@wasm-gaming/rsdkv4-wasm 0.1.5 → 0.2.0

package/src/rsdkv4.sdk.ts

@@ -1,30 +1,93 @@
-// @wasm-gaming/rsdkv4-wasm — SDK entry point.
-//
-// Conforms to the wasm-gaming engine contract (github.com/wasm-gaming/engine-specs):
-// exports `manifest` (declarative) and `load(config)` (imperative).
-//
-// One game-agnostic rsdkv4.wasm runs both Sonic 1 and Sonic 2 — the difference is
-// only which Data.rsdk the host hands us in `config.assets.data`, written into the
-// filesystem at runtime (not baked with --preload-file).
-//
-// Filesystem: built with -sWASMFS (the modern Emscripten filesystem, not MEMFS).
-// The game working dir `/data` is mounted on **OPFS** for persistence when the
-// page is cross-origin isolated *and* the wasm build can create the OPFS backend
-// from the main thread (an Asyncify/JSPI build — today's is not, see WebFS.cpp);
-// otherwise it falls back to the WASMFS in-memory backend (transient, but the
-// engine still boots). The backend is selectable via
-// `config.persist` (see mountWorkingDir), and when the dir is OPFS-backed the SDK
-// reuses an already-persisted Data.rsdk/settings.ini instead of re-fetching.
-
-import type { EngineConfig, EngineInstance, EngineEvent, AssetData, InputPreset, KeyMap } from '@wasm-gaming/engine-specs';
-import { manifest } from './rsdkv4.manifest.js';
-import { DEFAULT_RSDKV4_OPTIONS, type Rsdkv4Options } from './rsdkv4.options.js';
-
-export { manifest };
+/**
+ * The engine package's entry point: an `EngineSDK` for RSDKv4.
+ *
+ * ```ts
+ * import Rsdkv4SDK from '@wasm-gaming/rsdkv4-wasm';
+ *
+ * const play = await new Rsdkv4SDK()
+ *   .mount(document.querySelector('#stage'))
+ *   .assets({ data: () => library.readBytes('Sonic2') })
+ *   .storage({ namespace: 'rsdkv4/Sonic2' })
+ *   .config({ startMenu: 'host' })
+ *   .on('saves', ({ detail }) => paintSlots(detail))
+ *   .start({ slot: 0 });
+ * ```
+ *
+ * Everything a host drives is the contract's, and documented there: the four payloads
+ * with their descriptors, `mount`, `on`/`off`, `start`, `restart`, `destroy`. What is
+ * this engine's own lives in two places — {@link Rsdkv4Config} and friends, which say
+ * what the payloads accept *here*, and the extra members of {@link Rsdkv4Play} below:
+ * {@link Rsdkv4Play.game} and {@link Rsdkv4Play.devMenu}, for a host that draws
+ * RSDKv4's start screens itself, owner-aware {@link Rsdkv4Play.pause}, and
+ * {@link Rsdkv4Play.input}, for a host that would rather drive the buttons than let
+ * the engine read the keyboard.
+ *
+ * One game-agnostic `rsdkv4.wasm` runs both Sonic 1 and Sonic 2 — the difference is
+ * only which `Data.rsdk` the host hands over in `assets.data`, written into the
+ * filesystem at runtime (not baked with `--preload-file`).
+ *
+ * Filesystem: built with `-sWASMFS`. The working dir is mounted on **OPFS** when the
+ * page is cross-origin isolated *and* the build can create the OPFS backend from the
+ * main thread (an Asyncify/JSPI build — today's is not, see `WebFS.cpp`); otherwise it
+ * falls back to the WASMFS in-memory backend, which boots fine but forgets everything.
+ * That fallback is why the SDK mirrors `SData.bin` into OPFS itself: see
+ * {@link Rsdkv4Storage.persist}.
+ *
+ * @module
+ * @see [The engine contract](https://wasm-gaming.github.io/engine-specs/api-docs/)
+ */
+
+import { EnginePlayBase, EngineSDKBase, EventEmitter } from '@wasm-gaming/engine-specs';
+import type {
+  EngineInit,
+  EngineSDKConstructor,
+  EventsOf,
+  PayloadKind,
+  PromisePlay,
+  PropertiesDefinition,
+  PropertyDefinition,
+} from '@wasm-gaming/engine-specs';
+import {
+  RSDKV4_BUTTONS,
+  RSDKV4_SPEC,
+  type Rsdkv4Asset,
+  type Rsdkv4AssetData,
+  type Rsdkv4Assets,
+  type Rsdkv4Buttons,
+  type Rsdkv4Config,
+  type Rsdkv4Options,
+  type Rsdkv4Payloads,
+  type Rsdkv4Stage,
+  type Rsdkv4Storage,
+  type RsdkSaveSlot,
+} from './rsdkv4.options.js';
+
+export type {
+  Rsdkv4Asset,
+  Rsdkv4AssetData,
+  Rsdkv4Assets,
+  Rsdkv4Button,
+  Rsdkv4Buttons,
+  Rsdkv4Config,
+  Rsdkv4Events,
+  Rsdkv4InputDefaults,
+  Rsdkv4Options,
+  Rsdkv4Payloads,
+  Rsdkv4Stage,
+  Rsdkv4Storage,
+  RsdkSaveSlot,
+} from './rsdkv4.options.js';
+export { RSDKV4_BUTTONS, RSDKV4_INPUT, RSDKV4_SPEC } from './rsdkv4.options.js';
+
+/** The core events unioned with this engine's own — what `on`/`off` accept. */
+export type Rsdkv4Events_ = EventsOf<Rsdkv4Payloads>;
 
 const WORK_ROOT = '/data';
 const DEFAULT_STORAGE_NAMESPACE = 'default';
 
+/** RSDKv4's save file, written next to the game data in the working dir. */
+const SAVE_FILE = 'SData.bin';
+
 /**
  * Emscripten's SDL2 port locates the canvas via `document.querySelector('#canvas')`,
  * so the element the game draws into has to carry this id.
@@ -32,30 +95,45 @@ const DEFAULT_STORAGE_NAMESPACE = 'default';
 const CANVAS_ID = 'canvas';
 
 /**
- * Serialize engine options into RSDKv4's settings.ini format.
+ * The picture's native size, which is what the SDK scales to fit its mount.
  *
- * Note the Starting* trio defaults to 255 ("unset") — writing 0 is not neutral,
- * it tells the engine to skip its start-menu flow and force that stage. See
- * DEFAULT_RSDKV4_OPTIONS.
+ * A module constant rather than a manifest field: `EngineManifest` left the contract
+ * in 0.3.0, and this was one of only two things the SDK ever read back out of it.
  */
-function buildSettingsIni(options: Rsdkv4Options = {}): string {
-  const o = { ...DEFAULT_RSDKV4_OPTIONS, ...options };
-  return [
-    '[Dev]',
-    `EngineDebugMode=${o.engineDebugMode ? 'true' : 'false'}`,
-    `DevMenu=${o.devMenu ? 'true' : 'false'}`,
-    `StartingCategory=${o.startingCategory | 0}`,
-    `StartingScene=${o.startingScene | 0}`,
-    `StartingPlayer=${o.startingPlayer | 0}`,
-    '',
-    '[Game]',
-    `SkipStartMenu=${o.skipStartMenu ? 'true' : 'false'}`,
-    '',
-    '[Window]',
-    `VSync=${o.vsync ? 'true' : 'false'}`,
-    '',
-  ].join('\n');
-}
+export const RSDKV4_VIDEO = { baseWidth: 424, baseHeight: 240, aspect: '16:9' } as const;
+
+/**
+ * The embind bridges this SDK drives the engine through. All of them ship in the same
+ * rsdkv4.wasm, so a module missing any one of them is an artifact older than this SDK
+ * rather than a build variant.
+ */
+const ENGINE_BRIDGES = [
+  'web_engine_ready',
+  'web_game_type',
+  'web_get_players',
+  'web_get_save_slots',
+  'web_get_game_options',
+  'web_start_game',
+  'web_audio_stop',
+  'web_devmenu_get_stage_list',
+  'web_input_set_source',
+] as const;
+
+/**
+ * The name the engine's `web_input_pull()` looks the reader up under, on the module
+ * object itself rather than on a global: two engines on one page have two modules,
+ * and a global would have them fighting over one claim.
+ */
+const INPUT_PULL_HOOK = '__rsdkv4_input_pull';
+
+/** How often a pull that keeps throwing is allowed to say so. See {@link Rsdkv4Play}. */
+const INPUT_ERROR_INTERVAL_MS = 1000;
+
+/** The Emscripten module. Untyped on purpose: it is generated glue, not our surface. */
+// eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/no-explicit-any
+type EmscriptenModule = any;
+
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------- small helpers
 
 function toUint8(x: unknown): Uint8Array | null {
   if (x == null) return null;
@@ -63,10 +141,16 @@ function toUint8(x: unknown): Uint8Array | null {
   if (x instanceof Uint8Array) return x;
   if (x instanceof ArrayBuffer) return new Uint8Array(x);
   if (ArrayBuffer.isView(x)) return new Uint8Array(x.buffer, x.byteOffset, x.byteLength);
-  throw new TypeError('asset must be Uint8Array | ArrayBuffer | string');
+  throw new TypeError('rsdkv4: an asset must be Uint8Array | ArrayBuffer | string');
+}
+
+/** Bytes for an asset, calling the thunk form only when we get this far. */
+async function resolveAsset(asset: Rsdkv4Asset | undefined): Promise<Uint8Array | null> {
+  if (asset == null) return null;
+  return toUint8(typeof asset === 'function' ? await asset() : asset);
 }
 
-/** Normalize a user-provided storage namespace into a safe relative path. */
+/** Normalize a host-provided storage namespace into a safe relative path. */
 function normalizeStorageNamespace(namespace: unknown): string {
   if (typeof namespace !== 'string' || !namespace.trim()) return DEFAULT_STORAGE_NAMESPACE;
 
@@ -81,8 +165,55 @@ function normalizeStorageNamespace(namespace: unknown): string {
   return cleaned || DEFAULT_STORAGE_NAMESPACE;
 }
 
