# CLAUDE.md Guidance for Claude Code when working in this repository. ## Project A C++/raylib simulation/game for creating semi-realistic fantasy & sci-fi worlds/planets. Built in phases. Between phases the user can edit the world or trigger events (meteor impact, magical events, sci-fi terraforming). **Core principle:** the planet geometry is FIXED. Cells (vertices/faces) never move. Only their *properties* flow over the fixed grid (Eulerian, not Lagrangian). This keeps the data structure stable across all phases and makes erosion, climate and drift far simpler to implement later. ## Roadmap The project has two big arcs. **World Creation** builds a plausible planet through a set of geological/environmental stages that **overlap and run together on a geological clock** (My) — they are not strict sequential "phases" (the code keeps `phase*` names internally for save/config compatibility, but think of them as continuous stages). Once a world is "done", the long-term goal is a separate **Live World** mode that runs the finished planet at a *much* slower, real-time-ish clock (hours/days/weeks/months) with dynamic weather and life. **World Creation (geological clock, mostly done):** - **Tectonics & landmass** *(done)* — icosphere geometry, plate assignment, boundary stress forming mountains (convergent) and trenches/rifts (divergent). The initial "forming" pass settles to isostatic equilibrium, then plate motion continues. - **Continental drift & erosion** *(done)* — real plate motion (cm/yr, My), the plate lifecycle (fission, stalemate kick, spreading-born plates, merging), diffusive erosion + a sea-level controller (~30% land), taller persistent mountains (collision + arc + isostatic persistence), seafloor aging→depth. `planet.cfg` + `planet.save`. See [[phase2-design-direction]]. - **Hydrology** *(done)* — rivers, lakes and fluvial erosion as a macro drainage network (depression-fill→lakes, steepest-descent→rivers, mass-conserving stream-power incision). Runs at a finer timestep alongside continuing drift. See [[phase3-hydrology]]. - **Climate** *(done)* — continuous per-cell temperature + orographic precipitation (`Planet::computeClimate`); runs from forming onward (a live "base climate" that updates as terrain changes). Color modes `6`/`7`. - **Biomes** *(done)* — per-cell `Cell.biome` (13 biomes incl. polar Ice) from elevation + the climate fields (`Planet::classifyBiomes`), color mode `5`, saved per cell. - **Fauna & flora** *(next, planned — see `docs/fauna-flora-plan.md`)* — derived carrying-capacity densities: vegetation (flora) + a herbivore/carnivore food chain (fauna), computed from the climate fields each tick (the living/evolving ecosystem is reserved for Live World). Other follow-ups: feed precipitation into hydrology rainfall; seasons (obliquity). > Durable design context (module layout, save format, climate/biome model, conventions) > lives in **`docs/design-notes.md`** — important because Claude's auto-memory does not > travel with the repo. **Live World (future):** with planet creation finished, run the world at a slow real-time scale with dynamic **weather** (clouds, rain, storms, fronts), day/night, and living **ecosystems / civilization** evolving in real time. This is a separate large effort; the fixed-grid Eulerian model + the climate fields are the groundwork for it. ## Current state Working and verified (logic tested headless): - Icosphere level 5 → 10242 cells, ~223 km/cell, topologically correct (exactly 12 degree-5 vertices, rest degree-6). - Plate flood-fill, drift as rotation on the sphere, boundary-stress uplift. - Relief builds *gradually* toward an isostatic equilibrium (no clamp-rail saturation): after ~40 ticks graded mountain belts (>2000 m) and deep subduction trenches (<-6000 m), 0% of cells pinned to the clamp. - `test_logic.cpp` asserts geometry, plate assignment, non-saturation and graded relief; run it after any `Planet::step()` change (see below). - raylib render: 3D globe (top) + 2D Equal Earth map (bottom strip), orbit camera, 4 color modes. Phase 1 is a **generator**: it paces tectonic ticks toward isostatic equilibrium (watchable, ~3 s), renders live, and **auto-pauses** once the terrain settles (max per-tick change < 2 m). No background thread — that's Phase-2 (continuous drift/erosion) groundwork. - **Phase 2 increment 1 (drift):** after forming settles, the