Release active Safe archive warming with verified runtime activity

.github/workflows/build-release.yml

@@ -32,21 +32,24 @@ jobs:
       - name: Build release
         run: cmake --build build --config Release --parallel
 
+      - name: Exercise the actual DLL and cache policy
+        run: ctest --test-dir build -C Release --output-on-failure
+
       - name: Package FOMOD
         shell: pwsh
         run: .\package-release.ps1 -SkipBuild
 
-      - name: Upload Nexus-ready artifact
+      - name: Upload FOMOD artifact
         uses: actions/upload-artifact@v7
         with:
-          name: NextGenDiskCache-2.1.0-FOMOD
+          name: NextGenDiskCache-2.2.1-FOMOD
           path: |
-            dist/NextGenDiskCache-2.1.0-FOMOD.zip
-            dist/NextGenDiskCache-2.1.0-SHA256.txt
+            dist/NextGenDiskCache-2.2.1-FOMOD.zip
+            dist/NextGenDiskCache-2.2.1-SHA256.txt
 
       - name: Upload symbols separately
         uses: actions/upload-artifact@v7
         with:
-          name: NextGenDiskCache-2.1.0-symbols
+          name: NextGenDiskCache-2.2.1-symbols
           path: build/symbols/NextGenDiskCache.pdb
           if-no-files-found: warn

CHANGELOG.txt

@@ -400,3 +400,24 @@ Notes:
   - Remove legacy diskCacheEnabler.dll when installing this.
 ================================================================================
 
+
+
+2.2.0 - 2026-09-29 local candidate (parent: 4755359 / 2.1.0)
+----------------------------------------------------------------
+- Safe now performs active bounded buffered warming of archives successfully opened by Skyrim, including later opens within a 180-second work window. No FILE_FLAG_NO_BUFFERING flag is needed for warming to run.
+- Default limits: 1024 MB/session, 64 MB/archive, 512 archives, 64 MB/s aggregate, one low-priority worker, 15 seconds after DataLoaded. Drive tuning only reduces these caps.
+- Observe only successful existing synchronous read-only BSA/BA2 opens under the game Data directory. Deduplicate paths and reject saves, other modules in IAT mode, failed opens, writes and out-of-root paths.
+- Read through separate shared read-only handles. Check RAM between chunks, pause on SKSE save-load messages, enforce the session deadline, preserve caller GetLastError and atomically publish IAT hooks.
+- Ordinary buffered warm reads omit SEQUENTIAL_SCAN so Windows is not invited to aggressively evict earlier warmed pages. Mapped/strided options and legacy directory scanning remain available.
+- Log completed ReadFile bytes separately from best-effort mapped requests and raw DirectStorage discard diagnostics. Always explain inactivity; active warming no longer triggers the old whole-plugin no-op message.
+- Keep all three installer choices and existing INI keys. Minimal remains the warming-disabled control; Experimental uses larger limits and retains process-wide interception.
+- Add an isolated Windows host exercising the actual DLL, plus production policy checks in CTest/CI. No save schema, game records, scripts or dependencies changed.
+- In-game loading/FPS gains, the supported-runtime matrix and manager installation remain unverified. No deployment or public release in this work.
+- Incorporated current remote main 10b7590 (README layout, community files and dependency-action updates). Failed archive opens now leave successful flag-change counters unchanged. The idle monitor does not repeatedly initialize empty workers.
+
+2.2.1 - 2026-09-29 release preparation (parent: 02a3896 / 2.2.0)
+----------------------------------------------------------------
+- Confirmed default Safe archive warming in a real Skyrim 1.6.1170 / SKSE 2.2.8 session: 903,412,094 completed buffered bytes across 509 archives, zero warm failures, 138 save-load pause checks, 180-second work window. This establishes activity, not a comparative loading/FPS gain.
+- Corrected the completion reason: later empty-batch memory replanning no longer mislabels a completed session as having no RAM headroom. Added a regression to the actual-DLL host.
+- Safe limits, archive eligibility, save/memory guards, installer choices and custom opt-outs are unchanged from the tested 2.2.0 candidate.
+- This is the first public release of the active Safe warming introduced in 2.2.0. Install the full FOMOD and choose Safe when upgrading from a warming-disabled profile.