+/** The plain values behind a descriptor table — what the engine actually needs. */
+function valuesOf<T>(described: PropertiesDefinition<T>): T {
+  const out: Record<string, unknown> = {};
+  for (const [key, property] of Object.entries(
+    described as Record<string, PropertyDefinition<unknown>>,
+  )) {
+    out[key] = property.value;
+  }
+  return out as T;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Serialize {@link Rsdkv4Config} into RSDKv4's settings.ini format.
+ *
+ * The `Starting*` trio is written as 255 — the engine's "unset" — and never anything
+ * else. That is not a leftover: anything else there, **including 0**, makes
+ * `Engine::Init` skip its normal boot flow and force a stage (see Userdata.cpp). The
+ * session's own `stage` is applied after boot instead, through the engine's stage
+ * loader, which is why it survives a `restart()`.
+ */
+function buildSettingsIni(config: Rsdkv4Config): string {
+  return [
+    '[Dev]',
+    `EngineDebugMode=${config.engineDebugMode ? 'true' : 'false'}`,
+    `DevMenu=${config.devMenu ? 'true' : 'false'}`,
+    'StartingCategory=255',
+    'StartingScene=255',
+    'StartingPlayer=255',
+    '',
+    '[Game]',
+    `SkipStartMenu=${config.startMenu === 'host' ? 'true' : 'false'}`,
+    '',
+    '[Window]',
+    `VSync=${config.vsync ? 'true' : 'false'}`,
+    '',
+  ].join('\n');
+}
+
+function sameBytes(a: Uint8Array | null, b: Uint8Array | null): boolean {
+  if (a === null || b === null) return a === b;
+  if (a.length !== b.length) return false;
+  for (let i = 0; i < a.length; i += 1) if (a[i] !== b[i]) return false;
+  return true;
+}
+
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------- the wasm filesystem
+
 /** Best-effort mkdir -p for the Emscripten FS layer. */
-function ensureDir(Module: any, path: string): void {
+function ensureDir(Module: EmscriptenModule, path: string): void {
   const parts = path.split('/').filter(Boolean);
   let current = '';
   for (const part of parts) {
@@ -95,17 +226,27 @@ function ensureDir(Module: any, path: string): void {
   }
 }
 
+/** True if `path` exists in the (mounted) filesystem. */
+function fileExists(Module: EmscriptenModule, path: string): boolean {
+  try {
+    Module.FS.stat(path);
+    return true;
+  } catch {
+    return false;
+  }
+}
+
 /**
  * Whether this build can mount OPFS at all, asked of the wasm itself.
  *
- * WASMFS's `wasmfs_create_opfs_backend()` spawns a proxy worker synchronously,
- * which it refuses to do on the main browser thread without Asyncify/JSPI — it
- * *asserts*, and a failed assert calls `abort()`, which tears the module down for
- * good. That is past the point where a try/catch around the call can save us, so
- * we have to know before calling. `web_opfs_supported` (WebFS.cpp) mirrors the
- * same condition; builds predating that helper simply answer "no".
+ * WASMFS's `wasmfs_create_opfs_backend()` spawns a proxy worker synchronously, which it
+ * refuses to do on the main browser thread without Asyncify/JSPI — it *asserts*, and a
+ * failed assert calls `abort()`, which tears the module down for good. That is past the
+ * point where a try/catch around the call can save us, so we have to know before
+ * calling. `web_opfs_supported` (WebFS.cpp) mirrors the same condition; builds predating
+ * that helper simply answer "no".
  */
-function opfsMountSupported(Module: any): boolean {
+function opfsMountSupported(Module: EmscriptenModule): boolean {
   const probe = Module._web_opfs_supported;
   if (typeof probe !== 'function') return false;
   try {
@@ -116,18 +257,17 @@ function opfsMountSupported(Module: any): boolean {
 }
 
 /**
- * Mount the game working dir, honoring `persist`:
- *   'opfs'     → force an OPFS (persistent) mount; warn + fall back if unavailable.
- *   null       → force the in-memory WASMFS backend (the MEMFS-equivalent fallback).
- *   undefined  → auto: OPFS when the page is cross-origin isolated, else in-memory.
- * ('idbfs' isn't supported under WASMFS and is treated as in-memory.)
+ * Mount the game working dir, honouring {@link Rsdkv4Storage.persist}. Returns whether
+ * the resulting mount is persistent.
  *
- * Cross-origin isolation is necessary but not sufficient: the mount also needs a
- * build whose OPFS backend can run from where we call it (see opfsMountSupported),
- * so both gates apply before we touch `web_mount_opfs`.
- * Returns whether the resulting mount is persistent.
+ * Cross-origin isolation is necessary but not sufficient: the mount also needs a build
+ * whose OPFS backend can run from where we call it (see {@link opfsMountSupported}), so
+ * both gates apply before we touch `web_mount_opfs`.
  */
-function mountWorkingDir(Module: any, persist: EngineConfig['persist']): { persistent: boolean } {
+function mountWorkingDir(
+  Module: EmscriptenModule,
+  persist: Rsdkv4Storage['persist'],
+): { persistent: boolean } {
   const isolated = typeof crossOriginIsolated !== 'undefined' && crossOriginIsolated;
   const wantsOpfs = persist === 'opfs' || (persist === undefined && isolated);
 
@@ -148,59 +288,10 @@ function mountWorkingDir(Module: any, persist: EngineConfig['persist']): { persi
   return { persistent: false };
 }
 
-/** True if `path` exists in the (mounted) filesystem. */
-function fileExists(Module: any, path: string): boolean {
-  try {
-    Module.FS.stat(path);
-    return true;
-  } catch {
-    return false;
-  }
-}
-
-/**
- * Wait for Engine::Init, which runs on the engine's first frame (main.cpp's
- * main_loop), not inside callMain. Gives up after ~4s rather than hanging the
- * host: everything still works, the first read just comes back empty.
- */
-async function waitForEngine(Module: any, timeoutMs = 4000): Promise<boolean> {
-  if (typeof Module.web_engine_ready !== 'function') return false;
-  const deadline = Date.now() + timeoutMs;
-  while (Date.now() < deadline) {
-    if (Module.web_engine_ready()) return true;
-    await new Promise((resolve) => requestAnimationFrame(resolve));
-  }
-  console.warn('[rsdkv4] engine did not report ready within %dms', timeoutMs);
-  return false;
-}
-
-/**
- * The embind bridges this SDK drives the engine through. All of them ship in the
- * same rsdkv4.wasm, so a module missing any one of them is an artifact older
- * than this SDK rather than a build variant.
- */
-const ENGINE_BRIDGES = [
-  'web_engine_ready',
-  'web_game_type',
-  'web_get_players',
-  'web_get_save_slots',
-  'web_get_game_options',
-  'web_start_game',
-  'web_audio_stop',
-  'web_devmenu_get_stage_list',
-] as const;
-
-function engineBridgeComplete(Module: any): boolean {
-  return ENGINE_BRIDGES.every((name) => typeof Module?.[name] === 'function');
-}
-
-/** RSDKv4's save file, written next to the game data in the working dir. */
-const SAVE_FILE = 'SData.bin';
-
 /**
- * OPFS handle for `<namespace>/`, reached with the plain (async) OPFS API from
- * JS — which, unlike the WASM side's sync access handles, works on the main
- * thread of any page. Returns null when OPFS isn't available at all.
+ * OPFS handle for `<namespace>/`, reached with the plain (async) OPFS API from JS —
+ * which, unlike the WASM side's sync access handles, works on the main thread of any
+ * page. Returns null when OPFS isn't available at all.
  */
 async function opfsNamespaceDir(
   namespace: string,
@@ -219,82 +310,42 @@ async function opfsNamespaceDir(
 }
 
 /**
- * Mirror for the engine's save file.
- *
- * The working dir is in-memory whenever the OPFS *mount* is unavailable (which
- * is every build without Asyncify/JSPI — see mountWorkingDir), so SData.bin
- * would die with the page and every save slot would read "NEW GAME" forever.
- * The host's own OPFS access has no such limitation, so the SDK copies the file
- * in before the engine boots and back out as it changes. Saves therefore
- * survive reloads even while the mounted working dir does not.
+ * Wait for `Engine::Init`, which runs on the engine's first frame (main.cpp's
+ * main_loop), not inside `callMain`. Gives up after ~4s rather than hanging the host:
+ * everything still works, the first read just comes back empty.
  */
-async function restoreSaveData(Module: any, namespace: string, workDir: string): Promise<void> {
-  const dir = await opfsNamespaceDir(namespace, false);
-  if (!dir) return;
-  try {
-    const file = await (await dir.getFileHandle(SAVE_FILE)).getFile();
-    if (file.size > 0) {
-      Module.FS.writeFile(`${workDir}/${SAVE_FILE}`, new Uint8Array(await file.arrayBuffer()));
-    }
-  } catch {
-    /* no save yet */
+async function waitForEngine(Module: EmscriptenModule, timeoutMs = 4000): Promise<boolean> {
+  if (typeof Module.web_engine_ready !== 'function') return false;
+  const deadline = Date.now() + timeoutMs;
+  while (Date.now() < deadline) {
+    if (Module.web_engine_ready()) return true;
+    await new Promise((resolve) => requestAnimationFrame(resolve));
   }
+  console.warn('[rsdkv4] engine did not report ready within %dms', timeoutMs);
+  return false;
 }
 
-async function persistSaveData(Module: any, namespace: string, workDir: string): Promise<void> {
-  let bytes: Uint8Array<ArrayBuffer>;
-  try {
-    bytes = Module.FS.readFile(`${workDir}/${SAVE_FILE}`);
-  } catch {
-    return; // the engine hasn't written one
-  }
-  const dir = await opfsNamespaceDir(namespace, true);
-  if (!dir) return;
-  try {
-    const writable = await (await dir.getFileHandle(SAVE_FILE, { create: true })).createWritable();
-    await writable.write(bytes);
-    await writable.close();
-  } catch (e) {
-    console.warn('[rsdkv4] could not persist save data', e);
-  }
+function engineBridgeComplete(Module: EmscriptenModule): boolean {
+  return ENGINE_BRIDGES.every((name) => typeof Module?.[name] === 'function');
 }
 
