Adds two design docs and a roadmap entry for the strategic shift
from "port retail rendering algorithms ourselves" to "depend on a
fork of Chorizite/WorldBuilder for rendering + dat-handling."
- docs/superpowers/specs/2026-05-08-phase-n-worldbuilder-migration-design.md
— parent design: integration model (fork + submodule), 10 sub-phases
(N.0 setup through N.10 GL consolidation), strangler-fig phasing
with per-phase feature flags, retail-decomp boundary clarified for
what WB does NOT cover (network, physics, animation, motion, UI,
plugin, audio, chat).
- docs/superpowers/specs/2026-05-08-phase-n1-scenery-via-wb-helpers-design.md
— N.1 detailed design: replace IsOnRoad / DisplaceObject /
slope-normal calc / rotation / scale inside SceneryGenerator.Generate()
with calls to WB's SceneryHelpers + TerrainUtils. Keep data flow,
ScenerySpawn shape, and renderer integration. Add small LandBlock →
TerrainEntry[] adapter. Feature flag ACDREAM_USE_WB_SCENERY=1.
- docs/plans/2026-04-11-roadmap.md — Phase N entry added between
Phase M and Phase J. Lists all 10 sub-phases with effort estimates.
Fork already created at https://github.com/eriknihlen/WorldBuilder.
N.0 setup (replace references/WorldBuilder/ snapshot with submodule,
add project references, build green) is the next implementation step.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Saves the comprehensive inventory of what WorldBuilder provides
(terrain, scenery, static objects, EnvCells, portals, sky, particles,
texture decode, mesh extraction, visibility) vs what acdream still
ports from retail decomp (network, physics, animation, movement, UI,
plugin, audio, chat).
This is the load-bearing reference for the strategic shift from
"port retail algorithms ourselves" to "rely on WorldBuilder for
rendering + dat-handling, port only what WB doesn't cover."
Updates CLAUDE.md:
- Adds top-level instruction: read the inventory FIRST before
re-porting anything in the 🟢 list
- Reframes references/WorldBuilder/ as acdream's rendering BASE,
not just a reference repo
- Updates the "Reference hierarchy by domain" table to point
rendering/dat questions at WorldBuilder, with retail decomp as
cross-check
Subsequent commits will fork WorldBuilder and replace our terrain/
scenery/object rendering with calls into the fork.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Self-contained brief for a fresh agent: bug description with the
2026-05-06 screenshot evidence, what's confirmed (Z fix from #48 is
in, Stab placement is correct, dat content matches), five competing
hypotheses (LCG noise drift / cell-coord transposition / Align
reference / slope filter / SceneInfo lookup), and the cdb retail
trace as the gold-standard diagnostic to disambiguate. Same pattern
as the #48 handoff — paste the doc into a new session as the prompt.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Closes#48. Trees on sloped cells visibly hovered above the visible
terrain because GameWindow.SampleTerrainZ (the bilinear fallback used
during scenery hydration before physics registers a landblock) had
its diagonal arms swapped — used the SEtoNW triangle test on SWtoNE
cells and vice versa. The ACDREAM_DUMP_SCENERY_Z=1 diagnostic showed
every scenery line ran through the bilinear path (streaming race),
so on hilly terrain scenery was placed at a Z up to ~1.5 m off from
the visible mesh.
Latent since ff325ab (2026-04-17 "feat(ui): debug overlay + refined
input controls" carrying along the upgrade). That commit reached for
WorldBuilder TerrainUtils.GetHeight as the secondary oracle and
re-derived the triangle-pair tests; the named-retail / ACE algorithm
in TerrainSurface.SampleZ (used by the physics path / player Z) was
always correct, so player feet stayed flush — the two paths just
disagreed and only scenery noticed.
Fix:
- TerrainSurface.InterpolateZInTriangle (private static) — single
source of truth for the triangle pick + barycentric Z, sourced
from FUN_00532a50 / ACE LandblockStruct.ConstructPolygons.
- TerrainSurface.SampleZFromHeightmap (public static) — heightmap-
byte-array variant for the scenery hydration fallback. Both this
and TerrainSurface.SampleZ (instance) now delegate to the same
InterpolateZInTriangle.
- GameWindow.SampleTerrainZ — thin wrapper over the new static.
- TerrainSurfaceTests.SampleZFromHeightmap_AgreesWithInstance_AcrossWholeLandblock
asserts both sampler paths agree at 1500 sample points across both
diagonals, so future drift gets caught.
The ACDREAM_DUMP_SCENERY_Z=1 diagnostic in BuildSceneryEntitiesForStreaming
is kept committed (env-var gated, zero cost when off) — useful for
the related #49 scenery (X, Y) placement investigation filed in the
same commit.
Visual verified at Holtburg landblock 0xA9B30001 2026-05-06: the
formerly floating 32 m pines (setups 0x020002D3 / 0x020002D9) now
sit flush on the visible terrain mesh.
Test baseline: dotnet test reports the same 8 pre-existing motion /
BSP step-up failures as the handoff doc warned about — no new
failures introduced.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Keep local physics authoritative at the retail 30 Hz MinQuantum, but expose a render-only position that lerps between completed physics ticks for the player mesh and chase-camera target. Network outbound continues to use the discrete physics position.
Also make the visually confirmed #47 humanoid close-detail DIDDegrade path default-on, with ACDREAM_RETAIL_CLOSE_DEGRADES=0 left as a diagnostic opt-out.
Verification: dotnet build AcDream.slnx -c Debug; focused #38 interpolation tests passed; visual confirmed smooth 2026-05-06. Full dotnet test AcDream.slnx -c Debug --no-build still has the known 8 AcDream.Core.Tests baseline failures.
Co-authored-by: Codex <codex@openai.com>
A few specific scenery GfxObjs render with their trunk base ~0.5-1.5m
above the terrain mesh while the vast majority sit flush. Per-GfxObj-
id ⇒ deterministic across instances. Player Z snap is unaffected.
Side-by-side with retail confirmed the same species place flush there.
Filed with three competing hypotheses: per-GfxObj origin convention
(some tree meshes authored with origin at bbox-center vs trunk-base),
physics-vs-bilinear terrain Z mismatch on NE↔SW-cut cells, or the
same DIDDegrade close-detail story as #47 applied to scenery.
Detailed cut-and-paste handoff for the next agent at
docs/research/2026-05-06-issue-48-handoff.md — covers the diagnostic
dump that disambiguates the hypotheses with one log line per
offending tree.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Humanoid bodies (Setup 0x02000001 + heritage variants) rendered visibly
flat / bulky vs retail because we drew the base GfxObj id from Setup /
AnimPartChange directly. Retail's CPhysicsPart::LoadGfxObjArray
(0x0050DCF0) treats that base id as the entry point to a DIDDegrade
table; close/player rendering uses Degrades[0].Id, which is the
higher-detail mesh that carries bicep / deltoid / shoulder geometry.
ACViewer also has this bug — it was the key signal it isn't acdream-
specific. Both clients drew the LOD-3 base mesh (e.g. 14 verts / 17
polys for Aluvian Male upper arm 0x01000055), missing the close-
detail variant (0x01001795: 32 verts / 60 polys).
Adds GfxObjDegradeResolver that walks the table with safe fallbacks
at every step. Wired in GameWindow after AnimPartChange application
and before texture-change resolution so texture overrides match the
resolved mesh's surfaces. Gated by ACDREAM_RETAIL_CLOSE_DEGRADES=1
and scoped to humanoid setups (34 parts with >=8 null-sentinel
attachment slots) while the fix bakes — the change is harmless on
non-humanoid setups (resolver falls back to base when no degrade
table) but we hold the broader sweep until LOD distance plumbing
lands.
