DINOForge

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Roadmap ​

DINOForge follows a milestone-based development plan, building from low-level runtime to high-level content packs.

Milestones ​

M0 — Reverse-Engineering Harness ✅ ​

Status: Complete

Install BepInEx, confirm plugin loading, test plugin, dump entities.

  • BepInEx 5.4.23.5 installed with modified Doorstop pre-loader
  • Runtime builds to BepInEx/ecs_plugins/DINOForge.Runtime.dll
  • Entity Dumper, System Enumerator, Debug Overlay scaffolded
  • Initial test suite passing (xUnit + FluentAssertions)

M1 — Runtime Scaffold ✅ ​

Status: Complete

Bootstrap plugin, version detection, logging, ECS introspection, debug overlay.

  • BepInEx plugin bootstrap with version-aware initialization
  • ECS system and component discovery
  • Runtime logging infrastructure
  • Debug overlay foundation (F9 key)

M2 — Generic Mod SDK ✅ ​

Status: Complete

Pack manifest format, registry system, schema validation, override model, dependency resolver.

  • Pack manifest model with YAML loader (YamlDotNet)
  • Generic Registry<T> system with priority layers and conflict detection
  • Schema validation pipeline (NJsonSchema)
  • Content override model with 4-layer priority (BaseGame -> Framework -> DomainPlugin -> Pack)
  • Dependency resolver with cycle detection
  • 17 JSON/YAML schemas covering all content types
  • Content loader for YAML pack ingestion
  • Asset service with addressables catalog support

M3 — Dev Tooling ✅ ​

Status: Complete

Pack compiler CLI, validator CLI, test harness, diff tools, diagnostics.

  • PackCompiler CLI (validate, build, assets commands)
  • DumpTools CLI with Spectre.Console interactive terminal UI
  • dinoforge CLI with 11 commands (status, query, override, reload, watch, dump, resources, screenshot, verify, component-map, etc.)
  • MCP Server with 13 game interaction tools for Claude Code integration

M3.5 — QA Harness ✅ ​

Status: Complete

Bridge Protocol/Client for IPC, integration test suite, CI-runnable tests.

  • Bridge Protocol: JSON-RPC message types, IGameBridge interface, typed result models
  • Bridge Client: GameClient for out-of-process game communication with connection state management
  • Integration test project (DINOForge.Tests.Integration) with assertions, fixtures, and test data
  • 14 integration tests covering content loading, bridge communication, end-to-end pack application
  • CI solution (DINOForge.CI.sln) excluding Runtime for headless builds

M4 — Warfare Domain Plugin ✅ ​

Status: Complete

Factions, doctrines, unit classes, weapons, waves, defenses.

  • Faction archetype system (Order, Industrial Swarm, Asymmetric)
  • 5 factions: Republic, CIS, West, Classic West Enemy, Guerrilla
  • Unit role matrix with 13 shared slots across all factions
  • Weapon classes (12 types) and defense tags (8 types)
  • Wave composition templates
  • Doctrine modifiers
  • Balance validation

M5 — First Example Packs ✅ ​

Status: Complete

Full set of example packs demonstrating all content types.

  • warfare-modern — West vs Classic West Enemy (Modern Warfare theme)
  • warfare-starwars — Republic vs CIS (Star Wars Clone Wars theme)
  • warfare-guerrilla — Asymmetric warfare (Guerrilla faction)
  • example-balance — Simple stat override balance mod
  • economy-balanced — Economy balance profiles and trade rules
  • scenario-tutorial — Tutorial scenario with scripted conditions

M6 — In-Game Mod Menu & HMR ✅ ​

Status: Complete

F10 mod menu overlay, hot module replacement for YAML packs.

  • Mod menu overlay (F10) with pack listing, enable/disable, manual reload
  • Mod settings panel for per-pack configuration
  • Pack file watcher (HMR) for live YAML reload during gameplay
  • Hot reload bridge wiring changes to re-validation and re-application

M7 — Installer & Universe Bible ✅ ​

Status: Complete

PowerShell/Bash installer, Universe Bible system, pack generator.