-/** Delete a file if present; returns true when something was removed. */
-function deleteFileIfExists(Module: any, path: string): boolean {
-  if (!fileExists(Module, path)) return false;
-  try {
-    Module.FS.unlink(path);
-    return true;
-  } catch {
-    return false;
-  }
-}
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------- this engine's own surface
 
-/** RSDKv4-specific bridge for the launcher's debug/stage-select UI. */
+/** RSDKv4-specific bridge for a host's debug/stage-select UI. */
 export interface RsdkDevMenuBridge {
   getStageList(): Array<{ name: string; stages: Array<{ name: string }> }>;
   loadStage(categoryIdx: number, stageIdx: number): void;
   setPaused(paused: boolean): void;
 }
 
-/** One of RSDKv4's four save slots, as the engine's own save-select screen sees it. */
-export interface RsdkSaveSlot {
-  /** 0-3. */
-  slot: number;
-  /** No game stored here — starting it means picking a character first. */
-  empty: boolean;
-  /** Character index into `players()`: 0 Sonic, 1 Tails, 2 Knuckles, 3 Sonic & Tails. */
-  character: number;
-  lives: number;
-  score: number;
-  emeralds: number;
-  /** Stage list the save resumes into (1 regular, 3 special), or -1 when empty. */
-  list: number;
-  /** 0-based scene within `list` — index it against `devMenu.getStageList()`. */
-  zone: number;
-}
-
-/** A row of the engine's GAME OPTIONS screen (differs between Sonic 1 and 2). */
+/**
+ * A row of the engine's GAME OPTIONS screen (differs between Sonic 1 and 2), as the
+ * engine reports it — with `value` as the raw number it stores.
+ *
+ * The same rows also come back through `play.options()` as descriptors, where a
+ * boolean row reads as a boolean and an enum row as one of its choice labels. This is
+ * the untranslated view, for a host that wants it.
+ */
 export interface RsdkGameOption {
   key: string;
   label: string;
@@ -306,8 +357,8 @@ export interface RsdkGameOption {
 
 /**
  * The engine's Start Menu as data, so a host can render save-slot / character /
- * game-option screens itself. Everything here mirrors what RSDKv4's own in-canvas
- * menu does — see WebGame.cpp.
+ * game-option screens itself. Everything here mirrors what RSDKv4's own in-canvas menu
+ * does — see WebGame.cpp.
  */
 export interface RsdkGameBridge {
   /** 1 = Sonic 1, 2 = Sonic 2, 0 = unrecognised pack. */
@@ -316,9 +367,12 @@ export interface RsdkGameBridge {
   players(): string[];
   saveSlots(): RsdkSaveSlot[];
   /**
-   * Start a game the way the native menu would: a slot with data continues it,
-   * an empty slot starts a new game as `player`, and `slot: null` plays without
-   * saving. Resumes the engine if the SDK had it paused.
+   * Start a game the way the native menu would: a slot with data continues it, an
+   * empty slot starts a new game as `player`, and `slot: null` plays without saving.
+   * Resumes the engine if the SDK had it paused.
+   *
+   * This is the index-taking form. `play.restart({ slot, player })` is the same thing
+   * through the contract, with the character named rather than numbered.
    */
   start(slot: number | null, player?: number): void;
   /** Wipe a slot back to "NEW GAME". */
@@ -328,401 +382,1003 @@ export interface RsdkGameBridge {
   setOption(key: string, value: number): void;
 }
 
-export type Rsdkv4Instance = Omit<EngineInstance, 'pause' | 'resume'> & {
+/**
+ * Input ownership, named — the same thing as `options({ buttons })` and
+ * `options({ buttons: null })`, for a host that would rather say what it means.
+ *
+ * See {@link Rsdkv4Options.buttons} for what a claim costs the host: keyup on focus
+ * loss, the gamepad, and remembering to release.
+ */
+export interface RsdkInputBridge {
   /**
-   * Pause, on behalf of `owner` (default 'host'). The first caller to pause owns
-   * it and only that owner's `resume()` lifts it, so a pause overlay can't
-   * resume a game a start screen — or the host — had already frozen. Audio stops
-   * with the engine.
+   * Take input over. The object is kept by reference and read once per tick — write
+   * to it, do not replace it.
+   *
+   * All fourteen keys of {@link Rsdkv4Buttons} must be present and nothing else may
+   * be: a missing key would read `false` for ever, and a misspelled one would be
+   * written to and never read. Both throw here instead.
    */
-  pause(owner?: string): void;
-  resume(owner?: string): void;
-  devMenu: RsdkDevMenuBridge;
-  game: RsdkGameBridge;
-  /** True when the working dir is OPFS-backed (persistent) rather than in-memory. */
-  persistent: boolean;
-  /** Relative storage namespace used under /data (e.g. "sonic1", "sonic2"). */
-  storageNamespace: string;
-  /** Remove persisted game files for this namespace only. */
-  purgeStorage(): { data: boolean; settings: boolean };
-};
+  claim(buttons: Rsdkv4Buttons): PromisePlay<Rsdkv4Payloads>;
+  /** Hand input back; the engine polls SDL again from the next tick. */
+  release(): PromisePlay<Rsdkv4Payloads>;
+  /** Whether a claim is held. The `options()` descriptor deliberately will not say. */
+  readonly claimed: boolean;
+}
+
+/**
+ * What `start()` and `restart()` hand back: the contract's chainable promise, narrowed
+ * so that awaiting it gives this engine's {@link Rsdkv4Play} rather than the contract's
+ * `EnginePlay` — which is what puts {@link Rsdkv4Play.game} within reach without a cast.
+ *
+ * Chaining (`.mount(…)`, `.options(…)`) returns the contract's own `PromisePlay`, so
+ * put the `await` at the end of the chain to keep the narrowing.
+ */
+export interface Rsdkv4Session extends PromisePlay<Rsdkv4Payloads> {
+  then<TResult1 = Rsdkv4Play, TResult2 = never>(
+    onfulfilled?: ((value: Rsdkv4Play) => TResult1 | PromiseLike<TResult1>) | null,
+    onrejected?: ((reason: unknown) => TResult2 | PromiseLike<TResult2>) | null,
+  ): Promise<TResult1 | TResult2>;
+}
+
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------- the live engine
 
 /**
- * Extra (engine-specific) config on top of the contract's EngineConfig: lazy asset
- * providers, invoked only on a cache miss — e.g. to skip a large Data.rsdk fetch
- * when it's already persisted in OPFS.
+ * The running engine.
+ *
+ * Most of it is the contract's, inherited: the four getter/setter pairs, the cumulative
+ * merge, the chainable promise, the event channel, and `destroy()`. What this class
+ * adds is the four hooks the base leaves to an engine — {@link open}, {@link close},
+ * {@link mounted}, {@link patched} — plus the members below, which have no contract
+ * equivalent and exist because RSDKv4 has a start menu worth drawing from HTML.
  */
-export type Rsdkv4LoadConfig = EngineConfig & {
-  dataProvider?: () => Promise<AssetData> | AssetData;
-  settingsProvider?: () => Promise<AssetData> | AssetData;
+export class Rsdkv4Play extends EnginePlayBase<Rsdkv4Payloads> {
+  #module: EmscriptenModule | null = null;
+  /** In flight, so two concurrent `restart()`s do not boot two engines. */
+  #booting: Promise<EmscriptenModule> | null = null;
+  #destroyed = false;
+
+  #canvas: HTMLCanvasElement | null = null;
+  /** False when the host handed us its own canvas: then we neither size nor remove it. */
+  #ownsCanvas = false;
+  /** The element the picture has to fit inside, in CSS pixels. */
+  #box: HTMLElement | null = null;
+  #boxObserver: ResizeObserver | null = null;
+
+  #persistent = false;
+  #namespace = DEFAULT_STORAGE_NAMESPACE;
+  #workDir = `${WORK_ROOT}/${DEFAULT_STORAGE_NAMESPACE}`;
+  #mirrorSaves = true;
+  #saveTimer: ReturnType<typeof setInterval> | null = null;
+  /** Last bytes mirrored out, so the `saves` event means "changed" and not "checked". */
+  #lastSave: Uint8Array | null = null;
+
   /**
-   * Per-game storage folder under /data used for OPFS/WASMFS files.
-   * Examples: "sonic1", "sonic2", "my-pack/v1".
+   * Pause state, with an owner.
+   *
+   * `masterPaused` only freezes the logic loop — the audio callback keeps mixing, so a
+   * paused engine went on playing its music behind whatever the host put on top.
+   * Pausing therefore has to stop the sound too.
+   *
+   * The owner matters because pause/resume has several callers: a pause overlay, a
+   * start screen, the host itself. Closing an overlay must not resume a game something
+   * else had already frozen, so the *first* pause claims ownership and only that
+   * owner's `resume()` lifts it.
    */
-  storageNamespace?: string;
-  /** Deprecated alias for `canvasEl`, kept for hosts written against 0.0.x. */
-  canvas?: HTMLCanvasElement;
-};
+  #pauseOwner: string | null = null;
 
-/** Boot the RSDKv4 engine. */
-export async function load(config: Rsdkv4LoadConfig): Promise<Rsdkv4Instance> {
-  const { assets, onEvent, attachTo } = config;
-  const options = config.options as Rsdkv4Options | undefined;
+  /**
+   * The host's button object while it holds a claim, by reference — read on the
+   * engine's callback, never copied.
+   */
+  #buttons: Rsdkv4Buttons | null = null;
+  /** The reader handed to the engine, kept so the same function can be uninstalled. */
+  #pull: (() => number) | null = null;
+  /** Throttle state for a pull that throws. See {@link Rsdkv4Play.#readButtons}. */
+  #pullErrorKey: string | null = null;
+  #pullErrorAt = 0;
+  #pullErrors = 0;
+
+  constructor(init?: EngineInit<Rsdkv4Payloads>, events?: EventEmitter<Rsdkv4Events_>) {
+    // The spec goes up rather than being declared as a field: a subclass field
+    // initialiser runs after `super()`, which would be too late for the base to seed
+    // state from it.
+    super(RSDKV4_SPEC, init, events);
+  }
 
