Bite-sized TDD plan for design Stages 0-1 + W2b revert + visual gate: add the
[cell-swept] diagnostic, return the swept sp.CurCellId from ResolveWithTransition
(retail SetPositionInternal), revert the superseded W2b hysteresis, visual-gate the
doorway/cellar strobe, then lock it with a doorway replay regression. Render chunk
(Stages 3-5) gets its own spec+plan after this gate.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Four independent decomp studies (Opus 4.8 x2, Sonnet 4.6, external Codex)
converge: retail carries the cell through the collision sweep (validate_transition
advances curr_cell only on an accepted move, reverts on a block) and commits it in
SetPositionInternal — it never re-derives membership from a static resting position.
acdream already ports the sweep machinery (sp.CurCellId/CheckCellId, ValidateTransition,
CheckOtherCells) but ResolveWithTransition discards the swept cell and re-derives
statically via ResolveCellId (PhysicsEngine.cs:909/928) — the root of the
0170<->0031 doorway/cellar ping-pong. The do_not_load_cells prune is secondary
(static/cross-cell lists), not the anti-flicker; W2b was doubly misplaced and is reverted.
Render: one PView::ConstructView portal traversal over the same cell graph, rooted at
the physics current cell; seen_outside (not a dungeon flag) gates landscape; the outside
draws through exit portals clipped to the doorway (no blue-hole, no stencil split).
Dungeons/interiors share the machinery; "underground" is emergent.
Design doc lays out the staged, evidence-first rewrite (Stage 0 diagnostic ->
Stage 1 transition-owned membership [visual gate] -> Stage 2 CELLARRAY/prune parity ->
Stages 3-5 render root + PView seal + entity clip). Adds the shared research prompt and
all four study reports as the grounding record.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
8 TDD tasks (RED->GREEN), Core-only, zero behavior change, built alongside the legacy cell systems. Grounded in the retail CObjCell survey + acdream inventory + #98 fixtures.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Pixel-grounded investigation concluded the indoor 'world from below' is a cell-MEMBERSHIP disagreement between render-side CellVisibility and physics-side ResolveCellId, not any single draw gate (terrain has one gated draw path; it leaks only on render null-root frames). Decision with user: full migration onto one retail CObjCell graph across physics+collision+render+streaming, staged in 5 verify-each cycles. This lands the evidence model + the Stage 1 (ObjCell scaffold) design. No code yet.
- docs/research/2026-06-02-render-cell-membership-evidence.md (the why, from pixels)
- docs/superpowers/specs/2026-06-02-unified-cell-graph-stage1-design.md (Stage 1)
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Net code change this session = 0 (stencil-occlusion T1-T4 implemented, regressed,
reverted to baseline 9bff2b0). Documents the honest failure + lessons (patchwork via
flag-based gate routing; the interior-writes-mask rule breaks outdoors; coded before
screenshotting), the still-useful evidence (cottage = IsBuildingShell GfxObjs not cell
shells; two redundant traversals; retail DrawCells outside_view gate; working window
screenshot tooling), the open questions to answer with pixels first, and a refined
evidence-first pickup prompt.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
The architecture and ISSUES edits in the prior commit (0013819) failed silently because
they were anchored on the session-reminder's rendering of the files, not the real text.
Redone against actual content:
- architecture doc: new 'Render Pipeline (SSOT)' section — the 3-gate patchwork vs the
unified-PView target + the one rule (compute visibility once, enforce it once).
- ISSUES #78: promoted to the render-architecture-reset target; points to the canonical
handoff + the architecture section.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
A week on the indoor render (Phase U.4 → U.4c → 2026-05-31) fixed the flap but
produced NO shippable progress: walls/ceiling don't seal, outdoor terrain is
visible from inside (#78), the enclosure reads grey/transparent. Root cause is
ARCHITECTURAL, not a bug.
