docs: abandon two-pipe render approach; scope Phase U (unified retail-faithful pipeline)
Decision (2026-05-30, with user): the WB-inherited two-pipe (inside/outside) render split is the root cause of the indoor seam bugs (flap, missing/transparent walls, terrain bleed) and cannot be seamless. Abandon A8/A8.F (#103); build ONE unified pipeline driven by retail's PView portal visibility — seamless by construction. The 2026-05-30 camera-collision + physics viewer-cap work is kept (retail-faithful, but a detour from the seam fix). New Phase U scoped; #103 superseded; CLAUDE.md / roadmap / milestones updated; full decision + scope + next-session pickup prompt in docs/research/2026-05-30-unified-render-pipeline-decision-and-handoff.md. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 <noreply@anthropic.com>
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# Unified retail-faithful render pipeline — decision, scope, and handoff (2026-05-30)
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## TL;DR (the decision)
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We are **abandoning the two-pipe (inside / outside) rendering approach** and
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committing to a **single, unified, retail-faithful render pipeline** built around
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retail's portal-visibility view (`PView`). Modern code, retail behavior. This is a
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new roadmap phase — **Phase U (Unified Render Pipeline)** — and it is milestone-scale
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work, not a patch.
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**Why:** acdream inherited a *two-pipe* render structure from WorldBuilder (WB) — a
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normal outdoor draw plus a separate flat `RenderInsideOut` stencil pass toggled on
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`cameraInsideBuilding` (`GameWindow.cs` ~7345). That split is the root cause of every
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indoor/outdoor seam bug (the "flap", missing/transparent walls, terrain bleeding into
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interiors). **Retail has no such split.** Retail renders through one portal-visibility
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traversal: starting from whatever cell the camera is in, it walks recursively through
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portals (doors, windows, cell openings), builds a screen-space clip region per opening,
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and draws every visible cell — indoor *and* outdoor — in one pass. There is no
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"am I inside a building?" branch, so transitions are seamless **by construction**.
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The A8.F effort tried to graft retail's recursive clip *on top of* WB's two-pipe
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stencil (a CPU-built NDC mask bridging the two pipes). That hybrid is inherently
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fragile and failed its visual gate (**issue #103**). You cannot make two pipes hand
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off seamlessly at a doorway; retail avoids the entire bug class by never splitting.
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This was confirmed in collaboration with the user, who correctly identified that the
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whole direction was wrong: *"in retail there is totally seamless transitions between
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out and in… it's like we are on the wrong path here."* Correct.
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---
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## What this session actually shipped (the salvage)
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This session was originally a "camera collision" effort (a reframing of the #103
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failure onto the camera eye — itself a detour). The camera work is **real,
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retail-faithful, and kept**, but it is **not** the fix for seamless transitions:
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- **Swept-sphere camera collision** (retail `SmartBox::update_viewer`, `0x00453ce0`):
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`CameraDiagnostics.CollideCamera` (default on), `ICameraCollisionProbe` +
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`PhysicsCameraCollisionProbe` (reuses `PhysicsEngine.ResolveWithTransition`,
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retail `viewer_sphere` 0.3 m, `init_object(player, 0x5c)` =
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`IsViewer|PathClipped|FreeRotate|PerfectClip`), wired into `RetailChaseCamera`
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(collide into a *separate* published eye — never the damped sought eye — to avoid
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the wall-press oscillation), `GameWindow` wiring + a Camera-menu toggle.
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- **Physics fix (retail-faithful):** viewer/sight sweeps bypass acdream's 30-step
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safety cap in `Transition.FindTransitionalPosition` (retail `find_transitional_position`
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has no cap; `calc_num_steps` has a `state & 4` viewer branch). Gate: `&& !ObjectInfo.IsViewer`.
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- Commits `69c7f8d` → `aae5300` (plus the design spec/plan docs).
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**Camera-collision residual nits (minor, deferred — NOT blockers):**
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- Eye can clip ~0.3 m into a wall and reveal outside (near-clip plane 1 m vs collision
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radius 0.3 m — tuning).
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- Residual non-retail-smooth feel at walls (the gross oscillation is fixed; tuning remains).
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These are polish; revisit after the pipeline lands (or never — they're cosmetic).
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---
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## Git state at handoff
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- Branch `claude/strange-albattani-3fc83c` was **239 commits ahead of `main`**
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(both forked at Phase O, `2256006`, 2026-05-21). The branch carries ~9 days of good
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work since Phase O: A6 physics, issues #98/#100/#101, A7 lighting, the A8/A8.F
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rendering arc, and the camera work — all of it.
