Captures everything learned from a long worktree iteration on the
foreground-rain bug (ISSUES.md #1 / #26) plus a new star-rendering
bug observed in the same area. The code work from that worktree
(WeatherDispatcher, EmitterDescLoader.LoadFromDat, WeatherCellRenderer,
GameWindow integration) was reverted because it didn't visibly fix
the rain bug — but the research findings + diagnostic tools are
durable and should not have to be rediscovered.
What's added:
- docs/research/2026-04-26-sky-investigation-handoff.md
Comprehensive seed prompt for the next session. Covers:
* Bug A: foreground rain (#26) — what's open, what's confirmed,
what's been tried
* Bug B: stars rendering as square in corner (NEW, user-observed)
* 40-agent decomp scan findings — retail rain is NOT camera-
particles, NOT server-driven, NOT screen-space; the mesh IS
a hollow octagonal tube; only 5 weather GfxObjs in Dereth
* Things ruled out by trial (envelope, scaling, unlit, depth-
always alone, Setup loading)
* Things to try next (depth+zfar combined, full render-state
audit, frame ordering, star UV bug as easier first target)
* Acceptance criteria for "done"
- docs/research/2026-04-26-chorizite-pr-draft.md
Upstream PR draft for Chorizite/DatReaderWriter. Five generated
DBObj source files reference nonexistent enum values and are
silently excluded from the NuGet build:
ParticleEmitterInfo, Clothing, PaletteSet, DataIdMapper,
DualDataIdMapper. Fix: delete the duplicates. Independent of
the rain work — benefits the AC modding ecosystem broadly.
- docs/research/2026-04-26-datreaderwriter-reference.md
Developer reference for our DatReaderWriter usage. Version,
types we consume, known broken types, thread-safety caveats,
upgrade procedure, NuGet-vs-vendored decision matrix.
- tools/PesChainAudit/
Recursive PES walker — given a 0x33xxxxxx script id, walks all
CallPES references and dumps every hook + every referenced
ParticleEmitter's parameters. Used to prove no weather PES
emits rain particles.
- tools/TextureDump/
Dumps texture pixel statistics (alpha histogram, brightness,
max) and saves as PNG for visual inspection.
- tools/WeatherEnumerator/
Enumerates every DayGroup in a Region, lists weather SkyObjects
(Properties & 0x04), dumps GfxObj bounding boxes.
- tools/WeatherSetupProbe/
Loads a Setup id, dumps each part's GfxObj + frame + scale +
surface. Used to prove weather Setups are 5cm dummy carriers.
Worktree feature/sky-fixes is being deleted in a follow-up step.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Pre-Phase K research artifact. Captures the AC retail default keymap
in two complementary forms so the upcoming InputAction enum + retail
preset (Phase K.1c) can be built byte-precise.
- docs/research/named-retail/retail-default.keymap.txt — verbatim
copy of the user's test.keymap from
~/Documents/Asheron's Call/. Human-readable text format with
every binding categorized: MovementCommands (W/X/A/D/Z/C/Q/Space/
LShift/S + Y/G/H/B postures), ItemSelectionCommands (F/T/P + 18
punctuation keys for compass/item/monster/player/fellow targeting),
UICommands (F1-F12 panel toggles, R=USE, E=Examine, Esc=close,
Shift+Esc=Logout), QuickslotCommands (1-9 + Ctrl/Alt variants for
hotbar pages), Combat / MeleeCombat / MissileCombat / MagicCombat
(mode-dependent Insert/PgUp/Delete/End/PgDn), Emotes
(U=Cry, I=Laugh, J=Wave, O=Cheer, K=Point), CameraControls (numpad
cluster), MouseCommands, ScrollableControls, EditControls,
CopyAndPasteControls, DialogBoxes. 346 lines.
- docs/research/named-retail/keymap-default.txt — binary dump of
the gmDefaultMap MasterInputMap from client_portal.dat at file id
0x14000000. Decoded via the new tools/dump-keymap utility:
scancodes + modifier flags + action IDs + activation phase per
context. Confirms the text file's bindings against the dat-shipped
default. Cross-referenced against
acclient_2013_pseudo_c.txt:405510 (ACCmdInterp::OnAction) for the
movement dispatch logic and :365889 (CPlayerSystem::OnAction) for
the targeting dispatch.
- tools/dump-keymap/ — dotnet console tool referencing
references/DatReaderWriter. Reads MasterInputMap entries from a
dat directory + emits human-readable per-context binding tables.
Reusable for future custom keymap analysis. Run with:
dotnet run --project tools/dump-keymap/dump-keymap.csproj -c Release
Default dat dir is %USERPROFILE%/Documents/Asheron's Call.
Foundation for Phase K — control system overhaul. Plan documented at
~/.claude/plans/ticklish-conjuring-cake.md.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Pure-docs sweep. Cross-checked 63 hand-curated entries in
acclient_function_map.md against docs/research/named-retail/symbols.json
(the PDB-derived authoritative name table) using the new helper at
tools/pdb-extract/check_function_map.py.