CMakeLists.txt

@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.21)
-project(NextGenDiskCache VERSION 2.1.0 LANGUAGES CXX)
+project(NextGenDiskCache VERSION 2.2.1 LANGUAGES CXX)
 
 set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD 17)
 set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD_REQUIRED ON)
@@ -10,6 +10,26 @@ add_library(NextGenDiskCache SHARED
   src/IatHook.cpp
 )
 
+include(CTest)
+if(BUILD_TESTING)
+  add_executable(CachePolicyChecks tests/cache_policy.cpp src/DirectStorageBackend.cpp src/IatHook.cpp)
+  target_include_directories(CachePolicyChecks PRIVATE deps/include deps/directstorage/native/include)
+  target_link_directories(CachePolicyChecks PRIVATE deps/libs/detours)
+  target_link_libraries(CachePolicyChecks PRIVATE detours.lib setupapi.lib cfgmgr32.lib)
+  target_compile_definitions(CachePolicyChecks PRIVATE WIN32_LEAN_AND_MEAN NOMINMAX _CRT_SECURE_NO_WARNINGS)
+  add_test(NAME cache_policy COMMAND CachePolicyChecks)
+
+  add_library(CacheOtherModule SHARED tests/other_module.cpp)
+  add_executable(CacheHost tests/cache_host.cpp src/IatHook.cpp)
+  target_include_directories(CacheHost PRIVATE src deps/include)
+  target_compile_definitions(CacheHost PRIVATE WIN32_LEAN_AND_MEAN NOMINMAX)
+  foreach(mode observed mapped strided pressure memfail minimal directory late pacing threads inflight wide)
+    add_test(NAME host_${mode} COMMAND CacheHost
+      "${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/package/SKSE/Plugins/NextGenDiskCache.dll"
+      "$<TARGET_FILE:CacheOtherModule>" ${mode})
+  endforeach()
+endif()
+
 target_include_directories(NextGenDiskCache PRIVATE
   ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/deps/include
   ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/deps/directstorage/native/include

GITHUB.md

@@ -6,12 +6,11 @@
 | **This folder** | git root (``origin`` should already point here) |
 | **Parent package** | ``..\`` version folders for ship zips |
 
-```powershell
-git remote -v
-git status
-git add -A
-git commit -m "Describe change"
-git push origin main
-```
+Current release snapshot: 2.2.1, linked worktree on `agent/release-cache-2.2.1`.
+Canonical object store: sibling `source/`; do not create another repository.
+The existing origin URL redirects to `SenjuWoo/NextGen-Disk-Cache` (verified
+2026-09-29). Keep normal changes on a scoped branch and use a PR with the required
+`build` check; main is protected. Stage explicit reviewed source paths, never
+`git add -A`. GitHub publication and tagging were explicitly requested after CI passes. Nexus upload is not requested; prepare its verified package and user changelog. Game files remain read-only.
 
-Exclude build artifacts. Keep LICENSE/upstream credit if any.
+Exclude build artifacts. Keep LICENSE/upstream credit if any.

PACKAGE-NOTICE.txt

@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-NextGen Disk Cache 2.0.0 - Public Package Notice
+NextGen Disk Cache - Public Package Notice
 ================================================
 
 This package does not include the Microsoft DirectStorage runtime DLLs.

PATCH-MANIFEST.md

@@ -1,4 +1,23 @@
-# NextGen Disk Cache 1.4.0 safety rework
+# NextGen Disk Cache 2.2.1 runtime-evidence and diagnostic patch
+
+Parent: 02a3896169f3b5acd26ce020ae29eac21ddcc973 / 2.2.0. The user installed the default Safe FOMOD and supplied a real game session: 903,412,094 completed buffered bytes across 509 archives, zero warm failures, 138 save-load pause checks and a 180-second work window. Performance gain was not measured.
+
+- Keep the initial session budget for completion diagnostics; do not use a later empty batch's recalculated RAM budget as the exit reason.
+- Extend the existing actual-DLL observed-mode regression: after its reads finish, reduce available RAM and require the deadline completion reason.
+- Keep all warming settings, eligibility and safety behavior unchanged. Refresh release/version metadata, runtime evidence and user changelog.
+
+## Historical 2.2.0 active cache rework
+
+Native parent: 4755359 / 2.1.0. Current remote documentation/CI/community baseline: 10b7590. Historical 1.4.0 notes follow below and describe that release, not the 2.2.0 default.
+
+- Safe enables paced, bounded buffered reads of successfully opened game archives, with a narrow IAT hook and separate read-only handles.
+- Minimal is the warming-disabled comparison; all three installer choices and every existing INI key remain present.
+- Memory checks run between chunks; the session budget and deadline bound work. DataLoaded defers startup and save-load messages pause it.
+- Completed reads, accepted mapped requests and raw DirectStorage discard diagnostics have distinct counters. Failed opens do not count as successful flag changes.
+- IAT publication preserves existing call-through pointers before atomic replacement. Experimental Detours enlists live threads before code changes and refuses attachment on errors.
+- Tests exercise the production policy and actual DLL in isolated fixtures. No runtime deployment or public release is performed.
+
+## Historical 1.4.0 safety rework
 
 Base: `af0ab6172ae6f19c5f8511d46cd55163948c272a` (1.3.1).