Evidence this session (direct, via the new [shell] probe + screenshots) RULED OUT
every subsystem except the gating architecture: the interior cell shells render
fine (geometry/texture/opaque/depth all correct, zh=0 tr=0); the visibility
traversal computes correct sets + non-empty portal clips; cull mode is fine; the
camera/eye thread was a detour. The residual is that OUTDOOR geometry is not gated
to portal openings when indoors, and acdream enforces visibility THREE inconsistent
ways (TerrainClipMode / per-cell shell clip / entity ParentCellId filter with an
outdoor-stab bypass) instead of retail's ONE PView gate.
This commit is the reset handoff + documentation, not a code fix:
- docs/research/2026-05-31-render-architecture-reset-handoff.md — canonical: honest
state, evidence ledger (ruled-out / do-not-repeat), the mapped 3-gate patchwork,
the retail PView target (one traversal → one gate for ALL geometry), the reset
mission, and a copy-paste pickup prompt.
- docs/architecture/acdream-architecture.md — new "Render Pipeline" SSOT section
(current divergence + unified-PView target + the one rule: compute visibility
once, enforce it once). (Doc has pre-existing corruption below this section —
flagged for separate cleanup.)
- Apparatus: ACDREAM_PROBE_SHELL → [shell] (EnvCellRenderer per-cell prepared/drawn
geometry + flags) added to RenderingDiagnostics + EnvCellRenderer. Throwaway.
- docs/superpowers/specs/2026-05-31-camera-collision-indoor-engagement-design.md —
spec for e099b4c (camera collision; now parked as orthogonal to the seam).
Next session: STOP point-fixing; do the architecture reset to a single PView gate.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Root cause (b): ShadowObjectRegistry.GetNearbyObjects (line 480) returns early
when primaryCellId is an indoor cell, skipping the outdoor radial sweep that
contains the landblock-baked cottage exterior-shell GfxObj. The issue-#98 fix
that prevents the player's head sphere from being capped by the cottage floor
also prevents the IsViewer camera sweep from finding the exterior building shell.
Result: camera passes through exterior walls unimpeded, driving the residual
transparent-walls symptom after the U.4c flap fix.
Evidence: live capture shows eyeInRoot=n ~90% of frames, eye-player distance
3.43m (full chase, no pull-in). RED test deterministically reproduces: synthetic
indoor cell (0xA9B40175) + exterior GfxObj registered at cellScope=0; probe
SweepEye returns pulledIn=0.0000m (full eye distance Y=5.0, wall at Y=4.0).
Fix design: exempt IsViewer from the indoor-primary early-return gate in
GetNearbyObjects — retail's find_obj_collisions (named-retail :308918) has no
indoor/outdoor cell gate; the acdream fix is correct only for IsPlayer.
Apparatus committed:
- tests/AcDream.App.Tests/Rendering/CameraCollisionIndoorTests.cs (RED test)
- docs/research/2026-05-31-camera-collision-indoor-diagnosis.md (findings + design)
- PhysicsCameraCollisionProbe.cs [flap-sweep] diagnostic retained (U.4c spike)
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Canonical handoff (research note) for the U.4c flap fix + the three residuals the
visual gate revealed (#78 terrain-not-gated-inside, camera-collision need, U.5).
Records the full hypothesis journey (H1/H2 both evidence-disproven) so the next
session doesn't re-walk them. ISSUES.md: flap recorded in Recently-closed; #78
annotated (more visible post-fix). CLAUDE.md: U-phase orientation updated with the
flap-fixed status + the canonical handoff pointer + camera-collision-next.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Live ACDREAM_PROBE_FLAP moving capture: flap frames are uniformly res=Grace
eyeInRoot=n terrain=Skip; good frames eyeInRoot=Y terrain=Planes. The 3rd-person
camera EYE drifts out of the player's cell -> FindCameraCell returns the stale cell
for 3 grace frames -> from that stale root the doorway portal is behind the eye
(D=+1.26 CULL) -> exit cell drops -> terrain+shells Skip. Clip math is fine
(clip=5 when eye inside). Fix: (1) root visibility at the PLAYER's cell (retail
CellManager::ChangePosition tracks curr_cell by player; acdream already does this
for lighting at GameWindow:7152); (2) keep a player-reachable cell + exit when the
threshold eye-projection degenerates. Supersedes H2 and the earlier idle-frame
'stale root refuted' note.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
A8CellAudit portals now dumps each cell's local AABB. Real flap cells: 0171 local
y in [-7.65, 1.15], 0170 in [-8.61, -7.65]; the 0171->0170 portal plane is at
y=-7.65 (0171's MIN boundary), no overlap. So an eye genuinely inside 0171 always
has side-test D<=0 -> always traverses 0171->0170; the side test cannot cull 0170
while the eye is in 0171. The flap therefore requires the eye OUTSIDE 0171 while
root is still 0171 (cache/grace/3rd-person camera) -> a camera-cell-resolution
issue, not the side test (H2, disproven) and not the per-frame PVS set (H1, in
doubt). Mechanism still unconfirmed -> needs a live eye-pos capture. Stale H2
conclusion in the characterization note corrected with a banner.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
InitCell decode (PortalFlags.PortalSide=0x2) + a swept-pose A8CellAudit comparison
(O=centroid, A=winding-corrected PortalSide, B=opposite) over the real flap cells.