Findings:
- Zero entries matched address-and-name exactly. Confirms the
PDB build is from a different revision than the binary that
produced our Ghidra chunks (~0x800-0xC10 byte delta varies by
function cluster). Match by NAME, not by raw address.
- 38 entries corrected by PDB name lookup. The "Was" column
preserves the old address for traceability against existing
code comments. Old entries pointed mid-body of the actual
function; new column heads point to function starts.
- 25 entries have no PDB match. Either inlined / non-public
(no S_PUB32 record) or our hand-derived names were synthesized
from call-site analysis and don't match the MSVC mangled form
in the PDB. Several had wrong class assignments (e.g. 0x5387C0
claimed as CTransition::find_collisions, actually
CPolygon::polygon_hits_sphere). Flagged for re-derivation in
acclient_2013_pseudo_c.txt.
Pattern: kept the table format with two address columns (PDB +
legacy) so existing code references using the old addresses can
still be looked up. Added a sweep-summary section at the bottom of
the file documenting the methodology + findings.
Helper script at tools/pdb-extract/check_function_map.py is reusable
for future re-runs (re-run after every PDB regeneration / function
map edit).
Closes#9.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Pure-Python MSF 7.00 PDB extractor (no deps, stdlib only). Reads
refs/acclient.pdb directly:
- DBI stream (3) -> symbol record stream index + section header
stream index
- Section headers stream (9) -> per-segment image VA bases
- Symbol record stream (8) -> S_PUB32 records with image VAs
- TPI stream (2) -> LF_CLASS / LF_STRUCTURE named records (not
forward-declared), with size leaf + name
Includes a best-effort MSVC C++ demangler so symbols.json is
grep-friendly:
?EnchantAttribute@CEnchantmentRegistry@@QBEHKAAK@Z
-> CEnchantmentRegistry::EnchantAttribute
Both demangled `name` + raw `mangled` emitted per entry so callers
can choose. Operator overloads, vtables, and other special forms
where a partial demangle would be misleading are kept mangled.
Outputs committed to docs/research/named-retail/:
- symbols.json (2.9 MB) — 18,366 named public function symbols
- types.json (506 KB) — 5,371 unique named class/struct records
Spot check (matches discovery agent's earlier finding):
CEnchantmentRegistry::EnchantAttribute -> 0x00594570 ✓
Updated docs/research/acclient_function_map.md header preamble to
direct readers at the new symbols.json as the authoritative name
source; the hand-curated table stays as the cross-port (ACE/ACME)
index. Several addresses there are wrong vs the PDB and will be
swept in the issue #9 close (Phase E).
Closes#8 (filed in Phase D's commit). Foundation for the address
sweep + name-driven workflows from here on.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Move the high-value retail RE artifacts from refs/ (per-developer
download cache, gitignored) into committed paths so subagents +
post-compaction sessions inherit them without round-tripping:
- docs/research/named-retail/acclient_2013_pseudo_c.txt (62 MB,
Binary Ninja named pseudo-C, 99.6% function-name recovery —
18,366 named functions out of 18,598 public symbols)
- docs/research/named-retail/acclient.h (1.7 MB / 70,719 lines,
IDA-decompiled retail struct definitions verbatim — Attribute,
SecondaryAttribute, AttributeCache, Attribute2ndTable, SkillFormula,
Enchantment, CEnchantmentRegistry with _mult_list/_add_list/_vitae,
CSpellBook, MotionState, RawMotionState, MoveToStatePack, CACQualities,
CPhysicsObj — every retail object-model layout we'd otherwise have
to guess at)
- docs/research/named-retail/acclient.c (46 MB, secondary named
decomp — IDA full-binary export with mixed FUN_/named functions
plus named struct fields the chunked Ghidra output lacks)
- docs/research/data/spells.csv (3,956 spells × 35 cols including
Family for buff stacking — issue #6 unblocked)
actestclient-master vendored at references/actestclient/ (extracted
from refs/actestclient-master-2019-01-10.zip; contains the canonical
machine-readable wire-schema messages.xml). Covered by existing
references/ gitignore — per-developer reference, not committed.
Repo precedent for committing decompiled retail content was set at
commit 4d36756 (18 MB Ghidra chunks). This adds ~110 MB more of the
same qualitative content. Ripgrep handles it in <1s.
Foundation for the named-retail workflow change in CLAUDE.md (next
commit). Plan at C:/Users/erikn/.claude/plans/ticklish-conjuring-cake.md
Phase A.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Closes Phase D.2a. Launch with ACDREAM_DEVTOOLS=1 now shows a live
ImGui "Vitals" window whose HP bar reads CombatState.GetHealthPercent
for the local player. Without the env var the branches are dead code,
no ImGui context is created, and behaviour is identical to before.
