# Cyberpunk 2077 Traffic/GPS System Debrief This is based on the public NativeDB RTTI dump, WolvenKit exports from the local Steam install, and the generated `all.traffic_persistent` resource from the Phantom Liberty archive. ## Current Working Theory The first hypothesis was that the in-game car GPS routes over the generated traffic lane graph and consumes lane metadata such as `maxSpeed`, highway flags, and lane connection probabilities. Live tests have not supported that: - boosting highway `maxSpeed` changed freeway traffic speed but did not change player GPS route choice - changing `all.lane_connections` exit probabilities did not change player GPS route choice - probing the obvious `TrafficSystem_Pathfinding` and `StartPathfinding`/`StopPathfinding` string-xref wrappers did not fire during deliberate world-map route plotting - probing the obvious `RunGPSQuery` and `UpdateGPSQuery` helpers also did not fire during deliberate world-map route plotting The stronger current theory is that player GPS route selection has two front-doors: - quest/objective pins are committed by updating the native journal's tracked entry - custom/player pins are committed through native mappin tracking Both eventually update native GPS state downstream. Traffic lane data is still likely used somewhere in the final route line, but the tested `maxSpeed` and lane-exit probability fields are traffic simulation inputs, not the live player-GPS edge-cost knobs. ## Static GPS Query Candidates Static disassembly of `Cyberpunk2077.exe` found script/native registration thunks for `RunGPSQuery` and `UpdateGPSQuery`. The string xrefs themselves are registration code, but their registered function pointers lead to more interesting native wrappers: ```text RunGPSQuery string rva: 0x2cd9978 RunGPSQuery registration xref: 0x147d068 RunGPSQuery wrapper rva: 0x29bd5ac RunGPSQuery helper rva: 0x29bcf14 UpdateGPSQuery string rva: 0x2cd9968 UpdateGPSQuery registration xref: 0x147cfb4 UpdateGPSQuery wrapper rva: 0x29bd6c8 UpdateGPSQuery helper rva: 0x29bd254 ``` `RunGPSQueryHelper` appears to read source/target vector-ish script arguments, resolve a target object/mappin, build temporary bitsets/sets, and call helpers near `0x204abdc` and `0x204ac1c`. Its return value is used as a success flag by the wrapper. `UpdateGPSQueryHelper` appears related but takes a request type and target. Its return value is also used as a success flag. These helpers were hooked with return-value-preserving signatures, not the registration thunks: ```cpp bool RunGPSQueryHelper(void* this_, void* from, void* to, void* debugText, void* resultText, float maxDistance); bool UpdateGPSQueryHelper(void* this_, uint32_t requestType, void* target, void* debugText); ``` These signatures are inferred from the wrapper call sites and Windows x64 calling convention. Live result: neither helper fired when plotting multiple world-map routes. They remain useful static landmarks for GPS-like script APIs, but they are not the world-map destination tracking path being exercised by normal player route selection. ## Mappin Tracking Handoff The first native lead was the script/native mappin tracking path: ```text TrackMappin string rva: 0x2e82c30 TrackMappin registration xref: 0x1843eb8 TrackMappin wrapper rva: 0x27c4ab4 TrackMappin core rva: 0x27c11d0 Mappin system resolver rva: 0x02bb840 SetMappinTrackingAlternative string rva: 0x2c672e0 SetMappinTrackingAlternative registration xref: 0x121c194 SetMappinTrackingAlternative wrapper rva: 0x1246794 ``` `TrackMappinCore` resolves a native mappin system through `0x02bb840`. The resolver loads an object pointer from `this + 0xa8`, reads the mappin-system type/singleton global at `0x342f138`, and calls vtable slot `0x08` on the object it loaded. Once the native mappin system is resolved, `TrackMappinCore` branches on whether the supplied mappin handle is null: - non-null tracked mappin: call resolved system vtable slot `0x220` - null tracked mappin: call resolved system vtable slot `0x228` That looks exactly like "set tracked mappin" versus "clear tracked mappin". However, a clean live test disproved it as the normal world-map route plotting path: `TrackMappin`, `TrackMappinCore`, and `SetMappinTrackingAlternative` did not fire while plotting three map routes. `SetMappinTrackingAlternative` parses two script arguments and calls vtable slot `0x418` on its receiver. It is probably related to alternate tracking behavior, but static disassembly and live logging have not shown it to be the main route planner. ## World-Map Mappin Selection Lead The next native lead is the world-map mappin controller block around `0x1427c4314`. These functions are still mappin-facing, but they are closer to selection, framing, and custom-position route display than the script helper above: ```text FrameMappinPath wrapper rva: 0x27c4314 FrameMappinPath core rva: 0x27bc1ec SetSelectedMappin wrapper rva: 0x27c4a38 SetSelectedMappin by-id wrapper rva: 0x27c4944 SetSelectedMappin by-position wrapper rva: 0x27c49c4 SetSelectedMappin core rva: 0x27c1684 TrackCustomPositionMappin wrapper rva: 0x27c4aac TrackCustomPositionMappin core rva: 0x27c2318 UntrackCustomPositionMappin wrapper rva: 0x27c4ba0 Mappin system resolver rva: 0x02bb840 ``` `FrameMappinPath` calls the resolved mappin-system vtable slot `0x280`. `TrackCustomPositionMappin` calls slot `0x2f0` to create a custom-position mappin/route handle and slot `0x1f0` to update an existing one. Those calls are currently the most route-like native behavior found in static disassembly. The installed RED4ext probe now logs the wrappers and cores listed above. When one of them can resolve the mappin system, it also logs concrete vtable RVAs for slots `0x1f0`, `0x220`, `0x228`, `0x250`, `0x280`, `0x2e0`, `0x2f0`, `0x368`, and `0x3a8`, then attaches temporary hooks to the route-adjacent slots. Live result: this lead appears to be the hover/selection layer, not the route commit layer. In a controlled test window, hovering a world-map icon and then moving back to empty map space fired `SetSelectedMappinWrapper` and `SetSelectedMappinCore`. Pressing the route/track action on that icon did not fire `FrameMappinPath`, `TrackCustomPositionMappin`, `TrackMappin`, the tracked mappin slots, or any of the custom-position slots. That pushed the search one layer higher, into the world-map controller script methods around tracking an objective or setting a waypoint. Static REDscript decompilation now gives a clear high-level route action path: ```text WorldMapMenuGameController.OnPressInput -> HandlePressInput -> TryTrackQuestOrSetWaypoint -> TrackQuestMappin -> JournalManager.TrackEntry ``` For non-quest/player pins the same `TryTrackQuestOrSetWaypoint` function calls `TrackMappin`. For custom pins it calls `TrackCustomPositionMappin`, which creates or updates a custom-position mappin and then tracks it. Live result: custom waypoint routing fired the native custom-position path: ```text TrackCustomPositionMappin wrapper/core MappinSystem create-custom-position slot 0x2f0 TrackMappin core MappinSystem set-tracked slot 0x220 ``` Quest/objective route plotting did not fire those mappin hooks. The script decomp explains why: quest pins go through `JournalManager.TrackEntry`, not `TrackMappin`. ## REDscript Route Surface The decompiled `WorldMapMenuGameController` is useful as an input-routing map, not as the planner implementation. Important script observations: - `HandlePressInput` calls `TryTrackQuestOrSetWaypoint` for `world_map_menu_track_waypoint`. - `TrackQuestMappin` extracts the selected mappin's journal entry and calls `JournalManager.TrackEntry`. - `UpdateTrackedQuest` reads `JournalManager.GetTrackedEntry`, asks the mappin system for quest mappin positions with `GetQuestMappinPositionsByObjective`, and updates world-map UI text/position state. It does not compute the GPS route. - `GPSSystem` is present as a native class, but its REDscript surface is empty. - `GPSSettings` is presentation/refresh data: line effects, fixed path offsets, refresh intervals, and display length. - `NavigationFunctionalTests.GetPathOnNavmesh`, `RunGPSQuery`, and `UpdateGPSQuery` exist, but runtime tests showed they are not called by normal map route plotting. The remaining route planner target is therefore native code reacting to either tracked-journal-entry changes or mappin tracking changes. Native direct-call scanning supports