DorkNet/DorkNet.ProtoDumper/README.md

DorkNet ProtoDumper

Runtime extractor for Rec Room's Google.Protobuf schema (room save / creation / circuits data model). Produces clean .proto files for any client build — including obfuscated ones like 2023.03.21 where static reconstruction from global-metadata.dat is unreliable (the descriptor base64 is split into scattered string-literal chunks whose concat order only lives in IL).

At runtime every FileDescriptor still carries its original, un-obfuscated FileDescriptorProto (real message names, field names, numbers and types intact). The catch: Rec Room builds these descriptors lazily and in a specific dependency order as content loads. Trying to force-build them by reading a message type's static descriptor out of order throws inside the type's static constructor, and the failure is cached — poisoning the type (and crashing the client). So this mod does not enumerate types.

Instead it Harmony-postfixes the one library method every generated cctor funnels through — Google.Protobuf.Reflection.FileDescriptor.BuildFrom / .FromGeneratedCode — and records each descriptor as the game builds it. Completely passive: play the client through the content you care about and every descriptor that loads is captured.

Pipeline

1. Build the mod

   dotnet build DorkNet.ProtoDumper/DorkNet.ProtoDumper.csproj -c Release
   

   Output: DorkNet.ProtoDumper/bin/Release/DorkNet.ProtoDumper.dll.

2. Run it on a runnable 2023.03.21 client (MelonLoader 0.6.6)

   The GameAssembly.dll + il2cpp_data-only copy under Recnet-old/dist/RecRoom-2023.03.21-il2cpp/…/staging/ is an offline-analysis payload, not a runnable build. Use a full build with the exe + UnityPlayer + MelonLoader (e.g. the devdork package).

   • Drop DorkNet.ProtoDumper.dll into <RecRoom>\Mods\. On launch it installs the descriptor-build hooks (see dump.log / MelonLoader console for "installed N descriptor-build hooks").
   • Log in and play through the content whose schema you want: your dorm, a created room, the Maker Pen, and a circuits (CV2) board. Each subsystem builds its protos the first time it loads. Descriptors are captured the instant they build — no scene/timer scanning, nothing is force-built, so the client stays stable.
   • Output appears under <RecRoom>\DorkNet-ProtoDump\ and is flushed to disk ~1 s after new descriptors load, and again on quit:
     • manifest.tsv — <proto path>\t<base64> per file
     • files\*.b64 — same, one file each
     • dump.log — running capture count

3. Decode to .proto

   pip install protobuf
   python DorkNet.ProtoDumper/decode_dump.py <path>/manifest.tsv proto_out
   

   Emits one .proto per descriptor under proto_out/, plus a combined proto_out/recroom_2023.proto (every rec_room/circuits message in one file) for an easy diff against DorkNet.Server/Protos/recroom_2020.proto.

Notes

• No game DLLs are referenced at compile time. FileDescriptor is the Google.Protobuf library type (not obfuscated); it's reached by its original name with the Il2Cpp namespace-prefix fallback, and its members are read via reflection. The same DLL works across builds and stays clean of derivative game code.
• The only Harmony patches are the two read-only descriptor-build postfixes above — safe to run alongside (or without) DorkNet.ClientMod.
• The descriptor base64 is the same FileDescriptorProto wire format Google's own tooling emits, so decode_dump.py (or protoc --decode=google.protobuf.FileDescriptorProto descriptor.proto) reads it directly.