GameWindow hunks:
- fields: _imguiBootstrap / _panelHost / _vitalsVm + DevToolsEnabled
- init (OnLoad): construct bootstrap + host, register VitalsPanel
- GUID push: _vitalsVm?.SetLocalPlayerGuid(chosen.Id) at live-connect
- frame begin: _imguiBootstrap.BeginFrame(dt) after GL clear
- frame end: _panelHost.RenderAll(ctx) + _imguiBootstrap.Render() after debug overlay
- input gating: skip WASD when ImGui.GetIO().WantCaptureKeyboard
Backend pivot: Hexa.NET.ImGui → ImGui.NET + Silk.NET.OpenGL.Extensions.ImGui.
First-light integration with the Hexa backend crashed 0xC0000005 inside
Hexa.NET.ImGui.Backends.OpenGL3.ImGuiImplOpenGL3.InitNative. Root cause:
Hexa's native OpenGL3 backend resolves GL function pointers via GLFW or
SDL internally; with Silk.NET (which uses neither) the pointers are null
and the native code crashes on first use. The mitigation path was
already planned — the design doc's Risk section called a pivot to
ImGui.NET a "one-morning operation" — and that's exactly what happened.
- Packages: Hexa.NET.ImGui 2.2.9 + Hexa.NET.ImGui.Backends 1.0.18
→ ImGui.NET 1.91.6.1 + Silk.NET.OpenGL.Extensions.ImGui 2.23.0
- ImGuiBootstrapper: was static Initialize(gl)+Shutdown() wrapping
Hexa's OpenGL3 init; now an IDisposable wrapping Silk.NET's
ImGuiController instance which handles GL backend init + input
subscription in one go.
- SilkInputBridge.cs deleted (~190 LOC): ImGuiController subscribes
IKeyboard / IMouse events itself, we don't need a bespoke bridge.
- ImGuiPanelRenderer: ImGuiNET.ImGui.* calls instead of
Hexa.NET.ImGui.ImGui.*. Widget surface unchanged.
Boundary discipline is preserved — no panel imports ImGuiNET; only
ImGuiPanelRenderer does. The D.2b custom toolkit will implement the
same IPanelRenderer contract without touching panel code.
Out of scope (tracked for follow-up):
- Stam/Mana currently return float? null (VitalsVM). Absolute values
need LocalPlayerState + PlayerDescription (0x0013) parsing to be
stored rather than discarded — filed as a post-D.2a issue.
- Mouse-capture gating (WorldMouseFallThrough-style click-through
tests) — not needed until we add clickable inventory items.
Roadmap + memory + architecture doc + UI framework plan updated in the
same commit per CLAUDE.md roadmap-discipline rules. 753 tests pass
(550 Core + 192 Core.Net + 11 new UI.Abstractions), 0 build warnings.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Landed the UI framework design in 2026-04-24-ui-framework.md yesterday;
this commit propagates the decisions across the documents that future
sessions touch first, so the three-layer pattern is discoverable without
re-reading the full plan.
Changes:
* NEW memory/project_ui_architecture.md — evergreen crib-sheet:
three-layer diagram, AcDream.UI.Abstractions contract, D.2a/D.2b
split, module layout, hard rules, why staged not pure-custom.
* CLAUDE.md: new paragraph describing the three-layer UI split, naming
AcDream.UI.Abstractions as the plugin-facing contract, pointing at
the full plan + memory crib.
* docs/architecture/acdream-architecture.md: new "UI Architecture"
companion-stack diagram after Layer 0-5 (doesn't renumber the main
stack), plus step 6a "UI tick" in Per-Frame Update Order.
* docs/plans/2026-04-11-roadmap.md Phase D tightened:
- D.2 split explicitly into D.2a (Hexa.NET.ImGui scaffold + abstraction
layer) and D.2b (custom retail-look backend, implements same contracts).
- D.3 AcFont / D.4 dat sprites / D.7 cursor flagged as D.2b dependencies.
- D.5 core panels / D.6 HUD flagged as abstraction-layer deliverables
— ship with D.2a, reskinned by D.2b.
- D.8 Sound marked superseded (shipped as Phase E.2).
- F.5 core panels + H.1 chat-window cross-references updated to say
they target AcDream.UI.Abstractions, unblocked by D.2a.
- Shipped-phases table untouched.
* docs/research/retail-ui/00-master-synthesis.md: scope note at top
clarifies the Keystone research is the D.2b (custom backend)
foundation, NOT where D.2a starts.
* ~/.claude/.../memory/MEMORY.md: one-line index entry pointing at the
new project_ui_architecture.md (so session auto-load surfaces it).
Zero code changes; doc-only. dotnet build stays green. All verification
greps pass (see plan file for exact checks).
