# PSXRecomp mod packages and features A `.psxmod` is a versioned installation, provenance, and trust boundary. A package may contribute any number of independently configurable **features**. The launcher presents those features as the primary Mods list; package installation, version selection, and removal are a secondary management view. Feature identity is always `(package_id, feature_id)`. Enabling one feature never enables, disables, or reconfigures another feature. The player selects a verified stock BIN/CUE. Resolution produces guarded native operations and sparse disc overlays without rewriting or replacing that stock image. ## Where packages live Two catalog roots sit beside the executable, split by who owns the files: ```text /mods/ bundled/ build output — the framework's mods/builtin/packages (minus any the title declines with EXCLUDE_BUILTIN_MODS) plus the title's mods/preloaded/packages. Every build WIPES and re-stages this tree, so nothing a player owns may live here. installed/ launcher-owned — .psxmod archives installed through the Mods manager. No build ever touches this tree. state.toml user selection state (enabled features, option values). ``` Both roots use the same `//manifest.toml` layout and are scanned into one catalog, bundled first. An installed package with the same id as a bundled one deliberately shadows it and records that it did so, so an override is visible rather than decided by directory-iteration order. A bundled package is not removable from the Mods page: deleting build output would succeed and then be undone by the next build. Remove it from the title's `mods/preloaded/packages` instead. Only `bundled/` ships in a release. `installed/` and `state.toml` are the local machine's and are excluded by every packager. **Migration.** A pre-split install has one `mods/packages/` tree holding both. The first scan moves each package the current build did not also stage into `installed/`, drops the rest as redundant build output, and removes the old tree — but only once every version directory has been dealt with. Anything that could not be moved is left exactly where it is and reported. A manifest that fails to parse is never skipped silently: it is reported by `scan_errors()` and logged, naming the path and the reason. ## How `bundled/` gets staged (titles: read this) **The framework owns the layout. A title declares a directory, never a path shape.** Hand the title's catalog to `psxrecomp_add_runtime_target()`: ```cmake set(MYGAME_PRELOADED_MODS "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/mods/preloaded") psxrecomp_add_runtime_target(psx-runtime ... PRELOADED_MODS_DIR "${MYGAME_PRELOADED_MODS}" ) ``` `PRELOADED_MODS_DIR` names a directory shaped like `/packages///manifest.toml`, optionally with a `README.md` beside `packages/`. On every build of that target the framework: 1. wipes `/mods/bundled` (build output only — never `installed/` or `state.toml`), 2. removes exactly the ids it is about to stage from any pre-existing `mods/packages`, which migrates a build directory made before the split while leaving a player's own legacy packages for `migrate_legacy_root()`, 3. copies the framework's `mods/builtin/packages/` then the title's `/packages/` into `mods/bundled/` — in that order, so a title may deliberately OVERRIDE a builtin at the same id and version (Tomba 2's Italian runtime ships localized `psx.*` manifests exactly this way), 4. copies `/README.md` to `mods/README.md`, and 5. verifies the result with `runtime/psx_check_mod_catalog.cmake`. Pass `PRELOADED_MODS_DIR NONE` to declare that a target intentionally ships no game catalog. A target built with `COSIM` stages nothing: it has no launcher, and it shares an output directory with the real runtime. ### Declining a framework builtin (`EXCLUDE_BUILTIN_MODS`) Every package under the framework's `mods/builtin/packages` targets `game_id = "*"`, so by default every title ships all of them. A title that does not want one — because it ships its own replacement, or because the feature is wrong for it — names it: ```cmake psxrecomp_add_game_runtime(psx-runtime ... PRELOADED_MODS_DIR "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/mods/preloaded" # WipEout 3's own team-mark bezel replaces the generic file-picker one, # and host-paced fast loading is not offered for it. EXCLUDE_BUILTIN_MODS psx.enhancement.fast-loading psx.presentation.bezel ) ``` `EXCLUDE_BUILTIN_MODS` is accepted by both `psxrecomp_add_game_runtime()` and `psxrecomp_add_runtime_target()` (the PGXP clone inherits it). An excluded package is **absent, not hidden**, the same rule as the developer channel: - it is never copied into `/mods/bundled`, so the launcher cannot list it and every release packager — which all ship the build's staged tree — cannot ship it either; - the build publishes the exclusions beside the catalog manifest as `psx_mod_catalog_.excluded.txt`. The