[CryoTheRenegade]

Found while looking for more type-punning casts after xezon's "Are there more of these?" on #3580. MeshModelClass::Shadow_Render packs Vector2 values over its Vector4 buffer through a reinterpret_cast, and passes the triangle indices to BWRenderClass as const unsigned long*. In Zero Hour the indices are Vector3i16, so that cast would read two 16-bit indices as one 32-bit index. The code never runs, though, so this PR removes it instead of fixing it.

The only place that sets SpecialRenderInfoClass::BWRenderer is inside an #if 0 block in TexProjectClass::Compute_Texture. BWRenderer is therefore always null, and Shadow_Render returns without drawing. Projected shadows use the hardware render target path above that block.

Removed, in both games where the code is per game:

• bwrender.cpp and bwrender.h in Core, with their entries in the Core CMake list and the commented-out entries in the game lists.
• The #if 0 block and the bwrender.h include in texproject.cpp.
• SpecialRenderInfoClass::BWRenderer and its forward declaration.
• MeshModelClass::Shadow_Render, its RENDER_SHADOW call in MeshClass::Special_Render, and the _TempTransformedVertexBuffer it used.
• MeshGeometryClass::get_deformed_screenspace_vertices, which only Shadow_Render called.

RENDER_SHADOW itself stays, since W3DProjectedShadowManager still renders with it.

Evidence

• Disassembly: I compared mesh.obj, meshmdl.obj, meshgeometry.obj, rinfo.obj, hlod.obj, texproject.obj and W3DProjectedShadow.obj for both games, with VS 2026 (ClangCL) and VC6 Release, against a build of main. Apart from the removed functions and the static initializer of the removed buffer:
  • MeshClass::Special_Render no longer calls Get_HTree and Shadow_Render for RENDER_SHADOW.
  • The SpecialRenderInfoClass constructor no longer stores BWRenderer, and W3DProjectedShadowManager::init allocates the class with 4 fewer bytes.
  • Other changes are renumbered labels and symbols only.

AI Disclosure

Claude Opus 5.5 was used to aid in implementation and to compare the disassembly.

[coderabbitai]

No actionable comments were generated in the recent review.

Walkthrough

The change removes the black-and-white triangle renderer and its mesh shadow-rendering integration from WW3D2. The active texproject render-target path remains unchanged.

Changes

BW renderer removal

Layer / File(s)	Summary
Remove the BW renderer Core/Libraries/Source/WWVegas/WW3D2/bwrender.*, Core/Libraries/Source/WWVegas/WW3D2/texproject.cpp, */Libraries/Source/WWVegas/WW3D2/CMakeLists.txt	The BWRenderClass implementation and declaration are deleted. The disabled renderer block in texproject.cpp and the related source-list references are removed.
Remove mesh shadow-rendering integration Generals/Code/Libraries/Source/WWVegas/WW3D2/{mesh.cpp,meshgeometry.*,meshmdl.*,rinfo.*}, GeneralsMD/Code/Libraries/Source/WWVegas/WW3D2/{mesh.cpp,meshgeometry.*,meshmdl.*,rinfo.*}	Both variants remove the RENDER_SHADOW dispatch to MeshModelClass::Shadow_Render, the screen-space vertex helper, the method declaration and implementation, and the BWRenderer member and initialization. The associated temporary vertex buffer is also removed.

Estimated code review effort: 2 (Simple) | ~10 minutes

Change: Refactor

Suggested labels: Minor, Refactor, Rendering

Suggested reviewers: bobtista, xezon

Merge Risk: Minimal · up to 20d62

Projected shadows retain their active rendering path. No merge-blocking risk was identified.

Pre-merge checks: 4

Check name	Status	Explanation
Title check		The title clearly summarizes the main change: removal of the unused black-and-white shadow renderer.
Linked Issues check		Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.
Out of Scope Changes check		Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.
Description check		The description explains why the unused black-and-white shadow renderer is removed and lists the related code changes in both games.