Iteration on the sky rendering pipeline to restore stars/moon visibility
at night and fix washed-out grey daytime clouds. Key fixes:
* sky.frag: disable fog-mix on sky meshes. Retail's keyframe FogEnd
(0..400m at midnight, up to 2400m during day) is calibrated for
terrain; sky meshes are authored at radii 1050-14271m which sits
past FogEnd universally, causing every sky pixel to saturate to
fogColor (dark navy). Stars, moon, dome texture all got
obliterated. The horizon-glow trade-off is noted in the shader
comment; research item to find retail's sky-specific fog range
later.
* SkyRenderer + sky.frag: promote rep.Luminosity into uEmissive so the
vertex lighting saturates properly for bright keyframes. Retail's
FUN_0059da60 non-luminous path writes rep.Luminosity into
material.Emissive via the cache +0x3c slot; we were instead using
it as a post-fragment multiply which could only dim, never brighten.
Net effect: daytime clouds now render saturated white, dome dims
correctly at night (rep.Luminosity=0.11 → Emissive=0.11), stars
and moon unchanged.
* terrain.vert: MIN_FACTOR 0.08 -> 0.0 per retail FUN_00532440 decompile
(DAT_00796344 ambient-floor = 0.0). Back-lit terrain now falls to
pure ambient rather than getting an 8% sun floor.
New research / tooling (no runtime impact):
* docs/research/2026-04-24-lambert-brightness-split.md — retail's
ambient-brightness formula pinned from PE .rdata read + live
RetailTimeProbe capture: effAmbBright = AmbBright + |sunDir| * 0.2
where scale constant 0x0079a1e8 = 0.2f exactly.
* docs/research/2026-04-23-lightning-real.md — research note on the
dat-baked PhysicsScript-driven lightning path (Rainy DayGroup has
explicit PES-triggered flash SkyObjects with 5ms time windows).
* Corrections stapled to sky-decompile-hunt-{B,C}.md: DAT_00842778 is
DirColor, DAT_0084277c is AmbColor (the hunt docs had the swap
backwards).
* tools/RetailTimeProbe/Program.cs: extended with pid=NNNN selector,
sky global probe (DirColor/AmbColor/AmbBright/sunDir/cache.amb),
and the 0x0079a1e8 scale-factor readout.
* tools/SkyObjectInspect/: throwaway dat-inspector built by the Opus
deep-dive agent. Identified GfxObj 0x010015EF as the stars layer
(A8R8G8B8 128x128 texture, 4% bright-pixel ratio).
* src/AcDream.App/Rendering/TextureCache.cs: per-texture alpha
histogram dump under ACDREAM_DUMP_SKY=1 for diagnosing "are the
clouds decoded with proper alpha" type questions.
README: rewrite to reflect current state (playable pre-alpha rendering
Dereth with animated characters, day-night cycle, weather, etc.)
instead of the stale "Phase 0 dat inventory only" description.
All 742 tests green.
User-observed regression 2026-04-23: acdream spawned rain particles
when retail showed no rain at the same server tick. Root cause: my
Phase 3e shortcut mapped DayGroup.Name = "Rainy" → WeatherKind.Rain →
rain particle emitter. That's not what retail does.
Parallel decompile research confirms:
- Agent A (2026-04-23-physicsscript.md): PhysicsScript runtime lives
at FUN_0051bed0 → FUN_0051bfb0, runs per PhysicsObj; sky calls it
from NOWHERE.
- Agent B (2026-04-23-sky-pes-wiring.md): FUN_00508010 (sky render
loop) never reads SkyObject.DefaultPesObjectId — the field is dead
at render time. Rain/snow particles in retail come from a separate
camera-attached weather subsystem that has NOT yet been located.
So the correct behavior is: DayGroup name should only drive
fog/ambient tone (via keyframes, already in the Snapshot path),
never spawn particle emitters. Any retail-faithful particle rain
belongs to a future phase once we find the camera-attached weather
subsystem driver.
Change: MapDayGroupNameToKind now maps all weathery substrings
(storm/snow/rain/cloud/overcast/dark/fog) → Overcast — fog-only
visuals, no particle spawn. Clear names stay Clear. The Rain, Snow,
Storm enum values remain and are still accessible via ForceWeather()
for debug overrides.
Tests updated (WeatherSystemTests): the name→kind theory now expects
Overcast for Rainy/Snowy/Stormy variants.
Also commits the four research docs from this session's parallel
hunt: PhysicsScript dat+runtime, sky↔PES wiring (negative finding),
lightning timer (negative finding — agent #3), fog on sky
(positive: retail applies fog to sky geometry).
NOTE on lightning: agent #3's research only ruled out the CLIENT-SIDE
RANDOM TIMER hypothesis for lightning. User confirms retail does have
visible lightning + thunder. A follow-up agent (#5, in flight as of
this commit) is hunting the real mechanism — PlayScript opcode,
SetLight PhysicsScript hooks, AdminEnvirons side effects, or the
weather-volume draw. This commit does NOT attempt to port lightning.
