[thesprockee]

README walkthrough for a mod author, end to end (work item 3), including how a release reaches signing. Stacked on #2 (base feat/release-draft, which is itself on #1): merge #1, then #2, then this.

What changes

• Intro and section 1: credits step (README + NOTICE + Co-Authored-By), and a new subsection "Already started from an older copy of this template?" listing exactly which files to take and which to keep.
• Section 2: just verify is the gate (what it runs, what it needs, just fmt), the build stamp in one paragraph, and a new "Hooking the game" part (check bytes, never hook what nEVR hooks, prefer a hook to a byte patch, work out another project's patch yourself and credit it).
• Section 4 rewritten: tag -> draft with three files -> maintainer-owned EchoTools copy -> review -> sign -> publish -> launcher. "Getting into the launcher" updated to match.
• Rules: keep the licence of anything you copy, and credit it.

No code changes.

Checked against a real mod: Aaliyah's tablet

Her repo (reflectionsa/aaliyah-tablet, public, 7792a22) is a copy of this template at 25bf8b2: only 7 files differ from it (CMakeLists.txt: ECHO_MOD_MINHOOK default flipped to ON; LICENSE, README.md, echo-mod.json, her settings sheet, src/mod.cpp). I cloned it into scratch, overlaid #1/#2's tooling on a copy there (nothing pushed, nothing sent to her repo) and ran the gate:

• just fmt-check before: 18 violations, all in src/mod.cpp. After just fmt:
• just verify -> exit 0: Ran 5 tests ... OK, Ran 30 tests ... OK, smoke [host log] smoke level 1: NEVR-PLUGIN-BUILD 0.1.0 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000, release check ok. The -Werror build of her mod.cpp is clean.

So her path is: copy the tooling files (the new README subsection), just fmt, just verify. What she would hit, in order:

1. Formatting: just fmt rewrites her src/mod.cpp (indentation/line breaks only).
2. NOTICE: the template's has placeholder credits; hers must list babs (nmdurkee), tomski, he_is_the_cat, Xenomega/EchoRelay and EchoTools/evrFileTools, which her README already names. Without editing it, her release zip carries the placeholder.
3. Credit trailers: her history has no Co-Authored-By, and src/mod.cpp takes its addresses and structure from other projects ("Doom runtime.cpp", "EchoVr-Tablet-Probing", "Probing NOTES.md"). The new AGENTS.md rules ask for the analysis to be written down and the people credited. That is hers to answer, not something I changed.
4. Her repo is not EchoTools-owned, so what gets signed is an EchoTools copy of it (the README says so). That part of the process is design, not built (see below).
5. Her two hook sites (CUICanvasInstance::OnLoaded 0x71fc90, CUIBehavior::FireDelegate 0x7269f0): a grep of nevr-runtime origin/main (src plugins tools) for those addresses found nothing. That is a literal-address grep only; whether nEVR hooks them by another route is unchecked, and a signer reviewer will look.
6. Her README says "Early design stage"; the mod is a log-and-paint prototype. Nothing in the template blocks that.

Design questions about her mod (capabilities, hooks, the settings sheet) are hers; I have not contacted her or touched her repo.

Not verified

• The part of section 4 about the EchoTools copy, the maintainer who tags, and the owner who signs is the plugin-signing design (Spritz, 2026-10-26: its sections 1, 3 and "What converting your mod takes"), not running code. Open there: who may push v* tags in the copies, and whether the catalogue can read releases from the copy. Correct the text if the process differs.
• "The launcher picks it up within about 5 minutes" is the sentence the README already had, now after publishing. I haven't measured it.
• Links: AGENTS.md#credit and #rules-all-of-them-are-checked-or-reviewed exist in the stacked tree; not click-tested on GitHub.

Quest: not applicable (PC-only template).

Co-Authored-By: Andrew Bates a@sprock.io

Update 2026-10-28: main moved, brought up to date by merge

feat/release-draft (#2) now contains chore/standards and origin/main (b53afe8, plugin API 7). Merged it into this branch (merge commit 2e58e5f, a plain fast-forward push, no force-push). README.md merged cleanly. Main added a "Plugin assets (API v7)" section to the README; I read it against the walkthrough and they do not contradict.

just verify                      exit 0
  python3 tests/test_check_pr_title.py   Ran 5 tests ... OK
  python3 tests/test_check_mod.py        Ran 31 tests ... OK

CI on 2e58e5f: build (push and PR) pass, PR-title check pass.

Co-Authored-By: Andrew Bates a@sprock.io

Update 2026-10-28 (2)

Merged feat/release-draft again (merge commit 3c7ba29, fast-forward push) to carry the exports check (#2: an export outside Nvr* is an error). README unchanged. release.yml ran once on GitHub on a throwaway tag (details in #2); the README's "how a release reaches signing" text describes that workflow's real output. CI on 3c7ba29: build (push and PR) pass, PR-title check pass.

Co-Authored-By: Andrew Bates a@sprock.io