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funman300 c76cf706ef fifa17-recon: CARD_SYSTEM -- record the solved identity mechanism and the oracle
Supersedes the parts of this document that were wrong: the CardsDb map is not empty
offline, and dbdata.dll is not the player database.

Records the merge dispatch table, the field-fill asymmetry that the pool design
depends on (send zero for what the client knows, send our own only where it knows
nothing), the three-state oracle with all three fingerprints, the 5000-item ingest
ceiling, the fact that the map is WIPED on every club fetch, and where the 17,547
player roster came from plus its independent cross-validation.

Also records the state of the other card families so the next session starts from
the manager branch writing no miss-fill, rather than rediscovering it.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01VUT92pz6RWKih9dSr8ZpxW
2026-08-04 22:00:18 -07:00

291 lines
16 KiB
Markdown

# FIFA 17 FUT — Card System RE + Next-Steps Plan
Status as of 2026-08-01. All clean-room (our own binaries + running client only).
## ★ SOLVED: real player cards render offline
A full 88-rated real squad (Ronaldo/Messi/Suárez/Ramos/Kroos/…) renders 100%
offline. The definition FETCH turned out to be unnecessary — FIFA has all player
identity data locally in `dbdata.dll`. **The CLUB-SEARCH / ADD-PLAYER flow is the
trigger:** when FIFA displays club-search results (`GET /club?year=..&type=player&
count=..`, served by our `/club` route), it resolves each item's assetId against
its own local DB (real name/photo/club/nation) and merges the rating/attributes
our `/club` item carries, then caches a real record in the CardsDb store
(`obj+0x160c0`). No `idList` fetch, no leaked data.
**Working recipe:**
- `utas_server` on `FUT_SQUAD_STEP=s3v0``/club` serves the full XI (real asset
IDs + our attributes).
- In FUT: Squads editor → Add Player / player-name **search** → results render as
real cards → **add them to slots** → full real squad.
- Distinction: the squad-EMBED path (`GET /squad/0` itemData) does NOT resolve
(generic); only the CLUB-SEARCH/ADD path resolves. So: serve-club + search/add.
Cosmetic-only nit: card short-name label shows a default "BAS" (real full names
are in the record + Player Details panel) — likely the FUT commonName/knownAs
field; low priority.
Everything below is the reverse-engineering that led here.
## Where we are
Offline FIFA 17 Ultimate Team runs end-to-end on our backend:
- Every EA online gate cracked (Origin/LSX, Blaze, UTAS/RS4) → **FUT hub**.
- **Squads editor renders**: correct 4-4-2 formation, 11 labelled slots, 5-star
squad rating, manager slot, benches — **no freezes**.
- The one missing piece: player cards render as the generic "FUT 17" back
(rating 0) — no real player *identity/face* resolves.
## The squad-shell (what makes it work — don't regress these)
- ~~`userMassInfo` MUST return `{}`~~ — **superseded 2026-08-03.** `0x180174630` is fully
decompiled: a FLAT `{userInfo, squad, settings, userData}` body. The old desync is
attributed to the `squad` member, which was built before `0x18013d1f0`'s schema was
known. `utas_server.py` now defaults to `FUT_MASSINFO=full`; fall back through
`squad`/`userinfo`/`settings`/`empty` to bisect if the hub freezes at 0x1801c7f1a.
- Deliver the squad via **`GET /squad/0`** (LoadActiveSquad, deser 0x18013d1f0),
which FIFA fetches on **Squads-tab entry** (re-fetches on tab-switch, not on
editor re-open). `FUT_SQUAD_STEP` selects the squad (s2v0 = 1 real item).
- `GET /user` is NEVER called at boot — userInfo can only reach FIFA via
userMassInfo, which is now populated (above), so the hub's coins/record and the
squad roster (`userInfo.squadList`) are delivered at boot. Pending live verify.
## Why cards render generic (definitively reversed — 3 workflows)
The card view-model (0x1800d7920) reads EVERY rendered field
(rating@+0xb4, position@+0x146, nation@+0x148, teamid@+0x94, 6 attrs@+0x98..0xac,
name@+0xdd) from a **resolved player-definition record at `item+0x10`** — NEVER
from our item JSON. That's why item-format/version/field changes had zero effect.