-  const emit = (event: EngineEvent): void => {
-    try {
-      onEvent?.(event);
-    } catch {
-      // A host callback must not break the engine runtime.
+  // ---- The hooks the contract's base class leaves to an engine ----
+
+  /**
+   * Open or reopen a session. The first call brings the wasm up; every call after that
+   * reuses it, because RSDKv4 cannot power-cycle in process and does not need to — a
+   * session is a save slot, a character and a stage, and all three are reachable on a
+   * running engine.
+   */
+  protected override async open(options: Rsdkv4Options): Promise<void> {
+    await this.#ensureBooted();
+
+    // Re-applied from the merged state rather than from a patch, which is what makes a
+    // claim survive `restart()`: the engine's own input source was just reset by the
+    // boot (or never set, on a reopen), and the host's object is still the one it was.
+    if (options.buttons !== undefined) this.#applyButtons(options.buttons);
+
+    // Absence is "boot the way the engine normally would", so an empty options bag
+    // leaves the engine wherever it came up — its own start menu, usually.
+    if (options.player !== undefined || options.slot !== undefined) {
+      this.game.start(options.slot ?? null, this.#playerIndex(options.player));
     }
-  };
+    if (options.stage) {
+      this.devMenu.loadStage(options.stage.category | 0, options.stage.scene | 0);
+    }
+  }
 
-  // ----------------------------------------------------------------- render target
+  /**
+   * Stop and release. The base emits `exit` once this resolves.
+   *
+   * There is no coming back: RSDKv4 cannot be restarted in process, so a later
+   * `start()` on the same factory reports that rather than quietly doing nothing.
+   */
+  protected override async close(): Promise<void> {
+    this.#destroyed = true;
 
-  const providedCanvas = config.canvasEl ?? config.canvas ?? null;
-  if (!providedCanvas && !attachTo) {
-    throw new Error('rsdkv4: config.canvasEl or config.attachTo is required');
-  }
+    if (this.#saveTimer !== null) {
+      clearInterval(this.#saveTimer);
+      this.#saveTimer = null;
+    }
 
-  const ownsCanvas = providedCanvas === null;
-  const canvas = providedCanvas ?? document.createElement('canvas');
+    const Module = this.#module;
+    if (Module) {
+      // Before anything else: the engine is about to be pumped a few more times on its
+      // way down, and there is no reason for those ticks to reach into a host object
+      // whose owner has already been told the session is over.
+      this.#applyButtons(null);
 
-  // Emscripten's SDL2 port locates the canvas via document.querySelector('#canvas').
-  if (canvas.id !== CANVAS_ID) {
-    if (canvas.id) {
-      console.warn(
-        `rsdkv4: renaming the render target's id from "${canvas.id}" to "${CANVAS_ID}" — SDL looks the canvas up by that id.`,
-      );
+      // Last chance to keep whatever the player earned this session.
+      if (this.#mirrorSaves) await this.#mirrorSaveData();
+
+      try {
+        Module.pauseMainLoop?.();
+      } catch {
+        /* engine already down */
+      }
+      this.#applyPaused(true);
+      // Freezing the loop does not silence the audio callback — without this the music
+      // kept playing after the host went back to its launcher.
+      try {
+        Module.web_audio_stop?.();
+      } catch {
+        /* engine already down */
+      }
     }
-    canvas.id = CANVAS_ID;
+
+    this.#teardownCanvas();
+    this.#module = null;
+    this.#booting = null;
   }
 
-  if (ownsCanvas) {
-    canvas.style.display = 'block';
-    canvas.style.maxWidth = '100%';
-    canvas.style.maxHeight = '100%';
-    canvas.style.height = 'auto';
-    canvas.classList.add('emscripten');
+  /**
+   * Where the picture goes. Called by the base before the first `open()`, which is what
+   * guarantees the canvas exists before Emscripten's SDL2 port goes looking for it.
+   *
+   * Hand over a `<canvas>` and it is used as-is, untouched apart from the id SDL needs;
+   * hand over any other element and the SDK creates a canvas inside it and keeps it
+   * scaled to fit. Reparenting a live engine is legal — the same canvas moves.
+   */
+  protected override async mounted(target: HTMLElement): Promise<void> {
+    if (this.#canvas) {
+      this.#reparent(target);
+      return;
+    }
 
-    attachTo?.appendChild(canvas);
-  }
+    const provided = target instanceof HTMLCanvasElement ? target : null;
+    const canvas = provided ?? document.createElement('canvas');
+    this.#ownsCanvas = provided === null;
+    this.#canvas = canvas;
+    this.#box = this.#ownsCanvas ? target : canvas;
+
+    // Emscripten's SDL2 port locates the canvas via document.querySelector('#canvas').
+    if (canvas.id !== CANVAS_ID) {
+      if (canvas.id) {
+        console.warn(
+          `[rsdkv4] renaming the render target's id from "${canvas.id}" to "${CANVAS_ID}" — SDL looks the canvas up by that id.`,
+        );
+      }
+      canvas.id = CANVAS_ID;
+    }
 
-  // A canvas is not in the tab order and `focus()` on one is a silent no-op
-  // until it has a tabindex. -1 makes it focusable without adding a tab stop.
-  if (!canvas.hasAttribute('tabindex')) canvas.setAttribute('tabindex', '-1');
-  // …and the focus ring would draw a browser-blue box around the picture.
-  canvas.style.outline = 'none';
+    if (this.#ownsCanvas) {
+      canvas.style.display = 'block';
+      canvas.style.maxWidth = '100%';
+      canvas.style.maxHeight = '100%';
+      canvas.style.height = 'auto';
+      canvas.classList.add('emscripten');
+      target.appendChild(canvas);
+    }
 
-  const swallowContextMenu = (event: Event): void => event.preventDefault();
-  canvas.addEventListener('contextmenu', swallowContextMenu);
+    // A canvas is not in the tab order and `focus()` on one is a silent no-op until it
+    // has a tabindex. -1 makes it focusable without adding a tab stop.
+    if (!canvas.hasAttribute('tabindex')) canvas.setAttribute('tabindex', '-1');
+    // …and the focus ring would draw a browser-blue box around the picture.
+    canvas.style.outline = 'none';
+
+    canvas.addEventListener('contextmenu', this.#swallowContextMenu);
+    canvas.addEventListener('pointerdown', this.#onPointerDown);
+    window.addEventListener('resize', this.#onResize);
+    // Fullscreen transitions need a refit too.
+    document.addEventListener('fullscreenchange', this.#onFullscreenChange);
+    if (typeof ResizeObserver !== 'undefined' && this.#box) {
+      this.#boxObserver = new ResizeObserver(this.#onResize);
+      this.#boxObserver.observe(this.#box);
+    }
 
-  const focusCanvas = (): void => {
-    if (!document.hasFocus()) window.focus();
-    canvas.focus({ preventScroll: true });
-  };
+    this.#fitPicture();
+  }
 
-  const onPointerDown = (): void => focusCanvas();
-  canvas.addEventListener('pointerdown', onPointerDown);
+  /**
+   * A payload changed on a running engine. Only the GAME OPTIONS rows are `live` here —
+   * `config` is `settings.ini`, read once at boot, and `player`/`slot`/`stage` are what
+   * a `restart()` is for.
+   */
+  protected override async patched(kind: PayloadKind, patch: object): Promise<void> {
+    if (kind !== 'options') return;
+
+    // Ahead of the engine check, unlike everything below it: a claim written onto an
+    // engine that has not booted yet is still a claim, and a malformed one should be
+    // rejected by the call that made it rather than by the boot three lines later.
+    //
+    // `undefined` and `null` are not the same key here, and must not be collapsed:
+    // absence means "leave the claim as it is" — which is what keeps a later
+    // `options({ stage })` from dropping a claim on its way past — and only `null`
+    // releases.
+    const buttons = (patch as Rsdkv4Options).buttons;
+    if (buttons !== undefined) this.#applyButtons(buttons);
+
+    if (!this.#module) return;
+
+    const rows = this.game.options();
+    for (const [key, value] of Object.entries(patch)) {
+      if (key === 'player' || key === 'slot' || key === 'stage' || key === 'buttons') continue;
+      const row = rows.find((candidate) => candidate.key === key);
+      if (!row) {
+        console.warn(
+          `[rsdkv4] "${key}" is not a game option this pack declares — ignoring. Read options() for the ones it does.`,
+        );
+        continue;
+      }
+      this.game.setOption(row.key, toEngineOption(row, value));
+    }
+  }
 
-  // ----------------------------------------------------------------- sizing
+  // ---- The one place this engine does not simply inherit ----
 
-  /** The box the picture has to fit inside, in CSS pixels. */
-  const boxElement = ownsCanvas && attachTo ? attachTo : canvas;
+  /**
+   * The session's descriptors, enriched with what only a loaded pack can say: the
+   * playable characters, the stage list, and the engine's own GAME OPTIONS rows.
+   *
+   * The base builds descriptors from a spec fixed at construction, which is right for
+   * every other payload and cannot work for this one — Sonic 1 and Sonic 2 do not offer
+   * the same characters or the same options, and neither is knowable before
+   * `Data.rsdk` is read. Before the engine is up this answers the static spec, which is
+   * still enough for a host to know the keys exist.
+   */
+  override options(): Promise<PropertiesDefinition<Rsdkv4Options>>;
+  override options(patch: Partial<Rsdkv4Options>): PromisePlay<Rsdkv4Payloads>;
+  override options(
+    patch?: Partial<Rsdkv4Options>,
+  ): Promise<PropertiesDefinition<Rsdkv4Options>> | PromisePlay<Rsdkv4Payloads> {
+    // `arguments.length`, not `patch === undefined`: `options(undefined)` is a write of
+    // nothing, not a read.
+    if (arguments.length === 0) return this.#describeOptions();
+    return super.options(patch as Partial<Rsdkv4Options>);
+  }
 