Build + 733 tests green.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Captures where we stand after Phase 4b and lays out the remaining
retail-faithful port work across four phases (5-8):
- Phase 5: PhysicsScript loader + runtime + sky lifecycle. Replaces
WeatherSystem's crude "DayGroup name contains Rainy → spawn rain"
shortcut with retail's actual PES-driven particle emission.
- Phase 6: Fog on sky meshes. The sky frag currently ignores fog
uniforms; retail's D3D fog applies to sky.
- Phase 7: Lightning flash trigger + thunder audio for storm keyframes.
- Phase 8: Weather / DayGroup crossfade (DAT_008427a9 / _DAT_008427b8
lerp) + AdminEnvirons override → fog crossfade.
User observation 2026-04-23 during Phase 4b verification: "Now it is
raining when it should not be." Root cause traced to the
SetKindFromDayGroupName string match firing rain particles on a "Rainy"
DayGroup regardless of whether that DayGroup actually has a visible
rain-emitting SkyObject. Proper fix requires porting PhysicsScript.
Also commits the earlier research from agent Q1-Q6:
`docs/research/2026-04-23-sky-material-state.md`.
Four parallel decompile agents are in flight as of this commit:
- PhysicsScript dat + runtime
- Sky↔PES wiring + emitter lifecycle
- Lightning + weather crossfade
- Fog on sky + vertex distance
Phase 5 implementation starts once those land.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Ran a live memory probe against retail acclient.exe (new tool:
tools/RetailTimeProbe/) to read the TimeOfDay struct at
DAT_008ee9c8 and compare against our computed values. The decompile
agent's identification of TimeOfDay+0x10 as "SecondsPerDay (int
copy)" turned out to be WRONG — the live value is **360**, which is
GameTime.DaysPerYear.
The retail FUN_00501990 LCG seed is:
seed = Year × (*+0x10) + DayOfYear
= Year × DaysPerYear + DayOfYear
= flat "total days since epoch" day-index
Our previous Phase 3c port passed 7620 (DayLength in ticks) as the
multiplier, producing seed=883,967 against retail's seed=41,807 —
completely different LCG outputs, completely different DayGroup
picks. That's why the user's retail kept showing stormy/rainy while
acdream showed sunny/clear (or vice versa) even after Phases 3c.1
and 3f aligned Year and DayOfYear.
Also confirmed by the probe:
- EpochBase / ZeroTimeOfYear = 3600 ✓ Phase 3f already correct
- BaseYear / ZeroYear = 10 ✓ DerethDateTime.ZeroYear
- Year=116, DayOfYear=47 ✓ our AbsoluteYear / DayOfYear
- SecondsPerDay float (+0x0C) = 7620 ✓ DayTicks
- SecondsPerYear = 2,743,200 ✓ YearTicks
One "finding that's not a fix": retail's +0x48 DayFraction is a
sub-period fraction (fraction through current day/night window)
NOT a full-day fraction. CurDayEnd - CurDayStart = 2857.5 = 0.375
of a day = 6 Dereth hours = night duration. Not relevant for our
keyframe bracket interpolation, which correctly uses a full-day
0..1 scale matching the SkyTime.Begin values. Documented in the
probe research doc so future work doesn't trip on it.
Changes:
- tools/RetailTimeProbe/ — new P/Invoke tool. Forced x86 target to
match retail's bitness so hardcoded DAT_xxxxxxxx addresses are
pointer-width-correct. Handles ASLR relocation via
Process.MainModule.BaseAddress.
- src/AcDream.App/Rendering/GameWindow.cs: RefreshSkyForCurrentDay
passes 360 (DaysInAMonth × MonthsInAYear) not 7620.
- src/AcDream.Core/World/SkyDescLoader.cs: ActiveDayGroup(ticks)
and DefaultDayGroup same.
- docs/research/2026-04-23-retail-memory-probe.md — full probe
results + decompile-agent correction.
- AcDream.slnx — add tools/ folder.
Build + 733 tests green.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Decompile agent located the retail DayGroup selection function at
FUN_00501990 (chunk_00500000.c:1276). It is a straight-line 32-bit
signed LCG — NOT a ChanceOfOccur-weighted CDF. Replaces the SplitMix64
approximation from Phase 3a.
Algorithm (verbatim from the decompile):
seed = year * secondsPerDay + dayOfYear // TimeOfDay+0x64/+0x10/+0x68
hash = seed * 0x6A42FDB2 + 0x8ABE1652 // signed 32-bit LCG
index = floor(dayGroupCount * (uint)hash / 2^32)
if (index >= dayGroupCount) index = 0 // float-rounding safety
Uniform over all DayGroups. Dereth's 20 groups all carry ChanceOfOccur=5.0
so uniform matches the statistical intent; the weighted walk Phase 3a
attempted is NOT what retail does. The SecondsPerDay multiplier is
load-bearing — without it, adjacent years would share adjacent LCG
seeds and divergence from retail would recur annually.
