching or fresh full launcher suite was needed for this palette edit.

Timer backing offset (2026-10-19): move only the Classic clock's26x7 backing from105,14 to105,13. Minute/second digits remain105,14 and120,14; colon remains 117,15/17. Shared native/software layers apply the same one-GBA-pixel offset.

Tommygun drum icon (2026-10-19): replace the box-magazine pattern with a front-facing round drum, short feed neck, concentric rim and central winding hub. Reference is the actual Tommygun ammo pickup animation0x3A: frame word25, resource58/image26 (exported frame-026.png), not resource58/image1's shared Colt art. Keep the established9x11 art area inside the15px green badge, original OBJ shades, right-side meter, selected white palette swap and low/flash meter colors. Minigun artwork remains unchanged. New HUD pixels are native UI art; the original ROM/pickup sprite is not modified. Compare build/classic-tommy-drum-preview.png. Rebuilt125static Windows libraries/frontend. Existing MSVC HUD checks pass171315 checks/403draws/two renderer paths; atlas and in-game captures inspected at native and enlarged size. See classic-tommy-drum-validation.json for current source and binary hashes. Full sanitizer/launcher suites were not repeated for this icon edit.

Original HUD GBA-layout restoration (2026-10-19): supersedes the earlier Original corner rearrangement described above. Remove original_corner_offsets entirely and remove the weapon icon's104px downward shift. Original HUD uses its unmodified recovered constructor/controller coordinates, full transparent sprite padding, original variable-width score centering, scanline palette boundaries and OAM composition. There is no forced2px margin. GBA/reference rendering uses the full raw OAM, preserving its native240x160 layout pixel for pixel.

Retain six isolated OAM snapshots for software anchoring only:0 central weapon/ reticle/notices;1 top-center score+clock;2 top-left lives;3 bottom-left status; 4 top-right weapon icon;5 bottom-right ammo. Each snapshot also retains native coordinates. PC renderer changes only the relevant viewport origin: left-edge zeroX, right-edge2letterboxX, centered letterboxX, top zeroY, bottom2letterboxY. This preserves each group's original GBA padding instead of measuring/cropping its bounds. Native full-OAM and private pause/NETRICSA capture ownership are intact.

New independent Original layout checks bypass the HUD adapter and feed untouched live sprite coordinates directly into recovered FCE4/ssa_sprite_oam_build, then the native display. All raw OAM entries and153,600 RGB555 pixels across four Egypt/Rome equipment fixtures match. Cases include default chainsaw and finite Tommygun ammo, armor75, health150, an eight-digit score and real remaining lives. Widescreen854x480 and portrait640x480 checks compare visible source art at the correct anchors. Native/default/equipped/widescreen captures were inspected. GCC ASan/UBSan/leaks=1 and MSVC333,649 checks/405 counted draws/two paths pass; Windows560 overlay/menu/reopen checks plus768 user-PNG checks pass. Additional original-HUD intermission regression passes6,205 checks/12pause/6completion/ 6menu-quit paths in both renderers (build/intermission-tests/original-hud-regression.json). Static frontend/125libraries rebuilt; SHA256: 4647317503861ea2e4a9f6539a24ed1d6274a6b6e587d0b1e25c47470202e7b7. Current source/binary evidence: classic-hud-validation.json and windows-classic-hud-validation.json. Original ROM unchanged. No full campaign replay, new exact matching claim or full launcher rerun was made for this fix.

Latest analysing text correction (2026-10-19): supersedes the earlier sinusoidal opacity behavior. Analysing is fully visible/invisible in alternating15-tick phases (0.25s per phase), starting visible. It retains the2s analysis interval, upper-center/boss-adjusted position, no backing, pause behavior and inbox timing. Sprite79 is recolored to the existing HUD's green ramp: its brightest shade matches the HUD's bright green, with lighter/darker lettering shades preserved. For the current ROM this maps green24/19 to green29/24; black/transparency and all sprite pixels stay intact. RGB555 and RGB888 compositors share the same binary alpha and palette mapping. The two Classic-only audio cues are unchanged. Validation for the latest blink/palette change: native ASan/UBSan/leaks=1 and MSVC each pass337601 checks/409 counted draws/two renderer paths. Checks cover all120 analysis ticks including boss placement, exact recolored sprite pixels, full-strength on pixels and unchanged scene pixels when off in both outputs. The prior double-cue/audio, unread and Original layout checks still pass. Windows frontend560 checks and768 supplied Time Strike pixels pass. On/off PC captures were visually inspected. Static125libraries/frontend rebuilt; SHA256: 42c166bfdd988592784727387d544dbaec04c9b36a4bdf9a78102d1a6e6a1e11 Current reports: classic-hud-validation.json/windows-classic-hud-validation.json. Original ROM unchanged; no full campaign replay or physical-input test.

Latest Tommygun ammo artwork (2026-10-19): supersedes the drum design. Use two upright cartridges in the same9x11 interior, each3px wide and11px long, with pointed tips, neck bands, shaded cases and base rims. This is fewer, longer and thicker rounds than Minigun's five short horizontal bullets. Retain image83's 15px frame, right ammo meter, original green ramp, selection/flash white swap and alert colors. Minigun/world pickup/ROM artwork unchanged. Existing MSVC HUD checks357231/409draws/two paths pass. Side-by-side enlarged native-pixel preview inspected: build/classic-tommy-bullets-preview.png. Static125libraries/frontend rebuilt; SHA256 63b406c7bec3424271e6086b61987b55da767632d9ab386d305cff8b2b7f4c49. See classic-tommy-bullets-validation.json. No new tests or broad sanitizer/ launcher/campaign rerun was added for this small code-native sprite adjustment.