-  const fitPicture = (): void => {
-    if (!ownsCanvas) return;
-    const box = boxElement.getBoundingClientRect();
-    if (box.width < 1 || box.height < 1) return;
+  async #describeOptions(): Promise<PropertiesDefinition<Rsdkv4Options>> {
+    const described = (await super.options()) as Record<string, PropertyDefinition<unknown>>;
+    // The claim never reads back, engine or no engine. The base would have written the
+    // host's live object into `value` here, and this getter is what a host serialises
+    // to save its settings and what it reads to paint a settings screen — neither of
+    // which fourteen booleans that change sixty times a second belong in.
+    // `play.input.claimed` is the honest question, and it is a different one.
+    described.buttons = { ...described.buttons, value: null };
+    if (!this.#module) return described as PropertiesDefinition<Rsdkv4Options>;
+
+    const out: Record<string, PropertyDefinition<unknown>> = { ...described };
+
+    const players = this.game.players();
+    if (players.length) out.player = { ...out.player, enum: players };
+
+    const stages = flattenStages(this.devMenu.getStageList());
+    if (stages.length) out.stage = { ...out.stage, enum: stages };
+
+    for (const row of this.game.options()) {
+      if (
+        row.key === 'player' ||
+        row.key === 'slot' ||
+        row.key === 'stage' ||
+        row.key === 'buttons'
+      ) {
+        console.warn(`[rsdkv4] the pack declares a game option named "${row.key}" — shadowed`);
+        continue;
+      }
+      out[row.key] = {
+        value: fromEngineOption(row),
+        description: row.label,
+        live: true,
+        enum: row.type === 'boolean' ? [false, true] : (row.values ?? []),
+      };
+    }
 
-    const bw = manifest.video.baseWidth;
-    const bh = manifest.video.baseHeight;
-    const scale = Math.min(box.width / bw, box.height / bh);
-    canvas.style.width = `${Math.round(bw * scale)}px`;
-    canvas.style.height = `${Math.round(bh * scale)}px`;
-  };
+    return out as PropertiesDefinition<Rsdkv4Options>;
+  }
 
-  fitPicture();
+  override restart(options?: Partial<Rsdkv4Options>): Rsdkv4Session {
+    return super.restart(options) as Rsdkv4Session;
+  }
 
-  const onResize = (): void => fitPicture();
-  window.addEventListener('resize', onResize);
-  const boxObserver = typeof ResizeObserver === 'undefined' ? null : new ResizeObserver(onResize);
-  boxObserver?.observe(boxElement);
+  // ---- Members with no contract equivalent ----
 
-  // Fullscreen transitions need a refit too.
-  const onFullscreenChange = (): void => {
-    fitPicture();
-    requestAnimationFrame(fitPicture);
-  };
-  document.addEventListener('fullscreenchange', onFullscreenChange);
+  /**
+   * Pause, on behalf of `owner`. The first caller to pause owns it and only that
+   * owner's `resume()` lifts it, so a pause overlay cannot resume a game a start
+   * screen — or the host — had already frozen. Audio stops with the engine.
+   *
+   * Emits the contract's `pause` event, whose detail carries the owner.
+   */
+  pause(owner: string = 'host'): void {
+    if (this.#pauseOwner !== null) return; // whoever got there first keeps the claim
+    this.#pauseOwner = owner;
+    this.#applyPaused(true);
+    // A pause is a natural checkpoint for the save mirror.
+    if (this.#mirrorSaves) void this.#mirrorSaveData();
+    this.emit('pause', { owner });
+  }
 
-  // ----------------------------------------------------------------- emscripten
+  resume(owner: string = 'host'): void {
+    if (this.#pauseOwner !== owner) return; // someone else's pause — leave it alone
+    this.#pauseOwner = null;
+    this.#applyPaused(false);
+    this.emit('resume', { owner });
+  }
 
-  const jsUrl = config.jsUrl ?? new URL('./rsdkv4.js', import.meta.url).href;
-  const wasmUrl = config.wasmUrl ?? new URL('./rsdkv4.wasm', import.meta.url).href;
+  /** Who is holding the engine paused, or null. */
+  get pausedBy(): string | null {
+    return this.#pauseOwner;
+  }
 
-  // RSDKv4 keyboard bindings are the shared input script's default preset.
-  if (typeof window !== 'undefined') (window as any).__gamepadKeyMap = manifest.input;
+  /** True when the working dir is OPFS-backed rather than in-memory. */
+  get persistent(): boolean {
+    return this.#persistent;
+  }
 
-  const instantiate = async (bust?: string): Promise<any> => {
-    const withBust = (url: string): string => {
-      if (!bust) return url;
-      const parsed = new URL(url, location.href);
-      parsed.searchParams.set('_', bust);
-      return parsed.href;
+  /** The normalised {@link Rsdkv4Storage.namespace} this session actually used. */
+  get namespace(): string {
+    return this.#namespace;
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Input ownership, named. `play.input.claim(buttons)` and `play.input.release()`
+   * are exactly `options({ buttons })` and `options({ buttons: null })` — same state,
+   * same survival across `restart()`, same everything.
+   */
+  get input(): RsdkInputBridge {
+    // Captured, because `this` inside an object literal's getter is the literal. A
+    // host that holds on to `play.input` and asks later still gets today's answer.
+    const play = this;
+    return {
+      claim: (buttons: Rsdkv4Buttons) => this.options({ buttons }),
+      release: () => this.options({ buttons: null }),
+      get claimed(): boolean {
+        return play.#buttons !== null;
+      },
     };
+  }
 
-    const mod: any = await import(/* @vite-ignore */ withBust(jsUrl));
-    return mod.default({
-      canvas,
-      noInitialRun: true, // built with -sINVOKE_RUN=0; we mount data before main()
-      locateFile: (path: string) => (path.endsWith('.wasm') ? withBust(wasmUrl) : path),
-      print: (...a: unknown[]) => console.log('[rsdkv4]', ...a),
-      printErr: (...a: unknown[]) => console.error('[rsdkv4]', ...a),
-      onAbort: (reason: unknown) =>
-        emit({ type: 'error', error: new Error(`rsdkv4 aborted: ${reason}`) }),
-    });
-  };
+  // ---- Host-driven input ----
 
-  let Module: any = await instantiate();
-
-  // Self-heal a stale engine.
-  //
-  // rsdkv4.js/.wasm are big and served by most static hosts with nothing but
-  // Last-Modified, so a browser will happily keep a build for hours. The
-  // symptom is nasty: fresh SDK code against an old engine, where the bridges
-  // this SDK calls simply don't exist and every getter quietly answers "empty" —
-  // no save slots, no characters, an empty pause menu. Rather than leave that to
-  // the reader's cache hygiene, notice it and fetch once past the cache.
-  if (!engineBridgeComplete(Module)) {
-    console.warn(
-      '[rsdkv4] the engine that loaded is missing bridges this SDK needs — refetching past the HTTP cache',
-    );
-    Module = await instantiate(String(Date.now()));
-    if (!engineBridgeComplete(Module)) {
+  /**
+   * Claim or release, on the engine and here. The only writer of {@link #buttons}.
+   *
+   * Order matters in both directions: the reader is installed before the engine is
+   * told to use it, and the engine is told to stop before it is taken away — so there
+   * is never a tick where the engine is pulling at something that is not there.
+   */
+  #applyButtons(buttons: Rsdkv4Buttons | null): void {
+    if (buttons !== null) validateButtons(buttons);
+
+    const Module = this.#module;
+    this.#buttons = buttons;
+
+    // Before a boot there is nothing to tell; `open()` re-applies from the merged
+    // state once the engine is up, which is the same path a `restart()` takes.
+    if (!Module) return;
+
+    if (typeof Module.web_input_set_source !== 'function') {
       console.error(
-        '[rsdkv4] still missing engine bridges after a cache-busting reload — rsdkv4.wasm is genuinely older than this SDK; rebuild it (`make build-wasm`)',
+        '[rsdkv4] web_input_set_source is missing from this build of rsdkv4.wasm — host-driven input needs an engine built from this SDK\'s build.sh. Rebuild it (`make build-wasm`); the engine keeps polling the keyboard until then.',
       );
+      return;
     }
+
+    if (buttons === null) {
+      Module.web_input_set_source(0);
+      delete Module[INPUT_PULL_HOOK];
+      this.#pull = null;
+      this.#resetPullErrors();
+      return;
+    }
+
+    this.#pull ??= () => this.#readButtons();
+    Module[INPUT_PULL_HOOK] = this.#pull;
+    Module.web_input_set_source(1);
   }
 
-  // Mount the working dir first, so we can see what's already persisted (OPFS)
-  // before deciding whether to pull assets.
-  const { persistent } = mountWorkingDir(Module, config.persist);
-  const storageNamespace = normalizeStorageNamespace(config.storageNamespace);
-  const workDir = `${WORK_ROOT}/${storageNamespace}`;
-  ensureDir(Module, workDir);
+  /**
+   * The per-tick read. Called from the engine, at the top of its input pass, through
+   * `web_input_pull()` — never from a timer and never from anywhere else.
+   *
+   * **Keep it on the engine's callback.** A read inside a reactive effect would make
+   * all fourteen buttons dependencies of that effect (jq79 attributes every read
+   * through a store's `get` trap to whichever effect is running), and every keypress
+   * would wake it. The call stack here is always rAF → wasm → EM_JS → this, where no
+   * effect can be running, and that is an invariant to preserve rather than a
+   * coincidence to rely on.
+   */
+  #readButtons(): number {
+    const buttons = this.#buttons;
+    if (!buttons) return 0;
 
-  const dataPath = `${workDir}/Data.rsdk`;
-  const settingsPath = `${workDir}/settings.ini`;
+    try {
+      let mask = 0;
+      // Indexed, not `Object.entries`: the array's order is the engine's bit order,
+      // and a host object's key order is its own business.
+      for (let bit = 0; bit < RSDKV4_BUTTONS.length; bit++) {
+        if (buttons[RSDKV4_BUTTONS[bit]]) mask |= 1 << bit;
+      }
+      this.#resetPullErrors();
+      return mask;
+    } catch (error) {
+      this.#reportPullError(error);
+      // Everything released, never the last good mask: a repeated mask with a
+      // direction held leaves the character running into a pit on its own.
+      return 0;
+    }
+  }
 