User confirmed visually 2026-05-06: bicep, deltoid, and back-muscle
definition match retail.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Self-contained pickup brief for the bulky-humanoid bug. Has:
- the bug + acceptance criterion
- everything ruled out this session (with evidence)
- starting facts confirmed via diagnostics
- 4 ranked hypotheses (per-vertex normals → ambient → MSAA → frame
composition) with concrete tests for each
- diagnostic env vars + their output shapes
- the CLAUDE.md grep-named-first workflow
- files most likely to need edits
- live test workflow (env vars, expected entities in Holtburg)
- constraints (don't break drudges / scenery / +Acdream local view)
Designed to drop straight into a fresh agent's prompt window.
Filed #47 in docs/ISSUES.md — humanoid characters using Setup 0x02000001
(players + Woodsman + other Aluvian NPCs) render visibly bulkier and less
shape-defined than retail's view. Drudges and other monster setups render
identically. Independent of equipment (naked +Je still shows it).
Investigation this session ruled out 0xF625 ObjDescEvent drops (real bug,
fixed in e471527, but doesn't explain shape), HiddenParts overlap,
ParentIndex walking (animation frames are setup-root coords already),
and player-specific data flow (NPCs using same setup affected too).
Diagnostic infrastructure landed alongside the issue (env-var-gated, no
runtime cost when off):
- ACDREAM_DUMP_CLOTHING=1 now also prints:
- setup.Parts.Count, flatten.Count, APC count on header
- ParentIndex[] and DefaultScale[] arrays
- IdleFrame per-part Origin + Orientation (first 17 parts)
- per-part EMIT line: gfx, subMeshes count, triangle count
- TOTAL triangle / meshRef counts per entity
This is what nailed down "all 34 parts emit" + "animation frames are
setup-root not parent-local" + "humans get setup-wide 180°-Z rotation
that drudges don't" — saved hours next session.
Open hypotheses for #47 next session: per-face vs smoothed vertex
normals (per-vertex normals from dat may be face-style for human
GfxObjs but smooth for monsters), low cell ambient leaving back faces
flat-shadowed, missing MSAA on the GL window.
#45 — closed by commit e9e080d. PlayerMovementController hands a raw
localAnimSpeed (1.0 slow / runRate fast); UpdatePlayerAnimation now
scales sidestep cycles by WalkAnimSpeed/SidestepAnimSpeed × 0.5 to
match ACE's BroadcastMovement formula. User-verified.
#46 — filed. Retail clients observing acdream's local +Acdream
character see visibly blippy / laggy movement. Local acdream view of
the same character is fine; acdream observing retail-driven
characters is also fine (after #39 / #45). The degradation is
specifically on the OUTBOUND path. Likely culprits ranked: AutoPos
heartbeat cadence (acdream's fixed 200 ms is suspect per
project_retail_motion_outbound memory), MoveToState send conditions,
sequence counters, or absent HasVelocity on UPs. Verification approach
documented (two retail clients + one acdream side-by-side; cdb
breakpoint count of MovementManager::unpack_movement on retail
observer).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
#45 — local +Acdream slow-strafe walking renders too slow. User
observed during fix#5 visual verify of #39: the observer-side fix
landed, then the user noticed the matching animation on the local
player was also playing at sub-walk cadence. Likely the same
SidestepAnimSpeed (1.25) vs WalkAnimSpeed (3.12) mismatch as fix#5
but on the local UpdatePlayerAnimation path. Filed for separate
investigation.
#39 — added "Progress 2026-05-06" section listing the five-commit
fix sequence (8fa04af → 863d96b → bb026b7 → 2653b30 → cc62e1c →
349ba65), the wire-level finding that retail genuinely does NOT
broadcast on Shift toggle (refuting the earlier confused trace
analysis), the user-verified working cases (1/2/4/5) and the
residual items (latency from 500ms UM grace, direction-flip cases
3/6/7 not yet explicitly verified).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Visual-verify of commit 8fa04af in launch-39-candidate.log refutes the
static-analysis hypothesis that retail does not broadcast UMs on
HoldKey-only changes. The log shows:
- [FWD_WIRE] for retail actor 0x50000001 contains many direct Walk↔Run
transitions (0x44000007 ↔ 0x45000005). ACE IS sending UMs on Shift
toggle.
- [SETCYCLE] fires correctly per UM; Sequencer.CurrentMotion cycles
through Walk / Run / Turn / Sidestep correctly per [UM_RAW].
- [UPCYCLE_PLAYER] never fired — UM grace correctly suppressed it
(UMs at >2 Hz, well within 500 ms grace).
- User reports legs visually stuck in walking animation despite the
wire/sequencer saying Run.
Conclusion: bug is downstream of Sequencer.CurrentMotion — same as
2026-05-03 hypothesis F. Most likely _currNode lands on the walk-to-run
transition link after SetCycle (`currNodeIsCyclic=False` confirmed in
[SCFULL]) and Advance does not progress past it to the cycle.
The candidate fix code (LastUMTime, ApplyPlayerLocomotionRefinement,
hysteresis constants, un-gated call site) is left in place — harmless
because UM grace blocks the velocity-fallback path while UMs arrive,
and the infrastructure may be useful for cases #2–#7 if those need
velocity fallback. But it does not close case #1.
Updates ISSUES.md #39 with refuted hypothesis + new evidence + next
step pointer. findings-static.md gains "Visual-verify result" §
documenting the diagnostic dump and recommending the next investigation
target be AnimationSequencer.Advance queue-handling.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Adds a player-remote velocity-fallback path to ApplyServerControlledVelocityCycle
so that when retail (the actor) toggles Shift while holding W and acdream is
the observer, the visible leg cycle switches Run↔Walk within ~200–500 ms even
though no fresh UM arrives. Static analysis (ACE GameActionMoveToState +
MovementData.cs auto-upgrade + acdream's prior diag traces) suggests retail
does NOT broadcast a fresh MoveToState on HoldKey-only changes — acdream's
UMs handle direction-key changes and our local +Acdream's transitions, but
retail-driven actors leave the cycle stuck.
Changes (all in src/AcDream.App/Rendering/GameWindow.cs):
- New RemoteMotion.LastUMTime field, stamped in OnLiveMotionUpdated
- ApplyServerControlledVelocityCycle: removed inner IsPlayerGuid gate;
routes player remotes to new ApplyPlayerLocomotionRefinement
- ApplyPlayerLocomotionRefinement (forward-direction only):
- 500 ms UM grace window (UMs win when fresh)
- Forward-direction-only (low byte 0x05 / 0x07)
- Hysteresis: Run → Walk demote at < 4.5 m/s; Walk → Run promote > 5.5 m/s
- Skip SetCycle when neither motion ID nor speedMod changed meaningfully
- [UPCYCLE_PLAYER] diag gated on ACDREAM_REMOTE_VEL_DIAG=1
- Outer call site in OnLivePositionUpdated un-gated (!IsPlayerGuid removed);
per-remote routing now lives inside the function
Scope: case #1 (Run↔Walk forward) only. Cases #2–#7 (backward, sidestep
speed-buckets, direction-flips) remain deferred — PlanFromVelocity is
forward-only and its NPC-tuned thresholds (RunThreshold=1.25) do not
separate player Walk (~2.5 m/s) from player Run (~9 m/s); a TTD trace
of retail's per-direction algorithm should ground the wider fix.
ISSUES.md #39 updated with progress; investigation-prompt.md and a new
findings-static.md committed under
docs/research/2026-05-06-locomotion-cycle-transitions/ (the prompt was
authored on a parallel branch in commit 7a38da3 and is brought into this
worktree here so the next session can find it without branch-hopping).
