Retail-driven players observed from acdream rendered with stale
appearance — wrong skin/hair palettes, missing clothing — because
ACE's mid-session appearance broadcasts (equip/unequip/tailoring/
recipe/option-toggle) ride opcode 0xF625 ObjDescEvent and acdream
silently dropped them. Initial CreateObject carries the appearance
at spawn time, but every later equip change only updates via 0xF625
(per Skunkwors protocol docs in ACE/.../GameMessageObjDescEvent.cs).
Retail handles via SmartBox::HandleObjDescEvent (named-retail 0x453340).
Why: the retail observer sees the *server-relayed* view of remotes,
not retail's local build, so dropping ObjDescEvent freezes appearance
at the partial state in the first CreateObject.
How:
- Extract CreateObject's ModelData parsing into reusable
CreateObject.ReadModelData(span, ref pos) returning
(BasePaletteId, SubPalettes, TextureChanges, AnimPartChanges).
- Add ObjDescEvent.cs (parser for 0xF625):
body = u32 opcode | u32 guid | ModelData | u32 instanceSeq | u32 visualDescSeq.
- WorldSession.AppearanceUpdated event + dispatcher branch.
- GameWindow.OnLiveAppearanceUpdated splices new ModelData onto the
cached spawn and replays via OnLiveEntitySpawned. The dedup at the
start of OnLiveEntitySpawnedLocked tears down the old GPU/animated/
collision state cleanly before rebuild.
- _lastSpawnByGuid cache populated at spawn-end and tracked through
UpdatePosition so re-applies use current position (no pop-back to
login spot on equip toggle).
- ACDREAM_DUMP_APPEARANCE=1 env var prints structured SP/TC/APC
decode for every 0xF625 — replaces the earlier raw-hex preview.
- ACDREAM_DUMP_CLOTHING extended with setup.Parts.Count, flatten.Count,
and per-part triangle counts for offline polygon-budget audit.
Tests: 4 new ObjDescEvent tests (round-trip + parser drift guard);
269 net tests green. User-verified live: skin/hair colors match
retail's character data; equip/unequip no longer pops position.
Note: a separate "puffy arms / bulky body" geometry issue remains
where base body parts visibly overlap clothing meshes — different
root cause, tracked separately.
PositionFlags.IsGrounded (0x04) was already parsed by UpdatePosition
but not exposed through the Parsed record or EntityPositionUpdate.
Adds the bool field to both records so OnLivePositionUpdated can
consume it for retail-faithful MoveOrTeleport routing
(acclient @ 0x00516330: has_contact=false → no-op during airborne arc).
Consumed in subsequent task (L.3.1+L.3.2 Task 3).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Companion to L.3a (a1c27b3) which ported the velocity-reflection bounce.
Previously the CreateObject parser did `pos += 4` for both Friction and
Elasticity floats — silently dropping the wire data so every entity got
the PhysicsBody constructor default (0.05 elasticity, 0.5 friction).
Server-set bouncier surfaces or stickier objects therefore felt
identical to inert walls on collision. Inelastic projectiles via
PhysicsState bit 0x20000 (already plumbed in Commit A) had no per-
object elasticity to override.
Now the parser captures the floats, surfaces them on Parsed +
EntitySpawn, leaving the values at default (null) when their
PhysicsDescriptionFlag bits aren't set. Subscribers (e.g., the
remote-entity dead-reckoning path, future spell-projectile rendering)
can apply them when they wire elasticity to PhysicsBody.Elasticity.
The local player's PhysicsBody is constructed at controller init,
not from a CreateObject — so this commit alone produces no
user-visible local-player change. Effect lands when remote/projectile
physics consume EntitySpawn.Elasticity.
Files:
- CreateObject.cs:284-294: declare friction + elasticity accumulators.
- CreateObject.cs:467-487: parse floats instead of skipping.
- CreateObject.cs:543-555: propagate to Parsed via both return paths.
- WorldSession.cs:67-71: extend EntitySpawn record.