that split: ```text RunGPSQuery helper RVA 0x29bcf14 direct callers: 1 wrapper caller UpdateGPSQuery helper RVA 0x29bd254 direct callers: 1 wrapper caller JournalManager.TrackEntry RVA 0x5944fc direct callers: 13 ``` The GPS query helpers appear to be exposed helper/test surfaces, not the route path used by the world map. `TrackEntry` is now the highest-confidence native handoff for quest/objective route plotting. ## Journal Listener Fanout `JournalManager.TrackEntry` at RVA `0x5944fc` is now confirmed at runtime as the quest/objective route-plot entry point. A controlled test produced route-plot calls at `06:32:44`, `06:32:50`, and `06:32:56`, all from return RVA `0x26ac34e`, which is the script/native wrapper path for `TrackEntry`. The native `TrackEntry` implementation updates the tracked-entry state and then fans out through a listener array: ```text JournalManager + 0x210: listener pointer array JournalManager + 0x21c: listener count listener vtable + 0x28: one tracked-entry callback path listener vtable + 0x30: another tracked-entry callback path listener vtable + 0x50: untrack/default path ``` Before the save is fully loaded the listener count is small. After the world map is opened it rises to 254. Most entries use the no-op callback `0x14a700`, but the live route test repeatedly exposed this small non-default set: ```text 0xea89a8 / 0xea8958 0xe63f80 / 0xe63e6c 0xe63f00 / 0x8d136c 0x431a34 / 0x55a4e4 0x14de238 ``` Static disassembly of these callbacks suggests the following split: - `0x14a700` is a plain empty return. - `0xea89a8` and `0xea8958` are objective/story tracking callbacks; their vtable lives beside a `quests/street_stories/.../generic_sts_objective` string. - `0x431a34`, `0x55a4e4`, and `0x14de238` are heavy UI/tracker state callbacks. - `0xe63f80` and `0xe63e6c` remain the most promising route-refresh callbacks: they read nested listener fields at `+0x70` and `+0x78` and call high vtable slots such as `0x218`, `0x230`, `0x240`, `0x340`, and `0x348`. The installed probe now hooks those non-default callbacks directly and logs the nested owner/service vtables. A later controlled run narrowed the quest route handoff further: ```text JournalManager.TrackEntry -> JournalListener::Route callbacks at 0xe63f80 / 0xe63e6c -> journal/mappin route bridge candidate at 0x598250 -> MappinSystem route-event enqueue at 0x13763d8 -> route-event handler at 0xaa62d0 -> activate route ref at 0xaa6330 -> or deactivate route ref at 0x27abd7c ``` The route listener object has two important nested service pointers in the live logs: ```text listener + 0x70: mappin system, vtable 0x14310e300 listener + 0x78: journal manager, vtable 0x1430f0890 ``` The mappin system slot `0x240` points to RVA `0x13763d8`. Static disassembly shows it is not the solver. It builds a small queued event with vtable `0x14310e1c0`: ```text event + 0x08: event type byte, value 5 event + 0x18: route/journal id event + 0x20: mappin system pointer event + 0x28: active/unactive bool ``` The event handler at `0xaa62d0` reads that bool and calls either `0xaa6330` or `0x27abd7c` with the mappin system and a route reference taken from the event payload. Both target functions look like active-route state toggles: they look up a route ref in a map at `mappinSystem + 0x1a0`, set a byte at route object offset `0x84`, then notify observers from the list at `mappinSystem + 0x280` through virtual callbacks at offsets `0x48`/`0x50`. Static xrefs also expose a shared route-change helper at `0x27aa2d8`, which deactivates an old route ref and activates a new route ref. That is likely the common mappin state transition path for both journal/objective routes and custom/player pins. The newest controlled run confirms the queued route event timing: ```text quest route click -> JournalManager.TrackEntry from wrapper return RVA 0x26ac34e -> MappinSystem route-event enqueue old route active=0 -> MappinSystem route-event enqueue new route active=1 -> 11-18 ms later: MappinRouteEvent::Handle -> MappinSystem::RouteDeactivate(old route key) -> MappinSystem::RouteActivate(new route key) -> route observers at system + 0x280 ``` The click-to-event delay matched the in-game behavior: the old GPS path