app switches to continuous **drift mode** on a My clock. Each plate has a real speed (1..20 cm/yr); `cflDtMy()` sets the timestep so the fastest plate advances ~half a cell/step. `advect(dt)` moves plate membership + carried crust (plateId, elevation, oceanic, geoAge) by an accumulation scheme: a boundary cell builds `drift` (signed convergence distance) with its dominant other-plate neighbor; +1 cell -> overrun (take that crust; but oceanic can't overrun a buoyant continent -> it subducts under), -1 cell -> new young ridge crust (spreading). Crust type now lives on the **cell** (`Cell.oceanic`), not the plate. The HUD shows elapsed My; `[`/`]` set My/sec; auto-settle still gates Phase 1 -> 2. - **Phase 2 increment 1.5 (plate lifecycle):** without this the count collapsed to 1-3 and the world froze (a giant continental plate that can't shed cells). Every `splitCheckEvery`(10) advect iterations (gated by `driftIter`) `advect()` runs a Wilson-cycle lifecycle: **fission** (a plate over `splitFraction`(20%) of cells splits along a random great circle through its centroid; prob ramps `0.05+0.05*(pct-20)`, the new half gets a random drift — self-regulating, so the count equilibrates ~8-12), **stalemate kick** (a plate whose size barely changed over a window gets a new direction + speed boost to break deadlocks), and **spreading plates** (rift cells become a `Plate.baby` young-ridge strip; `coalesceBabyPlates()` merges connected blobs and dissolves tiny noise ones; a strip past `babyPromoteFrac`(0.7%) is promoted to a real plate with random drift + `volcanicLandFrac` of its interior turned to volcanic-island land). The hard land clamp became a **soft band** (`landBand`) so volcanic land persists; `acquirePlate()` reuses dead plate slots to keep `plates` bounded. Stats panel separates real plates from "Young ridges: N strips"; plate-color mode tints baby cells a uniform ridge grey. Verified by a headless soak. - **Phase 2 increment 1.6 (calmer + cleaner plate map):** kicks were too twitchy ("strange border movement") so a plate must now stall for `stalemateWindows`(4) consecutive check windows (`sStaleStreak`) before a kick. `deleteEnclosedPlates()` absorbs any plate ringed by a single other plate into it (on a mutual pair only the smaller). `fuseMiniPlates()` lets >= `fuseMinPlates`(3) clustered mini plates (non-baby, < `miniPlateCells`) fuse into the largest member and steal one ring of cells from their largest big neighbour (terrane amalgamation). Borders now draw in two colors: real plate borders yellow, young spreading-ridge borders red (3D + 2D, both via `B`). Soak: mini plates ~0, no enclosed slivers, ~8-12 plates. - **Phase 2 increment 2 (erosion + sea level):** `Planet::erode(dtMy)` runs each drift step after advect+step — a mass-conserving, slope-weighted downhill sediment transport (one double-buffered gather pass): the higher cell of each edge gives material to the lower, faster above sea level (`erosionLandRate`) than below (`erosionSeaRate`). Highs wear down toward an uplift<->erosion equilibrium; sediment fills basins and builds coastal shelves/deltas. No river carving (sub-cell at 223 km -> subgrid later). `adjustSeaLevel()` (every `seaLevelEvery` erode calls) eases `cfg.seaLevel` toward the percentile elevation leaving `landFractionTarget` (30%) of cells above water — percentile targeting (`nth_element`) because a proportional nudge oscillates across the flat continental-base elevation. Two "land" notions coexist: crust type (plate buoyancy) vs geographic (elev > seaLevel). Stats headline + water:land are now geographic, with separate "Sea level" and "Crust %" lines. Headless: land -> 30% all seeds, erosion conserves sum(elevation), deterministic. - **Phase 2 increment 3 (gradual sea level + config/save files):** the sea-level controller is now gradual — checked every `seaLevelEvery` (100) erode calls, it nudges sea level by a fixed `seaLevelStep` (100 m) when outside a `seaLevelTol` (2%) deadband, and only if the nudge reduces the error (so it rests near a flat "cliff" instead of oscillating). A human-editable **`planet.cfg`** (key=value) holds all PlanetConfig params (auto-created on first run, `F2` reloads + regenerates); `loadConfig`/`saveConfig` share one `CONFIG_FIELDS` X-macro. A **`planet.save`** binary holds seed + config + full planet state (`Planet::writeState`/`readState`; geometry