build-time guard fails if an excluded id turns up in `mods/bundled` anyway, and `tools/release_stage.py stage-mods` both refuses such a catalog and stops counting an excluded builtin as *missing* when a caller passes the framework's `mods/builtin` as a `--mod-source`; - the framework itself is unchanged: the package, its plugin and its C API stay available to every other title. Configure fails loudly when an excluded id is not a framework builtin (a typo would otherwise leave the package shipping while the CMakeLists reads as if it did not), and when the title's own catalog provides the same id — that is an override, and excluding and overriding one id at once contradicts itself. The selection lives in `runtime/psx_mod_catalog_select.cmake`; both it and the guard are exercised by `runtime/tests/test_mod_catalog_layout.py`. A player's `mods/state.toml` written by an earlier build may still name an excluded package. That selection is dormant, not an error: see [State and migration](#state-and-migration). **Do NOT write your own `copy_directory` into `/mods`.** Five titles did, and the reason it is now a build error is worth stating: a hand-written copy names the destination as a *string*, so when framework commit `4cc04be3` renamed the staged catalog from `mods/packages` to `mods/bundled`, all five kept staging into a directory nothing reads. Nothing failed to configure, compile or link — the coupling has no compile-time or link-time consumer — and the defect surfaced only when a release packager ran, in a different repository, on a later day. Two guards now close that window: * **configure time** — a project with packages under `mods/preloaded/packages` that does not declare `PRELOADED_MODS_DIR` is a `FATAL_ERROR`, naming the packages and the argument to add. * **build time** — `psx_check_mod_catalog.cmake` runs as the *last* `POST_BUILD` step (registered through `cmake_language(DEFER)`, so it lands after anything the title registered) and fails the build if a declared package did not reach `mods/bundled`, or if any package this build stages turned up under `mods/packages`. It is also registered as the ctest `psx_staged_mod_catalog_test`. Both are exercised by `runtime/tests/test_mod_catalog_layout.py`. The release packagers assert the same invariant one layer out: `Add-ModCatalog` in `tools/release_overlay_stage.ps1` reads `mods/bundled` and refuses to package when a package the *sources* define is missing from it. It asserts that invariant rather than a hard-coded count, because a count describes only one side of a catalog two repositories contribute to and goes stale the moment either side gains a mod. ## Feature manifest Write new manifests at the current format version, which is **7**. Older versions stay readable so installed packages survive an update, and each section below notes the version a field first required. ```toml format_version = 7 id = "example.localization" version = "1.2.0" name = "Example Localization Pack" author = "Example Author" description = "Independent title and script features." license = "MIT" resolver = "declarative" [[target]] game_id = "SLUS-00000" # Required for disc overlays. Use the digest of the supported stock image. disc_sha256 = "0123456789abcdef0123456789abcdef0123456789abcdef0123456789abcdef" [[feature]] id = "title-screen" name = "Title Screen" description = "Selects the title-screen artwork." group = "Localization" default_enabled = false [[feature]] id = "retranslation" name = "Retranslation" description = "Uses the revised English script." group = "Localization" [[option]] feature = "title-screen" id = "variant" label = "Title artwork" type = "choice" default = "rockman" [[option.choice]] value = "mega-man" label = "Mega Man X6 (USA)" [[option.choice]] value = "rockman" label = "Rockman X6 (Japan)" [[patch]] feature = "title-screen" target = "main_exe" address = 0x80041234 expected = "2a 00 02 24" replace = "0e 00 02 24" when = { variant = "rockman" } [[overlay]] feature = "retranslation" target = "disc_raw" offset = 123456 file = "assets/retranslated-script.bin" sha256 = "..." # Optional additional guard over the same range in the stock image. expected_sha256 = "..." ``` Every `[[option]]`, `[[patch]]`, and `[[overlay]]` in a feature-style manifest must name its owning feature. Ambiguous operations are rejected. Option types are `boolean`, `choice`, and bounded `integer`. Conditions are feature-local: `when = { option = "value", ... }` requires every listed option to match. The legacy `when_option`/`when_value` pair remains accepted for a single condition. A feature with `hidden = true` is left out of the launcher's lists while it is disabled; while enabled it is listed so the player can turn it off. A title that sets `[runtime] hide_hidden_mod_features = true` in `game.toml` never shows it: the launcher does not list it (enabled or not), does not name it in the lobby summary, "Enable