Build clean. The 8 pre-existing test failures on this branch
(BSPStepUpTests.C3_Path6_AirborneMoverHitsSteepSlope, MotionInterpreter
WalkBackward GetMaxSpeed, etc.) are unrelated to this change — verified
by running them with the diff stashed.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
#42 — moved from OPEN to DONE in place (rich investigation log preserved
below the new Resolution block). The originally-listed mechanisms (H1
slope-driven AdjustOffset projection, H2 step-down probe, H3 EdgeSlide)
were all RULED OUT by the first evidence run; root cause was self-
collision in FindObjCollisions, not in-sweep mechanism choice. Added
forward-pointer to retail's CObjCell::find_obj_collisions self-skip
(named-retail acclient_2013_pseudo_c.txt:308931).
#43 — new entry in Recently closed for the slope staircase on grounded
player remotes. Diagnosis: PositionManager.ComputeOffset's seqVel-only
fallback returned flat-Z motion because anim cycles bake Z=0 body-local,
producing visible 5 Hz Z stepping at the server-UP cadence. Fix: project
the fallback onto the local terrain plane (mirrors retail's
CTransition::adjust_offset contact-plane projection at the queue-empty
boundary). Verified via 9193 queue-empty-with-non-zero-offset.Z ticks
across a 34m vertical traversal.
Both diagnostic env-vars kept in tree for future regression hunts:
ACDREAM_AIRBORNE_DIAG=1 and ACDREAM_SLOPE_DIAG=1.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Replaces the original 96-line note with a detailed self-contained
brief targeted at someone picking up #42 cold in a new session.
Adds:
- Explicit ruled-out list (wire data, Euler error, stale velocity,
diagnostic instrumentation) — saves rediscovering dead ends.
- The user's "buildings + jumping puzzles" constraint that rules out
blanket sweep-disable.
- Specific file/line targets in PhysicsEngine.cs (470, 478-491,
493-519, 521-530, 532, 534-558) and TransitionTypes.cs (786-846,
1305-1311) with a brief reading order.
- Phase 1 / Phase 2 / Phase 3 investigation plan with concrete
diagnostic harness (`ACDREAM_AIRBORNE_DIAG=1` + `[SWEEP]` log) and
direction-correlation test.
- Per-hypothesis fix paths so the agent doesn't re-derive them from
the diagnosis.
- Full acceptance criteria including build/test gates and visual
test sequence (flat / hillside / running / doorway / puzzle / land).
- Hard rules (don't blame ACE, don't disable sweep, don't touch L.3
motion code, don't reduce sphere dims, etc.).
- cdb breakpoint recipe for retail-vs-acdream A/B comparison.
- Pre-session reading list with line numbers.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Brings the elated-aryabhata-208d5e branch into main. 7 commits implementing
the L.3 retail-faithful remote-entity motion port:
de129bc M1 Fresh InterpolationManager port + retail spec
40d88b9 M2 Queue routing for player-remote UPs + entity-position sync
2365c8c M3 Animation root motion fallback for idle queue
d57ace0 M6 Cleanup — dead fields + stale env-var references
c26bbbb M4 Jump-CellId fix + #42 filed
b37b713#42 root cause confirmed via A/B test
5cc2812 Handoff prompt for #42 PhysicsEngine investigation
User-verified visual checks: smooth body chase on running/walking/strafing,
no per-UP rubber-band, no slope staircase, NPCs pathing correctly, jumps
land cleanly. Two follow-up issues filed:
#41 sub-decimeter steady-state blips (velocity-synthesis residual; LOW)
#42 airborne XY drift on jumps (PhysicsEngine.ResolveWithTransition
depenetration; root cause confirmed; deep-dive prompt at
docs/research/2026-05-05-issue-42-handoff.md)
Replaces the env-var-gated experimental path (ACDREAM_INTERP_MANAGER=1)
which was marked DO-NOT-ENABLE — the env-var no longer toggles anything.
NPCs and airborne player remotes still use the legacy path; only grounded
player remotes route through the new retail-faithful queue.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Self-contained next-session brief for the airborne XY drift
follow-up. Captures: confirmed root cause (ResolveWithTransition,
verified A/B), three ranked hypotheses for the in-sweep mechanism
(initial-overlap depenetration on non-+Z terrain normal is leading),
three fix paths in preference order, repro steps with terrain-slope
direction-correlation test, and the acceptance criteria.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
A/B-tested 2026-05-05 with user observing retail-controlled remote:
- With CellId fix removed: jumps render with geometrically-correct
XY (no drift) but body falls through the floor.
- With CellId fix applied: jumps land cleanly but arc shows ~1 m
horizontal offset; snaps back on next UM.
Confirms the drift originates inside ResolveWithTransition, not from
wire data, local Euler error, or stale velocity. CellId fix kept in
place because falling through the floor is more disruptive than
~1 m visual jitter that resolves on next input.
#42 updated with the verified diagnosis, three ranked-by-probability
hypotheses for the in-sweep mechanism (initial-overlap depenetration
along non-+Z terrain normal is the leading candidate), three matching
fix paths, and a deterministic repro recipe for the next session.
The right next step is investigating PhysicsEngine.ResolveWithTransition
and comparing against retail's CTransition::find_valid_position
(docs/research/named-retail/) — out of scope for the L.3 motion port,
files as a follow-up PhysicsEngine bug.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
CellId fix:
L.3 M2 introduced OnLivePositionUpdated player-remote routing that
returned without setting `rmState.CellId = p.LandblockId`. The legacy
path always set this (formerly at line 3601). Airborne player remotes
fall through to the legacy TickAnimations path which gates
ResolveWithTransition on `rm.CellId != 0`; without the cell-id update
the sphere sweep was skipped, K-fix15 landing detection never fired,
and the body fell through the floor on jumps.
Fix: set `rmState.CellId = p.LandblockId` early in the M2 player-remote
branch (after orientation snap, before any return).
User-verified 2026-05-05: jumps now land cleanly with sequencer
leaving Falling on landing.
#42 filed:
Visual verification of M4 also exposed a ~1 m horizontal drift on
stationary jumps (body arcs through the air offset from actor's actual
position; lands at offset; snaps back on next UM). User confirms this
is pre-existing, masked by the legacy path's hard-snap-on-every-UP
behavior that M2 explicitly removed per retail spec
(03-up-routing.md § 3 "AIRBORNE NO-OP"). Filed as #42 with three
candidate fix paths (pragmatic legacy-restore, root-cause investigation,
or hybrid soft-correction).
M5 NPCs verified clean (legacy path unchanged).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Restores PositionManager.ComputeOffset call in TickAnimations player-
remote branch. M2 was queue-only (body chases server but stops between
UPs after head reached); M3 adds the retail REPLACE behavior:
- Queue active and not reached → catch-up vector (REPLACES anim).
- Queue empty or head reached → anim root motion (seqVel × dt rotated
by body.Orientation) drives translation between UPs.
- Blip-to-tail still fires on fail_count > 3.
Mirrors retail UpdatePositionInternal @ 0x00512c30 per
docs/research/2026-05-04-l3-port/05-position-manager-and-partarray.md
§ 6: PositionManager::adjust_offset OVERWRITES local frame's origin
with catch-up when active; otherwise no-op (anim root motion stands).
User-verified 2026-05-05: "Best implementation we have had so far.
Running works, walking works, strafing works."
Closes#40 (env-var path regression — replaced wholesale).
