Harden retail character selection recovery

docs/research/2026-08-14-la8-character-management-ui.md

@@ -23,7 +23,10 @@ The implementation was derived from
   those four button pointers, the selected row/guid, and four dialog contexts.
   It declares no viewport, `gmCG3DView`, or preview owner.
 - `RebuildCharacterList` (`0x004EC3A0`) creates each row through
-  `AddItemFromTemplateList`, retains character identity, displays pending
+  `AddItemFromTemplateList`, then resizes it using signed integer division:
+  `max(listHeight / max(rosterCount, allowedSlots), listHeight / 10)`. Thus a
+  320-pixel list with five allowed slots uses 64-pixel rows, while rosters over
+  ten clamp at 32 pixels. It retains character identity, displays pending
   deletion in red, sorts by ordinal name, moves greyed entries to the tail,
   and restores/falls back selection. LA8 preserves the already canonical LA7b
   display order and identity instead of sorting an App copy.
@@ -55,6 +58,8 @@ with `ACDREAM_PROBE_LIVE_MOUNT=1`; it reads the ordinary
 `%USERPROFILE%/Documents/Asheron's Call` DAT set unless `ACDREAM_DAT_DIR`
 overrides the location. It uses production `DatCollection`,
 `RetailDataIdResolver`, and `LayoutImporter`; it does not write the DATs.
+When the opt-in flag or installed data is absent, discovery records an explicit
+skip rather than adding a no-op pass to default suite totals.
 
 The installed September-2013 data proves:
 
@@ -89,11 +94,17 @@ The controller instantiates the authored row template in Runtime display
 order, projects red pending-delete rows and the exact button matrix, and opens
 the shared retail dialogs. Delete wait survives the opcode-only acknowledgement
 until the fresh roster arrives. Restore is fire-and-observe: a silent ACE
-no-reply ends only when Runtime expires its correlation. Entering-world wait
-opens before the existing synchronous Enter command; error, reset, reconnect,
-missing/displaced adapter, and disposal close owned contexts without re-entrant
-commands. A failed transient row-template import leaves the Runtime revision
-unconsumed and retries on the next frame.
+no-reply ends only when Runtime expires its correlation; retail's Please Wait
+opens before the synchronous restore command and closes immediately if that
+command rejects or throws. Entering-world wait opens before the existing
+synchronous Enter command; error, reset, reconnect, missing/displaced adapter,
+and disposal close owned contexts without re-entrant commands. A failed
+transient row-template import leaves the Runtime revision unconsumed and
+retries on the next frame. Initial dialog-catalog, character root, and string
+misses likewise retry on later ticks without mounting a duplicate root or
+controller. Dialog presenter/catalog failures move their contexts to an
+internal retry ledger, so UI callbacks do not retain poisoned active/queued
+entries and the same context can appear after resource recovery.
 
 There is deliberately no 3D preview and no claimed character-select background
 scene. The screen root remains neutral with respect to render-loop background