all" / "Disable all" leave it alone, and a package whose every feature is hidden is not listed under "Installed packages". Either way it runs exactly as `default_enabled` and `mods/state.toml` say, so a hidden default-on feature is simply active. (recomp-ui `launcher_mod_visibility.h`.) ## Bounded integer patches Package format 2 can encode a bounded integer option directly into a guarded write: ```toml format_version = 2 [[feature]] id = "starting-lives" name = "Starting Lives" [[option]] feature = "starting-lives" id = "count" label = "Lives" type = "integer" min = 0 max = 99 step = 1 default = 2 [[patch]] feature = "starting-lives" target = "main_exe" address = 0x8001DE64 expected = "02 00 02 24" replace_from = { option = "count", encoding = "u16le", offset = 0 } [[patch]] feature = "starting-lives" target = "main_exe" address = 0x8001DE70 expected = "03 00 02 24" replace_from = { option = "count", encoding = "u16le", offset = 0, addend = 1 } ``` `replace_from` and literal `replace` are mutually exclusive. The referenced option must be a bounded integer owned by the same feature. The initial encodings are `u8`, `u16le`, and `u32le`. `offset` selects a byte field inside the expected guard and defaults to zero. Generated replacement bytes begin as an exact copy of the expected bytes, then the encoded value replaces only that field. This lets a MIPS immediate, for example, retain a guard and collision claim over its complete instruction. `addend` is the only supported transform, and the complete declared option range after that addend must fit the unsigned encoding. There is deliberately no host-endian encoding, signed inference, mask, shift, scale, expression language, or partial-field merge. A package uses multiple guarded `[[patch]]` entries when the same value has multiple destinations. Generated bytes enter the ordinary pre-boot write plan, collision checks, and fingerprint. A generated value identical to the stock guard is omitted as a no-op, so an enabled stock-valued option does not claim or conflict on bytes it does not change. Integer values use canonical decimal text. Leading plus signs, redundant leading zeroes, values outside the bounds, and values not aligned to `step` are rejected. ## Ordered values and split MIPS immediates Package format 3 adds feature-local ordering constraints for related integer fields: ```toml format_version = 3 [[constraint]] feature = "rank-thresholds" kind = "ordered_integer" direction = "nondecreasing" options = ["rank-c", "rank-b", "rank-a"] ``` All listed options must be integer options on that feature. Defaults must satisfy the constraint. While a feature is enabled, an edit that would invert the order is rejected with the neighboring option labels. Disabled features may retain an incomplete or invalid draft, but cannot be enabled until it is valid. `nonincreasing` is also supported. Format 3 also provides a narrow, typed transform for constants constructed by a linked MIPS `LUI`/`ORI` pair: ```toml replace_from = { option = "speed", encoding = "mips_lui_ori_u32", omit_when_default = true } ``` The patch must target one aligned, fully guarded eight-byte `main_exe` instruction pair. The loader verifies the opcodes and register linkage, then places the raw high and low 16-bit halves into the two immediates. It does not apply signed-`ADDIU` carry adjustment. `offset` and `addend` are not accepted for this encoding. `omit_when_default` suppresses the entire patch when the selected value equals the option default. This models source tools whose declared default means "make no writes," including cases where multiple guarded sites contain different stock values. For any nondefault selection, every declared site retains its collision claim even if one generated replacement happens to equal its stock guard. ## Sparse fields and integer predicates Package format 4 separates a patch's complete expected-byte guard from the fields it owns and writes. This is for semantic records whose independently configurable fields share one useful guard: ```toml format_version = 4 [[option]] feature = "saber-timing" id = "frames" label = "Frames" type = "integer" min = 0 max = 99 default = 2 # Positive values change only byte 0. [[patch]] feature = "saber-timing" target = "main_exe" address = 0x80077640 expected = "02 42 01 02" fields = [ { offset = 0, option = "frames", encoding = "u8" }, ] when_integer = { option = "frames", op = "gt", value = 0 } # Zero has a narrow, explicitly declared compound representation. [[patch]] feature = "saber-timing" target = "main_exe" address = 0x80077640 expected = "02 42 01 02" fields = [ { offset = 0, replace = "01" }, { offset = 2, replace = "00" }, ] when_integer = { option = "frames", op = "eq", value = 0 } ``` `fields` is mutually exclusive with `replace` and `replace_from`. Every field has a nonnegative `offset` and exactly one payload form: - `replace = "..."