- WorldSession.cs:665-668: pipe through to subscribers.
Tests: 1491 still pass.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Plumbing-only foundation for the upcoming live-entity (NPC / monster
/ player) collision port. No behavior change — the new fields default
to zero/None so the 5 existing static-entity Register call sites in
GameWindow.cs are untouched.
Wire layer:
- CreateObject parser now surfaces PhysicsState (acclient.h:2815 —
ETHEREAL_PS=0x4, IGNORE_COLLISIONS_PS=0x10, HAS_PHYSICS_BSP_PS=0x10000,
...) which the parser previously dropped at line ~337 with a bare
`pos += 4`.
- CreateObject parser now surfaces ObjectDescriptionFlags (the retail
PWD._bitfield trailer per acclient.h:6431-6463), where
acclient_2013_pseudo_c.txt:406898-406918 ACCWeenieObject::IsPK /
IsPKLite / IsImpenetrable read bits 5 / 25 / 21 directly. Previously
read-and-discarded.
- WorldSession.EntitySpawn carries both new fields through to subscribers.
Physics layer:
- New `EntityCollisionFlags` enum (IsPlayer / IsCreature / IsPK /
IsPKLite / IsImpenetrable) + `FromPwdBitfield` helper. Bit
positions verified against retail's SetPlayerKillerStatus (
acclient_2013_pseudo_c.txt:441868-441890) which maps
PKStatusEnum→bitfield exactly: PK=0x4→bit5, PKLite=0x40→bit25,
Free=0x20→bit21.
- `ShadowEntry` extended with `State` (raw PhysicsState bits) +
`Flags` (decoded EntityCollisionFlags). Backward-compatible — all
five existing landblock-entity Register call sites omit them.
- `ShadowObjectRegistry.UpdatePosition(entityId, pos, rot, ...)` —
fast-path for the 5–10 Hz UpdatePosition (0xF748) stream the server
emits per visible entity. Reuses the entry's existing shape +
state + flags. Mirrors retail's CPhysicsObj::SetPosition
(acclient_2013_pseudo_c.txt:284276) which keeps the same shape and
re-registers cell membership.
- `ObjectInfoState` adds `IsPK = 0x800` and `IsPKLite = 0x1000`
matching retail's OBJECTINFO::state bits (acclient.h:6190-6194).
Used by Commit C's PvP exemption gate.
Tests:
- `EntityCollisionFlagsTests` — 7 tests covering empty / each bit
alone / PK+player combo / unrelated-bit ignore.
- `ShadowObjectRegistryTests` — 5 new tests: UpdatePosition moves
entry to new cell, preserves State/Flags, unregistered no-op,
Register stores State/Flags, defaults are zero/None.
- `CreateObjectTests` — 3 new tests verifying PhysicsState + PWD
bitfield (with PK / PKLite bit cases) parse and surface.
1454 → 1454 + 15 = covered by suite. dotnet build + dotnet test
green.
Foundation for Commit B (live-entity registration) and Commit C
(PvP exemption block in FindObjCollisions).
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>
Retail MovementManager::PerformMovement (0x00524440) reads MoveTo speed and runRate from the packet, MovementParameters::UnPackNet (0x0052AC50) defines the layout, and CMotionInterp::apply_run_to_command (0x00527BE0) multiplies RunForward by runRate. Parse those fields for UpdateMotion/CreateObject, seed server-controlled MoveTo locomotion with the retail speed multiplier, and avoid overriding active monster MoveTo with sparse UpdatePosition-derived velocity.
Handle retail ObjectDelete (0xF747) using CM_Physics::DispatchSB_DeleteObject 0x006AC6A0 / SmartBox::HandleDeleteObject 0x00451EA0 and ACE GameMessageDeleteObject so dead creatures are removed when corpses spawn.
Route action-class ForwardCommand values through AnimationCommandRouter/PlayAction instead of SetCycle so creature attack commands 0x51/0x52/0x53 survive the immediate Ready echo, matching CMotionTable::GetObjectSequence 0x00522860 / ACE MotionTable.GetObjectSequence.