Result (this session's local ACE):
server: PY106 ColdMeet 17 MorntideAndHalf, ticks=291130073
→ year=106, dayOfYear=(106×0 + 17 across ColdMeet) via DerethDateTime
→ retail picker returns a deterministic uniform index from LCG.
Acdream and retail now agree on the pick for any (Year, DayOfYear)
since both drive from the same server PortalYearTicks.
Changes:
- src/AcDream.Core/World/DerethDateTime.cs: add Year(ticks) and
DayOfYear(ticks) helpers (match retail TimeOfDay+0x64 / +0x68).
- src/AcDream.Core/World/SkyDescLoader.cs:
- SelectDayGroupIndex signature: (year, secondsPerDay, dayOfYear)
instead of the flat dayIndex used by the SplitMix64 approximation.
- Body: retail LCG line-by-line port with decompile citations.
- ACDREAM_DAY_GROUP env var still overrides (for A/B verification).
- src/AcDream.App/Rendering/GameWindow.cs: RefreshSkyForCurrentDay now
feeds Year / DayOfYear / SecondsPerDay=7620 to the picker instead
of a flat dayIndex. Composite `year*360+dayOfYear` still tracked
internally as the day-change key for provider-rebuild idempotence.
- docs/research/2026-04-23-daygroup-selection.md committed with the
full decompile trail (new agent-produced research).
Build + 717 tests green. User visual verification (retail side-by-side)
next.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
The uncommitted uTint=AmbientColor-for-alpha-submeshes experiment (from
the 2026-04-22 inference) dimmed the sky dome's baked gradient — a
user-verified visual regression. Reverting to the eeae83a baseline
(uTint=Vector4.One for every submesh) while we execute the proper
retail-verbatim port.
Research: three parallel decompile-hunt agents landed verifying
retail's ground-truth sky pipeline for the first time (prior audits
searched for stripped symbol names; the trail opened via the Region
dat-type-index 0x1c registration at chunk_00410000.c:12952). Key
retail functions now mapped in chunk_00500000.c:1097-7535:
- FUN_00501530: keyframe bracket-picker (with 1.0f wrap denominator)
- FUN_00501600: sun+ambient interpolator (sunVec = DirBright ×
(sin yaw·cos pit, cos yaw·cos pit, sin pit))
- FUN_00501860: fog interpolator
- FUN_00502820: SkyDesc::Unpack (2 doubles + DayGroup list)
- FUN_00502a10: build per-frame sky-object table
- FUN_00505f30: apply light state + per-cell AdjustPlanes relight
- FUN_005062e0: per-frame sky tick (throttled by LightTickSize)
- FUN_00508010: sky-object render loop (enqueues through the NORMAL
mesh pipeline via FUN_00514b90 — not a bespoke path)
Surprise findings:
- D3DRS_AMBIENT is set to 0 once at init and NEVER changes per-frame
(chunk_005A0000.c). The r12-inferred "clouds = texture × D3DRS_
AMBIENT" formula is falsified. Retail instead routes keyframe
AmbColor through per-vertex lighting on non-Luminous sky meshes
via _DAT_008682bc/c0/c4.
- Retail does NOT anchor the sky to the camera or use a separate
sky projection. Sky meshes live in world space and follow the
camera via scene-graph parent.
- FUN_00532440 (AdjustPlanes) re-lights every terrain cell on every
keyframe tick — the "terrain follows the sky" effect we don't yet
reproduce.
Phase 1 code change (this commit):
- src/AcDream.App/Rendering/Sky/SkyRenderer.cs: revert uTint to white
for all submeshes (the per-submesh blend split stays — sun gets
additive, clouds get alpha). Keep the `keyframe` parameter in the
signature for Phase 2 readiness. Comments now cite the retail
functions and reference docs instead of the (disproven) r12 formula.
- src/AcDream.Core/World/SkyDescLoader.cs: ACDREAM_DUMP_SKY=1 logs
the entire Region SkyDesc on load — DayGroups, SkyObjects, every
SkyTimeOfDay keyframe, and every SkyObjectReplace with RAW pre-/100
Transparent/Luminosity/MaxBright values so we can settle the unit
question empirically.
- src/AcDream.App/Rendering/Sky/SkyRenderer.cs: ACDREAM_DUMP_SKY=1
additionally logs each sky GfxObj's Surfaces and their SurfaceType
flags on first load, so we can identify which meshes carry the
Luminous bit (dome? sun? moon? stars?) vs which are lit.
- src/AcDream.App/Rendering/GameWindow.cs: passes the interpolated
keyframe to the sky renderer (kept — needed for Phase 2).
Research docs (pushed as part of this commit):
- docs/research/2026-04-23-sky-retail-verbatim.md: full synthesis
with retail function map, struct layouts, globals, pseudocode, and
a 4-phase port plan.
