fix(ini): replay user GameData.ini after SagePatch overrides

Generals/Code/GameEngine/Source/Common/GameEngine.cpp

@@ -412,6 +412,8 @@ void GameEngine::init()
 
 	// GeneralsX @feature felipebraz 08/06/2026 Auto-create SagePatch.ini in user data dir with defaults.
 	{
+		static const char *const USER_GAME_DATA_INI_PATH = "Data\\INI\\GameData.ini";
+
 		AsciiString sagePatchPath = TheWritableGlobalData->getPath_UserData();
 		sagePatchPath.concat("SagePatch.ini");
 
@@ -424,8 +426,9 @@ void GameEngine::init()
 					"; -----------------------------------------------------------------------------\n"
 					"; SagePatch - Casual QoL overrides for GeneralsX\n"
 					";\n"
-					"; Loaded by the engine after the BIG-archived Data/INI/GameData.ini, so values\n"
-					"; here override (not append to) the originals.\n"
+					"; Loaded by the engine after the BIG-archived Data/INI/GameData.ini, so values here\n"
+					"; override (not append to) the originals. A loose Data/INI/GameData.ini that you author\n"
+					"; yourself is applied after this file and therefore still wins over it.\n"
 					"; -----------------------------------------------------------------------------\n"
 					"\n"
 					"GameData\n"
@@ -437,7 +440,7 @@ void GameEngine::init()
 					"  EnforceMaxCameraHeight = No\n"
 					"  ; Keyboard scroll - vanilla 0.5 is sluggish, double it.\n"
 					"  KeyboardScrollSpeedFactor = 1.0\n"
-					"  ; ~5% more terrain drawn at max zoom to fix terrain pop-in.\n"
+					"  ; ~5%% more terrain drawn at max zoom to fix terrain pop-in.\n"
 					"  TerrainDrawDistanceScale = 1.05\n"
 					// GeneralsX @tweak felipebraz 20/06/2026 Default render FPS limit to 60 FPS in SagePatch.ini
 					"  UseFPSLimit = Yes\n"
@@ -480,6 +483,15 @@ void GameEngine::init()
 			}
 
 			ini.load(sagePatchPath, INI_LOAD_OVERWRITE, nullptr);
+
+			// GeneralsX @bugfix kumait 13/08/2026 SagePatch defaults must not clobber a user-authored
+			// Data/INI/GameData.ini. That loose file shadows the BIG-archived one when the engine loads
+			// GameData above, so replaying it here restores user precedence over SagePatch. Installs
+			// without a loose GameData.ini are unaffected, and the archived original is never reloaded.
+			if (TheLocalFileSystem->doesFileExist(USER_GAME_DATA_INI_PATH))
+			{
+				ini.load(USER_GAME_DATA_INI_PATH, INI_LOAD_OVERWRITE, nullptr);
+			}
 		}
 	}
 

GeneralsMD/Code/GameEngine/Source/Common/GameEngine.cpp

@@ -471,6 +471,8 @@ void GameEngine::init()
 	// GeneralsX @feature felipebraz 08/06/2026 Auto-create SagePatch.ini in user data dir with defaults.
 	// This replaces the run.sh copy approach with engine-managed defaults.
 	{
+		static const char *const USER_GAME_DATA_INI_PATH = "Data\\INI\\GameData.ini";
+
 		AsciiString sagePatchPath = TheWritableGlobalData->getPath_UserData();
 		sagePatchPath.concat("SagePatch.ini");
 