Files #41 for residual sub-decimeter blips: velocity-synthesis magnitude
(RunAnimSpeed × adjustedSpeed) overshoots server pace slightly, queue
walks it back every UP. Within retail's DesiredDistance / MinDistance
tolerances; not a correctness bug. Fix path requires porting
add_motion @ 0x005224b0 and cdb-tracing retail's actual
CSequence::velocity magnitude.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Rewrites src/AcDream.Core/Physics/InterpolationManager.cs from the spec
in docs/research/2026-05-04-l3-port/04-interp-manager.md. Public API
preserved (Vector3-returning AdjustOffset, Enqueue, Clear, IsActive,
Count) so PositionManager + GameWindow callers continue to compile;
internals are full retail spec.
Bug fixes vs prior port (audit 04-interp-manager.md § 7):
#1 progress_quantum accumulates dt (sum of frame deltas), not step
magnitude. Retail line 353140; the prior port's `+= step` made
the secondary stall ratio meaningless.
#3 Far-branch Enqueue (dist > AutonomyBlipDistance = 100m) sets
_failCount = StallFailCountThreshold + 1 = 4, so the next
AdjustOffset call's post-stall check fires an immediate blip-to-
tail snap. Retail line 352944. Prior port silently drifted
toward far targets at catch-up speed instead of teleporting.
#4 Secondary stall test ports the retail formula verbatim:
cumulative / progress_quantum / dt < CREATURE_FAILED_INTERPOLATION_PERCENTAGE.
Audit notes the units are 1/sec (likely Turbine bug or x87 FPU
misread by Binary Ninja) — mirrored byte-for-byte regardless.
#5 Tail-prune is a tail-walking loop, not a single-tail compare.
Multiple consecutive stale tail entries within DesiredDistance
(0.05 m) of the new target collapse together. Retail line 352977.
#6 Cap-eviction at the HEAD when count reaches 20 (already correct
in the prior port; verified).
New API: Enqueue gains an optional `currentBodyPosition` parameter so
the far-branch detection can reference the body when the queue is
empty. Backward-compatible (default null = pre-far-branch behavior).
UseTime collapsed into AdjustOffset's tail (post-stall blip check)
since acdream has no per-tick UseTime call separate from
adjust_offset; identical semantic outcome.
State fields renamed to retail names with sentinel values:
_frameCounter, _progressQuantum, _originalDistance (init = 999999f
sentinel per retail line 0x00555D30 ctor), _failCount.
Tests:
- 17/17 InterpolationManagerTests green.
- New test Enqueue_FarBranch_PrearmsImmediateBlipOnNextAdjustOffset
pins the bug #3 fix: enqueueing 150 m away triggers a same-tick
blip (delta length ≈ 150 m), and the queue clears.
Spec tree: 17 research docs (00–14) under docs/research/2026-05-04-l3-port/.
00-master-plan + 00-port-plan describe the 8-phase rollout. 01-per-tick,
03-up-routing, 04-interp-manager, 05-position-manager-and-partarray,
06-acdream-audit, 14-local-player-audit are the L.3 spec used by this
commit and the M2 follow-up.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Five parallel agents + dat probes ruled out:
- byte-level decode primitive (matches ACViewer)
- polygon emission (no ST_DOUBLE / Surface.Type & 6 issues)
- per-PART texture-override scoping (correctly per-MeshRef'd)
- SubPalette indexing convention (full-size 2048 palettes, *8 wire un-pack
is single-applied)
Smoking gun: for +Acdream the server sends 10 SubPaletteSwap ranges that
overlay palette indices [0..320), [576..1024), [1392..1488), [1728..1920).
The complement — [320..576), [1024..1392), [1488..1728), [1920..2048) —
is NOT overlaid. Base palette 0x0400007E at those indices has
red/skin tones. Coat texture UVs sampling those non-overlaid indices
render as visible "skin stub at top of coat".
Either ACE sends incomplete SubPaletteSwap data, or retail does extra
client-side ClothingTable computation we (and ACE) don't.
Diagnostic harness now lives at tools/InspectCoatTex/Program.cs;
GameWindow's DUMP_CLOTHING also probes runtime SubPalette dat sizes.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
End-of-session cleanup of the 2026-05-03 remote-motion debug session.
Documentation:
- CLAUDE.md: add ⚠️ DO-NOT-ENABLE warning for ACDREAM_INTERP_MANAGER=1
in the diagnostic env-vars list. Add an "Outbound motion wire format"
section documenting acdream's WalkForward+HoldKey.Run encoding (which
ACE auto-upgrades to RunForward on relay) so future sessions don't
re-derive it.
- docs/ISSUES.md: file two new issues:
* #39 — Run↔Walk cycle transition not visible on observed
retail-driven player remotes when watched from acdream. Root cause
located: ApplyServerControlledVelocityCycle is gated by
IsPlayerGuid, excluding the exact case where ACE doesn't broadcast
a UM (shift toggle while direction key held). Fix sketch ~10
lines, separate commit. Cross-references the four-agent
investigation prompt.
* #40 — ACDREAM_INTERP_MANAGER=1 env-var path regressed. Documents
why (e94e791 conflated MoveOrTeleport with update_object), the
visible symptoms (staircase Z, position blips), and why
Commit B (039149a)'s ResolveWithTransition port was insufficient
(env-var path also clears body.Velocity → no horizontal Euler
motion → sweep input is queue catch-up only, which stair-steps).
Fix path = separate L.3 follow-up to re-integrate PositionManager
additively on top of the legacy chain.
Code:
- GameWindow.cs:6042: prepend a ⚠️ REGRESSED warning block at the top
of the env-var per-frame branch so anyone reading the code is
immediately aware not to enable it. Cross-references ISSUES.md #40.
- AnimationSequencer.cs: re-throttle [SCFAST]/[SCFULL] diagnostics to
0.5s per instance (rolled back from A.1's unthrottled experiment).
Already served its purpose; throttled is enough for steady-state
diagnostics. Restore _lastSetCycleDiagTime field.
No behavior change for any current launch (env-var unset = legacy
path unchanged). Build green; baseline test failures (8) unchanged
from prior commit, none introduced by this session.
🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code)
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Hand-off briefing for the remaining "observed retail char's leg cycle
doesn't visibly switch in acdream" bug. Captures everything we learned
today including:
- All 8 commits shipped today (turn-sign, observed-velocity revert,
retail-faithful tick, Commands-list SubState skip, currNode reset)
- Confirmed wins: body translation, run-in-circles, jump landing
position + animation, turn-left direction
- Confirmed remaining bug: walk/run/idle leg cycle on observed remotes
+ residual steady-state blippiness
- Diagnostic infrastructure (FWD_WIRE, CMD_LIST, HASCYCLE, SETCYCLE,
SEQSTATE, TURN_WIRE, OMEGA_DIAG, VEL_DIAG) and how to reproduce
- cdb live trace findings (retail uses additive add_to_queue with no
truncate; we have ClearCyclicTail + rebuild)
- Six concrete next-step hypotheses
- A self-contained prompt for the next research agent
- Notes on rejected approaches (link-skip, full-reset, scaling hack)
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Visual verification of L.3.1-as-originally-scoped (commit ae79e34
through e08accf) revealed that InterpolationManager corrections alone
cannot produce smooth motion — retail also relies on animation root
motion (the L.3.2 PositionManager work, originally deferred). The two
halves are functionally inseparable.
Spec changes:
- L.3.1 sub-lane absorbs L.3.2's PositionManager
- New section: PositionManager architecture (pure-function ComputeOffset
returning Vector3 delta; combines body-local seqVel * dt rotated to
world + InterpolationManager.AdjustOffset correction)
- New section: IsGrounded plumbing through EntityPositionUpdate (the
PositionFlags.IsGrounded=0x04 is already parsed; just expose it)
- New section: retail-faithful jump pipeline (airborne → no-op per
MoveOrTeleport's has_contact=0 semantics; landing detected via first
IsGrounded=true UP after airborne)
- Acceptance criteria updated for combined scope
- Implementation order: 6 commits remaining (after the revert at 1641d6e)
- Stall-blip TAIL annotation (Task 0 resolution) folded in
L.3.3 (MoveToManager) stays a separate sub-lane.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Port retail's InterpolationManager + MoveOrTeleport routing into
acdream so remote players, creatures, and NPCs stop popping at every
server position update and instead glide smoothly between sparse
authoritative updates the way retail does.