A is IDENTICAL to O at every pose/every portal — the (Flags&2)==0 boolean convention
makes the dat PortalSide sense equal to our centroid sense, so swapping is a no-op
and cannot fix the flap. B culls true-interior poses (wrong polarity). Conclusion:
the flap is NOT the side-test sense — it's the 3rd-person camera eye crossing an
interior portal plane while FindCameraCell still roots in the cell; ANY plane-side
test culls there. No production code changed (no no-op shipped).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
A8CellAudit portals dump extended to print per-portal plane + centroid-derived
InsideSide vs the dat's authored PortalSide. Real Holtburg cottage cells show:
the flap is a DIRECT 0xA9B40171->0xA9B40170 portal side-test flip (0170 is a
direct neighbour, not multi-hop), and our centroid-derived InsideSide is
anti-correlated with the dat PortalSide that retail InitCell (432896) uses.
Evidence selects H2 (port the side test) over H1 (PVS set-grounding). Camera
cell 0171 seenOutside=Y. Full reading + fix direction + open sign question in
the note.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Five tasks: (1) RED apparatus reproducing the doorway flap on a synthetic
C0->C1->C2(exit) chain; (2) Layer 1 LoadedCell.VisibleCells + SeenOutside
plumbing; (3) oracle-ported PVS grounding of set membership (the fix, gated by
task 1); (4) seen_outside invariants (sealed=empty, threshold=stable); (5)
live [vis] + visual gate. Task 3 is a faithful port (add_views 433382 /
InitCell 432896 / ClipPortals 433572), pseudocode-first, not fabricated.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Grounds the visible-cell SET in the stable per-cell PVS (stab_list) + seen_outside,
refreshed on cell entry, the way retail does (grab_visible_cells 311878, add_views
433382, DrawInside 433793). Our PortalVisibilityBuilder rebuilds the set per-frame
from a pose-brittle CameraOnInteriorSide walk, so a flipped side-test drops the exit
cell, empties OutsideView, and TerrainMode.Skip flaps terrain/shells off at the
doorway. Both stable inputs already live in-process (envCell.VisibleCells,
envCell.Flags & SeenOutside); U.4c is plumbing + grounding, not new dat parsing.
