memory: extend 2026-04-17 session handoff with evening bug-bash work

Adds the three evening client-debugging commits + the five new
architectural findings they produced:

- NPC clothing by-camera-angle flicker → instance-batching dedup fix
  (`(GfxObjId, PaletteHash ^ SurfaceOverridesHash)` as group key)
- Run animation broadcast fix → wire WalkForward+HoldKey.Run +
  separate LocalAnimationCommand for local RunForward cycle
- Jump animation via MotionCommand.Falling SubState swap (not Action,
  not Modifier — just a plain SubState cycle)

Also captures the lessons learned from the jump saga: trust empirical
motion-table dumps over assumptions, the retail animation taxonomy
(Style/SubState/Modifier/Action masks), and the wire/local-animation
separation pattern.

Updates the pickup table with the small remaining polish items
(backward-walk jitter, stop-running twitch, remote-char Z offset).

memory/project_session_2026_04_17.md

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
-# Session 2026-04-17 — Debug overlay → full-day retail-AC research marathon
+# Session 2026-04-17 — Debug overlay → full-day retail-AC research + client bug-bash
 
-## Timeline (morning → afternoon)
+## Timeline
 
 1. **Morning** — Debug overlay (TTF atlas + text batcher + HUD panels)
    and input-control tuning (per-mode sensitivity, RMB free-orbit, wheel
@@ -14,17 +14,25 @@
    parallel Opus-4.7 agents, produced a 78,000-word research bundle +
    master synthesis + 5 C# port scaffolds + rewritten roadmap.
    Shipped in commit `3f913f1`.
+4. **Evening** — Back to hands-on client debugging. Fixed three
+   significant live-play bugs one after another: NPC clothing by-angle
+   flicker, run-animation sync with retail observers, and jump animation.
+   Shipped in `3308cdd` + `08ea2c0` + `6bce9b8`.
 
-## What shipped today — three commits on main
+## What shipped today — seven commits on main
 
 | Commit    | Title                                                              | Insert |
-|-----------|------------------------------------------------------------|--------|
+|-----------|--------------------------------------------------------------------|--------|
 | `ff325ab` | feat(ui): debug overlay + refined input controls                   | 2,725  |
 | `7230c15` | docs+feat(ui): retail UI deep-dive research + C# scaffold          | 8,042  |
 | `3f913f1` | docs+feat: 13 retail-AC deep-dives + scaffolds + roadmap           | 15,312 |
+| `d951304` | memory: session handoff + permanent research index                 |   222  |
+| `3308cdd` | fix(movement+anim+session): clothing dedup + motion wire + jump-skill |   272 |
+| `08ea2c0` | feat(anim): motion-action-queue infrastructure + findings           |   128  |
+| `6bce9b8` | fix(anim): **jump animation via Falling SubState**                  |    71  |
 
-**Total 26,079 lines added, 262 deleted, 55 new files.** All three
-commits green on build + 470 tests.
+**Total ~26,800 lines added, 55+ new files.** All commits green on
+build + 470 tests.
 