-  // Data.rsdk — precedence: explicit asset > already persisted (skip fetch) > lazy provider.
-  let dataBytes = toUint8(assets?.data);
-  if (!dataBytes) {
-    if (fileExists(Module, dataPath)) {
-      console.log(
-        `[rsdkv4] Data.rsdk already in persistent storage (${storageNamespace}) — skipping fetch`,
+  /**
+   * Announce a failing pull at most once a second, with a count.
+   *
+   * This runs sixty times a second, so an unthrottled `emit` would bury the page. It
+   * does **not** release the claim: a transient fault recovers on its own, whereas
+   * releasing would change input ownership behind the host's back.
+   *
+   * With a plain object nothing here can fire. It exists because the API accepts any
+   * object and a Proxy runs host code on every read — a store nulled by a component
+   * that unmounted without releasing, a revoked `Proxy.revocable`, a `get` trap whose
+   * effect scope has been torn down. Claim-time validation covers none of those: it
+   * validated once, over a reference that was live at the time.
+   */
+  #reportPullError(error: unknown): void {
+    const key = error instanceof Error ? `${error.name}: ${error.message}` : String(error);
+    // performance.now() rather than a timer: nothing to schedule, nothing to clear,
+    // and the comparison is already in the hand.
+    const now = typeof performance !== 'undefined' ? performance.now() : Date.now();
+    this.#pullErrors++;
+
+    if (key !== this.#pullErrorKey || now - this.#pullErrorAt >= INPUT_ERROR_INTERVAL_MS) {
+      const windowMs = this.#pullErrorKey === null ? 0 : now - this.#pullErrorAt;
+      this.emit(
+        'error',
+        Object.assign(
+          new Error(
+            `rsdkv4: reading the host's buttons failed (${this.#pullErrors}× in ${Math.round(windowMs)}ms) — input is dead until it recovers, and the claim is still held. Release it with options({ buttons: null }) if the host is gone. Cause: ${key}`,
+          ),
+          { cause: error },
+        ),
       );
-    } else if (config.dataProvider) {
-      dataBytes = toUint8(await config.dataProvider());
+      this.#pullErrorKey = key;
+      this.#pullErrorAt = now;
+      this.#pullErrors = 0;
     }
   }
-  if (dataBytes) {
-    Module.FS.writeFile(dataPath, dataBytes);
-  } else if (!fileExists(Module, dataPath)) {
-    throw new Error(
-      'rsdkv4: no Data.rsdk — provide assets.data, a dataProvider, or a persisted copy (OPFS)',
-    );
+
+  /** Forget the streak, so a relapse announces itself immediately rather than in a second. */
+  #resetPullErrors(): void {
+    if (this.#pullErrorKey === null) return;
+    this.#pullErrorKey = null;
+    this.#pullErrorAt = 0;
+    this.#pullErrors = 0;
   }
 
-  // settings.ini — explicit asset > persisted > lazy provider > generated from options.
-  let settingsBytes = toUint8(assets?.settings);
-  if (!settingsBytes && !fileExists(Module, settingsPath) && config.settingsProvider) {
-    settingsBytes = toUint8(await config.settingsProvider());
+  /** RSDKv4's Start Menu as data. Available once the engine is up. */
+  get game(): RsdkGameBridge {
+    const Module = this.#requireModule();
+    const parse = <T>(fn: unknown, fallback: T, what: string): T => parseJson(fn, fallback, what);
+    return {
+      type: () => (typeof Module.web_game_type === 'function' ? Module.web_game_type() : 0),
+      players: () => parse(Module.web_get_players, [] as string[], 'web_get_players'),
+      saveSlots: () =>
+        parse(Module.web_get_save_slots, [] as RsdkSaveSlot[], 'web_get_save_slots'),
+      options: () =>
+        parse(Module.web_get_game_options, [] as RsdkGameOption[], 'web_get_game_options'),
+      setOption: (key, value) => {
+        Module.web_set_game_option?.(String(key), value | 0);
+      },
+      deleteSave: (slot) => {
+        Module.web_delete_save?.(slot | 0);
+        if (this.#mirrorSaves) void this.#mirrorSaveData();
+      },
+      start: (slot, player = 0) => {
+        Module.web_start_game?.(slot == null ? -1 : slot | 0, player | 0);
+        // Whatever drove this is done with the engine — hand it back.
+        this.#pauseOwner = null;
+        this.#applyPaused(false);
+      },
+    };
   }
-  if (settingsBytes) {
-    Module.FS.writeFile(settingsPath, settingsBytes);
-  } else if (!fileExists(Module, settingsPath)) {
-    Module.FS.writeFile(settingsPath, new TextEncoder().encode(buildSettingsIni(options)));
+
+  /** The engine's stage list and loader. Available once the engine is up. */
+  get devMenu(): RsdkDevMenuBridge {
+    const Module = this.#requireModule();
+    return {
+      getStageList: () =>
+        parseJson(Module.web_devmenu_get_stage_list, [], 'web_devmenu_get_stage_list'),
+      loadStage: (categoryIdx, stageIdx) => {
+        Module.web_devmenu_load_stage?.(categoryIdx | 0, stageIdx | 0);
+      },
+      setPaused: (paused) => {
+        if (paused) this.pause('host');
+        else this.resume(this.#pauseOwner ?? 'host');
+      },
+    };
   }
-  // else: keep the persisted settings.ini
 
-  // Save data. `persist: null` means the host wants nothing kept, so honour it;
-  // otherwise pull any previous SData.bin in before the engine reads it.
-  const mirrorSaves = config.persist !== null;
-  if (mirrorSaves) await restoreSaveData(Module, storageNamespace, workDir);
+  // ---- Bringing the engine up ----
 
-  Module.FS.chdir(workDir);
+  #requireModule(): EmscriptenModule {
+    if (!this.#module) {
+      throw new Error('rsdkv4: the engine is not running — await start() before reaching for it');
+    }
+    return this.#module;
+  }
 
-  /**
-   * Pause state, with an owner.
-   *
-   * `masterPaused` only freezes the logic loop — the audio callback keeps
-   * mixing, so a paused engine went on playing its music behind whatever the
-   * host put on top. Pausing therefore has to stop the sound too.
-   *
-   * The owner matters because pause/resume has several callers: a pause overlay,
-   * a start screen, the host itself. Closing an overlay must not resume a game
-   * something else had already frozen, so the *first* pause claims ownership and
-   * only that owner's `resume()` lifts it. Owner strings are the caller's to
-   * choose; the SDK's own default is 'host'.
-   */
-  type PauseOwner = string;
-  let pauseOwner: PauseOwner | null = null;
+  #ensureBooted(): Promise<EmscriptenModule> {
+    if (this.#destroyed) {
+      throw new Error(
+        'rsdkv4: this engine has been destroyed and cannot be restarted in process — build a new Rsdkv4SDK',
+      );
+    }
+    // A boot that failed must not poison the next attempt. The common failure is a
+    // host that started before handing over `assets.data` — it fixes that and calls
+    // `start()` again, and caching the rejection would tell it "no Data.rsdk" forever.
+    this.#booting ??= this.#boot().catch((error: unknown) => {
+      this.#booting = null;
+      this.#module = null;
+      throw error;
+    });
+    return this.#booting;
+  }
 
-  const applyPaused = (paused: boolean) => {
-    if (typeof Module.web_devmenu_set_paused === 'function') Module.web_devmenu_set_paused(paused);
-    if (typeof Module.web_audio_set_paused === 'function') Module.web_audio_set_paused(paused);
-  };
+  async #boot(): Promise<EmscriptenModule> {
+    const canvas = this.#canvas;
+    if (!canvas) {
+      throw new Error('rsdkv4: mount(target) before start() — the engine draws into a canvas');
+    }
 
-  const pauseWith = (owner: PauseOwner) => {
-    if (pauseOwner !== null) return; // already paused — whoever got there first keeps the claim
-    pauseOwner = owner;
-    applyPaused(true);
-    // A pause is a natural checkpoint for the save mirror.
-    if (mirrorSaves) void persistSaveData(Module, storageNamespace, workDir);
-  };
+    const config = valuesOf(await this.config());
+    const assets = valuesOf(await this.assets());
+    const storage = valuesOf(await this.storage());
 
-  const resumeFrom = (owner: PauseOwner) => {
-    if (pauseOwner !== owner) return; // someone else's pause — leave it alone
-    pauseOwner = null;
-    applyPaused(false);
-  };
+    const Module = await this.#instantiate(canvas, config);
+    this.#module = Module;
 
-  /** Legacy shape kept for `devMenu.setPaused` — always acts as the host. */
-  const setPaused = (paused: boolean) => {
-    if (paused) pauseWith('host');
-    else resumeFrom(pauseOwner ?? 'host');
-  };
+    // Mount the working dir first, so we can see what is already persisted (OPFS)
+    // before deciding whether to pull assets.
+    this.#persistent = mountWorkingDir(Module, storage.persist).persistent;
+    this.#namespace = normalizeStorageNamespace(storage.namespace);
+    this.#workDir = `${WORK_ROOT}/${this.#namespace}`;
+    this.#mirrorSaves = storage.persist !== null;
+    ensureDir(Module, this.#workDir);
+
+    await this.#writeAssets(Module, assets, config);
+
+    // `persist: null` means the host wants nothing kept, so honour it; otherwise pull
+    // any previous SData.bin in before the engine reads it.
+    if (this.#mirrorSaves) await this.#restoreSaveData(Module);
+
+    Module.FS.chdir(this.#workDir);
+
+    // Run main() from the working dir. simulate_infinite_loop schedules the rAF loop
+    // and returns via a benign unwind Emscripten swallows.
+    Module.callMain(['UsingCWD']);
 