Apparatus-first: characterize the flap on a live ACDREAM_PROBE_VIS capture + port the
add_views/ClipPortals/AddToCell semantics to pseudocode before implementing; the
builder is not declared correct until a live [vis] shows non-empty + narrowing
OutsideView. No hysteresis band-aid (forbidden). Indoor rendering untouched.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Code review caught a CRITICAL under-inclusion: ApplyReciprocalClip scanned for the
first OtherCellId match, so a cell with two portals to the same neighbour clipped both
near-side openings against the FIRST reciprocal polygon — hiding geometry through the
second opening (real on Holtburg cellar cells 0x148<->0x149). Plumb the dat's
OtherPortalId back-link through CellPortalInfo + BuildLoadedCell and index the reciprocal
directly (retail arg2->other_portal_id, 433557). Skip (degrade to over-include) when the
index is unresolvable — never clip against a guessed polygon. Adds a disjoint two-back-
portal regression test.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Clip the portal opening against the neighbour's matching back-portal polygon
before propagating, so a cell's clip region is the intersection of the opening
seen from both sides. Closes the M-4 stub in ISSUES #102. Can only tighten,
never under-include; degrades to prior behavior when no back-portal is found.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Code-review minor follow-ups: correct the CellTodoList comments (ties are LIFO,
not FIFO — an equal-distance newcomer lands at the tail and pops first, matching
retail's break-on-first-not-greater + pop-from-tail). Update ISSUES #102 to record
that U.2a closes I-1/I-2 (under-count + duplicate accumulation) via the enqueue-once
gate, narrowing the residual to diamond-topology clip-completeness (AddToCell onward
re-propagation, tracked under U.6).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
One PView-faithful portal-visibility pass replacing the abandoned two-pipe
(inside/outside) split (#103). Settled in brainstorm 2026-05-30:
- Full Phase U in one spec (indoor BFS + outdoor building-peering + dungeon
fixpoint + distance-priority ordering + reciprocal OtherPortalClip).
- Per-cell gate = hardware clip planes (gl_ClipDistance) + scissor pre-check
(retail's two-level model); structurally immune to the #103 global-mask flood.
- Terrain stays its own path, gated to OutsideView (retail-faithful; NOT the
handoff's "terrain as cells" sketch).
- Salvage = reuse the clip math (PortalView/ScreenPolygonClip/PortalProjection,
~36 tests), rework the builder (PortalViewBuilder), delete the stencil pipeline
+ GameWindow two-pipe orchestration. Audited keep-list preserves the real
EnvCellRenderer / BuildingId / camera-collision fixes.
Staged U.1-U.6 with three visual gates. Retail anchors + acdream file:line
injection points catalogued in the spec.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Decision (2026-05-30, with user): the WB-inherited two-pipe (inside/outside) render
split is the root cause of the indoor seam bugs (flap, missing/transparent walls,
terrain bleed) and cannot be seamless. Abandon A8/A8.F (#103); build ONE unified
pipeline driven by retail's PView portal visibility — seamless by construction. The
2026-05-30 camera-collision + physics viewer-cap work is kept (retail-faithful, but a
detour from the seam fix). New Phase U scoped; #103 superseded; CLAUDE.md / roadmap /
milestones updated; full decision + scope + next-session pickup prompt in
docs/research/2026-05-30-unified-render-pipeline-decision-and-handoff.md.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 <noreply@anthropic.com>
The plan's Task 2 code block still showed moverFlags: ObjectInfoState.None; the
shipped code (fcea05f) and spec §5.1 use IsViewer|PathClipped|FreeRotate|
PerfectClip (retail init_object(player, 0x5c)). Update the stale snippet so the
plan matches reality (this stale block was the likely source of a re-report).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 <noreply@anthropic.com>
The 2026-05-18 retail-chase-camera spec scoped collision out citing "retail
doesn't raycast." Phase A8.F falsified that (SmartBox::update_viewer DOES sweep
viewer_sphere); mark the note superseded and point to the A8.F spec.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Code review found the probe passed ObjectInfoState.None; retail's
SmartBox::update_viewer calls init_object(player, 0x5c) =
IsViewer|PathClipped|FreeRotate|PerfectClip (pseudo-C :92864). PathClipped makes
the sweep hard-stop at first contact (TransitionTypes.cs:811) instead of
edge-sliding around corners (which would re-trigger the A8.F camera-cell
