# battlepod: reconstructing the BattleTech arcade cockpit

> battlepod reconstructs the Virtual World Entertainment BattleTech cockpit as a bring-up harness and playable emulator. It runs the cockpit's 68020 software from a user-supplied image, models serial and Remote I/O devices, decodes display lists, and records hardware and inter-pod protocol findings.

- Type: Case study
- Targets: Firmware · Game · Protocol
- Category: Independent reconstruction cases
- Relationship: Independent reconstruction project
- Sources reviewed: 2026-11-06
- Added to the catalog: 2026-11-08
- Original resource: <https://github.com/sp00nznet/battlepod>
- Primary source: <https://github.com/sp00nznet/battlepod/blob/8430e9da6d6c98246d52f4534d1feb41566aed39/README.md>
- Catalog page: <https://awesomerea.org/resources/battlepod-case/>
- Record JSON: <https://awesomerea.org/resources/battlepod-case/record.json>
- Chinese version: [简体中文](https://awesomerea.org/zh/resources/battlepod-case/index.md)

## Requirements & limits

- **Prerequisites:** A user's own VWE Release 13.1.8 image set.
- **Prerequisites:** A C compiler, GNU make 4 or later, Git and Python 3.8 or later; SDL2 and pkg-config are required for the cockpit windows.
- **Limits:** The author reports alpha status; sound and the secondary display are absent.
- **License:** MIT License.

## Primary sources

1. <https://github.com/sp00nznet/battlepod/blob/8430e9da6d6c98246d52f4534d1feb41566aed39/README.md>
2. <https://github.com/sp00nznet/battlepod/blob/8430e9da6d6c98246d52f4534d1feb41566aed39/docs/ARCHITECTURE.md>

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## About this entry

The description was reviewed against primary sources.
Original editorial content: MIT. Linked projects, papers and assets retain their own rights and licenses.