rebuilt from subdivisions via `buildGeometry()`); `F5` saves, `F9` loads and resumes (deterministic continuation, verified headless). File I/O lives in Planet (raylib-free). - **Phase 2 polish (config validation, QoL, sim cleanups):** `validateConfig()` range-checks every field (+ the cross-rule `oceanBase < continentBase`) on load and `F2`; an invalid `planet.cfg` reverts to safe defaults without overwriting it. Save bumped to **version 2** (now also persists the `[`/`]` drift rate; version-gated reads accept older saves). Viewer adds a **crust-type color mode** (`4`: continental warm brown / oceanic deep blue), `F` **fast-forward** (runs `step()` to settled instantly), `F12` screenshot, `--seed`/`--config` CLI flags, a `P` label per plate on the drift arrows, and a min subdivision level of 1 (level 0 disallowed). Two sim refinements: `step()` re-anchors boundary (source) cells to their original stress each dilation ring so adjacent belts don't cross-inflate (sharper peaks; land flank cells 509->499); and the soft land-band rift/accrete nudge now reads a frozen snapshot of pre-nudge `oceanic` so flipping one cell can't cascade along vertex-index chains into linear "snakes". The earlier drift-direction "inward" fix was reverted (it worsened snaking). - **Phase 2 increment 4 (taller mountains + seafloor aging):** mountains used to cap ~5000 m because collisions were under-weighted and `relax` snapped uplifted crust back to `continentBase` once a migrating front passed. Now `step()` adds a real **continent-continent collision** factor (`colliding[]` = continental cell facing continental, `cfg.collisionFactor`) and an **Andes-class continental arc** factor (`cfg.arcFactor`), and high continental crust gets **isostatic persistence**: `relaxEff = relax*(1 - isostaticPersist*clamp((elev-continentBase) /rootScale,0,1))`, so thick ranges stand and become *erosion-limited* (by the drift-loop `erode()`) instead of relaxing away. These three boosts are **gated on the `Planet::drifting` flag — active only in Phase-2 drift, OFF during Phase-1 forming** (which keeps the original mild factors + full relax). This is deliberate: Phase-1 forming runs `step()` with no erosion, so if the strong uplift + weak relax were active there it would never settle (uplift never balanced) and would rail the clamp — gating to drift, where `erode()` runs every tick, avoids both. main.cpp sets `planet.drifting=true` when forming settles (and in `loadGame` from the saved phase), `false` on reseed/regen. **Seafloor aging->depth:** oceanic crust subsides with `geoAge` via `oceanicBase(age) = max(oceanBase, ridgeDepth - seafloorSubsidence*sqrt(age))` (half-space cooling); `oceanBase` is now the **deep abyssal floor** (-6000 m), `ridgeDepth` the shallow young value (-2500 m), and `seedInitialRelief()` seeds an oceanic age spread (`seafloorSeedAge`) so the starting seafloor already has ridge->abyss variety. Headless: ~half of seeds produce >7000 m ranges that persist (the rest are legitimately low-relief ocean worlds), <2% pinned to the clamp on all seeds, older seafloor markedly deeper, deterministic. Tune the new knobs in `planet.cfg`. - **Phase 3 increment 1 (hydrology: rivers, lakes, fluvial erosion):** `Planet::hydrology(dtMy)` = `routeFlow()` then mass-conserving fluvial erosion, on the fixed grid (Eulerian, raylib-free). `routeFlow()` does priority-flood depression-filling (epsilon tilt so flats drain; ocean cells are outlets) → `sFill`/`sLakeDepth` (a cell with `lakeDepth>0` above sea level is a **lake**), steepest-descent over the filled surface → `sFlowTo`, and flow accumulation in descending-fill order → `sDischarge` (rivers = `discharge>riverThreshold`). The erosion pass walks the network upstream→downstream carrying a sediment load: stream-power incision `K*Q^m*S^n*dt` where under capacity, deposition where over (`cap=riverTransport*Q*S`) — filling lakes, building deltas at mouths, depositing the remainder at ocean sinks so **sum(elevation) is conserved**. Lakes/rivers are **derived from elevation each tick** (no new saved per-cell field; only erosion writes back to `elevation`). Orchestration (main.cpp): after `phase3AfterMy` drift-My the sim **pauses and prompts** ("Continue Phase 2" / "Start Phase 3"); `H` toggles Phase 3 manually. In Phase 3 the drift loop keeps running (advect/step/erode) but at a **finer