# SBC "problem communicating with the FIFA Ultimate Team servers" — definitive analysis

**Date:** 2026-08-07
**Binary under study:** `/tmp/fut/cardsdll.dll` (on-disk PE, image base `0x180000000`; copy of `/mnt/games/FIFA 17/CardsDLL_Win64_retail.dll`)
**Method:** clean-room, read-only. On-disk `objdump` re-verified in this pass; live values quoted from prior read-only `/proc/<pid>/mem` reads (pid 12201, slide `0x6ffe7c140000`, FNV control MATCH). No memory was written; FIFA was not touched.

---

## VERDICT (one line)

**The SBC modal is a CLIENT-SIDE, per-feature completion-path defect — the FUT client never re-arms a fetch/re-render for `sbs/sets` the way it does for the hub — so NO server response can cure it; the only offline lever is a client-memory patch, and the clean single-byte patch (`model+0x1fa00 = 1`) only SUPPRESSES the modal by forcing the completion predicate true, rendering from an empty, never-populated cache. It is NOT the go-online wall.**

---

## 1. What the SBC completion predicate actually checks (CONFIRMED on-disk)

The SBC menu entry runs a completion continuation whose gate is the shared predicate **`0x180065d40`**, called as `[cache_vtable+0x08]`. Re-disassembled this pass, byte-for-byte:

```
180065d40  call 0x1801642c0        ; online/liveness sub-check
180065d4e  test al,al
180065d50  je   fail
180065d52  cmp  byte [rbx+0x28],0   ; <-- THE GATE: "value ready" flag
180065d56  je   fail
180065d58  cmp  qword [rbx+0x8],0   ; pending-op ptr
180065d5d  je   pass (mov al,1)     ; empty-collection shortcut -> success
180065d5f  lea  rcx,[rsp+0x38]
180065d64  call QueryPerformanceCounter  ; [rip]->0x1801e50c0
180065d6a  mov  rax,[rbx+0x20]      ; QPC deadline
180065d6e  sub  rax,[rsp+0x38]
180065d73  js   fail                ; deadline passed -> fail
180065d75  mov  al,1                ; pass
...
180065d7d  xor  al,al               ; fail
```

Reduces to: `subcheck() && byte[cache+0x28]!=0 && (qword[cache+0x08]==0 || deadline[cache+0x20] not yet past)`.

- **The online/liveness sub-check `0x1801642c0` is stubbed OUT.** On-disk bytes are `b0 01 c3` = `mov al,1; ret` — always true, in the shipped file (not a live loader patch). **This is the reason SBC is NOT the go-online wall** (see §5).
- `cache` (`rbx`) is an **embedded sub-object of the FUT root singleton** `A = *[0x1802e6398]`, selected by a vtable thunk (see §2). Its `+0x28` byte is a "value-ready" flag (init 0 by ctor `0x180062460`); `+0x08` is a pending-op pointer; `+0x20` is a QPC deadline. This is a copyable future/async-result value type. **The predicate never reads the parsed SBC categories, HTTP status, session, or any live-connection boolean.**

> **AUTHORITY BOUNDARY:** everything the predicate reads lives inside client process memory (`A+…`). Nothing in the `sbs/sets` HTTP response is an input to it. This is a **client-authority** decision end to end.

---

## 2. Why hub passes but `sbs/sets` fails (CORRECTED after adversarial verification)

Both features run the **same predicate function** `0x180065d40`, but on **different embedded caches**, reached through **different per-response-class continuations**. That structural divergence is real and confirmed. **The originally-stated reason ("hub passes because its cache `+0x28` is set") is WRONG** and is corrected here — corroborated by a live measurement (HUB cache `+0x28 = 0` while the hub is displayed with no modal) and by the on-disk FALSE-branch disassembly gathered this pass.

### The two continuations, side by side (on-disk, this pass)

| | SBC (`FutLoadSetTypesServerResponse`) | HUB (`FutGetHubDataServerResponse`) |
|---|---|---|
| continuation | `0x180154860` | `0x180173770` |
| get singleton A | `call 0x18011a830` (`mov rax,[0x1802e6398]`) | same |
| select cache | `call [rdx+0x4e8]` → thunk `0x18011c1f0` = `lea rax,[rcx+0x1f9d8]` → **SBC cache A+0x1f9d8** | `call [rdx+0x1f8]` → thunk `0x18011a810` = `lea rax,[rcx+0x1fd70]` → **HUB cache A+0x1fd70** |
| predicate | `call [rdx+0x08]` = `0x180065d40` | **same** `0x180065d40` |
| on TRUE (jne) | render `0x18015491a → 0x180154600` | render `0x18017383d → 0x1801735e0` |
| **on FALSE** | `lea rdx,[rbp-0x9]` (descriptor `0x18020a8b8`); **`call 0x18016c330`**; `jmp` return | **`call 0x1801213b0` (state reset)**; `lea 0x1801736f0` (continuation fn); **`call 0x18011f8e0` (register completion closure)**; `lea 0x18022cd30` (descriptor); **`call 0x18016c330`**; **`call 0x18011f900` (cleanup)** |

### What this proves

1. **`0x18016c330` is NOT an SBC-only "modal" function.** The HUB continuation calls the very same `0x18016c330` (at `0x18017382c`) on its own not-ready branch. It is a shared, descriptor-parameterized async dispatcher; SBC passes descriptor `0x18020a8b8`, hub passes `0x18022cd30`.