- docs/research/2026-04-23-sky-decompile-hunt-{A,B,C}.md: raw hunt
outputs.
- docs/research/2026-04-23-sky-references-crossref.md: WorldBuilder/
ACE/ACViewer/holtburger/Chorizite coverage.
- docs/research/2026-04-23-sky-dat-schema.md: full dat schema + unit
analysis.
- docs/research/2026-04-22-sky-lighting-decompile.md: prior agent's
(superseded) inference — kept for provenance.
Phase 2 will port Surface.Luminous-flag-aware per-vertex lighting for
sky submeshes once the dump resolves the open questions (Luminous-flag
distribution per Dereth sky mesh; _DAT_007a1870 scale constant value).
Build + 717 tests green.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Retail's Region dat stores SkyObjectReplace.Luminosity / Transparent /
MaxBright as percentages in the 0..100 range. Our shader expects
fractions in 0..1. We were passing raw values (luminosity up to 100)
straight into the sky fragment shader's rgb-multiplier:
rgb = sampled.rgb * uTint.rgb * uLuminosity;
At the "Sunny" DayGroup's noon keyframes (verified via live diag),
Luminosity = 100 → shader multiplied the cloud texture RGB by 100 →
min(rgb, vec3(1.2)) clamped all channels to 1.2 → pure white sky.
Also gave the dawn/dusk purple sky effect on top of the pale texture.
Fix: SkyDescLoader.ConvertTimeOfDay divides Luminosity, Transparent
and MaxBright by 100 when loading each SkyObjectReplace. The Rotate
field stays as degrees (values like 270° are genuine headings, not
percentages).
Transparent was accidentally surviving via a 0..1 clamp downstream,
but we fix it for consistency and so brightness-attenuating values
in the 0..99 range (partial fade during dawn/dusk) work correctly
instead of rounding to full-transparent.
WorldBuilder's SkyboxRenderManager does NOT apply these fields at
all — that's why they never hit this bug. Our port applies them for
per-keyframe day-night fades, so we needed the unit conversion.
Also picked up in this commit (incidental, already running):
- Sky render: per-submesh blend mode from TranslucencyKind.Additive
for sun/moon-style self-bright objects (Additive bit 0x10000).
Luminous flag 0x40 intentionally NOT mapped to additive — that
flag is on the sky dome + cloud sheets and making them additive
produced the previous "fully white" iteration of this bug.
- ToD default seed: DayTicks/16 (Midsong = hour 9 = true noon)
instead of DayTicks*0.5 which landed on Gloaming-and-Half (sunset)
due to DerethDateTime's +7/16 day-fraction offset. Pre-TimeSync
view now correctly starts at noon.
- Lightning flash: brighter white-blue (vec3(1.5,1.5,1.8)) instead
of dim grey; ceiling relaxed during flash so the strobe actually
blows out. Cadence (strike intervals, decay) unchanged.
- Saved docs/research/2026-04-21-sky-deep-audit.md with the
decompile+ACE+ACME+WorldBuilder research done to corner this bug.
Open follow-up (not fixed here): sky clouds are white at noon /
don't get the dusk/night purple tint. Our sky shader is fully unlit
— doesn't apply sun/ambient directional light like the terrain
shader does. AmbientColor in the keyframe data carries the right
tint (purple at midnight, magenta at dusk) but we pass
uTint = Vector4.One instead of the keyframe value. Next commit will
wire directional-sun + ambient into sky.frag so cloud meshes pick
up the time-of-day color.
All 717 tests green. User-confirmed: sky colors are now "much
better" after this change (previously fully white).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Ground-truth audit of acdream's animation pipeline against retail
decompile (chunk_*.c), cross-referenced line-by-line with our code.
Previous audit relied on ACE and got wiring claims wrong (said our
PlayAction path was orphaned when it's wired via OnLiveMotionUpdated).
Findings:
- PerformMovement dispatcher (FUN_00529a90) matches our MotionInterpreter.
- apply_current_movement cycle priority (FUN_00529210) matches our
OnLiveMotionUpdated sequencer path.
- Commands list → PlayAction wiring matches retail.
- Falling / Jump / Dead substate routing matches.
- Frame-timing epsilon + negative-speed playback matches.
The agent's "hit-react missing" claim turned out to be wrong: the
referenced FUN_0048d760 call passes 32-bit IDs shaped like MotionCommand
values but user-confirmed retail shows NO body animation on damage, so
vtable +0x9c is almost certainly emit-effect / play-sound / spawn-
particle — not a motion play. Not an animation gap.
Open follow-up: CreateObject initial Commands list is parsed but not
replayed when the entity hydrates (minor; rare case).
Not a follow-up: on-hit combat feedback (particles, damage numbers).
That's a separate feature, not an animation pipeline concern.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
The single most important document in the project. Defines:
Architecture: 6-layer stack (Platform → Renderer → Network → World →
Game Objects → Plugin API). The code is modern C#; the behavior
matches the retail client exactly.