disappears for a few frames, then the new path appears. That makes the route observer fanout the next most useful runtime layer to inspect. The activation/deactivation argument is not an object pointer. It is a 64-bit route key. Static disassembly of `0xaa6330` and `0x27abd7c` shows that key being looked up in the active-route map at `mappinSystem + 0x1a0`; the resulting map entry's `+0x08` field points at the actual route object/smart pointer passed to route observers. The first observer callback set seen at runtime is: ```text observer vtable 0x14310e760: slot 0x48 -> 0xaa6610, slot 0x50 -> 0x27b10c0 observer vtable 0x143136050: slot 0x48 -> 0xaa6628, slot 0x50 -> 0x295d4a0 observer vtable 0x143121458: slot 0x48 -> 0xaa63e0, slot 0x50 -> 0x286a85c ``` The installed probe now hooks those callbacks directly and logs the route entry, route object, route object vtable slots, and the route object's active byte at offset `0x84`. The first observer-object run separated three route-object vtable families: ```text vtable 0x142b31138: quest/objective route objects, key at +0x40 vtable 0x142af1510: quest/objective route objects, key at +0x40 vtable 0x142b30e20: custom/player pin route objects, key at +0x40 ``` `RouteActivate` and `RouteDeactivate` really do flip the route object's active byte at `+0x84`. The observer callbacks receive the same route entry after that flip. Static disassembly of observer0 (`0xaa6610 -> 0xaa6678`) shows it consuming route-object virtuals at `+0x1a8`, `+0x188`, `+0x140`, and `+0x198`. `+0x198` returns a route enum from a nested descriptor; `+0x188` returns a descriptor payload pointer; and `+0x140` is a route-family-specific boolean. That observer stores derived route state into buckets under the observer object, choosing one bucket only when the enum is `0x8e`. Static disassembly of observer1 (`0xaa6628`) is now the highest-value downstream branch. It resolves a route object, then calls a generic system getter with a runtime type/global at `.data` RVA `0x342f6a8`, calls the returned service's vtable slot `0x220` with `routeObject + 0x8c`, and stores generated handles/strings under its inner object at offsets around `+0x180`, `+0x1a0`, `+0x1c0`, and `+0x1e0`. The current probe logs that service-owner path and `routeObject + 0x8c` so the next runtime test can tell whether observer1 is crossing into GPS/path computation or just updating presentation state. The `07:22:14` controlled run confirmed observer1 is in the deliberate route click window, not just load-time setup. The three quest route clicks produced the expected sequence: ```text JournalManager.TrackEntry MappinSystem.RouteEventEnqueue old active=0 / new active=1 MappinSystem.RouteDeactivate old route key MappinSystem.RouteActivate new route key RouteObserver1 deactivate/activate with the matching routeObject + 0x8c route id ``` The observer1 service-owner object was stable across those calls (`serviceOwner` vtable `0x142b74ea8`, slot `0x08` target `0x140287c44`). Static disassembly of `0x140287c44` shows a generic type-to-service lookup, so the next probe hooks that function, filters on the runtime type pointer at `0x342f6a8`, logs the returned service object, and dynamically hooks the returned service's vtable slot `0x220`. That slot is the immediate next native call after the lookup and receives the route id from `routeObject + 0x8c`. The most route-building-looking static candidate currently in this chain is `0x5625a4`, called once from the bridge at `0x5984ec`. The bridge resolves journal route ids through virtual journal-manager calls, collects several route descriptor/data pointers, and passes them to `0x5625a4`. Runtime evidence now shows this function firing in a dense load-time/minimap setup burst, not during later deliberate map-click route plotting. It may build cached route descriptors or GPS display metadata, but it is probably not the direct click-time solver entry point. ## Native False Positives Static string scans found a tempting traffic/pathfinding cluster around RVA `0x512000` with messages such as: ```text Pathfinding Algorithm Failed Find Straight Path Failed No Path Found in Traffic There's no point found to reach traffic ``` Disassembly around