dt** (`cflDtMy()*phase3DtScale`) plus `hydrology(dt)` — drift never stops, just resolves finer. Lakes shade inland-water blue (`recolor`); rivers draw as a `centroid→downstream` line network (3D + 2D, two widths, `J` toggles). Save bumped to **v3** (+ a `phase3` header flag). Headless: discharge grows downstream and all land rainfall reaches the sinks, mass conserved to ~1e-15, ~10 lake systems + rivers persist, deterministic. (Note: the hydrology phase is now framed in the UI as **Phase 2.5**; the internal `phase3*` names are unchanged.) - **Phase 3 increment 1 (biomes — classify + color):** `Planet::classifyBiomes()` (src/sim/PlanetBiomes.cpp, raylib-free) writes a per-cell `Cell.biome` (enum `Biome`, 13 entries: Ocean, **Ice**, Lake, Beach, Wetland, Grassland, Savanna, Desert, Forest, Taiga, Tundra, Hills, Mountains). A first **rule-based** pass with no real climate yet: temperature = warm-equator curve (super-linear in latitude so cold concentrates at the poles) minus an elevation lapse; moisture = latitudinal rainfall belts (wet equator/mid-lat, dry subtropics→deserts) + river discharge + coastal proximity; classified first-match (ice→ocean→lake→beach→mountains→hills→ lowland-by-temp/moisture). **Polar ice caps** fall out of the temperature test (it also snow-caps high peaks). All thresholds are **tunable in `planet.cfg`** (the `biome*` PlanetConfig fields — `biomeIceTemp`, `biomeMountainElev`, the moisture cutoffs, etc.; only the latitudinal rainfall-belt curve shape stays a fixed helper). The biome is **saved per cell** — save bumped to **v4** (per-cell biome byte appended after `invader`; `readState(is, hasBiome)` reads it for v4, reclassifies for v3, so v3 saves remain loadable). Rendered as color mode `5` (`biomeColor`, src/render/Colors.cpp); re-run each `refreshView`. `lakeColor` changed to bright turquoise so lakes read clearly vs ocean (the "blue speckle" near a clicked cell is just the subgrid detail overlay, where ±250 m value-noise dips below sea level near coasts — not lakes). Headless: every cell valid, both poles Ice, deep equatorial water Ocean, ≥4 land biomes present, deterministic, v4 round-trips biome, v3 loads + reclassifies. - **Phase 3 polish (smaller caps + axial tilt + grid labels):** ice caps trimmed a few points (~17%→~14% of cells) by lowering `ICE_TEMP` in PlanetBiomes.cpp. Added a planetary **`axialTilt`** (obliquity, default 23.44°, in PlanetConfig/`planet.cfg`): the 3D globe + a drawn **spin-axis rod** (through the poles, red/blue pole caps) lean by it via an `rlRotatef` about world Z wrapping all 3D content in `renderGlobe3D`; picking un-rotates the world hit dir by −tilt (`rotateZ`, src/render/Picking.cpp) and 3D plate labels rotate by +tilt so everything stays consistent (the picking sphere is rotation-invariant). Biomes/2D map are unchanged (tilt is visual + groundwork for seasons). The graticule (`G`) now shows **lat/lon degree numbers on the 2D map** edges (`drawGraticuleLabels2D`, plain "60N"/"120W" — the default font has no `°`). `axialTilt` was added to PlanetConfig (`planet.cfg`). Headless: ice ~14%, biome + `axialTilt` round-trip, deterministic. - **Phase 3 polish (biome knobs in config + future-proof save):** the 17 biome classification thresholds moved from constants into PlanetConfig `biome*` fields (tunable in `planet.cfg`, `F2`). To stop config additions from breaking saves each time, the save now stores config as a **self-describing key=value text block** (save **v6**) parsed like `planet.cfg` (`writeConfigFields`/`parseConfigStream` shared); doubles written at `precision(17)` round-trip exactly. Adding/removing config fields no longer breaks saves; v6 just can't load pre-v6 saves (one-time break). Headless: cfg (incl. non-default `biome*`) round-trips exactly, unknown/missing keys handled. - **Phase 3 increment 2 (climate model):** `Planet::computeClimate()` (src/sim/PlanetClimate.cpp, raylib-free, derived/not saved) builds two continuous per-cell fields. **Temperature** `sTemp` (°C) = the latitude curve (`biome*` temp params) − elevation lapse. **Precipitation** `sPrecip`: prevailing winds are zonal by band (tropics/polar easterly, mid-lat westerly); ocean cells are a moisture source and each land cell takes its **upwind** neighbour's moisture, **rains out** more on windward upslopes (orographic) and loses a multiplicative fraction per cell (continentality), so leeward + deep-interior cells dry out. The raw field is near-binary (saturated where the wind hits the sea, ~0 elsewhere), so it's **diffused** `climateMoistureSmooth` passes to create wet→dry transition zones, then normalized to `sMoist` (0..1, **median land → 0.5**, robust to orographic spikes). `classifyBiomes()` now reads `sTemp`/`sMoist` (dropping the old latitude+discharge+coast hack) → rain-shadow/interior **deserts** + a varied, per-world biome spread; wetlands now require adjacency to water (ocean/lake). Color modes `6` (temperature, blue→red) / `7` (precipitation, dry→wet). `computeClimate()` runs before `classifyBiomes()` in `generate()` and `refreshView()`. New `climate*` config knobs (planet.cfg). Headless: equator warm/poles cold, lapse, coastal wetter than interior, deserts present, deterministic. - **UI polish (full cell info + view label + framing):** the cell-info panel (`cellInfo`, src/render/Panels.cpp) now shows everything per cell — crust type, **biome** (`biomeName`), **temperature** + **precipitation %**, and **river/lake** when hydrology is on — in addition to the existing cell#, lat/lon, elevation, plate, geoAge. The active color mode is shown **top-center** of the globe ("Biome view", etc., via `colorModeName`), updating with `1`–`7`. The HUD title/status and the hydrology prompt were reworded to drop the rigid "Phase N" labels (now "World Creation: forming / drift & erosion / hydrology"); internal `phase*` names are unchanged. Render/text only — no sim/save/config change. - Mouse hover (in either view) shows per-cell info. Clicking a tile opens a right-side detail panel: tile info header + the tile's subgrid drawn as a flat hoverable grid of subtiles (neighbor-owned subtiles dimmed). A high-res subgrid patch is also overlaid on the globe for context; the hovered subtile is marked on the globe. `C` closes the panel. ## Architecture The code is split into a **raylib-free engine** (`src/sim`, testable headless) and a **raylib viewer** (`src/render`); `src/main.cpp` is a ~10-line entry point. `Planet` is one class implemented across several `.cpp` files (one per phase/ concern, all sharing `Planet.hpp`); the viewer is one `Viewer` struct whose state + methods are likewise spread across a few render files. CMake adds both folders to the include path, so includes stay flat (`#include "Planet.hpp"`, `"Viewer.hpp"`). ``` src/ main.cpp entry point: build Viewer, init(argc,argv), run() sim/ (raylib-free engine -- testable headless) Vec3.hpp double-precision 3D vector math IcoSphere.* geodesic icosphere: fixed vertices + neighbor adjacency Projection.hpp Equal Earth equal-area projection (forward + Newton inverse), dir<->lon/lat helpers. Header-only, raylib-free, testable. PlanetTypes.hpp Cell / Plate / SubGrid / PlanetConfig data structures Planet.hpp the Planet class declaration + config-file func decls Planet.cpp generation, geometry, plate seeding, shared helpers, subgrid PlanetTectonics.cpp step() (Phase 1/2 stress->uplift->relax) PlanetDrift.cpp cflDtMy/advect + plate lifecycle (fission/kick/baby/fuse) PlanetErosion.cpp erode() + adjustSeaLevel() PlanetHydrology.cpp routeFlow/computeHydrology/hydrology (Phase 3) PlanetIO.cpp config file (text) + binary save/load render/ (raylib viewer) Colors.* cell color modes (elevation/plate/age/crust/lake) Map2D.* Equal Earth 2D map: positions + projection/draw helpers Overlays.* borders, drift arrows, rivers, graticule, segments, subgrids Picking.* mouse ray / sphere hit / nearest-cell / angle helpers Panels.* right-column UI: detail panel, hover info, world stats Viewer.{hpp,cpp} Viewer struct: all state + setup + sim orchestration ViewerInput.cpp handleInput(): camera, hover picking, click, keys ViewerRender.cpp renderGlobe3D / renderMap2D / renderPanels / renderHUD / renderPrompt CMakeLists.txt fetches raylib 5.5 via FetchContent; lists src/sim + src/render BUILD.md dependencies + build/run + controls ``` ### Key data structures (src/sim/PlanetTypes.hpp) - `Cell` — `unit` (fixed sphere direction), `elevation` (continuous meters, double, NOT quantized), `plateId`, `geoAge`, `neighbors`, and a `std::shared_ptr subgrid` HOOK (still null on the cell; the viewer builds subgrids on demand via `Planet::makeSubGrid(cell,res)`). - `SubGrid`/`SubCell` — a res*res patch around one macro cell; elevation is an inverse-distance blend of that cell + neighbors plus value-noise detail, and each subcell records `nearestMacro`. Phase-4 preview, generated on click. - `Plate` — `type` (Oceanic/Continental), `driftAxis`, `driftSpeed`. - `PlanetConfig` — `radius` (default 6.371e6 m, Earth), `subdivisions`, `seaLevel`, `plateCount`, `seed`. ### Resolution notes (important, was discussed in design) - **Lateral** resolution = cell spacing = `sqrt(4*pi*R^2 / N)`. Coarse on purpose (~223 km at level 5). Only mountain-range scale, not single hills. - **Vertical** (elevation) resolution is effectively unlimited: it is a `double` in meters. 