Crusader_Decomp/docs/spanish-cheat-differences.md

Spanish CRUSADER.EXE Cheat / Debug Differences

This note records a focused live-Ghidra pass over the Spanish executable opened from /es/CRUSADER.EXE and compares the known English cheat/debug control areas against the Spanish build.

Scope

• Target analyzed in Ghidra MCP: /es/CRUSADER.EXE
• Comparison baseline: live English CRUSADER.EXE findings already recorded in docs/ne-segment1.md
• Goal: determine whether the Spanish executable changes the known -laurie, cheat-gate, F10, Ctrl+Q, Hack Mover, and secret-sequence lanes enough to support claims about different cheat behavior

Summary

Current best read: the Spanish executable does not show a materially different cheat/debug framework in the known control areas.

What changed is mostly address placement, not behavior:

• the broad cheat/debug gate, gameplay-input gate, and low-level keyboard-cheat latch all still exist
• the same hidden/debug event lanes are still present behind the broad gate
• the -laurie parser still exists and still uses English-facing text
• the Laurie hint string and multiple cheat/debug status strings are still English in the Spanish build
• the Ctrl+Q lane is still the CD transfer display toggle, not the immortality toggle
• the Hack Mover toggle lane is still present

What is not yet proven from this pass is the exact secret scan-code matcher table. No replacement secret sequence was recovered in the known cheat areas, but the secret-sequence table itself was not directly pinned down in this Spanish session.

Verified Spanish Mapping

Master Cheat / Debug Gate

• 1478:0910 is the Spanish build's broad cheat/debug master gate.
• It is written by the -laurie parser at 1050:0985.
• It is read by the same large hidden/debug event handler family inside World_HandleKeyboardInput at 13e8:14b4.

Recovered gated case sites include:

• 13e8:19da
• 13e8:1a0a
• 13e8:1a36
• 13e8:2211
• 13e8:243c
• 13e8:24a5

This matches the English-side model where one broad master gate enables several hidden/debug event handlers.

Gameplay Input / Option-Key Gate

• 1478:0927 is the gameplay-input / option-key gate in the Spanish build.
• It is set during Game_Start at 1028:0127.
• It is cleared in ComputerGump_CreateGump at 13a0:01f5.
• It is restored at 13a0:0233 during the paired computer-gump teardown path.

This is the same structural role already established in the English build: broader gameplay-input eligibility, not a separate cheat-state bit.

Low-Level Keyboard Cheat Latch

• 1478:5fb3 is the Spanish build's low-level keyboard-cheat latch.
• It is read repeatedly from 13e8:14b4 in the same family of keyboard/debug checks.
• Helper setters at 13e8:0071 and 13e8:0077 write 1 and 0 respectively, and are called from the Laurie-hint/computer-gump-side helper 13e8:0e31 setup path.

This is the strongest live evidence that the Spanish build still preserves the same broad split between a master cheat/debug gate and a narrower keyboard-latch state.

Verified Hidden / Debug Event Lanes

CD Transfer Display (Ctrl+Q Family)

The Spanish build still preserves the English-side Ctrl+Q conclusion:

• 13e8:2211 is the 0x410 event lane under the broad gate at 1478:0910
• it toggles byte 1478:5fb7
• it posts the same English strings:
  • 1478:6022 = CD TRANSFER DISPLAY ACTIVE.
  • 1478:603e = CD TRANSFER DISPLAY INACTIVE.

That is consistent with the English analysis: this lane is still CD transfer display state, not immortality.

Hack Mover

The Spanish build still preserves the Hack Mover toggle lane:

• 13e8:249b first requires 1478:8ad6 != 0
• 13e8:24a5 toggles byte 1478:5fb2
• it posts:
  • 1478:605c = HACK MOVER ON
  • 1478:606a = HACK MOVER OFF

So Hack Mover remains present and still uses English-facing status strings in this localized executable.

That extra 1478:8ad6 pre-check matters. In the English build, Hack Mover was already strongest as a two-latch feature: it wanted the broader Laurie/debug gate plus a second post-sequence latch. The Spanish build still shows that same two-stage shape at the branch level, even though the exact sequence writer has not yet been re-identified.

