fix(client): restore retail interaction parity

Harden keyboard and camera routing, inventory and vendor interactions, chat/emotes, relog portal flow, and paperdoll rendering. Add retail research, connected gate coverage, and release-gate validation.

docs/research/2026-08-26-combined-client-parity-gate.md

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+# Combined client parity owner gate
+
+**Date prepared:** 2026-08-26
+
+**Run:** OWNER-COMPLETE 2026-08-26 on one exact Release binary.
+
+**Scope:** #443–#450 plus the complete inventory/vendor interaction audit.
+
+**Outcome:** Sections A–C and E–F passed, including the mid-drag cursor-icon
+re-test added during the round. Issues #444–#450 are owner-accepted. Section D
+failed: the private paperdoll remained missing, so #443 stays open as the only
+surviving defect. Tested executable SHA-256:
+`173989F3C85C05C0746D628CDF9C6194F6A5E3EFD4597806BF83417483C37B42`.
+
+Keep the client log for the whole run and take a screenshot for any visual or
+text mismatch. For every refused item action, record the cursor color, exact
+SpewBox line, and whether the item visibly moved before the refusal.
+
+## A. Keyboard, camera, combat input, and relog — #446/#450
+
+1. In Configure Keyboard, bind Move Forward to bare Shift while Toggle
+   Walk/Run already owns it. Verify the retail conflict dialog appears and the
+   chosen resolution is honored. Repeat with a known allowed shared chord.
+2. Apply a changed binding, close/reopen Options, then restart the client.
+   Verify it survives. Test Revert, Defaults, Cancel, and Load/Save `.keymap`.
+3. Press regular Enter: chat input must focus. Press keypad Enter outside chat:
+   it must perform only its configured camera action and must not focus chat.
+4. Press bare Escape through the retail ladder: cancel target/focus/selection
+   first, then toggle Gameplay Options. It must never enter a developer orbit
+   or bird's-eye mode. Preserve the approved mouse-wheel zoom range.
+5. Hold End, Page Down, or Delete in melee mode. The bar must charge while the
+   key is held and attack only on release, using the selected height.
+6. Shift+Escape to character selection, immediately re-enter, and verify the
+   destination loads and exits portal space. Repeat twice in one process.
+
+## B. Chat and combat text — #447/#448
+
+1. Run `@acecommands`. Every non-empty server line must be visible; an
+   oversized response must retain the newest complete lines, not blank the
+   transcript.
+2. Run `@acehelp acecommands` and send ordinary chat afterward. Verify normal
+   text, filtering, and scrolling remain intact.
+3. Land ordinary and critical melee hits. Outgoing lines must match retail
+   wording and punctuation and contain no acdream-added percentage.
+
+## C. Selection, use, containers, movement, and splitting — #445/#449
+
+Use a normal item, unusable item, wearable, weapon, two mergeable stacks, a
+Pyreal stack, one side pack, a full main pack, a full side pack, an open
+external container, and a creature/player target.
+
+1. Single-click and right-click inventory, side-pack, external-container, and
+   paperdoll items. Verify one global selection, stable highlight, status text,
+   and right-click examination.
+2. Select an owned Pyreal stack. The toolbar must read
+   `<stack> <appropriate name> (of <total carried Pyreals>)`, with no comma
+   insertion added by acdream.
+3. Single- and double-click a carried side pack. It must open on press, issue
+   no generic item-use request, and remain stably selected.
+4. Double-click usable, unusable, wearable, and wieldable items. Verify one
+   action. Any local refusal must appear once in SpewBox, not in normal chat.
+5. Move a full item between main pack and side pack. Before acknowledgement,
+   the source must remain canonical with retail's waiting/ghost presentation;
+   after success it appears only at the destination. Force one rejection and
+   verify no duplicate, disappearance, or speculative capacity change.
+   While holding the item under the cursor, move across the inventory and wait
+   through several ordinary object updates: the cursor icon must remain visible
+   until release. This re-gates the mid-drag procedural-refresh fix found during
+   the first 2026-08-26 owner pass.
+6. Fill the main pack, observe a rejected move, drop one loose item, then move
+   an item from a side pack into the freed slot immediately. It must accept
+   without reopening the inventory window (#449).
+7. From a stack of 10, select 2 and split into an empty main-pack slot, an open
+   side pack, and an external container. Each successful result must be 8+2.
+8. Merge full and partial stacks. Verify selected quantity, target selection,
+   target-cap clamp, source remainder, and exact refusal text for a full target.
+9. Drop full and partial stacks to the world, then pick them up. Verify pending
+   visuals, authoritative commit, failure cleanup, and no duplicate object.
+10. Give a full and partial stack to a creature; drag onto another player and
+    verify secure-trade routing. Hover rejection must stay silent; release
+    rejection must print the exact ClientLocal reason.
+11. Equip once by double-click and once by paperdoll drag. Test a clothing
+    conflict and weapon replacement. Canonical inventory/paperdoll ownership
+    must not change before the authoritative response.
+
+## D. Private paperdoll viewport — #443
+
+1. From a fresh process, open inventory and assess one monster and one player.
+2. The animated doll must be present on first open, not appear only after a
+   delay. Close/reopen each view several times and change equipment once.
+3. Record #443 independently if the viewport is late or missing even when the
+   underlying equip/inventory transaction is correct.
+
+## E. Vendor parity and alternate currency — #444/#445
+
+1. On the browse list, single-click selects, right-click examines, and
+   double-click buys exactly one/current-slider unit through the normal retail
+   purchase path.
+2. Add a stack quantity greater than one to Buying. Double-click its staged
+   row: remove exactly one unit and print
+   `Removing <name> from shopping list` once in SpewBox.
+3. Stage an owned item in Selling. Right-click examines it; double-click
+   removes the whole staged entry and prints the same removal form.
+4. Drag a staged Selling row: it must unstage. Repeat after selecting only part
+   of its stack: SpewBox must print
+   `You cannot split items from this panel` and the slider must reset to max.
+5. From an owned stack of 10, select 2 and drag into Selling. Verify the
+   temporary row resolves to the new authoritative stack of 2, Sell All sells
+   exactly 2, and 8 remain (#445).
+6. At an alternate-currency vendor, note holdings in the Items cost sentence
+   and Buying/Selling purse lines. Buy once: every visible holding must decrease
+   immediately and remain correct after authoritative inventory refresh,
+   tab changes, and vendor reopen (#444).
+7. Buy All once with enough currency and once without enough. The first uses
+   the refreshed balance; the second prints retail's insufficient-funds notice
+   and sends no purchase.
+
+## F. Re-entrant and lifecycle stress
+
+1. Change selection during a pending split, close an external container during
+   a pending move, and retry immediately after a refusal.
+2. Attempt a second inventory operation while one request is pending. Verify a
+   clean retail refusal/no-op, never duplicated wire action or stuck busy state.
+3. Log out or portal with a recently completed interaction, re-enter, and
+   verify pending projections and the request ledger converge to zero.
+
+## Pass rule
+
+The pass rule was satisfied for #444–#450 on the exact binary recorded above.
+#443 remains open by itself because the transaction rows passed and the failure
+was confined to private viewport residency.