`item+0x10` is filled by the resolve at 0x180141160-76:
`getter 0x18011a830 → CardsDb singleton [0x1802e6398] → call [vtable+0xa08]`
(= lookup **0x18011cca0**), output buffer `[rbp+0x160]`. The lookup searches a
std::map at `CardsDb_obj+0x160c0` keyed by resourceId. **Offline that map is
EMPTY**, so every lookup misses and a **default blank record** is emitted →
generic card.
Dead ends (proven, do not retry):
- **Version advertising is inert.** `itemDbVersion` (atom 0x16c) and
`checkServerDbVersion` (atom 0x80) are JSON field names routed to the value-SKIP
handler 0x180135ff0 in every parser — parsed and discarded, never compared.
Roster-version bump and Blaze `itemDbVersion=999999999` both did nothing.
- **Serving owned items does NOT auto-trigger a definition fetch.** The
itemData-array parser (0x1801293d0→0x18013fe00) does no membership check and no
enqueue; the render-miss is terminal. Our squad already has an owned item
rendering generic with 0 `idList` fetches — empirical proof.
- **In-place map overwrite is dead** — the map at `+0x160c0` stays empty even with
all 11 cards rendering (probed live). The resolve emits a transient default to
the caller stack each frame; nothing persistent to edit.
The definition FETCH (`ut/17/item?idList=`, `/item/resource`, `/defid`; URL builder
0x180129200) is issued by FUT-controller vtable method 0x180119010 / requestDefinitions
0x180036e20 — **both have zero call-sites inside CardsDLL**. The decision to fetch
lives in the **packed FIFA17.exe** (decrypted in live memory only).
Our definition-serving endpoints (`item_def`/`defs_route` in `utas_server.py`,
routes `item/resource`/`defid`/`item?idList=`) are **built and ready** for if/when
the fetch is ever driven.
## Next-steps plan (real player faces) — ordered by tractability
### Option A — Drive the fetch from FIFA17.exe (most "correct", hardest to find)
FIFA17.exe is packed on disk but decrypted in live memory (Wine flat-maps at
0x140000000). Find the call-site of the idList issuer (CardsDLL vtable method
0x180119010, .rdata slot 0x18021cb78) inside the live FIFA17.exe image: set a
hardware breakpoint / rwatch on that slot's invocation, or scan decrypted .text
for the call. Identify what condition it gates on and satisfy it. If FIFA then
requests `item?idList=<ids>`, our endpoints already answer → cards resolve. This
is the clean win: no ongoing memory writes, works via normal data flow.
### Option B — Populate the CardsDb store so lookups HIT (live-memory injection)
Pre-insert real records into the std::map at `CardsDb_obj+0x160c0`
(node: Left+0x0/Right+0x8/Parent+0x10/color+0x18/key(resourceId)+0x20/record+0x28).
Two sub-approaches:
- **B1 (call the game's own insert):** drive the map's find-or-insert
(0x180115c30, reached from lookup 0x18011cca0) with a resourceId + a record we
fill. Requires a small code-injection harness (set up registers + call) since
the insert isn't reachable from our side otherwise.
- **B2 (hand-build a node):** allocate a node in FIFA's heap, write
left/right/parent/color/key/record, splice into the tree + rebalance. Fiddliest;
RB-tree invariants must hold or later lookups corrupt.
Record fields to fill (from base `dbdata.dll`): rating@+0xb4, position@+0x146,
nation@+0x148, teamid@+0x94, 6 attrs@+0x98..0xac, name@+0xdd.
### Option C — Patch the resolve miss-path (proof-of-concept, then key it)
Patch lookup 0x18011cca0's miss branch to write real fields into its output record
`[rbp+0x160]`. Quickest to see *a* real card, but naively makes ALL cards show one
player; must be keyed by resourceId to be useful. Good first experiment to confirm
the field offsets end-to-end before investing in A or B.
### Prerequisite for all: a dbdata.dll extractor
Build a tool to read the base player DB (`/mnt/games/FIFA 17/dbdata.dll`,
single export `getTableData`; tables players/playernames/teams/nations/
teamplayerlinks) → a `resourceId → {name,rating,pos,nation,team,attrs}` table
(resourceId = playerId | version<<24; Ronaldo playerId 20801). This feeds B and C
and validates A. No such tool exists yet.
