fix(ui): restore radar, retail wield switching, and protection meshes

Late-bind radar snapshots to the canonical LiveEntityRuntime maps so the retained radar survives bootstrap and session replacement instead of capturing empty sentinels.

Route paperdoll drops through the retail AutoWield blocker transaction. Move conflicting held weapons, shields, explicit jewelry destinations, and mismatched ammo to the backpack one authoritative confirmation at a time; preserve compatible arrows when switching to melee.

Render mode-1 and no-degrade particle GfxObjs as their authored modern-pipeline meshes, retain Always2D billboards, interleave both paths back-to-front, balance emitter mesh ownership, and fail safely on corrupt DAT material metadata. This restores the closed apex on Armor Self/protection effects.

Retain Studio fixture controller lifetimes, add installed-DAT and adversarial regression coverage, synchronize retail research/divergence bookkeeping, and pass all three review tracks plus the full Release suite.

Co-Authored-By: Codex <noreply@openai.com>

docs/research/2026-07-12-retail-weapon-switch-pseudocode.md

@@ -3,8 +3,9 @@
 ## Scope
 
 Inventory double-click of a weapon while another primary weapon is equipped,
-in both peace and combat modes. The UI request sequence is shared; combat-mode
-animation remains server-authoritative.
+or dragging an item onto a specific paperdoll slot, in both peace and combat
+modes. The UI request sequence is shared; combat-mode animation remains
+server-authoritative.
 
 ## Retail oracle
 
@@ -21,6 +22,10 @@ animation remains server-authoritative.
   `AutoWield` only after the server confirms the blocking item moved.
 - `ACCWeenieObject::UIAttemptWield @ 0x0058D590` sends
   `GetAndWieldItem(item, equipMask)`.
+- `gmPaperDollUI::HandleDropRelease @ 0x004A4D80` routes an accepted physical
+  item through `AcceptDragObject @ 0x004A3B10`, which calls `AutoWield` (or
+  `AutoWear`) with the paperdoll's resolved target side. It does not send a
+  direct `GetAndWieldItem` while a blocker remains equipped.
 - `ClientCombatSystem::OnQualityChanged @ 0x0056C1B0` reads player
   PropertyInt 40 (`CombatMode`) and applies it through `SetCombatMode`.
 
@@ -48,6 +53,10 @@ on inventory item double-click(item):
     if decision is WieldRight or WieldLeft or AutoSort:
         auto_wield(item)
 
+on paperdoll drop(item, target slot):
+    resolvedMask = resolve item.ValidLocations against the authored slot side
+    auto_wield(item, resolvedMask)
+
 auto_wield(item):
     if another auto-wield transaction is waiting for the server:
         consume the request without sending another inventory action
@@ -60,7 +69,10 @@ auto_wield(item):
         blocker = player's equipped item intersecting WEAPON_READY_MASK
 
         if blocker exists:
-            pending = (requestedItem = item.id, blockingItem = blocker.id)
+            print system text "Moving <blocker name> to your backpack"
+            pending = (requestedItem = item.id,
+                       blockingItem = blocker.id,
+                       resolvedMask = desiredMask)
             send PutItemInContainer(blocker.id, player.id, placement = 0)
             return true
 
@@ -82,7 +94,7 @@ on server-confirmed item move(blocker):
        and blocker is now loose in the player's main pack:
         requested = pending.requestedItem
         clear pending before re-entry
-        auto_wield(requested)
+        auto_wield(requested, pending.resolvedMask)
 
 on server inventory-request failure(item, error):
     if item matches pending.blockingItem or pending.requestedItem:
@@ -124,8 +136,14 @@ separate optimistic rollback counter.
 
 ## Known remaining retail surface
 
-This port covers the primary weapon-ready group plus retail's secondary
-incompatible-shield and mismatched-ammo blockers. `CreateObject` now retains
-the exact `AmmoType` needed for those decisions. Full `AutoWieldIsLegal`,
-Aetheria, and dual-wield/off-hand rules remain tracked by divergence row
-AP-108.
+This port covers inventory activation and paperdoll drops through the same
+primary weapon-ready transaction, plus retail's secondary incompatible-shield
+and mismatched-ammo blockers. `CreateObject` retains the exact `AmmoType`
+needed for those decisions, and paperdoll target-side intent survives every
+authoritative blocker retry. Full `AutoWieldIsLegal` and dual-wield/off-hand
+rules remain tracked by divergence row AP-108. Retail also appends
+`" - cannot unwield the %s"` when `AttemptToPlaceInContainer` rejects
+synchronously. ACDream's current send seam is void and ACE reports that
+rejection asynchronously, so the successful status line is exact while that
+failure suffix remains tracked instead of being fabricated at the wrong
+transaction boundary.

docs/research/2026-07-13-retail-projectile-vfx-pseudocode.md

@@ -1169,3 +1169,39 @@ animation-hook/PES route plus Hidden/remote-placement/UnHide ownership. Installe
 DAT colors, trail/cloud appearance, remote portal observation, and impact-origin
 presentation remain visual acceptance items; an in-memory conformance fixture
 cannot claim pixel appearance.
+
+## Corrective visual gate — authored particle geometry (2026-07-14)
+
+Oracle: `CPhysicsPart::Draw` at `0x0050D7A0`, `CPhysicsPart::Always2D` at
+`0x0050D8A0`, and `ParticleEmitter::SetInfo` at `0x0051CE90`.
+
+```text
+particle presentation part = construct a complete CPhysicsPart from emitter GfxObj
+
+Always2D(part):
+    if part has no degrade table or the table has no entries:
+        return false
+    return firstDegrade.DegradeMode != 1
+
+draw particle:
+    if Always2D(part):
+        draw the camera-facing degrade presentation
+    else:
+        draw every authored mesh polygon and surface through CPhysicsPart::DrawMesh
+```
+
+The installed Armor Self chain proves why this distinction is visible:
+`PS_ShieldUpGrey` resolves through table `0x34000004` to PES `0x3300068F`,
+whose first four CreateParticle hooks use emitters `0x32000350`, `351`, `355`,
+and `356`. Their hardware GfxObjs `0x01001666..0x01001669` are mode-1 meshes,
+each with five vertices and multiple triangular polygons. Each piece contributes
+an apex face meeting near local Z = 2.32 m; together they close the crystal top.
+Emitter `0x32000379`/GfxObj `0x01001098` is the separate mode-2 additive
+billboard. Flattening every GfxObj to one bounding-box quad discards the four
+apex pieces and produces the observed open shield.
+
+The App renderer now follows `Always2D`: full-mesh particles reuse the mandatory
+modern `GlobalMeshBuffer` batches, bindless surface handles, cull modes, and
+authored indices; only the 2D case enters the six-index quad path. Mesh ownership
+is keyed by the stable particle-emitter handle and releases its WB reference on
+the exact `EmitterDied` lifecycle edge (or renderer teardown before WB teardown).