GameEntity: the unified entity class that replaces the current
scattered state (WorldEntity + AnimatedEntity + guid dicts + player
controller). Every world object is a GameEntity with PhysicsBody +
AnimationSequencer + CellTracker + MotionInterpreter + AppearanceState.
Per-frame update order: Network → Streaming → Input → Entity tick
(motion → physics → collision → cell → animation) → Render → Plugin.
Execution plan (R1-R8):
R1: GameEntity refactor (unify scattered state)
R2: Thin GameWindow (extract to proper systems)
R3: CellBSP + wall collision (indoor transitions)
R4: Complete animation state machine
R5: Lighting from decompiled AdjustPlanes
R6: Server compliance (authoritative Z, keepalive)
R7: Interaction (doors, NPCs, chat, inventory)
R8: Plugin API completion (Lua macros)
Also updates CLAUDE.md to establish the architect role and reference
the architecture doc as the single source of truth.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Sprint 2 research for indoor transitions. Documents:
- ACE EnvCell.find_transit_cells: sphere-plane + BSP containment
- ACE SortCell/BuildingObj.check_building_transit: outdoor→indoor
- PortalSide semantics and portal polygon plane testing
- Gap analysis: acdream needs CellBSP, BldPortal list, VisibleCells
Key finding: full accuracy requires CellBSP (physics BSP from dat)
for sphere_intersects_cell. Current PortalPlane.IsCrossing is a valid
approximation. ACME's AABB PointInCell is an intermediate option.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Complete pseudocode translation of the retail AC client's animation
system, extracted from chunk_00520000.c. Covers:
- Sequence::update_internal (1021 bytes, the core frame advance loop)
- Sequence::advance_to_next_animation (node transitions)
- Sequence::append_animation (queue management)
- MotionTableManager::PerformMovement (1878 bytes, full state machine)
- AddAnimationsToSequence (transition link → sequence nodes)
- GetStartFramePosition / GetEndFramePosition (reverse playback support)
- AdjustNodeSpeed (negative speed = swapped start/end frames)
Key findings:
- framePosition is a 64-bit DOUBLE, not float
- Negative speedScale swaps startFrame↔endFrame at the node level
- update_internal handles both forward and reverse in one loop
- Frame triggers fire at every integer boundary crossing
- The keyframe slerp lives in the renderer, not the sequencer
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
ROOT CAUSE FIX for missing left-side animations.
The AC client's MotionTable has NO cycles for TurnLeft (0x000E),
SideStepLeft (0x0010), or WalkBackward (0x0006). The real client
calls adjust_motion() which remaps these to their right-side
equivalents with NEGATIVE speed before looking up the cycle. Then
multiply_framerate() swaps LowFrame↔HighFrame so the animation
plays backward.
Source: ACE MotionInterp.cs:394-428, decompiled FUN_005267E0.
Changes:
- AnimationSequencer.SetCycle: adds adjust_motion block that remaps
left→right with speed *= -1 (TurnLeft, SideStepLeft) or
speed *= -0.65 (WalkBackward = BackwardsFactor)
- LoadAnimNode: when framerate < 0, swaps Low↔High (matching the
decompiled multiply_framerate)
- GameWindow.UpdatePlayerAnimation: passes original animCommand to
SetCycle (sequencer handles remapping internally), keeps legacy
fallback for non-sequencer entities
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Complete decompilation of the retail Asheron's Call client using
Ghidra 12.0.4 + pyghidra headless. 22,225 of 22,226 functions
successfully decompiled in 75 seconds.
Output: docs/research/decompiled/ (54 files, 688,567 lines of C)
Key findings already identified:
- CLandBlockStruct::ConstructPolygons at chunk_00530000.c:2270
(split direction formula with 0x0CCAC033 constants)
- Motion command handlers at chunk_00510000.c (0x45000005 etc)
- Motion interpreter at chunk_00520000.c
- Portal space UI at chunk_004D0000.c and chunk_00560000.c
Next: identify CPhysicsObj, CMotionInterp, collision, and movement
functions by cross-referencing against ACE's C# port.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Exhaustive analysis of two working AC clients revealing three critical
findings that reshape acdream's movement system:
1. Server-authoritative Z: neither AC2D nor holtburger computes local
terrain Z for the player. AC2D sends keys, receives position. Holtburger
dead-reckons for smoothing but the server overrides.
2. Terrain split formula mismatch: AC2D and ACViewer's render path use
0x0CCAC033-based FSplitNESW; WorldBuilder (our source) uses a different
214614067-based physics formula. Our terrain mesh triangulation doesn't
match the real AC client's, causing Z mismatches on slopes.
3. Movement deduplication: MoveToState sent once per state change, not per
frame. AutonomousPosition heartbeat every 1 second.
Also adds AC2D to CLAUDE.md reference repos section.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