100 m steps or finer are free. Mount-Everest / Mariana-Trench range is exactly representable. - Climate (phase 3) reads elevation as a smooth continuous function, so no resolution is lost by coarse height bands. - For dense detail later (population/culture), generate a per-cell **subgrid** on demand and mark which edge sub-cells border which neighbor macro-cell, so cross-boundary interaction (rain shadow, transition zones) works. ## Build & run ```bash cmake -B build -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release cmake --build build -j ./build/planetsim ``` Target OS is Nobara Linux (KDE/Wayland, Intel Arc A770). Dependency install line is in BUILD.md (`dnf install cmake gcc-c++ mesa-libGL-devel ...`). raylib 5.5 is fetched automatically — do not vendor it. ### Quick headless logic test (no display needed) ```bash g++ -std=c++17 -O2 -Isrc/sim test_logic.cpp src/sim/IcoSphere.cpp \ src/sim/Planet.cpp src/sim/PlanetTectonics.cpp src/sim/PlanetDrift.cpp \ src/sim/PlanetErosion.cpp src/sim/PlanetHydrology.cpp \ src/sim/PlanetBiomes.cpp src/sim/PlanetClimate.cpp src/sim/PlanetIO.cpp \ -o /tmp/t && /tmp/t ``` Use this to verify tectonics after changing `Planet::step()` without launching the window (the engine lives in `src/sim` and is raylib-free, so it links without any render code). The `#pragma omp` lines in `step()` are ignored without `-fopenmp`, so this serial build is correct; add `-fopenmp` to benchmark the threaded path. ### Performance / parallelism `Planet::step()` is data-parallel: each pass writes only its own cell index (double-buffered where it reads a field it writes), so the OpenMP `parallel for` loops are **bit-identical for any thread count** (determinism intact). It is memory-bandwidth-bound, so the speedup tops out ~3x (sub-7: ~5.1 -> ~1.5 ms) around 4-8 threads regardless of core count. `step()` also reuses persistent scratch buffers (the `s*` members) so it allocates nothing per tick. Small grids stay serial via `if(n > 20000)`. Control threads with `OMP_NUM_THREADS` (4-8 is the sweet spot; the default uses all cores for no extra gain). OpenMP is optional and auto-detected by CMake. For a bigger leap (or 1M+ cells) the next step is a GPU compute-shader port -- a Phase-2 effort. ## Controls LMB drag orbit · wheel zoom · hover for cell info (3D or map) · click a tile to open its detail panel (subtiles) · `C` close panel · drag the 2D map to pan it east/west · `1`..`7` color by elevation/plate/age/crust-type/biome/temperature/precipitation (active mode shown top-center of the globe) · `B` plate borders · `D` drift vectors · `G` lat/lon grid · `J` rivers (Phase 3, all in 3D + 2D) · `SPACE` or on-screen button pause · `[`/`]` drift speed (My/sec) · `S` single tick · `F` fast-forward Phase-1 forming to settled · `H` toggle Phase 3 (hydrology) · `R` reseed · `+`/`-` subdivision level (1..7) · `F5` save (`planet.save`) · `F9` load · `F12` screenshot (`screenshot.png`) · `F2` reload `planet.cfg` + regenerate. Phase 3: after `phase3AfterMy` simulated years a modal prompt asks **Continue Phase 2** / **Start Phase 3**; `H` starts/stops it manually. In Phase 3 drift keeps running at a finer timestep (`cflDtMy()*phase3DtScale`) while rivers, lakes and fluvial erosion evolve. CLI: `--seed N` overrides `cfg.seed`; `--config PATH` uses an alternate config file (both applied before the initial load/generate). Two files in the working dir: `planet.cfg` (human-editable key=value of every PlanetConfig param, auto-created on first run, reload with `F2`) and `planet.save` (binary: seed + config + full planet state, written/read by `Planet::writeState`/`readState`, resumes deterministically). Config is range-checked by `validateConfig()` on load/`F2`; an invalid file reverts to safe defaults (without