` supplies non-empty literal bytes; or - `option` plus `encoding` uses a bounded integer option on the same feature, with the optional checked `addend`. Fields must fit inside `expected` and their owned byte ranges may not overlap. The supported dynamic encodings are the existing `u8`, `u16le`, `u32le`, and linked `mips_lui_ori_u32` forms. A sparse MIPS field owns only the two immediate halfwords while the complete linked instruction pair remains guarded; as with format 3, that encoding does not accept an addend. Resolution omits individual fields whose generated payload already equals the guard. If no field changes, the patch is a no-op. Otherwise the plan retains the complete guard and the exact remaining owned ranges. Runtime guard validation checks every byte of `expected` before applying any writes, while collision detection and writing use only the owned fields. Thus two features can safely own adjacent bytes in one record without either overwriting the other. Overlapping guards must still agree on their expected bytes; conflicting guards make the plan unsatisfiable and are rejected. `when_integer` is a patch-level, feature-local predicate over one bounded integer option. `op` is exactly one of `eq`, `ne`, `lt`, `le`, `gt`, or `ge`, and `value` is an integer constant inside the option bounds. Equality constants must also be selectable under the option's `step`. String-valued `when` conditions and one `when_integer` predicate may coexist and are ANDed. Sparse fields and integer predicates are still pre-boot plan construction. They do not provide a general expression evaluator, masks, arithmetic beyond the checked field addend, package code execution, or per-frame dispatch. ## Channels A feature declares how finished it is. Format 6 puts `channel` on the **feature**, not the package: ```toml format_version = 6 id = "example.enhancements" [[feature]] id = "widescreen" channel = "experimental" # ships, badged, default off [[feature]] id = "hook-trace" channel = "developer" # absent from any release build ``` | Channel | Ships | In the launcher | |---|---|---| | `stable` (default) | yes | no tag — the absence is the stable case | | `experimental` | yes | amber `EXP` tag, and a line saying it is unvalidated | | `developer` | **no** | secondary-accent `DEV` tag; only ever visible on a local build | An absent `channel` means `stable`. A package may still declare one, which its features inherit unless they state their own — which is how a format-5 manifest carrying a package-level `channel` keeps working unchanged. **Why the feature and not the package.** A package is the installation and **trust** boundary; how finished one of its features is has nothing to do with that. When the marker sat on the package, a catalog holding one player-ready feature and one developer instrument had to declare itself entirely developer — so neither shipped, and the documented workaround was to split the catalog into two packages. Channels per feature remove that trade. **"Developer does not ship" means absent, not hidden.** Two mechanisms, one per catalog root: - **`bundled/` is filtered when it is staged.** `tools/mod_channel_filter.py` emits a manifest without the developer features and without the `[[option]]`, `[[patch]]`, `[[overlay]]`, `[[plugin]]`, `[[resource]]`, `[[constraint]]` and `[[requirement]]` entries that only served them; a package whose every feature is developer has its directory removed. This is generation, not rewriting: the staged catalog is build output and the author's manifest in the repo is never touched. - **`installed/` is refused at load.** A third-party archive is never modified, so the runtime declines to surface developer features from one instead. The runtime gate is the build definition `PSX_MOD_DEVELOPER_CHANNEL`, which `runtime.cmake` sets for a local build and clears under `$CI`. A contributor reaches developer features by cloning the repo and building; a release build carries neither the features nor their operations, so a stale `state.toml` naming one cannot reach them either. Packaging defaults the exclusion from `$CI` — on under any CI provider, off locally. `--exclude-dev-mods` / `--include-dev-mods` (or `EXCLUDE_DEV_MODS=0|1`) override it, and `project_studio build export --exclude-dev-mods` reproduces what a release would contain. ## Trusted static plugins Package format 5 can activate a game-owned plugin that is already statically linked into the executable: ```toml format_version = 5 [[feature]] id = "warp-debug-menu" name = "Warp Debug Menu" [[plugin]] feature = "warp-debug-menu" id = "example.warp-debug" ``` The plugin id is a stable registry key, not a library path or symbol name. The package archive supplies no native code. Resolution fails before launch when an enabled plugin has no registered implementation or when two features claim the same plugin id. Active plugin identities and owners participate