Engine behavior
Runtime rules for scripts, actors, world rendering, sound, and presentation. The file format references describe the stored data; the configuration reference describes the INI settings.
Scripting and actors
| Topic | Behavior |
|---|---|
| SOUP scripting | Virtual machine, bytecode, value modes, tasks, function dispatch, and global flags. |
| SOUP386.DEF | Function, attribute, reference, and flag definitions used by scripts. |
| SOUP property descriptors | Actor-record offset and width of every script property. |
| Actor animation | Model frames, animation requests, loop counts, and placed actor eligibility. |
| Player movement | Coordinate units, turning, collision, and frame timing. |
| Item attachment | Vertex tracking for held weapons and shields. |
| Developer console | All 82 registered commands, aliases, subcommands, numeric parsing, and command quirks. |
| Hidden cheats | Cheat entry, effects, persistence, and developer controls. |
World rendering
Look and feel connects the visible result to the rendering and presentation rules below.
Start with the Glide shading overview for flat and smooth shading, the color pipeline, and links to the detailed rules.
| Topic | Behavior |
|---|---|
| Model lighting | Face brightness, directional and local lighting, and retained instance colors. |
| Actor prelighting | Retained map-light colors on eligible static-model actors. |
| Terrain lighting | Ambient and directional RGB lighting and terrain normals. |
| View projection | Horizontal field of view, viewport scaling, and camera coordinates. |
| Fog and clipping | Scene and sky ranges, fog tables, and color blending. |
| Sky | Sky planes, background color, scrolling, and sun settings. |
| Texture animation | Shared texture frames, authored delays, automatic and explicit selection. |
| Water waves | Terrain vertex displacement and wave settings. |
Audio and presentation
| Topic | Behavior |
|---|---|
| Positional sound | Distance attenuation, stereo pan, channels, and surface sound remapping. |
| Music | CD tracks, world selection, switching, and repetition. |
| Subtitles | Dialogue, taunt, and movie text layout and timing. |
| In-game HUD | Health, items, activation prompts, compass, and draw order. |
| Book menu | Menu models, text placement, fonts, selection, and actions. |
| Cinematic playback | Movie selection, skip points, subtitles, and display rules. |
| Startup presentation | Splash assets, projection, lighting, and screen sequence. |