the string xrefs shows those strings being loaded into a large constructor/settings/result-description table rather than a solver loop. Related functions around `0x50f680`, `0x50fc24`, `0x513430`, and `0x513824` clearly touch traffic/path data, but their direct caller context references vehicle behavior and stuck-detection settings: ```text vehicles.common.stuck_detection_check_distance vehicles.common.stuck_detection_interval DriveState* ``` That cluster is likely autonomous vehicle traffic/path behavior. It may share the same road graph as GPS, but it is not yet evidence of the player map-route planner. The `GPSSystem/Tick` string is also mostly a profiling/event landmark. Nearby code builds profiling scopes and RTTI/type registration scaffolding; it has not yet exposed a clean planner function. ## The High-Level Shape Cyberpunk appears to split "navigation" into at least two major domains: - pedestrian/NPC navigation over navmesh resources - vehicle/GPS routing over generated traffic lane resources The public script/native type dump exposes `worldNavigationScriptInterface` and `AINavigationSystem` methods for navmesh path queries, but those are character navigation tools. They are not the car GPS. The car GPS system type exists as `gamegpsGPSSystem`, but its public RTTI surface does not expose planner methods that a REDscript mod can override. That means the practical mod surface is not yet settled. The data-only surface has been tested and appears insufficient. The next credible surface is a RED4ext hook in the native mappin/GPS handoff, after the concrete target function has been identified. ## Relevant Game Types The useful RTTI types are: - `gamegpsGPSSystem` - `gamegpsSettings` - `worldTrafficPersistentResource` - `worldTrafficPersistentData` - `worldTrafficLanePersistent` - `worldTrafficLanePlayerGPSInfo` - `worldTrafficLanePersistentFlags` `gamegpsSettings` contains display/refresh settings: - `lineEffectOnFoot` - `lineEffectVehicle` - `fixedPathOffset` - `fixedPortalMappinOffset` - `pathRefreshTimeInterval` - `lastPlayerNavmeshPositionRefreshTimeIntervalSecs` - `maxPathDisplayLength` Those affect GPS presentation and refresh behavior, not edge selection. `worldTrafficPersistentResource` is the key resource type. Its root chunk has `data: worldTrafficPersistentData`, which has: - `lanes: array` - `neighborGroups: array>` Each lane has the actual graph metadata: - `outLanes` - `inLanes` - `outline` - `accumulatedLengths` - `crowdCreationInfo` - `maxSpeed` - `deadEndStart` - `length` - `width` - `area` - `flags` - `subGraphId` - `playerGPSInfo` - `neighborGroupIndex` - `nodeRefHash` - `laneNumber` - `seqNumber` - `isReversed` - `roadMaterials` - `polygon` `playerGPSInfo` contains: - `subGraphId` - `stronglyConnectedComponentId` That strongly suggests the GPS planner has a precomputed connectivity graph and uses connected-component/subgraph metadata to reject impossible paths quickly. ## Resource Location In this install, the important resource is: ```text base\worlds\03_night_city\sectors\_generated\traffic\all.traffic_persistent ``` It exists in both the basegame Night City archive and the Phantom Liberty Night City archive. For a Phantom Liberty install, the EP1 archive version should win: ```text archive/pc/ep1/ep1_1_nightcity.archive ``` WolvenKit can extract, serialize, deserialize, and pack this resource on Linux through `wolvenkit.cli` 8.18.1. ## Lane Flags `worldTrafficLanePersistentFlags`: ```text FromRoadSpline = 1 Bidirectional = 2 PatrolRoute = 4 Pavement = 8 Road = 16 Intersection = 32 NeverDeadEnd = 64 TrafficDisabled = 128 CrossWalk = 256 GPSOnly = 512 ShowDebug = 1024 Blockade = 2048 Yield = 4096 NoAIDriving = 8192 Highway = 16384 NoAutodrive = 32768 ``` The important flags for GPS weighting are `Road`, `Intersection`, `GPSOnly`, and `Highway`. The important flags to avoid touching are `Pavement`, `CrossWalk`, `TrafficDisabled`, and `Blockade`. ## Observed Lane Distribution The local EP1 `all.traffic_persistent` resource contains `33,952` lanes when extracted from the archive's raw compressed segment. Observed `maxSpeed` distribution: ```text all lanes: 1: 12852 15: 12107 10: 5859 17: 3027 14: 96 8: 8 9: 2 4: 1 highway