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Recent review info

Run configuration

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• Repository: Unavailable
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• Layers: Organization UI
• Review profile: CHILL
• Plan: Advanced
• Run ID: a7695175-607e-491e-a2a1-74a386ca5ecf

Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between 998f337 and 20d6253.

Files selected for processing: 20

• Core/Libraries/Source/WWVegas/WW3D2/CMakeLists.txt
• Core/Libraries/Source/WWVegas/WW3D2/bwrender.cpp
• Core/Libraries/Source/WWVegas/WW3D2/bwrender.h
• Core/Libraries/Source/WWVegas/WW3D2/texproject.cpp
• Generals/Code/Libraries/Source/WWVegas/WW3D2/CMakeLists.txt
• Generals/Code/Libraries/Source/WWVegas/WW3D2/mesh.cpp
• Generals/Code/Libraries/Source/WWVegas/WW3D2/meshgeometry.cpp
• Generals/Code/Libraries/Source/WWVegas/WW3D2/meshgeometry.h
• Generals/Code/Libraries/Source/WWVegas/WW3D2/meshmdl.cpp
• Generals/Code/Libraries/Source/WWVegas/WW3D2/meshmdl.h
• Generals/Code/Libraries/Source/WWVegas/WW3D2/rinfo.cpp
• Generals/Code/Libraries/Source/WWVegas/WW3D2/rinfo.h
• GeneralsMD/Code/Libraries/Source/WWVegas/WW3D2/CMakeLists.txt
• GeneralsMD/Code/Libraries/Source/WWVegas/WW3D2/mesh.cpp
• GeneralsMD/Code/Libraries/Source/WWVegas/WW3D2/meshgeometry.cpp
• GeneralsMD/Code/Libraries/Source/WWVegas/WW3D2/meshgeometry.h
• GeneralsMD/Code/Libraries/Source/WWVegas/WW3D2/meshmdl.cpp
• GeneralsMD/Code/Libraries/Source/WWVegas/WW3D2/meshmdl.h
• GeneralsMD/Code/Libraries/Source/WWVegas/WW3D2/rinfo.cpp
• GeneralsMD/Code/Libraries/Source/WWVegas/WW3D2/rinfo.h

Files with no reviewable changes: 18

• Core/Libraries/Source/WWVegas/WW3D2/CMakeLists.txt
• Generals/Code/Libraries/Source/WWVegas/WW3D2/meshmdl.h
• GeneralsMD/Code/Libraries/Source/WWVegas/WW3D2/meshmdl.h
• GeneralsMD/Code/Libraries/Source/WWVegas/WW3D2/meshgeometry.h
• GeneralsMD/Code/Libraries/Source/WWVegas/WW3D2/CMakeLists.txt
• Generals/Code/Libraries/Source/WWVegas/WW3D2/mesh.cpp
• Core/Libraries/Source/WWVegas/WW3D2/texproject.cpp
• Generals/Code/Libraries/Source/WWVegas/WW3D2/meshmdl.cpp
• Core/Libraries/Source/WWVegas/WW3D2/bwrender.h
• Generals/Code/Libraries/Source/WWVegas/WW3D2/meshgeometry.cpp
• GeneralsMD/Code/Libraries/Source/WWVegas/WW3D2/meshmdl.cpp
• GeneralsMD/Code/Libraries/Source/WWVegas/WW3D2/meshgeometry.cpp
• Generals/Code/Libraries/Source/WWVegas/WW3D2/rinfo.h
• Core/Libraries/Source/WWVegas/WW3D2/bwrender.cpp
• Generals/Code/Libraries/Source/WWVegas/WW3D2/CMakeLists.txt
• GeneralsMD/Code/Libraries/Source/WWVegas/WW3D2/rinfo.h
• GeneralsMD/Code/Libraries/Source/WWVegas/WW3D2/mesh.cpp
• Generals/Code/Libraries/Source/WWVegas/WW3D2/meshgeometry.h

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