Three sub-lanes (incremental, each visually verifiable):
- L.3.1 — InterpolationManager core + routing + Omega + soft-snap teardown
- L.3.2 — PositionManager (root-motion + interp-offset combiner)
- L.3.3 — MoveToManager (server-controlled creature MoveTo)
This commit specs L.3.1 in detail and sketches L.3.2/L.3.3.
Research baseline (cdb live-trace + named-decomp dive 2026-05-02)
captured in docs/research/2026-05-02-remote-entity-motion/
resolved-via-cdb.md. All key constants confirmed from binary, not
guessed: MAX_PHYSICS_DISTANCE=96, MAX_INTERPOLATED_VELOCITY_MOD=2.0,
MAX_INTERPOLATED_VELOCITY=7.5, MIN_DISTANCE_TO_REACH_POSITION=0.20,
DESIRED_DISTANCE=0.05, queue cap 20, stall window 5/30%/3.
Rollout: ACDREAM_INTERP_MANAGER=1 env-var gate during development
(dual-path), single cleanup commit after visual verification removes
the flag + old hard-snap path + dead RemoteMotion soft-snap fields.
Test plan: ~15 unit tests against the InterpolationManager class
(pure-data, no game/window deps). Visual verification primary —
parallel retail observer of +Acdream walking/running/strafing/
jumping/turning, all should glide.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Adds the Phase M planning entry: replace the happy-path WorldSession
shape with a holtburger-aligned reliable network stack while keeping
acdream's stricter checksum verification + live ACE compatibility.
Lays out M.1–M.x sub-lanes (audit/parity map, layer extraction,
reliability core, etc.).
Detailed spec to land at
docs/superpowers/specs/2026-05-02-network-stack-conformance.md
before implementation starts. Holtburger is the client-behavior
oracle for this phase.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Closes a multi-bug knot in player motion outbound + remote inbound,
discovered via cdb live trace of retail (2026-05-01) and follow-up
visual verification.
Outbound (acdream → ACE):
- JumpAction velocity is BODY-LOCAL, not world (per retail
CPhysicsObj::get_local_physics_velocity at 0x00512140 + ACE
Player.HandleActionJump's set_local_velocity call). Was sending
world; observers saw jump rotated by player yaw.
- Capture get_jump_v_z BEFORE LeaveGround() — the latter resets
JumpExtent to 0, after which get_jump_v_z returned 0. Was sending
Z=0 in every JumpAction.
- Backward/strafe-left jumps lost their horizontal velocity because
LeaveGround → get_state_velocity returns zero for non-canonical
motion (faithful to retail's FUN_00528960; retail papers over via
adjust_motion translation, not yet ported). Compute the correct
body-local launch velocity from input directly and push it back
into the body so local prediction matches what we send.
- IsRunning HoldKey was gated on `input.Run && input.Forward`, so
strafe-run and backward-run incorrectly broadcast as walk to
observers — ACE then animated walk + dead-reckoned at walk speed
while server position moved at run speed (visible as observer
lag). Fixed: gate on any active directional axis.
- AutonomousPosition heartbeat 0.2s → 1.0s to match holtburger's
AUTONOMOUS_POSITION_HEARTBEAT_INTERVAL and the ~1Hz observed in
retail trace.
- Heartbeat now fires while in-world regardless of motion state
(matches holtburger + retail's transient_state-based gate, not
motion-based). Pre-fix the at-rest heartbeat was suppressed.
Inbound (ACE → acdream, remote retail player):
- Remote backward walk arrives as cmd=WalkForward + speed=-1.91
(retail's adjust_motion'd form). Two bugs were stacking:
1. AnimationSequencer fast-path returned without updating when
sign(speedMod) flipped while motion stayed equal — kept playing
forward at old positive framerate. Fixed: bypass fast-path on
sign change so the full re-setup runs.
2. GameWindow clamped negative speedMod to 1.0 when stuffing
InterpretedState.ForwardSpeed, making get_state_velocity
produce forward velocity. Fixed: pass speedMod through verbatim
so the dead-reckoning body translates backward.
Issue #38 filed: 30Hz physics tick produces a chase-camera smoothness
regression at 60+ FPS render. Standard render-time interpolation is
the recommended fix (separate phase).
Findings + comparison vs retail/holtburger:
docs/research/2026-05-01-retail-motion-trace/findings.md
docs/research/2026-05-01-retail-motion-trace/fixes.md
TODO: port retail's adjust_motion (FUN_00528010) properly so
get_state_velocity works for all directions natively — would let us
drop the workaround in PlayerMovementController jump path and the
clamp in GameWindow.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Filed as #37 after a ~3 hr investigation that ruled out animation source,
backface culling/winding, palette overlay, and head-GfxObj polygons.
Confirmed:
- Stub is from part 9 (upper torso/coat) post-AnimPartChange (gfx 0x0100120D)
- Part 9's both surfaces ARE matched by our 2 TextureChanges
- Server data complete; composition formula matches ACME + retail decomp
Untested hypothesis space (next session):
- Texture decode chain (compare our SurfaceDecoder vs ACME TextureHelpers)
- Polygon-to-surface index off-by-one on part 9
- Multi-layer texture composition AC may do
- UV mapping bug
Diagnostic env vars committed to source for next-session reuse:
- ACDREAM_HIDE_PART=N — hide specific humanoid part to localize bugs
- ACDREAM_NO_CULL=1 — disable backface culling
- ACDREAM_DUMP_CLOTHING=1 — dump APC + TC + per-part Surface chain coverage
Bug was originally reported as "head/neck protrudes forward"; the apparent
forward shift turned out to be an optical illusion from the missing
coat collar. Math + cdb-ground-truth + ACME comparison confirmed the
head placement is correct retail-faithful — see #37 for the long write-up.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Plan doc `docs/plans/2026-04-30-sky-pes-port.md` captures the full
porting plan for #36 (sky-PES dispatch chain). Three phases:
M.1 — decomp dive (no code yet) for CallPESHook::Execute,
CPhysicsObj::CallPES, CreateParticleHook::Execute,
GameSky::CreateDeletePhysicsObjects, and the dynamic-spawn
trigger (region/weather/time-of-day handler).
M.2 — optional cdb verification with detailed args (this pointer +
pes_id + caller stack walk).
M.3 — implementation: persistent emitter creation at cell load,
dynamic spawn on transitions, PES script-timeline driver,
particle-system render wire-up.
M.4 — live side-by-side verification.
Acceptance: aurora visible at right moments, clouds dense like retail,
storm flashes during Rainy storm windows, PES dispatch rate matches
retail's ~150/min.
.gitignore extended to suppress per-session retail-debugger scratch
files (cdb scripts, launch logs, analysis ps1 helpers). The
canonical workflow lives in CLAUDE.md "Retail debugger toolchain";
session-specific traces should not pollute the repo.
Closes#36 plan stage. Implementation work begins next session.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
A 2026-04-30 cdb live trace of retail acclient.exe attached during
sky observation revealed the missing infrastructure behind acdream's
three open sky bugs (#2 lightning, #28 aurora, #29 cloud density).