-  const stopAudio = () => {
+    // callMain only *schedules* the loop: Engine::Init runs on the first frame, and
+    // until it has, there is no game config, stage list or saveRAM to read. Waiting
+    // here means the bridges answer the moment start() resolves.
+    await waitForEngine(Module);
+
+    this.#focusCanvas();
+
+    // The engine writes SData.bin at its own pace (new game, checkpoint, options
+    // change), so copy it out on a slow timer as well as on the way down.
+    if (this.#mirrorSaves) {
+      this.#saveTimer = setInterval(() => void this.#mirrorSaveData(), 10_000);
+    }
+
+    return Module;
+  }
+
+  async #instantiate(canvas: HTMLCanvasElement, config: Rsdkv4Config): Promise<EmscriptenModule> {
+    const jsUrl = config.jsUrl ?? new URL('./rsdkv4.js', import.meta.url).href;
+    const wasmUrl = config.wasmUrl ?? new URL('./rsdkv4.wasm', import.meta.url).href;
+
+    const load = async (bust?: string): Promise<EmscriptenModule> => {
+      const withBust = (url: string): string => {
+        if (!bust) return url;
+        const parsed = new URL(url, location.href);
+        parsed.searchParams.set('_', bust);
+        return parsed.href;
+      };
+
+      const mod = await import(/* @vite-ignore */ withBust(jsUrl));
+      return mod.default({
+        canvas,
+        noInitialRun: true, // built with -sINVOKE_RUN=0; we mount data before main()
+        locateFile: (path: string) => (path.endsWith('.wasm') ? withBust(wasmUrl) : path),
+        print: (...a: unknown[]) => console.log('[rsdkv4]', ...a),
+        printErr: (...a: unknown[]) => console.error('[rsdkv4]', ...a),
+        onAbort: (reason: unknown) => {
+          this.emit('error', new Error(`rsdkv4 aborted: ${reason}`));
+        },
+      });
+    };
+
+    let Module = await load();
+
+    // Self-heal a stale engine.
+    //
+    // rsdkv4.js/.wasm are big and served by most static hosts with nothing but
+    // Last-Modified, so a browser will happily keep a build for hours. The symptom is
+    // nasty: fresh SDK code against an old engine, where the bridges this SDK calls
+    // simply don't exist and every getter quietly answers "empty" — no save slots, no
+    // characters, an empty pause menu. Rather than leave that to the reader's cache
+    // hygiene, notice it and fetch once past the cache.
+    if (!engineBridgeComplete(Module)) {
+      console.warn(
+        '[rsdkv4] the engine that loaded is missing bridges this SDK needs — refetching past the HTTP cache',
+      );
+      Module = await load(String(Date.now()));
+      if (!engineBridgeComplete(Module)) {
+        console.error(
+          '[rsdkv4] still missing engine bridges after a cache-busting reload — rsdkv4.wasm is genuinely older than this SDK; rebuild it (`make build-wasm`)',
+        );
+      }
+    }
+
+    return Module;
+  }
+
+  /** Data.rsdk and settings.ini into the working dir. See {@link Rsdkv4Assets}. */
+  async #writeAssets(
+    Module: EmscriptenModule,
+    assets: Rsdkv4Assets,
+    config: Rsdkv4Config,
+  ): Promise<void> {
+    const dataPath = `${this.#workDir}/Data.rsdk`;
+    const settingsPath = `${this.#workDir}/settings.ini`;
+
+    // The pack — the expensive one, so a persisted copy short-circuits the thunk.
+    if (fileExists(Module, dataPath)) {
+      const explicit = typeof assets.data === 'function' ? null : await resolveAsset(assets.data);
+      if (explicit) Module.FS.writeFile(dataPath, explicit);
+      else {
+        console.log(
+          `[rsdkv4] Data.rsdk already in persistent storage (${this.#namespace}) — skipping fetch`,
+        );
+      }
+    } else {
+      const bytes = await resolveAsset(assets.data);
+      if (!bytes) {
+        throw new Error(
+          'rsdkv4: no Data.rsdk — hand one over as assets.data (bytes or a thunk), or point storage.namespace at a persisted copy',
+        );
+      }
+      Module.FS.writeFile(dataPath, bytes);
+    }
+
+    // The settings — cheap, and regenerated every boot so `config` is never shadowed
+    // by a file an earlier session left behind. The engine never writes it back (its
+    // writeSettings() is #ifndef __EMSCRIPTEN__), so there is nothing to lose.
+    const settings = await resolveAsset(assets.settings);
+    Module.FS.writeFile(settingsPath, settings ?? new TextEncoder().encode(buildSettingsIni(config)));
+  }
+
+  // ---- The save mirror ----
+
+  /**
+   * Pull a previously mirrored SData.bin into the wasm before the engine reads it.
+   *
+   * The working dir is in-memory whenever the OPFS *mount* is unavailable (which is
+   * every build without Asyncify/JSPI — see {@link mountWorkingDir}), so SData.bin
+   * would die with the page and every slot would read "NEW GAME" forever. The host-side
+   * OPFS API has no such limitation, so the SDK copies the file in here and back out as
+   * it changes.
+   */
+  async #restoreSaveData(Module: EmscriptenModule): Promise<void> {
+    const dir = await opfsNamespaceDir(this.#namespace, false);
+    if (!dir) return;
     try {
-      Module.web_audio_stop?.();
+      const file = await (await dir.getFileHandle(SAVE_FILE)).getFile();
+      if (file.size > 0) {
+        const bytes = new Uint8Array(await file.arrayBuffer());
+        Module.FS.writeFile(`${this.#workDir}/${SAVE_FILE}`, bytes);
+        this.#lastSave = bytes;
+      }
     } catch {
-      /* engine already down */
+      /* no save yet */
     }
-  };
+  }
 
   /**
-   * Call a `web_*` embind getter and parse its JSON.
+   * Copy SData.bin out of the wasm into `<namespace>/`, and announce it if it moved.
    *
-   * A missing function means the loaded rsdkv4.wasm predates that bridge — the
-   * usual cause is a browser serving a cached build. Say so out loud: silently
-   * returning an empty list makes a stale artifact look like an empty save file
-   * or a game with no playable characters.
+   * The division of labour the session settled on: the SDK owns getting the bytes out
+   * of the wasm and into the namespace both sides already agree on; a host owns
+   * reading, parsing and painting them. `saves` is what tells it to look again — which
+   * is why it fires on a change and not on every check.
    */
-  const parseJson = <T>(fn: unknown, fallback: T, what: string): T => {
-    if (typeof fn !== 'function') {
-      console.error(
-        `[rsdkv4] ${what} is missing from this build of rsdkv4.wasm — the page is probably running a cached copy. Hard-reload (or clear the site's storage) after rebuilding.`,
-      );
-      return fallback;
-    }
+  async #mirrorSaveData(): Promise<void> {
+    const Module = this.#module;
+    if (!Module) return;
+
+    // Explicitly over an ArrayBuffer, not the default ArrayBufferLike: OPFS's
+    // `write()` will not take a view that might be backed by a SharedArrayBuffer,
+    // and on a cross-origin isolated page that is not a hypothetical distinction.
+    let bytes: Uint8Array<ArrayBuffer>;
     try {
-      return JSON.parse((fn as () => string)());
-    } catch (e) {
-      console.error(`[rsdkv4] ${what} failed`, e);
-      return fallback;
+      bytes = Module.FS.readFile(`${this.#workDir}/${SAVE_FILE}`);
+    } catch {
+      return; // the engine hasn't written one
     }
-  };
-
-  const game: RsdkGameBridge = {
-    type: () => (typeof Module.web_game_type === 'function' ? Module.web_game_type() : 0),
-    players: () => parseJson(Module.web_get_players, [] as string[], 'web_get_players'),
-    saveSlots: () => parseJson(Module.web_get_save_slots, [] as RsdkSaveSlot[], 'web_get_save_slots'),
-    options: () => parseJson(Module.web_get_game_options, [] as RsdkGameOption[], 'web_get_game_options'),
-    setOption(key, value) {
-      Module.web_set_game_option?.(String(key), value | 0);
-    },
-    deleteSave(slot) {
-      Module.web_delete_save?.(slot | 0);
-    },
-    start(slot, player = 0) {
-      Module.web_start_game?.(slot == null ? -1 : slot | 0, player | 0);
-      // The overlay that drove this is done with the engine — hand it back.
-      pauseOwner = null;
-      applyPaused(false);
-    },
-  };
+    if (sameBytes(bytes, this.#lastSave)) return;
 
-  const devMenu: RsdkDevMenuBridge = {
-    getStageList() {
-      if (typeof Module.web_devmenu_get_stage_list !== 'function') return [];
+    const dir = await opfsNamespaceDir(this.#namespace, true);
+    if (dir) {
       try {
-        return JSON.parse(Module.web_devmenu_get_stage_list());
+        const handle = await dir.getFileHandle(SAVE_FILE, { create: true });
+        const writable = await handle.createWritable();
+        await writable.write(bytes);
+        await writable.close();
       } catch (e) {
-        console.error('[rsdkv4] getStageList failed', e);
-        return [];
-      }
-    },
-    loadStage(categoryIdx, stageIdx) {
-      if (typeof Module.web_devmenu_load_stage === 'function') {
-        Module.web_devmenu_load_stage(categoryIdx | 0, stageIdx | 0);
+        console.warn('[rsdkv4] could not persist save data', e);
+        return;
       }
-    },
-    setPaused,
-  };
+    }
 