## Recommended order
1. **C** as a 30-minute proof: patch the miss-path to emit a fixed real record →
confirm a real card face appears (validates the whole record-offset model live).
2. Build the **dbdata extractor** (needed by everything).
3. Attempt **A** (find the FIFA17.exe fetch trigger) — the clean, durable win.
4. Fall back to **B1** (drive the game's insert) if A's trigger proves unreachable.
## Reusable tooling
- `/proc/PID/mem` read/write pattern: `autopatch.py`, the poke/force tools
(ptrace_scope=0 armed by `root_arm.sh`).
- Live vtable/struct probing: the python snippets used this session (singleton
`[0x1802e6398]`, static↔live base map).
- `fifadrive.sh` (screen capture) + `vgamepad.py` (virtual pad) for headless
drive/observe — note keyboard XTEST does NOT reach FIFA; the gamepad is unverified
in-game.
---
## REFUTED 2026-08-04: the CardsDb map is NOT empty offline
This document has claimed since it was written that "**Offline that map is EMPTY**, so
every lookup misses and a default blank record is emitted -> generic card", and that
the view-model reads every rendered field from the resolved record and "NEVER from our
item JSON". A live pack open falsifies both halves.
### The observation
One bronze pack, five cards. Two rendered as real players with names, club badges and
national flags. Three rendered as blanks: rating 50, position RWB, every attribute 1,
no name. Nothing in our pool has rating 50, position RWB or all-ones attributes, so the
blank is the client's default record, exactly as this document describes.
The two that resolved match OUR ITEM JSON field for field:
| we sent | screen showed |
|---|---|
| `(232517, 62, RB, nation 36, league 19, team 175, [72,44,58,60,62,61])` | SILVA, 62 RB, Wolfsburg badge, Norway flag, 72 PAC / 44 SHO / 58 PAS / 60 DRI / 62 DEF / 61 PHY |
| `(235066, 60, GK, nation 34, league 31, team 48, [62,63,33,61,17,62])` | NOWAK, 60 GK, 62/61, 63/17, 33/62 |
Those attribute numbers were invented by hand. They cannot have come from a database.
### What this means
- The map HAS entries offline. Some asset ids resolve.
- Rating, position, nation, league, team and the six attributes come from **our item
JSON** for a card that resolves.
- Name, club badge and national flag come from the **client's own data**, keyed by
assetId.
- When the assetId is NOT in the client's data, the whole card collapses to the blank
default, which is why a bad id looks like a rendering failure rather than a lookup
failure.
### The consequence, which is much cheaper than what this document proposed
The recommended plan here was to populate the client's map by driving its insert, hand
building a red-black tree node, or patching the resolve miss-path, all of which write
to a live process. **None of that is needed to get real cards.** The rule is simply:
> Use asset ids that exist in the client's database. Valid id gives a real card.
> Invalid id gives the blank.
`fut_cards.py` currently carries 18 verified ids and 61 structural placeholders, and
the placeholders are what produce the blanks. Two of them (232517, 235066) happen to be
real, which is why the pack was a mix. The remaining work is therefore a DATA problem,
getting the real id list out of `dbdata.dll`, and not a code-injection problem.
`TODO/CONFIRM`: whether a resolved card's rating truly comes from our JSON or whether
the client's record happens to agree. The attributes settle it (they were invented) but
rating specifically has not been isolated. Send a deliberately wrong rating for a known
good id and look.
---
# SOLVED 2026-08-04 (evening). Card identity, end to end.
Everything above this line is superseded where it disagrees. Two of its premises were
wrong: the CardsDb map is NOT empty offline, and `dbdata.dll` is NOT the player
database.
## The mechanism
Every item object in every response is inserted into the CardsDb map by the item
parser tail (`0x18014115b` -> registrar vtable `+0xa08` = `0x18011cca0`, a
find-or-insert). There is no fetch to trigger; `item?idList` was a red herring.
IMMEDIATELY BEFORE registering, `FUN_180141660` merges in the client's OWN local
database. It switches on `record+0x4c`, which `FUN_1800d8330` derives from the JSON
atom `0x6c cardsubtypeid` alone:
0..3 -> 1 players 4 -> 2 managercards
5 -> 3 headcoachcards 6 -> 10 gkcoachcards
7 -> 5 physiocards 8 -> 4 fitnesscoachcards
9..b -> 7 UNIDENTIFIED absent -> 0x156 -> 0, NO merge at all
For players `FUN_180135890` queries `players` by `playerid = record+0x18 & 0xffffff`,
where `record+0x18` is atom `0x287 resourceId`. Atom `0x23 assetId` lands at `+0x20`
and is NEVER read by the merge: sending assetId alone does nothing.
