Skirmish — setup wizard#

Summary#

Skirmish army and map configuration happens on wizard steps 0xb (multiplayer) and 0xc (single player). Both share draw helpers FUN_0042051c (SP) and FUN_00420630 (MP). The UI covers battle type, scenario list, army size tiers, faction color, attacker/defender sides, and (MP) player ready state.

Confidence: likely for control layout; confirmed for battle-type → scenario-count mapping from decompilation.

Wizard steps#

Step	Hex	Mode	Draw function
12	`0xc`	SP vs NPC	`FUN_0042051c`
11	`0xb`	MP PvP	`FUN_00420630`

MP panel additionally blits a preview sprite and draws opponent name / ready UI (FUN_0041ff75, FUN_00420147).

Background assets (lotr2_game_wizard_load_step_assets):

`DAT_0056899c`	Palette	Panel
0	`skirmish.256`	`skirmish.pl8`
1	`skirmish.256`	`skircust.pl8`

Battle types (`DAT_0053e91c`)#

Selected by FUN_0043dc1d from lotr2_game_turn_phase at click time. Special case: if turn_phase == 3 and DAT_0055cd34 != 0, type forced to 0.

Type	Value	Scenario count (`DAT_0053f0d4`)	Map loader	Siege flag
Field A	0	10	`FUN_0047aaa3`	0
Field B	1	10	`FUN_0047aaa3`	0
Siege	2	15	`FUN_0047c4ba`	`DAT_0053e8fc = 1`
Custom	3	20	`FUN_0047b8b2`	0

Battle type labels on the panel are PL8 sprite frames 0x18–0x1b (not L2.ENG text). Highlighted type uses dimmed palette on the other three tabs (FUN_004207c3).

Custom type calls FUN_0042d4aa and allows editing DAT_0053f5fc (map name buffer).

Scenario list#

Global	Role
`DAT_0053f64c`	Scroll offset in list UI
`DAT_0056d590`	Selected scenario index (0 .. count−1)
`DAT_0053e9a8`	Highlighted row in scroll window

Scroll: FUN_0043d9cd adjusts index by lotr2_game_turn_phase (±1), clamps to [0, DAT_0053f0d4 − 7], reloads map via FUN_0042b9c4 / FUN_0042ba40 / FUN_0042bf46. MP sends opcode 0x53.

Names: loaded from battles.eng into RAM; FUN_0042ab15 indexes the string table. Custom maps use DAT_00521ca0 (0xe4c bytes) populated from user file (FUN_0042ab82).

List UI: FUN_00421005 draws six visible rows; bar graph shows army size split (lotr2_game_ratio_percent on DAT_0053f64c vs DAT_0053f0d4).

Army size modifiers#

Per-side tier 1–3 stored in:

Global	Side
`DAT_00553da4`	Local / left army tier
`DAT_00553dd0`	Opponent / right army tier

Handlers:

FUN_0043daf3 — increment/decrement both tiers (swap direction by turn_phase)
FUN_0043dbac — cycle unit category row (DAT_00553d78 per player, 0–4)

Tier affects unit counts when FUN_0042bf46 copies from DAT_00516ac0 preset block (loaded from TROOPS*.ENG by FUN_0042ac0c).

MP sync: opcode 0x60.

Faction color#

lotr2_game_wizard_sync_faction_color copies shield color from wizard assignment table DAT_004d5548 into player record +0x03 (DAT_0057bf0a).

SP only: FUN_0042ba40 picks NPC culture_row from preset table, assigns L2.ENG group 7 name, and picks opposing faction color from pair table (DAT_004d4ca8). See army-and-scenarios.md.

Attacker / defender#

Global	Role
`DAT_0053ef5c`	Player slot ID of attacker (1 or 2)

Swap sides: FUN_0043dd83 toggles attacker between local slot and DAT_0056d5cc (opponent slot). Rebuilds army records via FUN_0042ac0c / FUN_0042ba40 / FUN_0042bf46.

UI swaps “Attack” / “Defend” labels (group 0xb indices 0x17 / 0x18) and arrow sprites.

Custom map toggle#

FUN_0043da9e:

Toggles DAT_0056899c
Resets army tiers to 2
MP opcode 0x5f
Reloads skircust.pl8 vs skirmish.pl8

When custom mode is active, layout uses FUN_0042130f / FUN_00420de4 instead of FUN_00421231 / FUN_004209c1.

Start battle#

Single player — FUN_004329ec:

lotr2_game_begin_new_campaign() (unless DAT_005aeb8c load-game flag)
Sets DAT_0052af94 = 3, arms UI refresh
Battle starts through normal combat entry with DAT_0057a0f0 already set

Multiplayer — same function waits until all required players have DAT_005533e0[slot] == 1, then sends opcode 4 and initializes views.

Ready (MP step 0xb): FUN_00446389 sets local ready bit and sends opcodes 0x56 + 0x52. Host confirm uses FUN_004bbf89.

MP setup sync payload#

FUN_004463d9 serializes skirmish setup for network unpack:

Field	Global
Battle type	`DAT_0053e91c`
Custom map flag	`DAT_0056899c`
Army tiers	`DAT_00553da4`, `DAT_00553dd0`
Siege flag	`DAT_0053e8fc`
Attacker slot	`DAT_0053ef5c`
Scenario index	`DAT_0056d590`
Scenario count	`DAT_0053f0d4`
Scroll offset	`DAT_0053f64c`
Custom map name	`DAT_0053f5fc` (0x41 bytes)

See multiplayer-pvp.md.

Bottom panel actions#

Strings group 0xb:

Index	Typical use on setup panel
0x24	Start / fight button
0x25–0x27	Context buttons (layout differs custom vs standard)

Evidence#

Symbol	Address
`FUN_0042051c`	0x0042051c
`FUN_00420630`	0x00420630
`FUN_0043dc1d`	0x0043dc1d
`FUN_0043d9cd`	0x0043d9cd
`FUN_0043da9e`	0x0043da9e
`FUN_0043daf3`	0x0043daf3
`FUN_0043dd83`	0x0043dd83
`FUN_004329ec`	0x004329ec
`FUN_004463d9`	0x004463d9