flare — Call of Duty Light Compiler (Byte-Identical Source)

Compiles with Visual C++ 7.0 to the exact bytes of the original 2003 flare.exe, with the metadata stamp described below.

A source reconstruction of flare.exe, the light compiler (lightmaps, light grid, model lighting, OpenGL preview) that shipped with the 2003 Call of Duty 1 map tools. The source is written so that Microsoft Visual C++ 7.0 (Visual Studio .NET 2002) reproduces the original machine code.

This project is not affiliated with or endorsed by Activision, Infinity Ward, id Software, ZeniMax or Microsoft. "Call of Duty", "Quake" and "Wolfenstein" are trademarks of their respective owners and are used here only to describe what the code is. No game data, no original binary and no Microsoft software is part of this repository.

• 1,255 of 1,255 project functions compile to the same bytes and relocations as the original, checked one by one.
• The program links normally. --identical writes a separate copy with the recorded link timestamp, PDB GUID and PDB age (215). That copy is byte-identical to the original: 577,536 bytes, SHA-256 3d825c0eb656faff02dbcb6c5773253966238695774eeef6f35fa9620ef3534e. Code, data, imports, layout and the Rich header come from compilation and linking; the stamp changes only the three metadata fields. The ordinary linked image is retained.
• Byte identity proves the compiled image, not the source text: where several spellings compile to the same bytes, the choice among them is not evidence about the original. See docs/RECONSTRUCTION_NOTES.md.

Details: docs/KNOWN_DIFFERENCES.md. Third-party and library functions are accounted for separately from the project count.

• Windows and Python 3 (verified with Python 3.11; standard library only).
• Visual C++ 7.0, cl.exe 13.00.9466, with its Platform SDK and static CRT: either your own copy, or let the build download it (--fetch-toolchain, needs 7-Zip; see build/README.md). Other compilers do not give the same code.

python -I build\build.py --fetch-toolchain --strict --identical

or, with an installed Visual C++ 7.0:

python -I build\build.py --vc7 "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio .NET\Vc7" --strict --identical

The build compiles 119 translation units from a 201-file source/header/notice set, builds cmdlib.lib and links the exe, then prints the SHA-256 of the result next to the recorded release hash. It never runs the program it builds. Add --original C:\path\to\flare.exe to get a byte and section comparison with your own copy if the result differs. All options, toolchain checks and link-order notes are in build/README.md.

This repository contains no executables. The program it rebuilds is the original flare.exe from the Call of Duty (2003) mod tools; if you just need the tool, use the official mod tools.

Each function is compiled with the original compiler and measured flags. Its instruction bytes, relocation targets, jump tables and C++ exception-handling contributions must agree with the original. The complete linked image is then compared byte for byte, including headers, data, imports and padding. The per-function checks used private tooling; the standalone build needs only the source in src/ and the manifest in build/sources.json. Where several spellings give identical bytes, the choice among them is not evidence about the original source.

src/        the reconstruction (flare/, common/, code/, libs/, universal/, win32/)
build/      build.py, build.bat, sources.json, fetch_toolchain.py, stamp_meta.py, meta_stamp.json, README.md
docs/       known differences, notes on what is proven and what is a choice
COPYING     GPLv3 with id Software's additional terms
THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md

GPL-3.0-or-later with the additional terms id Software applied to its Wolfenstein source releases: see COPYING. Files that descend from the Quake III Arena source keep their original headers (GPL version 2 or, at your option, any later version), which is used here under version 3. Third-party code (IJG jpeg 6b, zlib, minizip) is under its own terms: see THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md. This software is based in part on the work of the Independent JPEG Group.

• Reconstruction by Jane.
• Published by Rose.
• Thanks to Prawy (https://github.com/PrawyCoD1) for the idea for this project.

Evidence and sources:

• id Software: Quake III Arena (q3map, common, qcommon) and the Return to Castle Wolfenstein and Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory source releases, the base of the engine family.
• The GtkRadiant and q3map2 authors, whose published tools show the same family of code.
• Independent JPEG Group (libjpeg 6b), Jean-loup Gailly and Mark Adler (zlib 1.1.4), Gilles Vollant (minizip).
• Function and variable names come from strings in the binary, the published sources above and the symbol tables and link maps of other retail builds of the same game family, wherever the compiled image agrees; the rest are descriptive.

This repository is the byte-identical reference build and stays that way. Ports to x64, to modern compilers or to other platforms are welcome as forks; the hope is that someone takes this on.