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Contributing to i76-everywhere

Thanks for helping keep a 1997 classic playable. This repo is scripts, source, and documentation for running Interstate '76 on modern hardware — it deliberately contains no game files. Contributions of fixes, new-platform recipes, format research, and doc improvements are all welcome.

The one hard rule: no copyrighted content, ever

Never commit game data (executables, *.ZFS, textures, audio, FMV, missions, save files that aren't your own throwaway test data) or third-party binaries. The game you test with is yours and lives in the local, gitignored game-data/ folder. PRs that add game content will be closed. See THIRD-PARTY.md.

Before you open a PR

  1. Read the doc map first — docs/README.md tags every approach as working / parked dead-end / other-platform / reference. Several "obvious" ideas (Voodoo-on-Mac shader persistence, Mac force feedback, HD-on-Mac renderer switch) are settled dead ends; please don't re-open them without new evidence.
  2. Check docs/VERIFIED-FIXES.md — the symptom→cause→fix table is the source of truth. If your change fixes something, add a row.

House rules (how this project earns trust)

  • Field-test in the actual game. This is a game port — the ground truth is the game running, not a passing script. If you can, attach a screenshot or a short note on what you saw in-mission.
  • Verify byte-level changes against real saves. The save format was reverse-engineered by staring at real files; the format model has been corrected more than once by screenshots. If you touch the save parser/editor, diff your output against a known-good save before shipping.
  • Every write keeps a backup. The editors write timestamped backups and make deletes recoverable. Preserve that — don't add a code path that overwrites a save with no backup.
  • Prefer editing an existing script over adding a new one; the setup-*.sh family is meant to be idempotent and re-runnable.
  • Match the existing style. Docs are plain Markdown with tables; scripts are POSIX sh/bash with a header comment explaining why. Keep the tone: honest about what's verified vs. guessed.

Good first contributions

  • Test an untested claim. Anything tagged research/untested — the phone-port playbook, the BETA mac-install.command — needs someone with the hardware to confirm or correct it.
  • Port a fix across platforms. A working Mac/Deck fix that isn't yet documented for the others.
  • Format research. Extend the save/texture format notes, or the texture-lab/ encoders.
  • Doc clarity. If a setup step tripped you up, tighten it.

Reporting instead of fixing

Not everything needs code. A good bug report or a "this worked / didn't work on my M4 / Deck OLED / Windows 11" data point is genuinely useful — open an issue with the templates provided.

Licensing of contributions

By contributing, you agree your original contributions are licensed under this project's MIT License.