 ## Key files to know
 
@@ -72,6 +80,48 @@ commits green on build + 470 tests.
 5. **Retail lighting is D3D fixed-function** with 8-light cap, NO
    attenuation inside Range, then hard cutoff. "Feels right" not
    physical.
+6. **Retail jumps are a SubState swap, not an Action.**
+   `MotionCommand.Falling (0x40000015)` is a SubState cycle whose
+   motion-table Links carry the leap-up AND landing transitions. No
+   action-queue port was needed; `SetCycle(Falling)` while airborne
+   + normal SetCycle on land gives retail-faithful jump animation.
+   Costly lesson: I first tried Action (mask 0x10) + Modifier (mask
+   0x20) routing and broke the character into a torso. Empirical
+   motion-table dump is always worth more than my guesses.
+7. **ACE's MovementData only computes ForwardSpeed for the
+   WalkForward/WalkBackwards branch.** Sending `RunForward` directly
+   leaves observers at `speed=0`. Correct wire format is
+   `WalkForward + HoldKey.Run + ForwardSpeed=runRate` — ACE
+   auto-upgrades to `RunForward` for broadcast. Our own client uses
+   a separate LocalAnimationCommand to play the RunForward cycle
+   locally while the wire stays WalkForward.
+8. **Instance batching by GfxObjId alone is catastrophic for NPCs.**
+   Every humanoid shares the same body GfxObjs; grouping them all
+   into one DrawInstanced batch and using the first entry's texture
+   for the whole batch meant whoever sorted first at a given camera
+   angle "won" the palette. Fixed by keying instance groups on
+   `(GfxObjId, PaletteHash XOR SurfaceOverridesHash)`.
+
+## Client state at end of session
+
+Client runs, connects to local ACE, in-world as `+Acdream`. Working:
+- Player moves, turns, strafes, jumps, lands. Jump animation plays via
+  Falling SubState. Run animation broadcasts correctly to retail
+  observers (WalkForward + HoldKey.Run wire format).
+- Holtburg NPCs render with correct clothing / palette, stable across
+  camera angles (instance-batching dedup fix).
+- Debug overlay: F1 help, F2 collision wireframes, F3 dump, F4/F5/F6
+  panel toggles, F8/F9 sensitivity tuning.
+- Mouse: per-mode sensitivity (Chase 0.15x, Fly/Orbit 1.0x), RMB
+  free-orbit, wheel zoom.
+
+Known small issues (non-blocking):
+- Walk-backward animation's first step has a tiny jitter.
+- Running → stopping has a slight twitch (missing SubState→Ready link
+  blend).
+- Some retail chars have legs through the ground (Z-offset bug —
+  parked for later diagnosis).
+- Jump feel is 95% retail, not 100%.
 
 ## Pickup for next session
 
@@ -86,6 +136,8 @@ commits green on build + 470 tests.
 | Enter a dungeon | Phase G.3 dungeon streaming (R9) |
 | See a sky | Phase G.1 weather/day-night (R12) |
 | Create a character in-client | Phase H.4 CharCreate (R7) |
+| Polish animation (backward jitter + stop twitch) | Link-cycle walker for SubState→Ready transitions |
+| Remote-char feet in ground | Z-offset diagnosis (compare server-sent Z vs our terrain at observer XY) |
 
 The **master synthesis** (`docs/research/deepdives/00-master-synthesis.md`
 §10) recommends a specific week-by-week sequence if the user wants
@@ -102,3 +154,22 @@ one-thing-at-a-time focus.
   toolkit approach is the only viable path.
 - **Network protocol atlas (R8)** is the single biggest unblocker —
   nearly every other system depends on opcodes we don't handle.
+- **Diagnostic dumps > guessing.** The jump-animation saga took 4
+  launches + reverts before I added a diagnostic that dumped the
+  actual Links dict contents. That one dump (revealing
+  `Links[0x003D0007]` had an inner entry `0x40000015 Falling`)
+  instantly showed the right approach. Trust empirical motion-table
+  contents over any assumption about retail structure. Add dumps
+  liberally when the code is non-cooperative; remove when verified.
+- **Retail animation lexicon:** Style (mask 0x80), SubState (0x40),
+  Modifier (0x20), Action (0x10). SubStates are looping cycles
+  (Ready/Walk/Run/Falling/Crouch). Modifiers overlay on a cycle.
+  Actions are transitions held in the Links dict (emotes, attacks).
+  For any new animation: dump the motion table, find where the
+  target motion lives, use SetCycle if it's in Cycles or the
+  Links/Modifiers path if it's transitional.
+- **Wire-format vs local-animation separation:** we now route the
+  wire ForwardCommand separately from the local animation command
+  (RunForward cycle locally, WalkForward+HoldKey.Run on wire).
+  Matching ACE's broadcast expectations and retail client expectations
+  simultaneously sometimes requires two independent command streams.