Live trace over 24,576 GameSky::Draw frames:
GameSky::Draw = 24,576 (60 Hz render rate)
GameSky::UseTime = 12,288 (30 Hz — half rate)
GameSky::CreateDeletePhysicsObjects = 12,288 (30 Hz, MinQuantum gate)
CPhysicsObj::CallPES = 372 (~150/min average)
CallPESHook::Execute = 372 (1:1 with CallPES)
CreateParticleHook::Execute = 62 (15 initial + 47 burst)
CPhysicsObj::create_particle_emitter = 62 (matches CreateParticleHook)
Three concrete findings:
1. Retail HAS persistent particle emitters on celestial / sky objects.
15 created at cell load; dynamically spawned on region/weather/time
transitions (the trace caught a +47 burst on one such transition).
2. The PES script-hook system drives existing emitters periodically.
`CallPESHook::Execute` fires script-scheduled actions which call
`CPhysicsObj::CallPES` 1:1, ~150 times per minute.
3. Earlier research saying "GameSky doesn't read pes_id" was correct
in scope but missed that the dispatch chain runs through the
script-hook system (not from inside GameSky directly).
`CelestialPosition.pes_id` is consumed downstream.
Files a new issue #36 that consolidates implementation work for
all three sky bugs into one porting effort. Adds cross-references
in #2, #28, #29 pointing at #36.
Decomp anchors for next session:
CallPESHook::Execute @ 0x00526e20
CreateParticleHook::Execute @ 0x00526ec0
CPhysicsObj::CallPES @ 0x00511af0
CPhysicsObj::create_particle_emitter @ 0x0050f360
GameSky::CreateDeletePhysicsObjects @ 0x005073c0
CelestialPosition.pes_id @ struct offset +0x004
Memory file `project_retail_debugger.md` updated separately with the
sky-PES breakthrough so future sessions inherit the context.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Three intertwined changes from a single investigation session driven by
attaching cdb to a live retail acclient.exe (v11.4186, Sept 2013 EoR
build) and tracing what retail actually DOES on the steep-roof wedge
scenario the user reported in acdream.
═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
1. L.5 — physics-tick MinQuantum gate (PlayerMovementController)
═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
Retail's CPhysicsObj::update_object subdivides per-frame dt into 1/30 s
sized integration steps and SKIPS entirely when accumulated dt is below
MinQuantum. Live trace evidence:
update_object = 40,960 calls
UpdatePhysicsInternal = 25,087 calls (61%)
i.e., 39% of update_object calls return early via the MinQuantum gate.
Retail's effective physics tick rate is 30Hz even at 60+ Hz render.
acdream's PlayerMovementController bypassed the existing PhysicsBody.
update_object and called UpdatePhysicsInternal(dt) directly each render
frame, which compressed bounce-energy / gravity-tangent accumulation
into half the time and amplified our steep-roof wedge dynamics.
Fix: add `_physicsAccum` accumulator. Integrate only when accumulated
dt ≥ MinQuantum (clamped to MaxQuantum to bound stale-frame jumps).
HugeQuantum drops accumulated time to discard truly stale frames
(debugger break, GC pause). Render still runs at full rate; only the
physics step is gated.
═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
2. Phase 3 reset retail-faithful kill_velocity (TransitionTypes)
═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
Retail's reset path (acclient_2013_pseudo_c.txt:273231-273239) gates
kill_velocity on `last_known_contact_plane_valid`:
if (last_known_valid == 0) {
set_collision_normal(step_up_normal); return COLLIDED;
}
kill_velocity(this);
last_known_valid = 0;
return COLLIDED;
Earlier in this session I deviated to "unconditional kill_velocity" as
a hypothesis-driven wedge fix. The live trace then showed the
deviation CAUSED a different wedge by zeroing V every frame, leaving
the body with no tangent momentum to escape (V = (0,0,0) for 169
consecutive frames while position pre/resolved frozen). The retail-
faithful gate is restored.
Note: the gate rarely fires in normal airborne play because our L.2.4
proximity guard clears last_known_valid soon after the body separates
from its remembered floor. Live retail trace also showed
kill_velocity = 0 hits over an entire play session — same behavior. So
acdream's kill_velocity is correct as ported now.
The supporting ObjectInfo.VelocityKilled flag + StopVelocity wiring +
PhysicsEngine.ResolveWithTransition consumer that actually zeros
body.Velocity when the flag is set — these were a no-op stub before
this session and are now correctly wired. Retail anchor:
OBJECTINFO::kill_velocity → CPhysicsObj::set_velocity({0,0,0}, 0) at
acclient_2013_pseudo_c.txt:274467-274475.
═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
3. Retail debugger toolchain (#35)
═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
When the question is "what does retail actually DO at runtime?" — not
"what does retail's code SAY" — the decomp at docs/research/named-retail/
is invaluable but doesn't capture state interactions across frames.
This commit ships infrastructure to attach Windows' cdb.exe to a live
retail acclient.exe with full PDB symbols and capture state at any
breakpoint.
- tools/pdb-extract/check_exe_pdb.py — reads any PE's CodeView entry
and reports MATCH / MISMATCH against refs/acclient.pdb's GUID.
Always run before attaching cdb. The matching v11.4186 build's
GUID is 9e847e2f-777c-4bd9-886c-22256bb87f32.
- tools/pdb-extract/dump_pdb_info.py — dumps a PDB's expected
build timestamp + GUID + age. Used to figure out which acclient.exe
build pairs with our PDB.
CLAUDE.md gets a Step -1 in the development workflow ("ATTACH cdb
TO RETAIL when behavior is the question, not code") and a full
"Retail debugger toolchain" section with the workflow, sample .cdb
script structure, and watchouts (PDB names use snake_case for some
classes / PascalCase for CPhysicsObj; ; is cdb's command separator;
killing cdb kills the debuggee; high-hit-rate breakpoints lag the game).
memory/project_retail_debugger.md captures the workflow + key findings
so future sessions inherit the toolchain by reading project memory.
═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
4. BSPQuery Path 6 slide-tangent restored (b1af56e behavior)
═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
After this session's retail-strict experiments showed that retail-
faithful Path 6 (SetCollide + Phase 3 reset chain) produces a
"lands on roof in falling animation, can't slide off" half-state in
acdream — because our acdream port of step_up_slide / cliff_slide is
incomplete for grounded-on-steep movement — the L.4 slide-tangent
deviation from commit b1af56e is restored as the pragmatic ship state.
The deviation: when an airborne sphere hits a polygon whose normal Z
is below FloorZ (≈ 0.6642, slope > ~49°), project the move along the
steep face to remove the into-wall displacement, set CollisionNormal +
SlidingNormal, return Slid. Body never gets ContactPlane on the steep
poly, never gets the half-state, slides off the slope under gravity's
tangent contribution.
Retail-strict requires the deeper step_up_slide / cliff_slide audit
(filed under #32). Until that lands, slide-tangent is the right
deviation — produces user-acceptable "slide off the roof" behavior.
═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
Test status: 833/833 green.
Refs:
acclient_2013_pseudo_c.txt:283950 (CPhysicsObj::update_object)
acclient_2013_pseudo_c.txt:273231-273239 (Phase 3 reset path)
acclient_2013_pseudo_c.txt:274467-274475 (OBJECTINFO::kill_velocity)
acclient_2013_pseudo_c.txt:323783-323821 (BSPTREE::find_collisions Path 6)
Closes#35. Updates #32 with L.4/L.5 status.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Phase L.4 closes the "stuck in falling animation on a steep roof" bug
the user reported on 2026-04-30 ("I jump up, I land on it. It should not
even let me land, should just slide with a falling animation"). After
this commit the body no longer sticks to a steep roof when jumping
into it — it slides along the slope while keeping the falling animation.