instability); IsViewer lets the eye pass through creatures, colliding only with
world geometry. Resolves the spec's slide-vs-stop open question. Also reset
CollideCamera in the Defaults_AreRetailValues baseline test (review: maintenance
trap). Spec §5.1/§11.1 synced.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Bite-sized TDD plan for the swept-sphere camera collision: CollideCamera flag,
ICameraCollisionProbe + PhysicsCameraCollisionProbe (reuses ResolveWithTransition),
RetailChaseCamera slot-in, GameWindow wiring, Camera-menu toggle, visual
acceptance. Also refines the spec from planning findings: the InitPath +radius
sphere-center offset (ToSpherePath/FromSpherePath z-shift) and the deterministic
probe test scope (z-offset round-trip + cellId==0 guard; collision correctness
rides the existing sweep suite + visual).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Design for porting retail's stage-2 camera collision (SmartBox::update_viewer):
sweep a 0.3 m sphere from the head-pivot to the damped eye via the existing
ResolveWithTransition engine (collides both indoor cell walls and GfxObj
building shells, e.g. the cottage cellar per #98/#101), publish the stopped
position as the eye. Fixes the A8.F flap by keeping the eye out of walls so the
camera-cell + portal side-tests stay stable. Self-skip via LocalEntityId; gated
by CameraDiagnostics.CollideCamera (default ON). Corrects the prior
retail-chase-camera spec's "no camera collision" note.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Correction after the user (who has played retail and observed the camera pull in
at walls) flagged the prior "no camera collision" conclusion. Verified against the
decomp: retail's camera collision lives in SmartBox::update_viewer (0x00453ce0),
NOT CameraManager::UpdateCamera. The earlier research traced only the producer
(UpdateCamera computes the desired/damped eye -> viewer_sought_position) and missed
the consumer (update_viewer), which sweeps a 0.3 m viewer_sphere via
CTransition::find_valid_position from the head-pivot to that eye and uses the
stopped position (fallbacks: AdjustPosition, then snap to player). The player-fade
when super close (CameraSet::UpdateCamera -> SetTranslucencyHierarchical) is a
SEPARATE stage, already ported as RetailChaseCamera.ComputeTranslucency.
Implication: a swept-sphere camera collision is RETAIL-FAITHFUL, not a divergence —
no special sign-off needed, and acdream already owns the Transition swept-sphere
engine. Updated TL;DR, KEY FINDING, the fix section (was "design decision"),
slot-in (collide the damped eye, after RetailChaseCamera.cs:131), open questions,
pickup prompt, and reference index. Memory updated likewise.
Lesson recorded: when the decomp says "no X" but a domain expert says X exists,
trace the CONSUMER of the computed value, not just the producer.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Root cause of the A8.F flap / missing-walls reframed (with the user's help):
the 3rd-person camera EYE passes through walls, and the A8.F renderer keys its
"am I inside?" (PointInCell) and portal side-tests (CameraOnInteriorSide) off
that eye position (camPos = invView translation, GameWindow.cs:7271). Eye clips
a wall -> those decisions flip frame-to-frame -> the flap.
Key finding from camera research (Opus agent + verified against the decomp):
retail's camera does NOT collide with walls either — it fades the player to
translucent (CameraSet::UpdateCamera @ 0x00458ae0 -> SetTranslucencyHierarchical),
which acdream already ports as RetailChaseCamera.ComputeTranslucency. So a
"spring arm that pulls the eye in on a wall hit" is a deliberate divergence from
retail, not a faithful port — needs user sign-off before coding.
Handoff documents: the eye->visibility coupling + flap mechanism, acdream's
current camera (the ported turn/jump input-lag = damping + velocity ring +
mouse filter; no collision), retail's camera (symbols+addresses), the reusable
swept-sphere collision machinery (BSPQuery.FindCollisions vs CellPhysics.BSP),
3 fix options (lead: modern spring arm), open design questions, apparatus, and a
pickup prompt.
Bug A (cellar terrain flood) already fixed + committed in 9417d3c; the
recursive-clip builder works (the prior "Bug B" framing was wrong).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 <noreply@anthropic.com>
The 2026-05-28 handoff's "uncommitted A8 batch" is stale: 5dc4140 landed
the batch after the handoff. Step 0 reduces to stripping the leftover
ACDREAM_A8_DIAG_* flags (still present in RuntimeOptions + GameWindow).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Faithful port of retail PView recursive portal-clip visibility
(ConstructView/ClipPortals/GetClip) to fix the residual A8 cellar flap.