lanes: 17: 2700 15: 164 1: 2 road lanes: 15: 11943 10: 671 17: 327 14: 96 8: 4 pavement lanes: 1: 12848 10: 5188 8: 4 9: 2 4: 1 ``` The values are not real-world mph/kph. They are compact game-scale lane speeds. Because highways are already mostly `17` and normal roads are mostly `15`, a large value like `90` was expected to be reckless. The first conservative archive used: - highway speed target: `25` - road speed floor: `15` That changes `2,519` lanes: - `2,429` highway boosts - `90` road floor boosts It leaves pavement/crosswalk/blocked/disabled lanes alone. ## What The Data Archive Experiment Did The data archive experiment did not replace the pathfinding algorithm. It edited the traffic graph's lane metadata so the native GPS planner might have better cost inputs. The original hypothesis was that if the planner factored `maxSpeed` into traversal cost in the usual way, then a segment with the same physical length but higher `maxSpeed` would become cheaper. That should have nudged the native planner toward highways and high-capacity roads without hooking the planner itself. Conceptually: ```text old cost ~= lane.length / lane.maxSpeed new cost ~= lane.length / patched_lane.maxSpeed ``` Live testing disproved this as a player-GPS lever. The patched value clearly reached the game because traffic speed changed, but player GPS route choice did not. ## Why Not Just Write A New A*? A standalone A* is easy. Integrating it into Cyberpunk's GPS is the hard part. The game already has: - traffic lane connectivity - lane polygons/outlines - player lane matching - destination lane matching - dynamic refresh - minimap/world map rendering - quest mappin target integration - portal/entrance handling - route line effects The script-facing `gamegpsGPSSystem` type does not expose hooks for replacing that pipeline. A custom planner would still need a way to feed its result back into the GPS renderer and route-following systems. Without native RED4ext hooks, that is much riskier than patching the resource data the existing pipeline already consumes. ## Packaging Flow The working flow is: 1. Read the archive index and extract the exact compressed segment for resource hash `3419764573789342681`. 2. Decompress that KARK segment with WolvenKit CLI's Oodle command. 3. Serialize the CR2W resource to JSON. 4. Patch lane `maxSpeed` values. 5. Deserialize the patched JSON back to CR2W. 6. Put the CR2W back under the original resource path. 7. Pack an archive. 8. Place the archive in `archive/pc/mod`. Do not use plain `cp77tools extract` for this resource. In this install, WolvenKit CLI extracted a `9,984,106` byte CR2W, while the stock archive segment declares and decompresses to `10,673,648` bytes. A vanilla control archive built from the smaller extraction crashed during load. A vanilla control archive built from the raw segment reached the game and the GPS worked normally. The generated archive currently contains exactly: ```text base\worlds\03_night_city\sectors\_generated\traffic\all.traffic_persistent ``` ## Risks And Unknowns The first major finding from in-game testing is that `maxSpeed` is not a useful GPS weighting lever. Raising highway lanes as high as `120` did not change GPS routes in the test case, but it did make freeway traffic noticeably faster. That means `maxSpeed` should be treated as traffic simulation data, not GPS route cost data. The actual lane adjacency is not populated in `all.traffic_persistent`; every lane's `outLanes` array serialized empty. The adjacency is in: ```text base\worlds\03_night_city\sectors\_generated\traffic\all.lane_connections ``` That resource is a `worldTrafficPersistentLaneConnectionsResource` with one row per lane. Each row has `inLanes` and `outlanes`. Each outgoing connection contains `laneIndex`, `exitProbabilityCompressed`, `isSharpAngle`, `nextLaneEntryPosition`, and `thisLaneExitPosition`. There is still no explicit edge cost field. A follow-up data-only test patched `exitProbabilityCompressed`, strongly favoring road/GPSOnly/highway connections that enter or remain on highways and lowering competing non-highway exits. That archive changed 145 outgoing connection probabilities across 136 lanes. It also loaded