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- Per user decision (2026-05-30): **the whole branch was merged into `main`** so none
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of that work is lost. The dormant, gated-off A8 two-pipe rendering rides along and is
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**deleted as Task 1 of Phase U** (see below). The user pushes `main` to remotes.
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- The `#98`/`#101` physics WIP from a prior session is preserved in `git stash` on this
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branch (a subagent had `git stash apply`-ed it mid-session; it was re-stashed). Do not
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lose it.
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---
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## Phase U — Unified Render Pipeline (scope / design sketch)
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> This is a scope sketch to start a proper brainstorm + spec from — **not** a finalized
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> design. The next session brainstorms it.
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### Goal
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One render path. The camera's current cell is the root of a per-frame portal-visibility
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traversal that yields *(visible cells, per-cell screen-space clip region)*; the renderer
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draws all visible geometry (indoor cells, outdoor cells, entities, terrain) in a single
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pass gated by that visibility. **No `cameraInsideBuilding` branch. No `RenderInsideOut`
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stencil pass. No outdoor-vs-indoor toggle.** Seamless in/out by construction.
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### Retail oracle (the thing to port)
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- `PView::ConstructView` (decomp ~`433750`), `PView::ClipPortals` (~`433572`),
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`PView::GetClip` (~`432344`) — the recursive per-portal screen-space clip-region BFS.
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- `CEnvCell::find_visible_child_cell` (`acclient_2013_pseudo_c.txt:311397`,
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`0x0052dc50`) — per-cell portal-visible-child resolution; call site `:280028`.
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- `RenderDeviceD3D::DrawBlock` (~`430027`) — the render loop the visibility chain feeds.
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- See the project memory note **indoor-portal-visibility-wb-vs-retail** for why WB
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cannot express per-portal clipping and the oracle is retail `PView`.
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### What to KEEP (do not re-port)
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- The WB-derived **mesh/dat pipeline** is fine and stays: `ObjectMeshManager`,
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`WbMeshAdapter`, `WbDrawDispatcher`, terrain (`TerrainModernRenderer`,
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`LandblockMesh`), `DatCollection`, texture decode. Phase U is about **visibility +
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draw orchestration**, not mesh extraction.
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- The **camera collision** and **physics** work from this session.
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- Cell data: `CellVisibility` (`FindCameraCell`, `PointInCell`, portal data),
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`PhysicsDataCache` cell structures.
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### What is likely SALVAGEABLE from the failed A8.F (verify, don't assume)
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The A8.F CPU clip-builder pieces are **unit-test-correct** (the integration is what
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failed). They may feed a unified draw directly:
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- `PortalProjection` (GL near-plane clip), `ScreenPolygonClip` (2D convex intersection),
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`ViewPolygon`/`CellView` (clip-region model), `PortalVisibilityBuilder` (recursive
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portal-clip BFS producing per-cell `OutsideView`).
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The failure was the *two-pipe stencil graft* around them (the CPU NDC mask gating a
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*separate* outdoor pipe), not the clip math. A unified pipeline can likely reuse the
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builder to produce per-cell clip frames and gate **one** pass.
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### What to DELETE (Task 1 — clear the deck)
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The dead two-pipe rendering, so the unified path is built clean, not bolted on:
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- `RenderInsideOutAcdream` and the `cameraInsideBuilding` branch in `GameWindow.cs`
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(~`7345`+), the `IndoorCellStencilPipeline` / `MarkAndPunchNdc` stencil graft, the
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Job-A/B decouple, the `ACDREAM_A8_INDOOR_BRANCH` kill-switch, the
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`EnvCellRenderer` WB `RenderInsideOut` port (`f9a644a` lineage).
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- Keep `EnvCellRenderManager`'s *mesh* path if the unified draw needs it; delete only
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the inside-out *visibility/stencil* machinery.
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- Audit before deleting: some A8 commits also fixed real bugs (e.g. `BuildingId`
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stamping, pool aliasing `9559726`) — keep those.
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### Approach sketch (for the brainstorm to refine)
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1. **Visibility pass** (CPU, GL-free, testable): from the camera cell, recursive portal
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BFS → ordered set of visible cells, each with a screen-space clip polygon (intersection
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of the portal openings along its chain). This is retail `PView::ConstructView`.
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Likely reuses the salvaged A8.F `PortalVisibilityBuilder` family.
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2. **Draw pass** (single, unified): for each visible cell (front-to-back), draw its
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geometry + entities clipped to its clip region (scissor or stencil-per-cell, retail
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uses a clip rect/region). Outdoor cells are just cells in this set — no special path.
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Terrain is drawn per visible outdoor cell, gated the same way.