User-edited Tommygun icon (2026-10-19): the final selected image is the existing assets/classic-hud/tommygun-ammo.png, explicitly provided by local path after superseding the first attachment. Its SHA256 is e5ae9c9e20c6667cbe9f701ff4cce41295749ffe30af15c87775c2692364f071. The16x16 PNG replaces the prior two-cartridge procedural pattern. A dedicated importer writes exact original-palette indices and transparent0 to classic_tommy_ammo.inc; no resizing, cropping, color replacement or approximated pixels. It rejects dimensions, alpha or colors outside the expected format. The unchanged PNG remains the editable source. Runtime blits it directly and then draws the separate ammo meter; existing selected/flash/low-ammo behavior remains. Minigun and world pickup sprites remain original. Validation: existing MSVC390399 HUD checks/409 draws/two paths pass. A direct comparison against the supplied PNG matches446 pixels across Egypt/Rome, excluding only the dynamic3x11 meter. Side-by-side rendered preview inspected. The source PNG SHA256 stayse5ae9c9e20c6667cbe9f701ff4cce41295749ffe30af15c87775c2692364f071. Static125libraries/frontend rebuilt; executable SHA256: bbad6918a6e4414c67b20be73c7dcc3ea2135a9e493fdba6115d242ac5fc7655 See classic-tommy-import-validation.json. No new tests or full sanitizer/ launcher/campaign rerun were added for this exact sprite replacement.

Classic pause/completion typography (2026-10-19): intermission.c now uses the main-menu ROM font/palettes for pause and its quit confirmation, end-level labels, score/bonus values and localized Sam greetings. Inactive choices, labels and greetings are green; the pause heading, selected choices and numeric values are white. Existing row positions, frozen backdrop and black glyph outlines remain. Original HUD's animated glyph sprites and all tally/input/ audio/readable-hold timing are unchanged.

Validation: GCC ASan/UBSan/leaks and MSVC agree on145940 intermission checks, 36 original completion starts/69917 tally frames, plus Classic pause and first/final-level completion fixtures in all three languages. Actual Windows routes pass12pause/6completion/6Main-menu Quit paths in both renderers; the Classic hidden-window frontend passes560checks/two renderer paths. Pause, bonus and localized final greeting captures were visually checked. Static125 libraries/frontend build passes; executable SHA256: a7c0f66357c9111e0c66bdebdc531919aecd1f95bbeb6a1276d44c218bc0ea6a See intermission-validation.json and windows-intermission-validation.json. These are focused presentation checks, not a campaign playthrough or physical input/listening validation.

Instant inbox movement and green pause heading (2026-10-19): GAME PAUSED and its translations now use green in Classic mode; selected choices remain white. The inbox teleports inward immediately after2s analysis, holds2s, and returns instantly to the top-right corner. The existing5s notification lifetime and blink remain; the final second is spent at the corner. Shared attention is only0/30, so native-resolution PC anchors snap as well as GBA positions. The green-sprite palette swap and half-duration audio gap remain unchanged. Existing MSVC checks pass382206 HUD/409draws and145940 intermission assertions; hidden-window checks pass560 Classic and6205 pause/completion assertions over both renderers and all three languages.125libraries/frontend rebuilt. Pause and inbox previews inspected; no broad sanitizer/campaign rerun. See classic-hud-snap-validation.json.

Transparent empty ammo meters (2026-10-19): meters no longer erase their full 3x11 area to black before drawing. Only the filled original meter art overlays the ammo icon, preserving its pixels where the bar is not full. Selected icon palettes, red low-ammo fill, white consumption flash, frames and HUD backings remain. Existing meter checks now compare exposed space with the bare icon and inspect alert/flash colors only within the filled part. MSVC382094checks/ 409draws and Windows560checks/two renderers pass;125libraries/frontend rebuilt. Low-ammo preview inspected. See classic-ammo-transparency-validation.json. No broad sanitizer or campaign rerun for this small presentation change.

Panel icons (2026-10-19): the high-score/leaderboard panel now has a7x7 podium inside its left square, and the boss panel a7x7 skull. Both are code-native pixel glyphs shaded with the retained HUD green ramp (29/19/9 brightness), lit from above/left. The podium's center step is tallest, then left, then right. Existing frame/divider pixels and transparent gaps intact. Boss fill now starts at101,29 and spans at most 47x4, wholly inside the right rectangle with padding; it never crosses the divider or skull. Existing full-health checks verify the skull eye remains open and the fill stays within its rectangle. MSVC382452checks/409draws and Windows1666checks/two renderers pass;125libraries/frontend rebuilt. GBA and 4:3 PC previews inspected. See classic-bar-icons-validation.json. No broad sanitizer/campaign replay for this small HUD change.

Use prompt green (2026-10-19): sprite77's olive source colors RGB555(12,21,3) and(11,17,2) now map to the HUD's retained green ramp, peaking at(0,29,0). The shared lettering helper preserves the original shading, black pixels, transparency and112,92 position; Analyzing retains its green-only mapping. The existing real-button capture checks the prompt's silhouette and green hue. Both GBA and software previews were inspected. Windows HUD integration passes 1666 checks/two renderers and the rebuilt frontend passes30 startup frames. No campaign replay or gameplay changes.

The supplied artwork contains49 light and24 dark pixels. Health colors preserve its two-tone detail using the original18/28 intensity ratio and nearest existing palette colors; no-target uses the PNG's exact original palette colors.