Key finding: WB has no per-portal recursion — the flat-stencil algorithm
cannot express the fix; the recursion is retail-only. Builder ports as
GL-free CPU math producing a recursively-clipped OutsideView; enforcement
maps onto the existing A8 stencil pipeline. Builds on (does not supersede)
the A8 WB full-port baseline.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Lands the working A8 indoor-rendering and streaming fixes accumulated this
session. User has verified these visually to some degree (e.g. lifestone /
translucent meshes confirmed fine under the FrontFace flip; bridge / wall /
collision regressions confirmed fixed after travel); not every path has been
exhaustively gated. The cellar-flap defect remains OPEN and will be solved
the retail-faithful way via a dedicated brainstorm (see handoff docs).
Rendering core (reviewed, high confidence):
- EnvCellRenderer SSBO stride fix: upload packed Matrix4x4[] (64B) instead of
the 80B CPU InstanceData struct the shader never expected — fixes the
transform/texture "explosion" for any draw with >1 instance (cells that
dedupe to a shared cellGeomId). Real root cause.
- WB-style global FrontFace(CW) + per-batch CullMode carried through the MDI
layout (GroupKey + BuildIndirectArrays + DrawIndirectRange split into
same-cull runs with absolute uDrawIDOffset per run).
- EntitySet partitioning (IndoorPass / OutdoorScenery / LiveDynamic) +
WorldEntity.BuildingShellAnchorCellId so building shells scope to their
dat-derived building cell instead of rendering everywhere.
- RenderOutsideInAcdream (look into buildings from outside) +
CollectVisiblePortalBuildings frustum cull of portal bounds.
- Sky-when-inside-building + per-cell audit probe + GL-state probe.
Streaming / perf (test-covered; not independently code-reviewed this session):
- Near/far priority queues so near work wins over far; PromoteToNear carries
full landblock + mesh data; LandblockEntriesWithoutAnimatedIndex avoids
rebuilding the animated-lookup dict in the hot draw path. Fixes the
bridge-not-appearing / missing-walls / broken-collision-after-travel
regressions and improves post-transition FPS.
Tooling + docs:
- tools/A8CellAudit: offline dat cell/portal/building dumper (portals +
buildings modes) — reproduces the cellar-flap investigation with no launch.
- docs/research cellar-flap root-cause + option-2 handoff (the didInsideStencil
double-duty finding + the WB-recursive design decision + brainstorm prompt),
entity-taxonomy, replan, issue-78 visibility investigation.
Diagnostics retained on purpose: ACDREAM_A8_DIAG_* gates, portal_stencil.vert
provisional pos.w clamp, and the probe families are kept (env-var gated, zero
cost when off) because the pending option-2 cellar-flap brainstorm needs them.
Strip in the option-2 ship commit.
Indoor branch stays behind ACDREAM_A8_INDOOR_BRANCH=1 (default off = pre-A8
visual). Build green; App tests + Core (streaming/dispatcher/loader) tests pass.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
After 5 visual gates, the session shipped 5 commits closing real bugs
(pool aliasing was the catastrophic root cause), but residual symptoms
(transparent floor, texture warping, flickering, distortion) didn't
yield to surgical fixes. Per systematic-debugging skill's >=3-failures
rule, stop and capture state.
Doc covers:
- Pool aliasing root cause + fix (the big win — closes session-1's
visual chaos).
- Sky-when-building, LiveDynamic, Landblock→None — all real bug closures.
- Apparatus state (GL state probe + per-cell audit + pool diagnostics).
- Three theories for the residual issues (FrontFace=CW global match to
WB / per-poly Stippling audit / WB side-by-side render).
- Pickup prompt for next session with ranked options.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
The post-Wave-5 indoor branch chaos (flickering, missing walls, GPU 100%,
~10 FPS) is caused by two interconnected pool-management bugs in
EnvCellRenderer that line-by-line WB comparison surfaced in 30 minutes.
Neither was found by the five post-Wave-5 speculative fixes because none
of them inspected the pool path.
Bug #1 — GetPooledList missing list.Clear():
The reuse branch returned pool lists with prior-frame data still inside.