overwriting your `planet.cfg`) and shows a status message. The save header is versioned (currently **6**; v2 adds the `[`/`]` drift rate, v3 a `phase3` flag, v4 a per-cell biome byte, v6 stores config as a **self-describing key=value text block** instead of a raw POD dump); newer-than-supported is rejected. **As of v6, adding/removing PlanetConfig fields no longer breaks saves** — the saved config is parsed like `planet.cfg` (unknown keys ignored, missing keys keep defaults), written at `precision(17)` so doubles round-trip exactly. (v6 cannot load pre-v6 saves — a one-time break; a length guard makes that fail gracefully.) `writeConfigFields`/ `parseConfigStream` in PlanetIO.cpp are shared by `planet.cfg` and the save. Layout (1920x1080): left column 70% wide = 3D globe (top, 60% h, RenderTexture 1344x648) + 2D Equal Earth map (bottom, 40% h); right column 30% wide = cell info (top 50% h) + subareas (bottom 50% h). 3D hover uses a custom camera ray with the 3D viewport (1344x648 at the origin -- GetScreenToWorldRay assumes the full screen, wrong here); 2D hover uses EqualEarth::inverse (minus the `mapLon` pan). Borders (`B`), drift vectors (`D`) and a lat/lon graticule (`G`) draw in BOTH the 3D globe and the 2D map; drag the 2D map left/right to pan longitude (`mapLon`). The graticule (`G`) also draws **lat/lon degree numbers along the 2D map edges**. The 3D globe (and its spin-axis rod) lean by `cfg.axialTilt` (an `rlRotatef` about world Z around all 3D content in `renderGlobe3D`); 3D picking un-rotates the world hit dir by −tilt and plate labels rotate by +tilt (`rotateZ`, src/render/Picking.cpp) to stay in sync. Borders draw in two colors: real plate boundaries yellow, young spreading-ridge (baby-plate) boundaries red — both via `buildBorders` filling two segment lists. Drift arrows: one cyan arrow per plate at its centroid along the local drift velocity `omega x r`; length scales with speed. Rebuilt per world-gen. Each plate is also tagged with a `P` label drawn just above its centroid — projected by hand in 3D (the project's own `Vec3` camera-basis math, matching `BeginMode3D`'s fovy/aspect, behind-camera points skipped) and via Equal Earth in the 2D map. **Sim model (`Viewer::stepSim`, src/render/Viewer.cpp):** single-threaded. Each frame (while not paused/settled) it advances ~`formRate` (55) ticks/second of `planet.step()` (Phase 1 = pure tectonic forming, no erosion — `planet.drifting` is false) and rebuilds the view live, so you watch the terrain rise. `step()` returns the max per-tick elevation change; after `settleNeed` (3) consecutive ticks below `settleThresh` (2 m) it sets `settled` and stops stepping — no idle CPU. Re-evolve / reseed / subdivision-change clear `settled` and restart the forming pass. Rendering reads the live `cells` directly (safe: nothing else mutates them). Phase 2's *continuous* sim will want a worker thread + a render snapshot (so the 60 fps render never races the sim) — that's the natural place to reintroduce threading. Plate borders are traced once per world-gen as a dual contour through boundary triangles (plates are fixed in phase 1). ## Tuning knobs (expect to adjust these first) - `elevExagg` (src/render/Viewer.hpp) — visual elevation exaggeration; without it the sphere looks smooth. - `axialTilt` (PlanetConfig, `planet.cfg`) — obliquity in degrees (default 23.44). Leans the 3D globe + spin-axis rod; groundwork for seasons. Editable + `F2` to apply. - Biome thresholds (`biome*` in PlanetConfig / `planet.cfg`) — `biomeIceTemp` (lower = smaller polar/snow caps), `biomeMountainElev`/`biomeHillsElev`, the moisture cutoffs (`biomeDesertMoist`/`biomeGrassMoist`/`biomeWetlandMoist`), and the temperature model (`biomeEquatorTemp`/`biomePoleDrop`/`biomeLatExp`/`biomeElevLapse`, shared with climate). Editable + `F2`. - Climate (`climate*` in PlanetConfig / `planet.cfg`) — precipitation model: `climateOrographic` (windward-rain strength), `climateRainEfficiency`, `climateContinentality` (inland drying), `climateMoistureSmooth` (diffusion passes → wet/dry transition zones; raise for smoother, more grassland/forest), `climateOceanMoisture`, `climateOroRefHeight`, `climateWindPasses`. Temperature uses the `biome*` temp params. - `upliftGain` (PlanetConfig) — m/tick per unit convergence stress; main knob for how fast/high relief builds. - `relax` (PlanetConfig) — isostatic