On a HIT it fills the name (`+0xb8` first, `+0xc8` last, `+0xdd` knownAs, all inline
char arrays), fills `nation +0x148` and `teamid +0x94` ONLY IF THEY ARRIVED AS ZERO,
and always recomputes `leagueid +0x154`. It never touches `rating +0xb4`,
`position +0x146` or `attributes +0x98..+0xac`.
So: send zero for everything the client knows better than us, and send our own value
only where the client has nothing. That asymmetry is the whole design of `fut_cards`.
## The three-state oracle (all three confirmed live)
NAMED sentinel rating survives, real name -> the id is REAL
placeholder sentinel survives, name is "Jamal Blackman", team 0 -> the row
exists but is an EMPTY SLOT. This is the trap: 169193 does this and
it was in VERIFIED_ASSET_IDS.
MISS rating 0x32, teamid 0x78d, nation 0xe, position 2, attributes 1,
name " " -> the id does NOT exist. This fingerprint matched a
user's blank pack cards field for field.
`FUT_ID_SWEEP` (utas_server) serves a window of candidate ids as a synthetic club;
`tools/card_identity_probe.py` reads back what the client resolved. 5000 items per
response ingests cleanly; 20000 was served and silently NOT ingested. THE MAP IS
WIPED ON EVERY CLUB FETCH, so an auto sweep must be collected continuously
(`sweep_collect.py --watch`) and not once at the end.
## Where the roster came from
`tools/dbdata_extract.py` reads FIFA's own rating-sorted index out of a running
process (0x40 stride, self-validating {begin,end,end+1} name-pointer triple, anchored
on 20801 = Ronaldo 94) -> `data/roster.json`, 17,547 players. Cross-validated against
the sweep oracle, a completely independent method: 573 of 573 overlapping names
agreed. The one id in the sweep and not the index is 26501, the target of the
documented 22800..22879 Legends remap, which is also what produced "Alex Hunter x80"
in a sweep and had looked like a bug.
`dbdata.dll` is an anti-tamper decoy. Its single export `getTableData` returns a fixed
759-byte self-integrity blob and the file contains no tables. Do not re-attempt it.
## Still missing for players
`position`, `nationality`, `teamId` and the six attributes are NOT in the rating
index. Two live sources were found and BOTH are per-materialised-card caches, not
tables: the 0x180-stride resolved card records, and a 32-byte keyed container
(entries `{playerId, position | hash<<32, rating, ?}`). 59 positions came from the
second. A full-roster position source has NOT been found.
## The other card families, as of 2026-08-04
Mechanism known, id spaces NOT. `FUN_1801356c0` queries `managercards` by column
`carddbid` taken RAW from `record+0x18` (no mask), selecting firstname, lastname,
assetid, value, talkrating, negotiation, rare; it writes firstname to `+0xb8`,
assetid to `+0x20`, a byte to `+0xb4`, bytes to `+0xe2/+0xe3`, and `+0x58 = (rare==1)`.
Sweeps of carddbid 1..5000 and 6000..8000 both produced 2000+ manager records with
cardtype 2 and NOTHING written. THE MANAGER BRANCH WRITES NO MISS-FILL, so a wrong id
is SILENT and a negative result does not distinguish a wrong id from a wrong
mechanism. Manager name strings are in memory near 0x42800000 but are inline with NO
inbound pointers, so the players trick (find the index that points into the name pool)
does not transfer.
Tables named in the DLL and not yet probed: `headcoachcards`, `fitnesscoachcards`,
`gkcoachcards`, `physiocards`, `fancards`, `newcards`. Consumables are a separate
family (consumablesContract/Fitness/Healing/Position/Training/Formation plus
`FUT_CONSUMABLE_NAME_*` loc keys) and may be enum-driven rather than DB-driven.
`GET /club?type=` has only ever been observed with two values: `player` (paged,
start=N&count=11) and `manager` (count=200, from the STAFF tab).