-  // Run main() from the OPFS/WASMFS working dir. simulate_infinite_loop schedules
-  // the rAF loop and returns via a benign unwind Emscripten swallows.
-  Module.callMain(['UsingCWD']);
-
-  // callMain only *schedules* the loop: Engine::Init runs on the first frame, and
-  // until it has, there is no game config, stage list or saveRAM to read. Waiting
-  // here means a host can call devMenu/game getters the moment load() resolves.
-  await waitForEngine(Module);
-
-  focusCanvas();
-
-  // The engine writes SData.bin at its own pace (new game, checkpoint, options
-  // change), so copy it out on a slow timer as well as on the way down.
-  const saveTimer = mirrorSaves
-    ? setInterval(() => void persistSaveData(Module, storageNamespace, workDir), 10_000)
-    : null;
-
-  emit({ type: 'ready' });
-
-  return {
-    start() {},
-    /** `owner` lets a pause overlay avoid resuming a game something else paused. */
-    pause(owner: string = 'host') { pauseWith(owner); },
-    resume(owner: string = 'host') { resumeFrom(owner); },
-    reset() {
-      throw new Error('rsdkv4: reset() is not supported — destroy() and load() again');
-    },
-    setInput(preset: InputPreset | KeyMap) {
-      if (typeof window !== 'undefined') {
-        (window as any).__gamepadKeyMap = preset ?? manifest.input;
-      }
-    },
-    destroy() {
-      if (saveTimer !== null) clearInterval(saveTimer);
-      // Last chance to keep whatever the player earned this session.
-      if (mirrorSaves) void persistSaveData(Module, storageNamespace, workDir);
-
-      try { Module.pauseMainLoop?.(); } catch { /* noop */ }
-      try { setPaused(true); } catch { /* noop */ }
-      // Freezing the loop does not silence the audio callback — without this the
-      // music kept playing after the host went back to its launcher.
-      stopAudio();
-
-      canvas.removeEventListener('contextmenu', swallowContextMenu);
-      canvas.removeEventListener('pointerdown', onPointerDown);
-      document.removeEventListener('fullscreenchange', onFullscreenChange);
-      window.removeEventListener('resize', onResize);
-      boxObserver?.disconnect();
-      if (ownsCanvas) canvas.remove();
-    },
-    devMenu,
-    game,
-    persistent,
-    storageNamespace,
-    purgeStorage() {
-      return {
-        data: deleteFileIfExists(Module, dataPath),
-        settings: deleteFileIfExists(Module, settingsPath),
-      };
-    },
+    this.#lastSave = bytes;
+    this.emit('saves', this.game.saveSlots());
+  }
+
+  // ---- The render target ----
+
+  #swallowContextMenu = (event: Event): void => event.preventDefault();
+  #onPointerDown = (): void => this.#focusCanvas();
+  #onResize = (): void => this.#fitPicture();
+  #onFullscreenChange = (): void => {
+    this.#fitPicture();
+    requestAnimationFrame(() => this.#fitPicture());
   };
+
+  #focusCanvas(): void {
+    if (!this.#canvas) return;
+    if (!document.hasFocus()) window.focus();
+    this.#canvas.focus({ preventScroll: true });
+  }
+
+  #fitPicture(): void {
+    if (!this.#ownsCanvas || !this.#canvas || !this.#box) return;
+    const box = this.#box.getBoundingClientRect();
+    if (box.width < 1 || box.height < 1) return;
+
+    const { baseWidth, baseHeight } = RSDKV4_VIDEO;
+    const scale = Math.min(box.width / baseWidth, box.height / baseHeight);
+    this.#canvas.style.width = `${Math.round(baseWidth * scale)}px`;
+    this.#canvas.style.height = `${Math.round(baseHeight * scale)}px`;
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Move the picture we already have. SDL keeps its canvas; only the parent changes.
+   *
+   * Pointing a second `mount()` at a *different* `<canvas>` is the one case this
+   * refuses: SDL2 resolved `#canvas` once, at instantiation, so swapping the element
+   * would leave the engine drawing into an orphan while the host watched a blank one.
+   */
+  #reparent(target: HTMLElement): void {
+    const canvas = this.#canvas;
+    if (!canvas || target === canvas || canvas.parentElement === target) return;
+
+    if (target instanceof HTMLCanvasElement) {
+      console.warn(
+        '[rsdkv4] the canvas SDL draws into cannot be swapped after mounting — ignoring this mount()',
+      );
+      return;
+    }
+
+    target.appendChild(canvas);
+    if (this.#box) this.#boxObserver?.unobserve(this.#box);
+    this.#box = this.#ownsCanvas ? target : canvas;
+    if (this.#box) this.#boxObserver?.observe(this.#box);
+    this.#fitPicture();
+  }
+
+  #teardownCanvas(): void {
+    const canvas = this.#canvas;
+    if (canvas) {
+      canvas.removeEventListener('contextmenu', this.#swallowContextMenu);
+      canvas.removeEventListener('pointerdown', this.#onPointerDown);
+      if (this.#ownsCanvas) canvas.remove();
+    }
+    document.removeEventListener('fullscreenchange', this.#onFullscreenChange);
+    window.removeEventListener('resize', this.#onResize);
+    this.#boxObserver?.disconnect();
+    this.#boxObserver = null;
+    this.#canvas = null;
+    this.#box = null;
+  }
+
+  // ---- Misc ----
+
+  #applyPaused(paused: boolean): void {
+    const Module = this.#module;
+    if (!Module) return;
+    if (typeof Module.web_devmenu_set_paused === 'function') Module.web_devmenu_set_paused(paused);
+    if (typeof Module.web_audio_set_paused === 'function') Module.web_audio_set_paused(paused);
+  }
+
+  /** A character name, as the pack spells it, to the index the engine wants. */
+  #playerIndex(player: string | undefined): number {
+    if (player === undefined) return 0;
+    const players = this.game.players();
+    const index = players.findIndex((name) => name.toLowerCase() === player.toLowerCase());
+    if (index < 0) {
+      throw new Error(
+        `rsdkv4: "${player}" is not a playable character in this pack — try one of ${players.join(', ') || '(none reported)'}`,
+      );
+    }
+    return index;
+  }
+}
+
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------- the factory
+
+/**
+ * The factory a host imports: identity on the constructor, one live engine per
+ * instance, and a `start()` that brings the wasm up and opens a session.
+ *
+ * Everything on it is the contract's — see the module doc for the shape of a call.
+ */
+export class Rsdkv4SDK extends EngineSDKBase<Rsdkv4Payloads> {
+  static readonly id = 'rsdkv4';
+  /** Kept in step with package.json by `node scripts/sync-version.mjs`. */
+  static readonly version = '0.2.0';
+  static readonly name = 'Retro Software Development Kit v4';
+  static readonly description =
+    'RSDKv4 compiled to WebAssembly via Emscripten. One game-agnostic WASM binary runs both Sonic 1 and Sonic 2 — the difference is only which Data.rsdk the host supplies at runtime. Ships none of the game: the player provides their own Data.rsdk, and it never leaves their browser.';
+
+  protected override createPlay(
+    init: EngineInit<Rsdkv4Payloads>,
+    events: EventEmitter<Rsdkv4Events_>,
+  ): Rsdkv4Play {
+    return new Rsdkv4Play(init, events);
+  }
+
+  override start(options?: Partial<Rsdkv4Options>): Rsdkv4Session {
+    return super.start(options) as Rsdkv4Session;
+  }
+}
+
+/**
+ * The line that puts the contract in CI: if this file stops satisfying
+ * `EngineSDKConstructor`, `make typecheck` says so.
+ */
+export const RSDKV4_ENGINE: EngineSDKConstructor<Rsdkv4Payloads> = Rsdkv4SDK;
+
+export default Rsdkv4SDK;
+
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------- module-private helpers
+
+/**
+ * Call a `web_*` embind getter and parse its JSON.
+ *
+ * A missing function means the loaded rsdkv4.wasm predates that bridge — the usual
+ * cause is a browser serving a cached build. Say so out loud: silently returning an
+ * empty list makes a stale artifact look like an empty save file or a game with no
+ * playable characters.
+ */
+function parseJson<T>(fn: unknown, fallback: T, what: string): T {
+  if (typeof fn !== 'function') {
+    console.error(
+      `[rsdkv4] ${what} is missing from this build of rsdkv4.wasm — the page is probably running a cached copy. Hard-reload (or clear the site's storage) after rebuilding.`,
+    );
+    return fallback;
+  }
+  try {
+    return JSON.parse((fn as () => string)());
+  } catch (e) {
+    console.error(`[rsdkv4] ${what} failed`, e);
+    return fallback;
+  }
 }
 
-export default { manifest, load };
+/**
+ * A claim, checked once — exactly the fourteen buttons, with missing and unknown both
+ * fatal.
+ *
+ * Strict because the two failure modes are silent and asymmetric. A **missing** key
+ * reads `false` on every tick: a dead button, no error anywhere, and easy to blame on
+ * the engine. An **unknown** key is a button the host writes to that nothing ever
+ * reads. The first sketch of this API lost `right` to a duplicated `up` — a duplicate
+ * key in an object literal is legal JavaScript and surfaces only as an absent one.
+ *
+ * `Object.keys`, not `in`: a reactive store's `has` trap can answer `true` for a key
+ * that has been deleted (jq79 does exactly that, deliberately, so a template
+ * expression reading a deleted name takes its else branch instead of dying), and
+ * `ownKeys` has no such licence.
+ */
+function validateButtons(buttons: Rsdkv4Buttons): void {
+  if (typeof buttons !== 'object' || buttons === null) {
+    throw new Error(
+      `rsdkv4: options({ buttons }) takes an object of the 14 buttons or null to release, not ${typeof buttons}`,
+    );
+  }
+
+  const keys = new Set(Object.keys(buttons));
+  const missing = RSDKV4_BUTTONS.filter((button) => !keys.has(button));
+  const unknown = [...keys].filter(
+    (key) => !(RSDKV4_BUTTONS as readonly string[]).includes(key),
+  );
+
+  if (missing.length || unknown.length) {
+    const faults = [
+      missing.length && `missing ${missing.join(', ')}`,
+      unknown.length && `unknown ${unknown.join(', ')}`,
+    ].filter(Boolean);
+    throw new Error(
+      `rsdkv4: the buttons object must carry exactly the 14 buttons (${RSDKV4_BUTTONS.join(', ')}) — ${faults.join('; ')}. A missing button is dead, not neutral, so this is an error rather than a default.`,
+    );
+  }
+}
+
+/** The engine's two-level stage list as flat, writable {@link Rsdkv4Stage} values. */
+function flattenStages(
+  categories: Array<{ name: string; stages: Array<{ name: string }> }>,
+): Rsdkv4Stage[] {
+  const out: Rsdkv4Stage[] = [];
+  categories.forEach((category, categoryIdx) => {
+    category.stages.forEach((stage, sceneIdx) => {
+      out.push({ category: categoryIdx, scene: sceneIdx, name: `${category.name} · ${stage.name}` });
+    });
+  });
+  return out;
+}
+
+/** A GAME OPTIONS row as a host reads it: a boolean, or the label of the chosen entry. */
+function fromEngineOption(row: RsdkGameOption): boolean | string | number {
+  if (row.type === 'boolean') return row.value !== 0;
+  return row.values?.[row.value] ?? row.value;
+}
+
+/** …and back to the number the engine stores. */
+function toEngineOption(row: RsdkGameOption, value: unknown): number {
+  if (typeof value === 'boolean') return value ? 1 : 0;
+  if (typeof value === 'number') return value | 0;
+  if (typeof value === 'string') {
+    const index = (row.values ?? []).findIndex(
+      (choice) => choice.toLowerCase() === value.toLowerCase(),
+    );
+    if (index >= 0) return index;
+  }
+  throw new Error(
+    `rsdkv4: ${JSON.stringify(value)} is not a value "${row.key}" accepts — try one of ${
+      row.type === 'boolean' ? 'true, false' : (row.values ?? []).join(', ')
+    }`,
+  );
+}