in the canonical plan fingerprint. An implementation may register an activation callback, a deterministic guest-VBlank callback, function-entry hooks, or any combination under the same id. A function-entry hook (`psx_mod_register_function_entry_plugin`) runs at the top of a generated function the game config lists in `[recompiler] mod_function_entry_funcs`, and at every interpreted entry to the same address (segment bits ignored), so the backend running the page does not matter. Like the other kinds it satisfies a manifest `[[plugin]]` and runs only while the resolved plan activates its id: the active hooks are flattened into an address table at plugin activation, and a plan change drops them until the next activation. Activation runs after the launcher's final mod-plan commit and before renderer/window initialization; it is appropriate for a game-owned mod that selects a fixed display aspect or another pre-boot host feature. VBlank callbacks run from the emulated GPU VBlank event, independent of host presentation, pacing, turbo, or skipped frames. Trusted callbacks receive only the narrow C services exposed by `runtime/include/mod_plugins.h`. Games should continue to use declarative patches and overlays when those operations are sufficient. `psx_mod_set_load_acceleration(multiplier, release_frames)` is the narrow pre-boot service for a game-owned fast-loading feature. It changes host wall-clock pacing only: guest VBlanks, CD deadlines, interrupts, callbacks, and game logic still execute. Multipliers 2 through 16 are bounded choices; zero selects uncapped host speed. A zero-frame release stops acceleration as soon as the sustained-load predicate clears, which is appropriate for timing-sensitive or speedrun-oriented packages. `psx_mod_set_disc_speed(divisor, instant_max_per_frame)` is the guest-visible alternative. Divisors 2 and 4 shorten emulated CD deadlines; zero selects the bounded instant scheduler. Because this changes interrupt timing, packages should label it experimental and make it mutually exclusive with host-only load acceleration (normally as choices in one default-off feature). ## Native operations `main_exe` writes use PSX guest virtual addresses. Expected bytes are checked after the BIOS loads the executable, then the complete write plan is applied before its entry point. Changed executable ranges use the existing dirty-RAM interpreter/native-overlay machinery; untouched functions remain on the static native path. Small `disc_raw` and `disc_user` patches are equal-length guarded writes and may not cross a sector boundary: - `disc_raw` offsets use `lba * 2352 + byte_in_sector`. - `disc_user` offsets use `lba * 2048 + byte_in_sector`. File-backed `[[overlay]]` operations are intended for large assets and may span any number of sectors. Their paths must remain inside the archive. Payload size and SHA-256 are verified while scanning, but disabled payloads are not retained in memory. Enabled payloads are loaded and reverified during resolution, then indexed by target and LBA before boot. A CD read performs a direct indexed lookup rather than scanning every installed mod. Feature disc overlays require an exact `disc_sha256` on every target entry. `expected_sha256` can additionally guard the replaced stock range. ## State and migration `mods/state.toml` format 2 stores selected package versions separately from per-feature enabled states and values: ```toml format_version = 2 [[package]] id = "example.localization" version = "1.2.0" [[feature]] package_id = "example.localization" id = "title-screen" enabled = true [feature.values] variant = "rockman" [feature.resources] artwork = "C:/Users/You/Pictures/example-bezel.png" ``` State format 1 and package-only manifests remain readable as a migration aid. They appear through one synthetic legacy feature. New packages should use explicit features. **Selections for packages the catalog does not hold are dormant.** State can outlive the package it names: the player deleted an installed archive, a release build stripped a developer-only package, or the title now declines a framework builtin with `EXCLUDE_BUILTIN_MODS`. Resolution only visits packages that are present, so such a selection contributes nothing to the plan (and does not change its fingerprint), and it is not a launch error — the Mods page no longer lists the package, so the player would have no way to clear one. `save_state()` keeps the entry verbatim, so the choice applies again if the package ever returns, and the runtime names each one at startup (`mod selection kept but inactive: is not in this build's mod catalog`). A selection pinned to a *version* that is missing while other versions of the package are present remains an error, because the Mods page can fix that one. The old `derived_disc` VCDIFF mechanism is legacy conversion scaffolding only. Feature-style manifests reject it. It is not a product mod