Seed & map generation

Reverse-engineered from Ravenswatch.exe (build hashed under data/exe_catalog.json). Confirmed via Ghidra xref scan of the seed strings interned in the read-only data segment. Addresses are link-time VAs; resolve at runtime via image-base relocation.

Built-in “Forced seed” exists

The game ships a oe::UIntGameOption field literally named "Forced seed", registered by the global game-options constructor at:

Item	Address
Constructor that wires the field	0x1401c6d60
String "Forced seed" (ro-data)	0x140eed8b8
Field ID (u32) at the call site	0x1949b098
Vtable used for the field	oe::UIntGameOption::vftable
Companion enable flag	id 0x1949b099, oe::BoolGameOption
Format string "Forced seed : {}"	0x140ef4068 (log line)

So a “forced seed” code path is already plumbed in the engine — a mod doesn’t have to invent a seed hook, only flip the option on and write the value.

How to set it (without hooks)

The game’s option system reads its initial values from DarkTalesResources/ApplicationSettings.ot, which is plain oCTextSaver text and already accepted by the _root/ override mechanism (docs/MODDING.md).

1. Open data/uncooked/_root/DarkTalesResources/ApplicationSettings.ot.
2. Find the block with the Forced seed option declaration (oCTString keys are stored verbatim).
3. Set the companion bool (id 0x1949b099) true and the u32 (id 0x1949b098) to the seed you want.
4. Ship the modified ApplicationSettings.ot under mods/<id>/_root/DarkTalesResources/ApplicationSettings.ot.

Until the settings block is fully decoded, the safer path is the in- process route below.

How to set it (Lua / DLL loader)

The loader DLL (dist/winhttp.dll) hosts a Lua VM per mod. To set the forced seed from Lua you need one new rsmm.* binding that wraps a write to the global option table. Skeleton (C++ side, src/loader/):

// Resolve the GameOption registry once at boot via pattern signature
// (don't bake the absolute VA — it shifts on every game patch).
auto registry = ResolveGameOptionRegistry();

// Set the u32 field by id.
registry.SetUInt(0x1949b098, mod_seed);
// Flip the enable flag.
registry.SetBool(0x1949b099, true);

Expose as rsmm.set_forced_seed(seed). Modder writes:

rsmm.on_event("ready", function()
    rsmm.set_forced_seed(42)
end)

Other seed-adjacent symbols

Address	What
0x140f59758	Field name "m_uRandomSeed" (entity persistent data)
0x14073df80	Function that registers the m_uRandomSeed field, class id 0x1bdf6dd3 (“Entity Cpnt Selector Persistent Data”)
0x140eef7f0	String "Rose seed" — second seed channel (per-run RNG?)
0x140ef13a8	String "CLEAR_ROSE_SEED" — game event name, fires 48 places
0x140ef1a70	Format string "Seed : {}"
0x140c92ef4	_Random_device (40 bytes) — std::random_device singleton

Decompiled bodies for every xref of these targets live under docs/_re/out/xref_targets/. Open the *.c next to the symbol name to see how it’s used.

What’s still unknown

• The actual map-generation algorithm and where it pulls the seed from (per chapter? per map slot?). Need to follow the use of m_uRandomSeed through oCEntityCpntSelector*.
• Whether Forced seed overrides every RNG stream or only the top-level run seed. Rose seed looks like a separate stream so there may be more.

Next: trace oCEntitySettingsResource for the seed-consuming entity (“Entity Cpnt Selector”). The class registration at 0x14073df80 gives the body offset (0x48) for the field, which is what an in-place binary patch on a saved level cooked file would target.