docs: session handoff 2026-05-16

Captures M1 landing, Phase B.6 architectural details, new rules
(no-workarounds, no-demo-videos, graceful-shutdown), M2 next steps,
and test baselines for fresh-session pickup.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

docs/research/2026-05-16-session-handoff.md

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+# Session handoff — 2026-05-16
+
+## What landed this session
+
+**M1 — "Walkable + clickable world" — ✅ LANDED on main at `fb92122`.**
+
+All four M1 demo targets work end-to-end retail-faithfully:
+1. Walk through Holtburg without getting stuck (L.2 collision)
+2. Open the inn door (B.4c)
+3. Click an NPC and see dialogue (B.4b + Phase B.6)
+4. Pick up an item from the ground (B.5 + Phase B.6)
+
+## Main branch history (newest first)
+
+| SHA | Title |
+|---|---|
+| `fb92122` | milestone: M1 landed; flip "currently working toward" to M2 |
+| `d640ed7` | feat(retail): Phase B.6 — server-driven auto-walk done right |
+| `b5da17d` | feat(retail): Commit B — retail-faithful AP cadence + screen-rect picker |
+| `e2bc3a9` | (base — docs(CLAUDE.md): document Ghidra MCP + WireMCP availability) |
+
+## Phase B.6 (today's big landing) — what it actually did
+
+Replaced the chain of Commit-B workarounds that compensated for ACE's `MoveToChain` getting cancelled by a leaked user-MoveToState packet during inbound auto-walk. The fix was architectural:
+
+- **`ApplyAutoWalkOverlay → DriveServerAutoWalk`** — auto-walk drives the body's velocity + motion state + animation cycle DIRECTLY from the wire-supplied path data. No player-input synthesis. Mirrors retail's `MovementManager::PerformMovement` case 6 (decomp `0x00524440`) which never touches the user-input pipeline during server-controlled auto-walk.
+- **Wire-layer guard retained** at `GameWindow.cs:6419` as a semantic statement (user-MoveToState packets are for user-driven motion intent), NOT as the band-aid the deleted 500ms grace period was.
+- **Walk/run threshold = 1.0m** (matches user-observed retail behaviour; ACE's wire-default 15.0f is ignored — overridden in `BeginServerAutoWalk` via const `RetailWalkRunThresholdMeters`). Formula from decomp `0x0052aa00 MovementParameters::get_command`: `running = (initialDist - distance_to_object) >= threshold`, one-shot at chain start.
+- **Animation cycle plumbed** for moving-forward (RunForward/WalkForward) AND turn-first phase (TurnLeft/TurnRight via `_autoWalkTurnDirectionThisFrame`).
+- **Pickup gate** corrected to check `BF_STUCK` (`acclient.h:6435`, bit `0x4`) — signs (`pwd=0x14`) blocked; spell components (`pwd=0x10`) allowed.
+- **R-key dispatches by target type** — creature → SendUse, pickupable → SendPickUp, useable → SendUse, else toast.
+- **AP cadence reverted** to retail's two-branch `ShouldSendPositionEvent` gate (`acclient_2013_pseudo_c.txt:700233-700285`). Effective rates: 0 Hz idle, ~1 Hz smooth motion, per-event on cell/plane changes, 0 Hz airborne. `ApproxPlaneEqual` helper added.
+
+Issues closed: **#63, #69, #74, #75**. Full diff was 1316 insertions / 199 deletions across 6 files.
+
+## New rules / preferences captured this session
+
+1. **No workarounds without explicit approval.** CLAUDE.md "How to operate" section + feedback memory at `memory/feedback_no_workarounds.md`. Band-aids, grace periods, suppression flags, retry loops all forbidden unless the user explicitly approves or it's a deliberate new-feature design. User quote: *"we should have no workarounds unless I say so or we want a different feature."*
+
+2. **No milestone demo videos.** CLAUDE.md "milestone discipline" rule #3 + feedback memory at `memory/feedback_no_demo_videos.md`. Milestones land via text-only artifacts — pin a writeup in `2026-05-12-milestones.md`, flip the freeze list, advance the CLAUDE.md "currently working toward" line. User quote: *"pointless of recording videos, for what purpose?"*
+
+3. **Graceful client shutdown via `CloseMainWindow`.** CLAUDE.md "Logout-before-reconnect" section. `Stop-Process` is a hard kill — leaves ACE's session marked logged-in for ~3+ min before timeout. The graceful path runs the client's shutdown hook so the logout packet reaches ACE.
+
+## M2 — "Kill a drudge" — the next milestone
+
+**Demo scenario:** Equip a sword, walk to a drudge, swing, see damage in chat, watch the swing animation, drudge dies and drops loot, pick up the loot, open inventory and see it.
+
+**Phases in dependency order:**
+
+1. **L.1b** — command router + motion-state cleanup (prereq for L.1c)
+2. **L.1c** — combat animation wiring (draw/sheath, attack swings by stance/power/height, hit reactions, evades)
+3. **F.3** — combat math + damage flow (mostly ACE-side; client surfaces results)
+4. **F.5a** — visible-at-login dev panels (Attributes / Skills / Equipped / Inventory list, minimal ImGui surfaces, retail-skin deferred to M5)
+5. **F.2** — polished Inventory panel reading `ItemRepository` (data already exists in F.2 base; M2 ships the visual surface)
+
+**First concrete step:** L.1b scope. I haven't read L.1b's spec or roadmap entry — that's the first action of the next session.
+
+## Open issues worth tracking
+
+After this session's closures, the M1-deferred / post-M1 backlog is:
+
+- **#61** — AnimationSequencer link→cycle frame-0 flash on door swing. LOW (visual polish).
+- **#64** — Local-player pickup animation does not render. LOW (observers see it).
+- **#70** — Triangle apex/size DAT sprite. LOW (target indicator final polish).
+- **#71** — WorldPicker Stage B polygon refine. LOW (Stage A sufficient).
+- **#72** — cdb probe to confirm `omega.z = π/2` base rate. LOW (research).
+- **#73** — Retail-message centralization. Per-feature, ongoing.
+
+None block M2. All M7 polish.
+
+## Test baseline
+
+- Core.Net: 294/294 ✅
+- Core: 1073/1081 (8 pre-existing Physics failures — BSPStepUp + MotionInterpreter; unchanged baseline)
+- Visual-verified end-to-end on 2026-05-16
+
+## Environment reminders
+
+- ACE running locally on `127.0.0.1:9000` (testaccount / testpassword / `+Acdream` at `0x5000000A`).
+- DAT directory: `%USERPROFILE%\Documents\Asheron's Call`.
+- Worktree branch `claude/vigilant-golick-9433e1` has the full 20-commit Phase B.6 history if you want to see how it got built; main has one squashed commit (`d640ed7`).
+- WorldBuilder submodule needs `git submodule update --init references/WorldBuilder` when working in a fresh worktree.