primitive, fallback, or image-selection workflow; patched discs may be used offline as parity oracles while converting known mods to native operations. ## Resolution and diagnostics Before boot, the manager: 1. verifies the selected stock game and revision; 2. expands only enabled features and their selected options, plus every feature an active `[[requirement]]` activates (see [Implicit requirements](#implicit-requirements-across-packages)); 3. orders active packages deterministically by dependencies; 4. verifies enabled payloads and operation bounds; 5. collision-checks the complete owned byte-range plan and guard compatibility; 6. coalesces only truly identical target/range/expected/replacement writes or identical overlays; and 7. produces a canonical SHA-256 plan fingerprint. Incompatible overlaps fail before launch. Structured diagnostics identify both `(package, feature)` owners and the exact contested target range. The launcher marks both feature rows and lets the user decide what to disable. It never silently chooses a winner. Operation boundaries are not semantic boundaries. Legacy full-record writes compose when both their expected and replacement bytes agree throughout the owned intersection. Format-4 sparse patches collide only on declared owned fields, while their complete guards must remain mutually compatible. Partially overlapping overlays compose when their replacement payload bytes agree. A differing owned byte or incompatible guard produces a diagnostic at that exact location. Exact duplicate operations may be coalesced. Package-level dependencies and conflicts are reserved for actual implementation relationships. Mutually exclusive choices such as US versus Japanese artwork belong inside one feature as option values. A relationship that holds only for some selections of one feature is a `[[requirement]]`, not a dependency. ## Implicit requirements across packages Package format 7 lets a feature, while a condition on its own options holds, need a feature of **another** package: ```toml format_version = 7 id = "wipeout3.enhancement.framerate" [[requirement]] feature = "framerate" # the requiring feature (owner) package = "psx.enhancement.8mb-ram" # the package that provides it requires_feature = "8mb-ram" # its feature to activate when = { extras = "enhanced" } # same condition syntax as [[plugin]] [[requirement]] feature = "framerate" package = "psx.enhancement.8mb-ram" requires_feature = "8mb-ram" when = { extras = "full" } ``` `when` (or `when_option`/`when_value`) is the same feature-local condition plugins and overlays use; every listed option must match, so a requirement that holds for several values is written once per value. Omit it for a requirement that holds whenever the feature is enabled. `version` optionally restricts the provider with the `[[dependency]]` range syntax (`"*"` by default). Unknown fields are rejected, and so is a requirement naming its own package: a feature of the same package is a `requires_feature` `[[constraint]]`. The two existing mechanisms could not express this. `[[dependency]]` is package-level and unconditional, so WipEout 3's "NTSC / PAL Mode" would need 8 MB RAM even with Extras = None; a `requires_feature` constraint cannot name another package. **Resolution.** While the requiring feature is enabled and its condition holds, `resolve()` activates the required feature for the session: - even when it is `hidden`, default-off, or explicitly disabled in `mods/state.toml` -- the player chose the requiring option, and the requiring option cannot run without it; - recursively: a derived feature's own `[[requirement]]`s and in-package `requires_feature` constraints are derived too, to a fixed point; - **without writing it to `state.toml`**. A derived activation is not a player choice, so `save_state()` persists only what the player selected, and turning the requiring option back off leaves nothing behind. `feature_enabled()` keeps reporting the player's choice (the launcher's checkbox, so a hidden required feature stays hidden); `feature_implicitly_enabled()` reports the derived one. The plan lists each derived feature in `ModResolution::implicit_features` with what required it, plans with and without the derivation have different fingerprints, and a committed plan's plugins read option values from `ModResolution::selections` -- the selection the plan was actually built from. The runtime names every derived feature at launch: ```text psxrecomp: mod feature psx.enhancement.8mb-ram/8mb-ram activated implicitly (required by wipeout3.enhancement.framerate/framerate) ``` **An unmet requirement fails loudly.