The exit-world confirmation (ID_Client_EndCharacterSessionConfirm, table
0x23000001 key 0x0EB1C41D) rendered its literal two-character "\n" escapes
because escape decoding lived in individual consumers — Batch E centralized
it for authored captions only (DatWidgetFactory.ResolveAuthoredString), and
each new string surface had to remember its own copy. The installed DAT
carries the escape in 4,365 of 7,050 strings; per-consumer normalization
was structurally guaranteed to keep leaking.
Retail's placement is the SOURCE, not the widget: every public StringInfo
resolution ends in StringTableMetaLanguage::UnescapeString @ 0x0067BDC0
(StringInfo::InqString @ 0x0042E490, GetLiteralValue @ 0x0042CA50), the
write side escapes (SetLiteralValue @ 0x0042C980; AddVariable_String
@ 0x0042E6C0 for template variables), and widgets receive decoded text.
Ported exactly:
- NEW RetailStringEscapes: UnescapeString/EscapeString + the
GetUnEscapedChar @ 0x0067B750 / GetEscapedChar @ 0x0067B6C0 tables
(\n \t \r \q + the ten metalanguage self-escapes []!{}#\|^$,
byte-verified against the PDB-paired 2013 binary at 0x3FE178;
unrecognized pairs stay verbatim).
- DatStringResolver.Resolve/ResolveAll unescape at the source;
ResolveTemplate escapes each variable on insert and unescapes the
composed whole — retail's round trip, so variable content (player
names) can never be corrupted by the final decode.
- RETIRED the consumer copies (double paths would corrupt an authored
"\n" into a line break): DatWidgetFactory.NormalizeEscapes + BuildText's
inline replace, RetailUiRuntime.NormalizeRetailNewlines + the
OpenCaptureInstructions inline replace, DatRichText.Compose's replace,
IndicatorDetailText.Shape's replace. ItemAppraisalTextLayout's replace
stays — WIRE-domain (server strings never pass the DAT source; retail's
ItemExamineUI::AddItemInfo @ 0x004AC050 appends wire text verbatim), now
documented as such.
- Consumer CR-strips retired with them: the installed DATs contain ZERO
real CR characters (sweep-measured) and UiText.WrapWords already drops
strays.
Tests: RetailStringEscapes conformance (escape set, unknown pairs,
round trip), DatStringResolver source-decode pins (including the exact
user-reported exit-world text shape and a backslash-carrying variable),
the installed-DAT escape sweep (7,050 strings; every resolution must equal
the retail unescape of the raw entry; inventory printed), and the existing
caption/rich-text/live-DAT pins relocated to the source contract.
App 5550/3 (live-DAT), Runtime 1747/0, complete Release solution green
across all suites.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>