PrepareRenderBatches' merge phase pattern `gfxDict[k] = list; list.AddRange(...)`
assumes empty lists. Without Clear(), lists grow unbounded each frame, GPU
draws cumulative instance counts, and per-instance transforms become a stew
of past + present data. Mirrors WB ObjectRenderManagerBase.cs:1221-1233.
Bug #2 — Render uses snapshot.BatchedByCell.Count instead of PostPreparePoolIndex:
The snapshot author dropped WB's PostPreparePoolIndex field calling it
"scenery-only," then "compensated" in Render by setting _poolIndex to the
cell count. The cell count has no relation to the pool — Prepare may have
used 50+ pool lists for an 18-cell scene. Render's filter-path GetPooledList
then returns lists that ARE in snapshot.BatchedByCell, corrupting the snapshot
mid-Render. Restoring PostPreparePoolIndex (WB VisibilitySnapshot.cs:31)
correctly places Render's pool cursor past the snapshot's owned region.
Bug #3 (minor) — PopulateRecursive hardcoded isSetup:false for nested parts:
Setup IDs use high-byte 0x02 (per retail). WB ObjectRenderManagerBase.cs:813
checks `(partId >> 24) == 0x02` to detect nested Setups. Our port always
passed isSetup:false, silently dropping any nested Setup (its TryGetRenderData
returns IsSetup=true, Render's `!IsSetup` guard skips the draw). Probably
rare in EnvCells but fixed for completeness.
Regression coverage:
- GetPooledList_ReusedList_IsClearedBeforeReturn — would have failed pre-fix
- GetPooledList_FreshList_IsAlwaysEmpty — sanity check
- Snapshot_PostPreparePoolIndex_IsInitSettable — compile-time guarantee
- Snapshot_PostPreparePoolIndex_DefaultsToZero — defensive default
86/86 App tests pass. Build green. The fix is the audit's primary
deliverable; the GL state probe option-1 apparatus follows in a separate
commit as defense-in-depth for any unidentified residual issue.
Full audit + WB cross-reference in
docs/research/2026-05-28-a8-env-cell-renderer-audit-findings.md.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
After 5 visual-gate failures with speculative fixes that each addressed
plausible-looking symptoms without resolving the chaos (texture flicker,
missing walls, GPU 100%, ~10 FPS), this commit stops the speculation and
ships a kill-switch that reverts default behavior to pre-A8.
The user's verbatim authorization at session start said "no quickfixes
or fixes that might cause issues down the line ... no band-aids." The
post-Wave-5 fix stream WAS band-aids — each fix was pattern-matched
against possible RR7-era causes without confirming the actual root
cause from evidence. Five failures in a row is the signal to stop.
ACDREAM_A8_INDOOR_BRANCH gate:
- Unset or != "1" (DEFAULT): cameraInsideBuilding forced false. Outdoor
Draw(All) path runs for indoor cells too. Pre-A8 depth-clear-if-inside
workaround at line ~7314 is restored. Visual behavior = pre-A8.
- Set to "1": indoor branch (RenderInsideOutAcdream) runs. All A8 code
exercises. Probes ([envcells]/[stencil]/[draworder]/[buildings]) emit.
All Phase A8 scaffolding (Waves 1-5 + post-Wave-5 fix commits) remains
in tree, accessible for the next-session apparatus to test against.
~1,830 LOC of WB-extracted infrastructure preserved.
Handoff doc at docs/research/2026-05-28-a8-wb-port-shipped-but-broken-handoff.md
captures the full chronicle: which fixes were applied, what each
visual-gate launch reported, the root-cause hypotheses tested and
falsified, the remaining unknowns, and the recommended apparatus
approaches (frame-replay harness / per-step GL state probe / WB-renderer
side-by-side / mesh-data audit).
Next session's mission: NO MORE LIVE LAUNCHES until apparatus is built.
This is the same trap the issue #98 saga fell into before the
trajectory-replay harness shipped.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Replaces the four reverted RR7 variants from 2026-05-27 with a
verbatim port of WB VisibilityManager.RenderInsideOut.