@@ -483,8 +485,9 @@ void GameEngine::init()
 				"; -----------------------------------------------------------------------------\n"
 				"; SagePatch - Casual QoL overrides for GeneralsX\n"
 				";\n"
-				"; Loaded by the engine after the BIG-archived Data/INI/GameData.ini, so values\n"
-				"; here override (not append to) the originals.\n"
+				"; Loaded by the engine after the BIG-archived Data/INI/GameData.ini, so values here\n"
+				"; override (not append to) the originals. A loose Data/INI/GameData.ini that you author\n"
+				"; yourself is applied after this file and therefore still wins over it.\n"
 				"; -----------------------------------------------------------------------------\n"
 				"\n"
 				"GameData\n"
@@ -496,7 +499,7 @@ void GameEngine::init()
 					"  EnforceMaxCameraHeight = No\n"
 					"  ; Keyboard scroll - vanilla 0.5 is sluggish, double it.\n"
 					"  KeyboardScrollSpeedFactor = 1.0\n"
-					"  ; ~5% more terrain drawn at max zoom to fix terrain pop-in.\n"
+					"  ; ~5%% more terrain drawn at max zoom to fix terrain pop-in.\n"
 					"  TerrainDrawDistanceScale = 1.05\n"
 					// GeneralsX @tweak felipebraz 20/06/2026 Default render FPS limit to 60 FPS in SagePatch.ini
 					"  UseFPSLimit = Yes\n"
@@ -539,6 +542,15 @@ void GameEngine::init()
 			}
 
 			ini.load(sagePatchPath, INI_LOAD_OVERWRITE, nullptr);
+
+			// GeneralsX @bugfix kumait 13/08/2026 SagePatch defaults must not clobber a user-authored
+			// Data/INI/GameData.ini. That loose file shadows the BIG-archived one when the engine loads
+			// GameData above, so replaying it here restores user precedence over SagePatch. Installs
+			// without a loose GameData.ini are unaffected, and the archived original is never reloaded.
+			if (TheLocalFileSystem->doesFileExist(USER_GAME_DATA_INI_PATH))
+			{
+				ini.load(USER_GAME_DATA_INI_PATH, INI_LOAD_OVERWRITE, nullptr);
+			}
 		}
 	}
 

docs/WORKLOG/2026-08-DIARY.md

@@ -100,3 +100,14 @@
 
 ### Known Remaining Issue
 - `DX8Wrapper::Resize_And_Position_Window()` (`dx8wrapper.cpp`) hardcodes position `(0,0)` on SDL platforms where the Win32 path centers on the current monitor's work area, and passes physical pixels to the `SetWindowPos` compat shim, which forwards them to `SDL_SetWindowSize()`. The window-mode pass in `W3DDisplay` corrects both afterwards, so the visible result is right, but the window can briefly flash at the wrong geometry. Fixing it at source touches shared `Core/` code and needs Linux validation before it lands.
+
+## 13/08/2026
+### Stop SagePatch.ini From Overriding a User-Authored GameData.ini
+- Reported symptom: `MaxCameraHeight` set in a loose `Data/INI/GameData.ini` had no effect in game.
+- Root cause was load order in `GameEngine::init()`. The engine loads `Data\INI\Default\GameData` and `Data\INI\GameData` through `initSubsystem()`, then loads the auto-generated `SagePatch.ini` from the user data dir with `INI_LOAD_OVERWRITE`. SagePatch ships a hardcoded `GameData` block (`MaxCameraHeight = 350.0`, `MinCameraHeight = 100.0`, `EnforceMaxCameraHeight = No`, ...), so it silently overwrote whatever the user had authored.
+- The loose `Data/INI/GameData.ini` shadows the BIG-archived copy, because `FileSystem::openFile()` resolves local before archive. The archived original is therefore never a factor once a user file exists, so the fix replays that loose file after `SagePatch.ini`, guarded by `TheLocalFileSystem->doesFileExist()`. Installs without a loose `GameData.ini` keep the previous behavior.
+- Reloading is safe: under `INI_LOAD_OVERWRITE`, `GlobalData::parseGameDataDefinition()` is plain field assignment with no `newOverride()` push, and the extra load is not fed to `xferCRC`, so the startup light CRC is unchanged.
+- Fixed the generated `~5% more terrain` comment, which was passed as a `fprintf` format string and lost the `%` and the following space in every `SagePatch.ini` written to date.
+- Updated the generated header comment to document the precedence rule.
+- Known trade-off: a loose `GameData.ini` must be a complete copy of the archived file (it shadows, not merges), so the replay makes *every* key in it authoritative — including stock values the user copied without meaning to change. Concretely, stock pins `FramesPerSecondLimit = 30`, so a user file based on the stock copy reverts SagePatch's 60 FPS default unless the user edits that line too. Keys absent from stock (e.g. `TerrainDrawDistanceScale`) keep their SagePatch values.
+- Applied to both Generals and Zero Hour.