relaxation toward base elevation. Peaks asymptote at `base + perTickUplift/relax`, so raising it lowers/flattens the equilibrium; lowering it makes relief taller and slower to settle. - `beltWidth` (PlanetConfig) — how many cell-rings a mountain belt spreads inland (belt width / flank extent). - `trenchFactor` (Planet::step) — depth multiplier for subduction trenches. - `driftSpeed` (Planet::assignPlates) — how fast boundary stress builds. - **Plate lifecycle (PlanetConfig, Phase 2 inc. 1.5):** `splitFraction` (0.20, plate share that may rift), `splitProbBase`/`splitProbSlope` (fission prob ramp), `splitCheckEvery` (10, iters between periodic checks), `stalemateEps` / `stalemateBoost` (deadlock detection + kick), `stalemateWindows` (4, consecutive stuck windows before a kick — raise to calm border jitter), `babyMinCells` (4, baby blobs smaller than this dissolve as noise), `babyPromoteFrac` (0.7%, ridge-strip size to become a real plate), `volcanicLandFrac` / `volcanicElev` (land grown on promotion), `landBand` (0.10, soft land-conservation band), `miniPlateCells` (50, below = "mini") + `fuseMinPlates` (3, cluster size to fuse + steal). Tune these to control how lively / fragmented the plate map stays. - **Erosion + sea level (PlanetConfig, Phase 2 inc. 2):** `erosionLandRate` (0.08) / `erosionSeaRate` (0.02) — fraction/My worn off above / below sea level (raise for faster, flatter terrain); `landFractionTarget` (0.30) — geographic land goal; `seaLevelStep` (100 m) — fixed nudge per adjustment + `seaLevelTol` (0.02) — deadband where sea level rests (raise step or shrink tol for a tighter 30/70, but a big step can overshoot a flat "cliff"); `seaLevelEvery` (100) — iterations between sea-level updates (higher = more gradual). All editable in `planet.cfg`. - **Orogeny — taller mountains (PlanetConfig, Phase 2 inc. 4):** `collisionFactor` (1.8, continent-continent uplift, Himalaya) and `arcFactor` (1.4, continental subduction-arc uplift, Andes) — raise either to make ranges taller/more reliable across seeds; `isostaticPersist` (0.85, how strongly high crust resists relax — toward 1 = ranges barely erode and continents stay high; lower = more dynamic rise/erode) saturating at `rootScale` (2500 m above `continentBase`). These three boosts are **drift-only** (gated on `Planet::drifting`); in Phase-2 drift the per-tick `erode()` is what limits their height, so they don't rail the clamp. The hard clamp `[-11000, 9000]` in `step()` is the Everest-class cap; a few peak cells may sit there during drift (<2% — fine). - **Seafloor aging->depth (PlanetConfig, Phase 2 inc. 4):** `oceanBase` is now the **deep abyssal floor** (-6000 m, not a flat ocean base) and `ridgeDepth` the shallow young value (-2500 m); `seafloorSubsidence` (280 m per sqrt(My)) sets how fast oceanic crust deepens with `geoAge` (half-space cooling), and `seafloorSeedAge` (80 My) is the initial oceanic age spread at generation so the starting seafloor already has ridge->abyss variety. - **Hydrology (PlanetConfig, Phase 3 inc. 1):** `phase3AfterMy` (300) — drift-My before the Phase-3 prompt; `phase3DtScale` (0.2) — Phase-3 timestep = `cflDtMy()*this` (smaller = finer carving, slower drift per step); `rainfall` (1.0) — uniform precip per cell (drainage-area unit; orographic precip is a later climate add-on); `riverThreshold` (50) — discharge above which a cell is a river (also the river-render threshold); `riverIncision` K (0.02) + `riverDischargeExp` m (0.5) + `riverSlopeExp` n (1.0) — stream-power incision `K*Q^m*S^n*dt` (raise K for faster valley carving); `riverTransport` (0.1) — transport capacity `cap=this*Q*S` and `depFrac` (0.25) — deposition rate of excess load (raise both for more deltas / faster lake infill). All editable in `planet.cfg`. ## Conventions - All code, identifiers, comments and filenames in **English**. - Before generating code, summarize the approach and ask whether to proceed. - Prefer **inline code in chat** over attachments; give exact file contents rather than long explanations. - Direct, concrete answers. Metric system throughout. - C++17, multi-file CMake. Keep simulation logic free of raylib so it stays testable headless: engine in `src/sim` (no raylib), all rendering in `src/render`. - Geometry stays fixed — never make cells move; add new per-cell properties and flow them over the existing grid + neighbor adjacency.