Plan covers 10 tasks across 5 dependency waves:
- Wave 1 (tasks 1-4, 7): extract WbRenderPass, WbFrustum,
EnvCellSceneryInstance/EnvCellLandblock, EnvCellVisibilitySnapshot;
add IndoorCellStencilPipeline.RenderBuildingStencilMask
- Wave 2 (task 5): build EnvCellRenderer with inline RenderModernMDI
- Wave 3 (task 6): wire EnvCellRenderer into landblock streaming
- Wave 4 (task 8): port RenderInsideOutAcdream byte-for-byte
- Wave 5 (task 9): probe trail [envcells]/[stencil]/[draworder]/[buildings]
- Wave 6 (task 10): probe-gated visual verification launch
Process rules carved from RR7 saga:
- No visual gate without probe data first
- No partial WB ports (Steps 1-5 ship together)
- No conceptual adaptations
- Trust-but-verify after every subagent
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Four RR7 variants shipped + reverted in one session (RR7, RR7.1, RR7.2,
RR7.3). The root architectural mismatch: RR7 routed cell-mesh rendering
through ObjectMeshManager / WbDrawDispatcher.Draw(IndoorPass) — a per-
GfxObj batched pipeline. WB uses a separate EnvCellRenderManager (862
LOC) for cells; we never extracted it. Indoor branch fires correctly
after RR7.2 + RR7.3 but interior cell geometry doesn't render.
User direction (verbatim, 2026-05-27): port WB verbatim. No band-aids.
Visual test launch only when fix is ready; probe data verified first.
Handoff captures:
- Session log of all four RR7 attempts + why each failed
- Why WB over retail (modern GL fit + existing Phase N.4/N.5/O
commitment to WB as rendering base)
- The full WB RenderInsideOut algorithm spec (Steps 1-5, line refs)
- 5-phase next-session plan (extract EnvCellRenderManager + deps,
wire into landblock load, replicate RenderInsideOut byte-for-byte,
probe trail mandatory before visual gate, single visual gate)
- Process rules carved from this session's mistakes (no visual gate
without probe data first, no partial WB ports, no conceptual
adaptations, trust-but-verify, slow at brainstorm not implement)
RR3-RR6 infrastructure remains shipped + tested in isolation
(Building/Registry/Loader/Dispatcher cellIds overload/Stencil pipeline).
Branch is at pre-A8 visual ("looks good") with infrastructure dormant.
Next session opens cold against the pickup prompt at the bottom of
the handoff doc.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Spike findings before RR3 (BuildingLoader impl). Documents:
- DatReaderWriter.Types.BuildingInfo field shape (verbatim ilspy decomp
of DRW 2.1.7 — type is BuildingInfo with field BuildingPortal, not the
plan's tentative BldPortal; same OtherCellId semantics)
- WB PortalService.GetPortalsByBuilding interior-portal walk algorithm
(BFS through EnvCell.CellPortals; 0xFFFF == exit-portal sentinel)
- Holtburg town landblock 0xA9B4FFFF live BuildingInfo dump: 12 buildings,
1-10 portals each, including the cottage from the #98 cellar saga at
idx=6 (cells 0xA9B40145/014C/014E/014F/0150)
- Resolved BuildingLoader algorithm + 2 minor rename corrections vs the
plan's RR3 pseudocode (BuildingPortal not BldPortal; defensive 0xFFFF
skip kept matching WB)
- 6 edge cases (empty portals, shared cells, unloaded interiors, etc.)
Gate decision: data shape compatible — proceed to RR3.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Session-end handoff capturing:
- RR0 findings + design + plan + RR1 cleanup all shipped (8 commits)
- Working tree at logical R2-baseline + [vis] probe
- RR2 (BuildingInfo spike) is next; ~30-60 min; human-in-the-loop step
for live-inspect
- Canonical doc-read order for fresh session
- Pickup prompt with state-both-altitudes header
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Both documents retained for historical reference. The new full-WB-port
design + plan (2026-05-26-phase-a8-wb-full-port-design.md + plan, ea60d1f +
651e7e2) replace them.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