2. **At idle both predicates return FALSE.** Live: HUB cache `A+0x1fd70+0x28 = 0` **and** SBC cache `A+0x1f9d8+0x28 = 0`, both `+0x08 = 0`. The hub is on screen with no modal *while its own predicate would return FALSE*. So "hub `+0x28` is set" is false; a set flag is not what makes the hub pass.

3. **The real asymmetry is the FALSE-branch work.** On not-ready the HUB continuation **resets its request-state region** (`0x1801213b0`), **registers a completion closure** (`0x18011f8e0`, continuation `0x1801736f0`) so the arriving response re-runs the continuation and re-renders, then cleans up (`0x18011f900`). It is a proper get-or-fetch: cache-miss → (re)issue request → render on completion. **The SBC continuation does NONE of that** — it fires the dispatcher once with delegate `0x180154590`/descriptor `0x18020a8b8` and returns. It never re-arms a fetch and never wires the `sbs/sets` response back into a re-render.

**Conclusion:** hub and SBC diverge at the cache-selection call site (`[rdx+0x1f8]` vs `[rdx+0x4e8]`, one instruction apart), and — decisively — in the not-ready handling. The modal is produced **downstream in the SBC dispatched path** (dispatcher `0x18016c330` + delegate `0x180154590`), because the SBC feature is wired as a one-shot with no re-fetch/re-render, whereas the hub is wired as a self-rearming get-or-fetch. It is **not** decided by cache selection alone, **not** by the shared predicate, and **not** by the `+0x28` byte value at idle.

---

## 3. VERDICT by route — is SBC beatable, and how?

| Route | Outcome | Why |
|---|---|---|
| **A. Server response field / header / status** | **RULED OUT — no offline fix here** | No field in the `sbs/sets` body reaches the predicate (client-authority §1). Deeper: the SBC continuation never registers a completion closure to consume the response and re-render, so *even a perfect response is dropped on the floor*. The deserializer `0x18017b2b0` returning TRUE is genuinely irrelevant. |
| **B. Client memory byte patch** `model+0x1fa00 = 1` | **Suppresses the modal, but empty menu — cosmetic** | Forces predicate TRUE → routes to the SBC render branch `0x18015491a → 0x180154600`, which reads the embedded SBC cache. That cache was never populated (`+0x08 == 0`, empty collection), so the likely result is an empty / non-functional SBC screen, not populated SBCs. **Untested under the read-only rule.** |
| **C. Config `FUT/SBC_USE_STUBS`** (rdata `0x1802270f8`) | **Not the gate** | Read at the deser top only; the normal (off) path already runs. Flipping it does not touch `+0x28` or the continuation wiring. |
| **D. "Needs the go-online wall solved"** | **REFUTED** | The only connection-like sub-check on this path (`0x1801642c0`) is stubbed to always-true on-disk. SBC is blocked by local per-feature completion wiring, not by the reconnect gate. See §5. |
| **E. Client CODE patch of the SBC FALSE-branch** | **The only route to a *functional* SBC menu** | Make `0x180154860`'s not-ready branch replicate the hub's sequence: state reset `0x1801213b0` + register completion closure `0x18011f8e0`/`0x1801736f0` + dispatch + cleanup `0x18011f900`, so the `sbs/sets` response is fetched and rendered. This is a code patch, not a byte flip and not a server change. Out of scope for a server-side preservation fix; a client-side authority modification. |

**Bottom line:** there is **no server-side fix**. SBC is "beatable" only in the client-authority sense — either cosmetically (byte B, hides the modal over an empty menu) or functionally (route E, a code patch replicating the hub's re-arm). Neither is a change our offline server can make.