and ran, but it did not change the tested player GPS routes. The Oodle library was not available inside the toolbox, so WolvenKit packed with its Kraken fallback. A vanilla full-resource control archive loaded in game and GPS worked normally, so the earlier crash was caused by bad extracted data rather than the Kraken-packed archive container. The patch targets the EP1 traffic resource because Phantom Liberty is installed. On a non-PL install, the basegame archive resource would need to be patched instead. ## Native Async Traffic Route Pipeline The later RED4ext probes moved the active lead away from journal/mappin fanout and into the native async traffic route pipeline. The useful runtime path is: ```text GPS query dispatch 0x70a570 traffic request enqueue 0x8d17d8 traffic result take 0x709d5c route-record conversion 0x44a398 route postprocess 0x44830c ``` `0x8d17d8` enqueues work into the traffic route service. `0x709d5c` later takes the finished result from the service result table, and `0x44830c` postprocesses the traffic result into the path object consumed by the game. Route records captured at this stage matched `worldTrafficLanePersistent.nodeRefHash` values from `all.traffic_persistent`, which confirms that the displayed/player GPS path is backed by the traffic lane graph even though `maxSpeed` and connection probability patches did not affect route choice. Later static work found the actual graph-search loop upstream of those result records: ```text route producer 0x44cc7c packed-handle resolver 0x44e1a8 path search loop 0x44f054 path materializer 0x44eb68 heuristic distance helper 0x44f7bc edge-cost callback 0x44f838 base provider filter 0x450b08 filtered provider filter 0x44ff68 ``` `0x44f054` is an A*/Dijkstra-style open-list search. It validates packed start and target handles, pushes the start node, repeatedly pops the lowest-priority state, checks the target handle, traverses adjacent handles from the current navigation segment, calls a provider filter through vtable slot `+0x08`, calls edge cost through vtable slot `+0x10`, and records the predecessor/cost when a neighbor improves. Both the base and filtered cost providers use `0x44f838` for slot `+0x10`. That function computes geometric distance between the current and neighbor points and multiplies it by: ```text provider[0x08 + ((neighborPoint[0x13] & 0x3f) * 4)] ``` The base provider constructor at `0x451158` initializes all 64 class multipliers to `1.0`. The filtered provider constructor at `0x44b9b4` reuses the same edge-cost function and mainly adds route masks/special zones. For normal map routes, this means the live GPS edge cost is effectively geometric distance over a compact navigation graph, not `lane.length / lane.maxSpeed`. The packed handles resolved by `0x44e1a8` point into `VAND` navigation blobs loaded from `base\worlds\03_night_city\_compiled\default\navigation_*.streamingsector`. The 0x14-byte point record has: - `+0x00`: adjacency/index field used by the search loop - `+0x10`: 16-bit provider mask - `+0x12`: small point metadata byte - `+0x13`: packed route point class/flags; low six bits are the class used by `0x44f838` The helper `tools/analyze_vand_navigation.py` decodes these blobs from streamingsector JSON. In the three extracted navigation samples, all blobs were version 8, all point masks were `0x0003`, and the dominant classes were `1`, `4`, `5`, and `3`. That matches the runtime edge-cost logs. This explains why the earlier `all.traffic_persistent` patches changed vehicle simulation but did not steer player GPS: the route chooser is walking the baked navigation `VAND` graph, then later materializing/copying results that can be joined to traffic lane hashes. Static disassembly found a small traffic candidate scorer at `0x8d46cc`: ```text score ~= sqrt(candidate + 0x08) + 2 * abs(candidate_z-ish - reference_z-ish) ``` It reads lane flags from `[candidate_lane + 0x88]` and branches on `query + 0x41`: - `query41 != 0`: pavement lanes (`0x0008`) get a vanilla `+20.0` penalty. - `query41 == 0`: road-flagged lanes (`0x0010`) get a vanilla `*1.75` penalty and caller `0x8d4630` applies an additional geometry normalization. Only two direct callers reach