** When the provider is absent from the catalog (removed, stripped from a release, or declined with `EXCLUDE_BUILTIN_MODS`), the selected version is missing, the version is out of range, or the provider has no such feature, the plan is rejected before launch: ```text wipeout3.enhancement.framerate/framerate requires psx.enhancement.8mb-ram/8mb-ram, but package psx.enhancement.8mb-ram is not in this build's mod catalog ``` It is also a diagnostic on the requiring feature, so the launcher marks that row. The requiring selection never runs without what it requires -- an 8 MB build on 2 MB RAM is exactly the failure this prevents. A package an active requirement uses cannot be removed from the Mods manager. AOT profiles pin active requirements the way they pin plugins: `tools/mod_package_images.py` reports each active one as `"/"` and a `mod_packages` entry must list the exact set under `requirements`. The launcher needs no change for a hidden required feature: it lists a hidden feature only when the player enabled it, and the player did not. A *visible* required feature still shows the player's own checkbox state while it is derived; showing "on, required by X" needs a launcher field that does not exist yet. ## Trusted adapters and archive safety ### Owner-selected resources Format-5 packages may declare feature-owned resources that the launcher renders with its native file/folder picker: ```toml [[resource]] feature = "bezel" id = "artwork" label = "Bezel image" description = "Select an image to draw behind the game frame." format = "file" file_patterns = "*.png,*.jpg,*.jpeg,*.bmp" file_description = "Image files" required = false ``` Resources are paths selected by the player and persisted in `mods/state.toml`; they are not copied into the package. Optional resources with no selected path are omitted from the committed plan. Required resources reject launch while the feature is enabled and unset. `resolver = "builtin:"` selects a resolver statically registered by the game. Format-5 plugin ids likewise select only statically registered implementations. Packages cannot load arbitrary native code or select arbitrary symbols. The installer accepts stored or DEFLATE-compressed ZIP entries, validates CRCs, rejects encrypted entries and unsafe or absolute paths, limits archives to 4096 files and 256 MiB expanded size, stages extraction, validates the manifest, and publishes the version atomically. ### Presentation bezel packages The framework registers `psx.bezel`, a trusted presentation plugin for OpenGL margin artwork. The built-in package declares an optional `artwork` image resource; when the feature is enabled and the player has selected an image, the runtime draws that image behind the game frame before presenting the normal 4:3 or widescreen content. The built-in package `psx.presentation.bezel` targets every game but defaults to off, so the default presentation is unchanged: letterbox and pillarbox margins remain black. Enabling the feature without choosing artwork is also a no-op. The package supplies only the declaration and trusted plugin selection; archives still cannot load native code. A title's own trusted plugin can call `psx_mod_set_bezel_artwork(path)` directly to ship its artwork. An absolute path (such as the built-in package's selected resource) is used as-is; a relative path like `"bezels/qirex.png"` is resolved against the executable's directory when the artwork loads, never the current working directory, so artwork the title stages beside its binary is found however the game was launched. ### Retained-scene loading presentation (native-wide opt-in) A trusted game plugin can register `psx_mod_set_retained_scene_predicate(predicate)` from `mod_plugins.h` when the game keeps displaying its previous framebuffer while loading. The cheap, pure emulation-thread callback returns `PSX_MOD_SCENE_HOLD` while that same scene is retained. It must not call presentation APIs recursively. Passing NULL removes the opt-in. Without registration, existing presentation behavior is unchanged. In native-wide mode this holds the previous wide/4:3 classification even if a game-state flag or absent GTE activity would normally classify loading as 2D. It does not force menus wide, stretch artwork, change guest rendering or memory, or override the FMV veto. Return `PSX_MOD_SCENE_RELEASE` when a new scene replaces the retained image, so ordinary classification resumes. For double-buffered games whose draw-ready signal precedes the actual display flip, return `PSX_MOD_SCENE_UNTIL_FLIP`: the prior hold ends only when the displayed VRAM origin changes. Without a prior HOLD it behaves like RELEASE. Do not use UNTIL_FLIP for in-place image replacement. Crash's experimental adaptive feature uses its pending level transition and draw-skip globals for this; these game-specific addresses do not belong in the framework. GPU reset and savestate restore discard this host-only history. A save loaded directly into a frozen loading frame cannot recreate wide reveal strips absent from the canonical saved framebuffer. `ws_scene_hold_test` covers long holds, menu release, delayed buffer flips, retained 4:3 scenes, FMV and timeline reset.