---

## 4. Memory patch details (if used) — flagged CLIENT-SIDE AUTHORITY

> **CLIENT-SIDE AUTHORITY — this is a modification of the FIFA client's own process memory, not an OpenFUT server response. It changes what the client decides, and it violates the current read-only rule; it is documented for completeness, not endorsed as the fix.**

- **Cosmetic modal-suppression (route B):**
  - **Absolute displacement into FUT root singleton:** `A + 0x1f9d8 + 0x28` = **`model + 0x1fa00`**, where `A = *[0x1802e6398]`.
  - **Live absolute (pid 12201 snapshot):** `0xb8402538 + 0x28 = 0xb8402560`.
  - **Value:** write `0x01` (one byte).
  - **Effect:** predicate `0x180065d40` short-circuits at `cmp byte[rbx+0x28],0` → with `+0x08==0` the empty-collection shortcut returns TRUE → continuation `jne 0x18015491a` renders. **Modal gone; SBC cache empty → expect an empty/possibly-broken menu.** Not verified (read-only).
  - **Persistence:** the object is embedded in the singleton (singleton lifetime). The SBC path calls only `[vt+0x08]`; nothing on this path calls the invalidator `[vt+0x10]=0x180065d20`, so a write should persist across menu re-entry (inferred from structure, not demonstrated).

- **Functional fix (route E)** requires a `.text` patch to the SBC continuation, not a data byte — see §3 row E. Do not confuse the two.

---

## 5. Relationship to the online-modes / go-online-wall finding

SBC is **not** the same wall as online Draft's "PRESS Q TO RECONNECT":

- The single connection-like sub-check reachable from the SBC predicate, `0x1801642c0`, is compiled out (`mov al,1; ret`) in the shipped binary. The SBC gate therefore encodes **no** unmet network condition — it is a purely local completion-wiring problem.
- The online modes differ structurally: their gate keeps a real pending network op at `+0x08` and/or a non-stubbed sub-check, so their predicate encodes a network state a local byte-flip cannot satisfy. That is why the online wall is not beatable by a byte and SBC's modal is (cosmetically).
- This is consistent with the prior **"refusing modes = no server fix"** finding: no field, count, header, or status in any HTTP response flips the client-side completion state for these features. SBC extends that finding with the precise mechanism — the client never re-arms the `sbs/sets` fetch/re-render at all.

---

## Appendix — confirmed addresses (image base `0x180000000`)

| Symbol | Address | Note |
|---|---|---|
| FUT root singleton getter | `0x18011a830` | `mov rax,[0x1802e6398]; ret` |
| FUT root singleton ptr | `[0x1802e6398]` | live `A = 0xb83e2b60` |
| FUT root vtable (static) | `0x18021c2a0` | |
| SBC cache selector thunk | `0x18011c1f0` | `lea rax,[rcx+0x1f9d8]` (slot `A.vt+0x4e8`) |
| HUB cache selector thunk | `0x18011a810` | `lea rax,[rcx+0x1fd70]` (slot `A.vt+0x1f8`) |
| SBC cache | `A+0x1f9d8` | vtable `0x1801fae70`; live `0xb8402538` |
| HUB cache | `A+0x1fd70` | vtable `0x18021c1e0` |
| shared predicate `isValid` | `0x180065d40` | `cache.vt+0x08` for both |
| stubbed online sub-check | `0x1801642c0` | `b0 01 c3` = `mov al,1; ret` |
| cache ctor / copy-ctor | `0x180062460` / `0x1800c21f3` | init `byte[+0x28]=0` |
| invalidator | `0x180065d20` | `cache.vt+0x10`; not called on SBC path |
| SBC continuation | `0x180154860` | class `RS4:FutLoadSetTypesServerResponse` (str `0x1802270b8`, vt row `0x180227090`) |
| HUB continuation | `0x180173770` | class `RS4:FutGetHubDataServerResponse` (str `0x18022ce40`, vt row `0x18022ce18`) |
| shared async dispatcher | `0x18016c330` | called by BOTH FALSE-branches (SBC `0x180154913`, HUB `0x18017382c`) |
| SBC delegate / descriptor | invoke `0x180154590` / desc `0x18020a8b8` | |
| HUB re-arm: state reset | `0x1801213b0` | HUB-only, `0x1801737bd` |
| HUB re-arm: register closure | `0x18011f8e0` (cont. `0x1801736f0`) | HUB-only, `0x180173815` |
| HUB re-arm: cleanup | `0x18011f900` | HUB-only, `0x180173836` |
| SBC render branch (on TRUE) | `0x18015491a → 0x180154600` | reads empty SBC cache |
| `sbs/sets` deserializer | `0x18017b2b0` | returns TRUE unconditionally (`mov al,1 @0x18017b751`); irrelevant to predicate |
| QueryPerformanceCounter import | `0x1801e50c0` | |

**Which prior conclusion won:** the structural divergence (same predicate, different cache, different continuation; online sub-check stubbed; not server-fixable) is upheld. The specific pass/fail *reason* is corrected: it is the **FALSE-branch re-arm asymmetry**, not a set `+0x28` byte and not an SBC-exclusive `0x18016c330`.