  • Install-DINOForge.ps1 (Windows) and install.sh (Linux/macOS) installer scripts
  • Installer library with programmatic installation support
  • Universe Bible system: faction taxonomies, naming guides, style guides, crosswalk dictionaries
  • Universe loader for parsing Bible documents
  • Pack generator for scaffolding total conversion packs from a Universe Bible

Completed 2026-03-15: Universe Bible system working, installers ready.

M8 — Runtime Integration & Video Proof ✅ ​

Status: Complete

ModPlatform orchestrator wiring SDK to Bridge to UI to HMR + autonomous video proof pipeline.

  • ModPlatform class owns entire mod platform lifecycle (ADR-009)
  • Lifecycle phases: Initialize -> OnWorldReady -> LoadPacks -> StartHotReload -> Shutdown
  • Plugin.cs stays thin (bootstrap only, forwards Unity callbacks)
  • ECS bridge with component mapping, stat modifiers, entity queries, override applicator
  • F9/F10 overlay regression fixed (2026-03-20): Removed Harmony patches, restored HideAndDontSave + DontDestroyOnLoad
  • prove-features v2 pipeline (2026-03-27): Remotion video rendering + Edge-TTS voiceover + OmniParser VLM validation
    • 4 MP4 proof videos rendered with captions and transitions
    • 5 MP3 audio tracks with neural voice (Microsoft Aria)
    • OmniParser-based UI element detection for automatic screenshot validation
    • Evidence bundle: docs/proof-of-features/20260327_213851/

Completed 2026-03-27: End-to-end validation verified, F9/F10 working, video proof pipeline mature.

M9 — Desktop Companion ⌛ ​

Status: In Progress

WinUI 3 / WindowsAppSDK 1.6 desktop GUI that mirrors F9/F10 in-game panels for out-of-game evaluation.

  • WinUI 3 + Mica background + NavigationView shell
  • Pack list view (mirrors F10 mod menu) with enable/disable toggle
  • Debug panel view (mirrors F9 panel) with 5 collapsible sections
  • disabled_packs.json read/write parity with game
  • No game launch required for pack configuration evaluation
  • ADR-011

M10 — Fuzzing Infrastructure 🕒 ​

Status: Planned

Comprehensive property-based and coverage-guided fuzzing across all serialization paths.

  • FsCheck expanded from 4 domains / 14 properties to 10+ domains / 30+ properties
  • SharpFuzz coverage-guided fuzzing on YAML, JSON, semver, and PackManifest parsers
  • Persistent fuzz corpus (src/Tests/FuzzCorpus/)
  • Nightly CI fuzz gate (.github/workflows/fuzz.yml)
  • ADR-012

M11 — Test Coverage + Code Completion 🕒 ​

Status: Planned

Fill test gaps and resolve build-excluded incomplete code items.

  • AssetSwapRegistryTests, FileSystemPackRootResolverTests, PackFileWatcherIntegrationTests added
  • Excluded test re-enablement (UnitSpawner, FactionSystem behind mock ECS)
  • Target: 130+ passing tests (up from ~80)
  • ContextualModMenuHost unblocked (NativeMainMenuModMenu implemented)
  • PackUnitSpawner.OnUpdate() completed (spawn queue + entity instantiation)
  • HotReloadBridge entity update logic completed
  • Aviation namespace: decision and resolution

Current Stats (v0.12.0+) ​

  • 18 projects in the solution
  • 100+ tests passing (unit + integration, target 130+)
  • 17 schemas covering all content types
  • 6 example packs complete and playable (Modern, Star Wars, Guerrilla, Economy, Scenario, Balance)
  • 4 domain plugins: Warfare (✅ DONE), Economy, Scenario, UI
  • 21 MCP tools for Claude Code game automation
  • 8 CLI commands via dinoforge CLI + custom .claude/commands/
  • Autonomous video proof via Remotion + TTS + OmniParser

Success Criteria ​

A new mod can be created mostly by editing validated pack files and running the toolchain, without new reverse engineering.

If every mod still needs runtime surgery, the framework failed.

Released under the MIT License.

© 2025 Phenotype