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Theron Track 02 Pit Gate Evidence Gap

Status: UNRESOLVED — source-backed pit tiles fail closed.

Proven data boundary

The authenticated Track 02 data-format inventory identifies type bits $40 as the pit family in the one-byte map tile. This is a media-format classification only; it does not establish movement, levitation, damage, or landing semantics. See tqr_v1_phase2_data_formats_H2339.md and theron_tile_type in include/theron_v1_track02_dungeon_map.h.

Withdrawn source claim

The earlier claim that original Theron code at $C332-$C347 applies the OPEN ($08), IMAGINARY ($01), and party-levitation gate is not supported by checked-in evidence. theron-us-stage2-huc6280.asm is a disassembly of an authenticated Track 02 Stage-2 payload, but its presence does not bind a logical CPU address to the gameplay bank active during a pit action. No Theron code window, raw-source offset, mapped-bank receipt, or runtime instruction trace in the repository establishes that $C332-$C347 is the pit consumer. Similar conditions in DM1/CSB-oriented probe code are not Theron evidence.

The former claim was removed from src/theron/theron_v1_mechanics.c and DONE-theron.md. The real-media pit census remains useful as a count of source tile encodings only; it does not verify a gameplay gate.

Runtime behavior while unresolved

Both read-only movement queries and party movement block pit tiles whenever the current level is source-authenticated, independent of the raw attribute bits and levitation. No party position, damage, or transition state is committed. Source-less fixture probes retain their separate legacy behavior. Source-backed floor-actuator events targeting pits remain unresolved without changing the runtime tile; repeated pending events from the same authenticated equivalent envelopes from the same authenticated source occurrence are coalesced to keep the bounded event queue from growing without limit. The decoded record and raw attribute bits are retained, but the original actuator consumer is not inferred. Movement checks the source-backed pit gate before creature combat so a co-located creature cannot mutate combat state or allow entry through that unresolved route. The real-media loader test emits one first floor-adjacent pit coordinate per edition and dungeon, including the raw tile byte, level-array slot, and opaque header-level value. These coordinates help target emulator capture only; they do not prove which map or tile the original runtime displays at a given state.

Evidence required to promote behavior

For each supported US and JP runtime, capture a same-session original-emulator receipt that:

  1. Identifies the authentic Track 02 image by hash and records the active logical PC, physical bank, MPR mapping, and instruction bytes for the pit query and its callers.
  2. Joins the executing code to an authenticated source byte window or records the loaded overlay’s byte-exact origin from the retail disc.
  3. Exercises an original open/closed pit with levitation state recorded and captures the resulting party, HP/stamina, level, and destination square.

Until those receipts exist, do not restore the OPEN/IMAGINARY/levitation gate, apply fixture damage, choose a destination level, or claim pit parity.