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3. **No branch:** the camera being indoors vs outdoors changes only *which cell is the
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root*, not the algorithm.
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### Key risks / lessons (do not repeat)
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- **Do not graft retail recursion onto WB's flat two-pipe stencil** — that's what
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#103 was. Build the unified pass; don't bridge two pipes.
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- **Unit tests on synthetic visibility data did not catch #103 — only the visual gate
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did.** Visual verification at the cottage/cellar/inn/dungeon is the real acceptance.
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Build a runtime visibility probe early (`ACDREAM_PROBE_VIS`) and validate against live
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frames, not just synthetic fixtures.
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- **A CPU-built mask gating ALL outdoor geometry is fragile.** The unified pass should
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gate per-cell at draw time (scissor/stencil per visible cell), close to how retail
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clips, rather than one global mask.
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- **The camera is not the fix.** That reframing cost this session; the fix is the
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visibility architecture.
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### Success criteria (visual)
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- Walk Holtburg cottage → cellar → out the door: no flap, walls solid, no terrain
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bleed, seamless threshold crossing from any camera angle/zoom.
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- Holtburg Inn: no outdoor stabs/terrain visible through the floor/walls (closes #78).
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- Dungeon via Town Network portal: `visibleCells` stays sane (~4–15), no other-dungeon
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geometry (closes/relates #95).
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- No regression to outdoor rendering (the default game today).
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---
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## Next-session pickup prompt
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```
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We are building Phase U — a single unified retail-faithful render pipeline (retail
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PView portal-visibility), abandoning the WB-inherited two-pipe (inside/outside) split
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that caused the indoor seam bugs (the flap, missing/transparent walls, terrain bleed).
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The decision + full scope is in
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docs/research/2026-05-30-unified-render-pipeline-decision-and-handoff.md — READ IT FIRST,
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then the project memory note "indoor-portal-visibility-wb-vs-retail" and the #103
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failure handoff (docs/research/2026-05-29-a8f-visual-gate-failure-handoff.md).
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State both altitudes:
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Currently working toward: M1.5 — Indoor world feels right.
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Current phase: U (Unified Render Pipeline). This supersedes the abandoned A8/A8.F
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two-pipe approach (#103).
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Start with superpowers:brainstorming to design the unified pipeline (do NOT jump to
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code). The scope sketch in the handoff doc is the input. Key decisions to settle in the
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brainstorm: (a) reuse the salvaged A8.F clip-builder (PortalProjection/ScreenPolygonClip/
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ViewPolygon/PortalVisibilityBuilder — unit-test-correct) vs fresh port; (b) per-cell
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clip mechanism (scissor rect vs stencil-per-cell) matching retail's GetClip; (c) how
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terrain + outdoor entities become "just cells" in the visible set.
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Task 1 of implementation is to DELETE the dead two-pipe code (RenderInsideOutAcdream,
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the cameraInsideBuilding branch, IndoorCellStencilPipeline/MarkAndPunchNdc, the
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ACDREAM_A8_INDOOR_BRANCH kill-switch) to clear the deck — but audit first; some A8
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commits fixed real bugs (BuildingId stamping, pool aliasing) that must be kept.
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Retail anchors: PView::ConstructView ~433750, ClipPortals ~433572, GetClip ~432344,
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CEnvCell::find_visible_child_cell :311397, RenderDeviceD3D::DrawBlock ~430027.
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Keep: the WB mesh/dat pipeline (ObjectMeshManager/WbDrawDispatcher/terrain), the camera
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collision + physics from the 2026-05-30 session. Visual verification at Holtburg
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cottage/cellar/inn + a portal dungeon is the acceptance gate — unit tests did not catch
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#103.
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Preserve the git stash on the branch (#98/#101 physics WIP).
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```
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---
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## Reference index
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- Decision context / why WB can't do it: project memory **indoor-portal-visibility-wb-vs-retail**.
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- #103 failure detail: `docs/research/2026-05-29-a8f-visual-gate-failure-handoff.md`.
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- Camera-collision work this session: `docs/superpowers/specs/2026-05-29-a8f-camera-collision-design.md`,
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`docs/superpowers/plans/2026-05-29-a8f-camera-collision.md`.
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- A8.F portal-frame port (the failed two-pipe graft):
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`docs/superpowers/specs/2026-05-29-phase-a8f-portal-frame-visibility-design.md`.
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- Retail decomp: `docs/research/named-retail/acclient_2013_pseudo_c.txt`.
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- WB visibility reference: `references/WorldBuilder/Chorizite.OpenGLSDLBackend/Lib/VisibilityManager.cs`.
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