Overlay / Hidden Debug Toggles

The Spanish build keeps the same broad gated overlay/debug cases:

• 13e8:19da toggles byte 1478:0f40
• 13e8:1a0a toggles byte 1478:2be7
• 13e8:1a36 toggles byte 1478:2be8

These are the same structural hidden/debug lanes already identified in the English build.

Laurie Path

The Laurie hint path is still present and still English-texted:

• 13e8:0e31 is the Laurie-hint computer-gump path in the Spanish build
• 1478:5fc6 still contains FART ...TRY... -laurie (Have fun, Jely)

The startup-side cheat text also remains English:

• 1478:0b45 = Cheats are active.

This is strong evidence against any broad localization-driven rewrite of the cheat/debug feature family.

F10 / Option-Key Side

The Spanish executable's option-key handler moved relative to the English live notes:

• the relevant function object lives at 1138:0896 in this build, not the English-side 1130:0896

But the structure is still familiar:

• it checks gameplay-input state through 1478:0927
• it reads surrounding controller/current-NPC state from the same neighborhood used by the English build
• the wider controller family around 1138:0896 / 1138:0b2d / 1138:0d34 still looks like the same option-key and movement/control subsystem, just relocated

This pass did not fully re-close the Spanish F10 immortality leaf the way the English build is already documented, but there is no recovered evidence here that the Spanish build replaced the F10 cheat/control family with a different system.

Secret Sequence Status

This pass now closes part of the Spanish-side uncertainty more tightly: the live Spanish build does not preserve the English jassica16 scan-code table as a static data object in the obvious old locations.

Direct live byte-scan results against /es/CRUSADER.EXE:

• the exact English table 24 1e 1f 1f 17 2e 1e 02 07 00 was not found anywhere in initialized data 1478:0000-8c3f
• the same exact table was not found in BSS / secondary data 1480:0000-1fff
• even the shorter jassica scan-code prefix 24 1e 1f 1f 17 2e 1e was absent from both of those Spanish data segments
• the old English-side matcher slot at 1478:2833 no longer contains the sequence bytes at all; it now reads as pointer-like words beginning 14 e8 11 3d 14 e8 11 02 05 28 10 ...

What can be said safely:

• no alternate replacement secret sequence was recovered yet
• the English jassica16 static data table is not present in the live Spanish data map where the English build keeps it
• the same surrounding cheat/debug framework remains intact
• the same -laurie parser, Laurie hint path, CD-transfer-display lane, Hack Mover lane, and broad hidden/debug gated event family all survive in recognizably the same form
• Hack Mover still has a second hidden precondition via 1478:8ad6 in addition to the broad gate at 1478:0910, which is consistent with the Spanish build still retaining some post-sequence-style latch

So the live evidence now splits cleanly into two layers:

• the framework still matches the English cheat/debug family
• the exact English jassica16 data table does not survive as the same static table in this Spanish target

Current best read:

• the online claim that the Spanish build still uses the exact same static jassica16 table is not supported by the live Spanish data-segment bytes
• this pass still does not prove a replacement code
• the remaining possibilities are narrower: the Spanish build either moved the matcher into code, rebuilds it dynamically, or uses a different hidden sequence while preserving the same surrounding cheat/debug framework

Comparison Outcome

The Spanish build differs from the documented English build mainly by address relocation, not by cheat/debug behavior.

Confirmed same-family behaviors:

• broad -laurie / hidden-debug gate still present
• gameplay-input suppression gate still present
• separate low-level keyboard-cheat latch still present
• Ctrl+Q still maps to CD transfer display, not immortality
• Hack Mover lane still present
• Laurie hint path still present
• English cheat/debug strings still embedded in the Spanish executable

Unclosed item:

• direct proof of the Spanish secret scan-code matcher routine and the exact writer of the secondary latch at 1478:8ad6

Recommended Follow-Up

If the Spanish question is revisited, the next focused step should be a direct recovery of the Spanish secret-sequence matcher routine and the writer for 1478:8ad6, rather than another sweep of the already-stable broad cheat/debug event lanes.