Two pieces:
1. BSPQuery Path 6 steep-poly slide
When an airborne sphere hits a polygon whose world normal Z is below
FloorZ (≈ 0.6642, slope > ~49°), the previous flow was:
Path 6 SetCollide → Path 4 set_walkable → ContactPlane committed →
body "lands" on the steep poly with Contact bit + falling animation.
This left the player stuck mid-slope because OnWalkable was cleared
but Contact stayed set.
The new branch detects the steep normal in Path 6 BEFORE SetCollide
is called. Instead of entering the landing path, it removes the
into-wall component of the move (project onto the steep face), sets
CollisionNormal + SlidingNormal, and returns Slid. Same shape as
Path 5's step-up fallback and CylinderCollision. The resolver retries;
the sphere is now outside the poly; FindCollisions returns OK;
ValidateTransition commits the slid position. ContactPlane is never
set, so the body stays airborne with falling animation.
2. PlayerMovementController L.3a-bounce carve-out + Inelastic stop
Re-enables the velocity-reflection bounce when the contact normal is
upward-facing but steeper than walkable (0 < N.Z < FloorZ). The base
L.3a rule suppresses bounce on landing transitions to avoid micro-
bounce on flat terrain; that suppression also stuck the player to
too-steep roofs they shouldn't land on. This carve-out re-enables
the reflection specifically for the steep upward case.
Also lands related L.2c precipice / edge-slide work that was in flight:
- TransitionTypes EdgeSlideAfterStepDownFailed: walkable-poly-steep
cliff route + steep-ContactPlane cliff route ordering, so that
CliffSlide fires when the stored walkable polygon itself is too
steep (Path 4 had previously accepted it as a "landing" via the
permissive LandingZ threshold).
- CliffSlide reference-normal selection: prefer LastWalkable, fall back
to LastKnownContactPlane only when walkable, else use world-up. This
prevents the cross(steepN, steepN) = 0 degenerate case that left the
cliff slide as a no-op when both current and last-known were steep.
- Phase 2 / step-down branch / edge-slide branch / cliff-slide
diagnostic helpers gated on ACDREAM_DUMP_EDGE_SLIDE / ACDREAM_DUMP_STEEP_ROOF.
- Two new airborne-mover regression tests in BSPStepUpTests +
PhysicsEngineTests covering wall-slide and edge tangent motion.
DEVIATION FROM RETAIL — DOCUMENTED FOR FOLLOW-UP
The Path 6 steep slide is NOT what retail does. Retail's flow on the
same hit is:
Path 6 SetCollide (no steep check) → Path 4 find_walkable returns
nothing for steep → Phase 3 reset path: restore_check_pos +
kill_velocity → return COLLIDED → validate_transition reverts CheckPos
to CurPos and forces OK.
Net retail behavior: position reverts to pre-failed-move (typically
just below the roof in the common jump-up case), velocity zeroed,
gravity rebuilds Z next frame, body falls back down naturally with
the falling animation. The "freeze" framing I used earlier was wrong;
in the typical case retail just bounces the body off and lets gravity
take over.
Strict retail behavior would match the user's intent better in the
common case AND avoid the bounce-energy-accumulation we saw with the
slide-tangent approach (V grew to ~50 m/s in continuous-contact frames).
However, retail's behavior degenerates in the edge case of an overhead
landing onto a steep slope (body would freeze mid-air above the roof).
This commit ships the slide-tangent fix as an interim "much better"
state per user verification on 2026-04-30. Follow-up work to match
retail strictly: revert Path 6 steep-slide, audit Phase 3 reset to
ensure kill_velocity (matching OBJECTINFO::kill_velocity ->
CPhysicsObj::set_velocity({0,0,0}, 0)) actually fires, and re-test.
Refs:
- acclient_2013_pseudo_c.txt:323784-323821 (Path 6 SetCollide)
- acclient_2013_pseudo_c.txt:273191-273239 (Phase 3 reset path)
- acclient_2013_pseudo_c.txt:272563-272596 (validate_transition revert)
- acclient_2013_pseudo_c.txt:274467-274475 (kill_velocity)
- acclient_2013_pseudo_c.txt:282699-282715 (handle_all_collisions bounce)
Tests: 833/833 green.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Port the first retail precipice-slide slice from named retail/ACE: terrain and BSP walkable hits now preserve polygon vertices, failed step-down edges back-probe to rediscover the walkable polygon, and edge-slide can run precipice/cliff slide instead of only hard-stopping.
Adds pseudocode anchors plus regression coverage for terrain polygon context and loaded-terrain boundary edge-slide.
Co-authored-by: Codex <codex@openai.com>
Pass explicit grounded/airborne contact bytes from MovementResult into MoveToState and AutonomousPosition, and add ACDREAM_DUMP_MOVE_TRUTH logging for outbound movement plus player UpdatePosition echoes.
Co-authored-by: OpenAI Codex <codex@openai.com>
Formalize Phase L.2 as the active holistic movement/collision program, align the roadmap and architecture docs, file tactical physics follow-ups, and refresh collision memory away from rewrite-from-zero guidance.
Co-authored-by: OpenAI Codex <codex@openai.com>
21 commits porting retail's MoveToManager-equivalent client-side
behavior for server-controlled creature locomotion and combat
engagement. Shipped as MVP after live visual verification across
multiple iteration rounds with the user.
Highlights:
- 186a584 — initial Phase L.1c port: extracts Origin / target guid /
MovementParameters block from MoveTo packets (movementType 6/7),
adds RemoteMoveToDriver per-tick body-orientation steering with
±20° aux-turn-equivalent snap tolerance.
- d247aef — corrected arrival predicate semantics + 1.5 s
stale-destination timeout for entities leaving the streaming view.
- f794832 — root-caused "creature won't stop to attack" via two
research subagents converging on retail
CMotionInterp::move_to_interpreted_state's unconditional
forward_command bulk-copy. Lifted ServerMoveToActive flag clearing
+ InterpretedState bulk-copy out of substate-only branch so
Action-class swing UMs (mt=0 ForwardCommand=AttackHigh1) clear
stale MoveTo state and zero forward velocity.
- ff6d3d0 — RemoteMoveToDriver.ClampApproachVelocity caps horizontal
velocity at the final-approach tick so body lands EXACTLY at
DistanceToObject instead of overshooting through the player.
- 37de771 — bulk-copy ForwardCommand for MoveTo packets too (closed
the regression where MoveTo creatures stayed at default
ForwardCommand=Ready in InterpretedState and only translated via
UpdatePosition snaps).
- 34d7f4d + e71ed73 — AnimationSequencer.HasCycle query +
fallback chain (requested → WalkForward → Ready → no-op) at BOTH
the OnLiveMotionUpdated path AND the spawn handler. Prevents
ClearCyclicTail from wiping the body's cyclic tail when ACE
CreateObject carries CurrentMotionState.ForwardCommand pointing
to an Action-class motion (e.g. AttackHigh1 from a mid-swing
creature) which has no cyclic-table entry — was the "torso on
the ground" symptom for monsters seen in combat by a fresh
observer.
Cross-references: docs/research/named-retail/acclient_2013_pseudo_c.txt
(MoveToManager 0x00529680 + 0x0052a240 + 0x00529d80,
CMotionInterp::move_to_interpreted_state 0x00528xxx,
MovementParameters::UnPackNet 0x0052ac50), references/ACE/Source/
ACE.Server/Physics/Animation/MoveToManager.cs (port aid),
references/holtburger/ (cross-check on snapshot-only client
behavior), docs/research/2026-04-28-remote-moveto-pseudocode.md
(the Phase L.1c pseudocode doc).