this scorer: ```text 0x8d4568 -> 0x8d46cc 0x8d466f -> 0x8d46cc ``` Both iterate 0x30-byte candidate records and keep the lowest score. This makes `0x8d46cc` a bounded candidate/projection selector, not the full city-wide graph search loop. An experimental hook multiplied the returned score by lane flag: - highway: `0.35` - road: `0.70` - GPSOnly: `1.35` - pavement: `2.75` - other: `1.50` Live logging proved the hook was attached and the corrected mode check was active: ```text pavement query41=1 base=37.854 multiplier=2.750 result=104.099 road query41=1 base=23.986 multiplier=0.700 result=16.790 highway query41=1 base=39.640 multiplier=0.350 result=13.874 ``` However, that detour crashed during the load-time GPS warmup. The crash report was an access violation reading `0x71`, and the crash reproduced until the RED4ext plugin was disabled. The hook is therefore disabled by default in source (`kEnableGpsTrafficEdgeWeightPatch = false`) and the local installed DLL is renamed to `EdgeWeightGPS.dll.disabled`. The main takeaway is still valuable, but narrower than first suspected: traffic lane flags are available in native route-side endpoint/candidate code, and `0x8d46cc` is an excellent landmark. It is not the city-wide graph-cost function. The current prototype therefore targets `0x44f838` instead. It generates a compact spatial grid from traffic lane polygons/flags and samples that grid from the search-state coordinates passed to the edge-cost callback. The first test multipliers are: ```text highway 0.62 road 1.00 GPSOnly 1.20 pavement 1.35 unknown 1.05 ``` This deliberately leaves VAND point class bits untouched. The materialization path branches on those bits after search, so rewriting them in data could alter route construction or instructions as well as cost. Runtime logs also show that long visible routes are decomposed into many local `0x44cc7c` route-producer searches. The tempting world-map caller `ret_rva=0x70aa22` mostly produced tiny connector searches in the resolver logs, so the first spatial test should patch edge cost across route-producer calls instead of gating only on that caller. The spatial edge-cost prototype is now also disproved as the decisive world-map GPS weighting surface. In `logs/EdgeWeightGPS_spatial_inversion_no_route_change_1845.log`, the plugin first ran with highway-free weights (`H=0.05`, all other spatial classes `19.0`), then hot-reloaded the exact inverse (`H=19.0`, all others `0.05`). The four repeated world-map routes after the flip produced final `GPSQueryResultFetch 0x7094b8` 0x28-byte route records that were exact matches for the pre-flip routes: identical lane handles, identical packed metadata, and identical record counts. Therefore `0x44f838` remains a real local graph edge cost callback, but changing it does not change the final selected route records for the tested full player GPS routes. ## Future Improvements Better versions of this mod could: - identify the broader async traffic route search/expansion loop around the `0x8d25xx` to `0x8d49xx` cluster - disassemble the full map-route submit/result chain around `0x8d20d4`, `0x70a42c`, `0x70a570`, `0x7094b8`, and the `0x520783` result drain to find the route selection or copy step before final records are emitted - replace the crashing `0x8d46cc` detour with a narrower inline patch or a safer caller-side hook - decode enough of the `VAND` graph to join navigation points to traffic lane polygons and highway flags - extract the full Night City navigation streamingsector set into workspace storage and summarize it with `tools/analyze_vand_navigation.py` - keep the generated spatial grid as a local-search diagnostic, but do not treat its multipliers as a proven world-map route weighting knob - add route-mode gating if the spatial edge-cost hook affects pedestrians, autodrive, or other local navigation too broadly - inspect `GPSOnly` connector lanes if a later native trace proves they are consumed by the player GPS - build district-specific presets if a real data-cost surface is found - generate a diff report of every changed lane with flags, length, speed, and graph component - ship multiple archives only if a data patch is proven to affect routing