Tests: 1404 → 1422 (parser type-7 path retention, type-6 target
guid retention, driver arrival semantics, retail-faithful
chase/flee branches, approach-velocity clamp scenarios,
HasCycle present/missing, AttackHigh1 wire layout).
Pending follow-ups (filed for future): target-guid live resolution
for type 6 packets (residual chase lag), StickToObject sticky-target
guid trailing field, full MoveToManager state machine port
(CheckProgressMade stall detector, Sticky/StickTo, use_final_heading,
pending_actions queue).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Adds the Phase C.1 row to the "Phases already shipped" table and
flags the C.1 bullet in the "Phases ahead — Phase C — Polish / visuals"
section as ✓ SHIPPED. Retains C.1 entity-emitter wiring (portal swirls,
chimney smoke, fireplace flames) as a Phase C.1.5 follow-up — the data
layer is ready, only the wiring of entity-attached emitters to retail
effect IDs is deferred.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Ports retail's ParticleEmitterInfo / Particle::Init / Particle::Update
(0x005170d0..0x0051d400) and PhysicsScript runtime to a C# data-layer
plus a Silk.NET billboard renderer. Sky-PES path is debug-only behind
ACDREAM_ENABLE_SKY_PES because named-retail decomp confirms GameSky
copies SkyObject.pes_id but never reads it (CreateDeletePhysicsObjects
0x005073c0, MakeObject 0x00506ee0, UseTime 0x005075b0).
Post-review fixes folded into this commit:
H1: AttachLocal (is_parent_local=1) follows live parent each frame.
ParticleSystem.UpdateEmitterAnchor + ParticleHookSink.UpdateEntityAnchor
let the owning subsystem refresh AnchorPos every tick — matches
ParticleEmitter::UpdateParticles 0x0051d2d4 which re-reads the live
parent frame when is_parent_local != 0. Drops the renderer-side
cameraOffset hack that only worked when the parent was the camera.
H3: Strip the long stale comment in GfxObjMesh.cs that contradicted the
retail-faithful (1 - translucency) opacity formula. The code was
right; the comment was a leftover from an earlier hypothesis and
would have invited a wrong "fix".
M1: SkyRenderer tracks textures whose wrap mode it set to ClampToEdge
and restores them to Repeat at end-of-pass, so non-sky renderers
that share the GL handle can't silently inherit clamped wrap state.
M2: Post-scene Z-offset (-120m) only fires when the SkyObject is
weather-flagged AND bit 0x08 is clear, matching retail
GameSky::UpdatePosition 0x00506dd0. The old code applied it to
every post-scene object — a no-op today (every Dereth post-scene
entry happens to be weather-flagged) but a future post-scene-only
sun rim would have been pushed below the camera.
M4: ParticleSystem.EmitterDied event lets ParticleHookSink prune dead
handles from the per-entity tracking dictionaries, fixing a slow
leak where naturally-expired emitters' handles stayed in the
ConcurrentBag forever during long sessions.
M5: SkyPesEntityId moves the post-scene flag bit to 0x08000000 so it
can't ever overlap the object-index range. Synthetic IDs stay in
the reserved 0xFxxxxxxx space.
New tests (ParticleSystemTests + ParticleHookSinkTests):
- UpdateEmitterAnchor_AttachLocal_ParticlePositionFollowsLiveAnchor
- UpdateEmitterAnchor_AttachLocalCleared_ParticleFrozenAtSpawnOrigin
- EmitterDied_FiresOncePerHandle_AfterAllParticlesExpire
- Birthrate_PerSec_EmitsOnePerTickWhenIntervalElapsed (retail-faithful
single-emit-per-frame behavior)
- UpdateEntityAnchor_WithAttachLocal_MovesParticleToLiveAnchor
- EmitterDied_PrunesPerEntityHandleTracking
dotnet build green, dotnet test green: 695 / 393 / 243 = 1331 passed
(up from 1325).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Root-causing the user-reported "monsters disappearing some time +
laggy/jittery locomotion" via systematic-debugging Phase 1: our
UpdateMotion parser kept only speed/runRate/flags from a movementType
6/7 packet and discarded Origin (destination), targetGuid, and the
distance/walkRunThreshold/desiredHeading half of MovementParameters.
The integrator consequently held Body.Velocity at zero during MoveTo
("incomplete state" stabilizer 882a07c), so the body froze with legs
animating until UpdatePosition snap-teleported it — sometimes outside
the visible window (disappearing) — and constant-velocity drift along
the old heading between snaps produced jitter on every UP correction.
The 882a07c stabilizer was deliberately conservative because the state
WAS incomplete. Completing the data plumbing makes its restriction
moot: with the full MoveTo payload captured, the body solver has every
field retail's MoveToManager::HandleMoveToPosition (0x00529d80) reads.
Why: server re-emits MoveTo packets ~1 Hz with refreshed Origin while
chasing — verified in the live log (guid 0x800003B5 seq 0x01FE→0x0204
all show different cell/xyz floats). Those are heading updates we'd
been throwing away. With the full payload retained, the per-tick driver
steers body orientation toward Origin (±20° snap tolerance, π/2 rad/s
turn rate above tolerance) and lets apply_current_movement fill in
Velocity from the existing RunForward cycle — no new motion path,
just the right heading.
Scope is the minimum viable subset: target re-tracking, sticky/StickTo,
fail-distance progress detector, and sphere-cylinder distance are
server-side concerns we don't need (server's emit cadence handles all
of them). MoveToObject_Internal target-guid resolution is also skipped
— Origin is refreshed each packet, so the effective target tracks the
real entity even without a guid lookup.
Cross-references:
- docs/research/named-retail/acclient_2013_pseudo_c.txt — MoveToManager
+ MovementParameters::UnPackNet (0x0052ac50) + apply_run_to_command
(0x00527be0). 18,366 named PDB symbols make this the primary oracle.
- references/ACE/Source/ACE.Server/Physics/Animation/MoveToManager.cs
— port aid; flagged divergences (WalkRunThreshold default, set_heading
snap, inRange one-shot) called out in the new pseudocode doc.
- docs/research/2026-04-28-remote-moveto-pseudocode.md — pseudocode +
ACE divergence flags + out-of-scope list per CLAUDE.md mandatory
workflow (decompile → cross-reference → pseudocode → port).
Tests: 1404 → 1412 (parser type-7 path retention + type-6 target guid
retention; driver arrival, in-tolerance snap, beyond-tolerance step,
behind-target shortest-path turn, arrival preserves orientation,
Origin→world landblock-grid arithmetic).
Pending visual sign-off — handoff stabilizer 882a07c was the last
commit the user tested.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Self-contained spec for the next session: PES (Particle Effect
Schedule) renderer that produces retail's "aurora light play",
portal swirls, chimney smoke, fireplace flames in one
implementation. Rolls up ISSUES.md #28 (root-caused this session
to PES on CelestialPosition.pes_id) and likely #29 (residual
cloud density gap).
Picks up after sky/weather session (merged at f7c9e88). Phase
E.3 already shipped the data layer (ParticleSystem,
EmitterDescLoader, ParticleHookSink, PhysicsScriptRunner,
VfxModel in src/AcDream.Core/Vfx/). C.1 is the visual half:
SkyDescLoader PesObjectId capture, SkyRenderer emitter spawn,
billboarded-quad GL renderer following WorldBuilder's
ParticleBatcher pattern.
Spec includes Step 0 grep targets, references in priority order
(decomp first, ACME/WorldBuilder second), the Dereth Rainy
DayGroup PES enumeration from tools/StarsProbe (notably
0x3300042C active 0.27-0.91 = "render this and confirm" target),
implementation outline (C.1.0 through C.1.6), pitfalls from
prior sessions, and the worktree setup commands.
To kick off the next session, point it at this file.