Use server-authoritative UpdatePosition velocity, or observed server position delta for non-player entities when HasVelocity is absent, to reduce monster/NPC chase lag without applying player RUM prediction to server-controlled creatures.
User report: "in ACdream client, when other client is jumping,
nothing happens at all".
Diagnostic [VU.recv] revealed the parser was reading
guid = 0x0000F74E (= the opcode itself) and velocity values in
the billions:
[VU.recv] guid=0x0000F74E vel=(8589944832.00,0.00,0.00)
isLocal=False hasRemote=False
WorldSession.ProcessDatagram passes the FULL reassembled body
including the 4-byte opcode at offset 0 — every other parser
in src/AcDream.Core.Net/Messages/ verifies the opcode word
before reading payload (UpdateMotion.TryParse:77,
UpdatePosition.TryParse, etc.). VectorUpdate.TryParse skipped
that step and read every field shifted four bytes early,
making the guid the opcode bytes and the velocities random
floats from later in the buffer. With guid=0xF74E never
matching any tracked entity, OnLiveVectorUpdated returned
early and remote jumps rendered nothing.
Fix: read + verify opcode at offset 0 in TryParse, then read
guid at offset 4, velocity at 8/12/16, omega at 20/24/28,
sequences at 32/34. Body length now 4 (opcode) + 32 (payload).
Tests stay 1222 green.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Remote-player jumps were silently dropped — we never parsed the
VectorUpdate broadcast that carries the jump launch velocity, so
the remote body's Z velocity stayed at 0 and the jump animation
showed without any vertical motion.
ACE Player.cs:954 enqueues GameMessageVectorUpdate (opcode 0xF74E)
on every jump in addition to the bracketing UpdateMotion. Wire
layout (GameMessageVectorUpdate.cs):
u32 opcode (= 0xF74E)
u32 objectGuid
3xf32 velocity (world-space, post-rotation)
3xf32 omega
u16 instanceSequence
u16 vectorSequence
This commit:
1. Adds VectorUpdate.TryParse + VectorUpdated session event.
2. WorldSession.ProcessDatagram dispatches 0xF74E.
3. GameWindow subscribes via OnLiveVectorUpdated:
- Sets remote PhysicsBody.Velocity from the wire vector.
- When velocity.Z > 0.5 m/s, marks the remote as Airborne,
clears Contact + OnWalkable bits, and enables the Gravity
state flag — so calc_acceleration returns (0, 0, -9.8) and
UpdatePhysicsInternal produces a parabolic arc.
4. The per-tick remote update (TickAnimations remote-physics
block) now SKIPS the "force OnWalkable + apply_current_movement"
step when Airborne. Otherwise that path stomps the +Z velocity
each frame — same shape as the bug the local jump hit before
K-fix7.
5. ResolveWithTransition for remotes now passes
isOnGround: !rm.Airborne. Mirrors K-fix7's local-player gate —
airborne resolves must NOT pre-seed the ContactPlane,
otherwise AdjustOffset's snap-to-plane branch zeroes the
upward offset.
6. UpdatePosition handler clears the airborne flag and restores
ground-contact bits, so the server's authoritative re-grounding
ends the arc cleanly at the new ground location.
ACDREAM_DUMP_MOTION=1 logs each VectorUpdate as
"VU guid=0x... vel=(...) airborne=...".
Tests stay 1222 green. Live verification pending — watch a remote
character jump.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Three follow-up fixes from the 2026-04-25 live verify session.
1. CRITICAL: BuildTell wire field order. Our outbound layout was
[target_name, message] but ACE's GameActionTell.Handle reads
[message, target_name] (verified against
references/ACE/.../GameActionTell.cs:17-18 verbatim). Result: every
/tell since Phase I.3 has been failing with WeenieError 0x052B
(CharacterNotAvailable) because ACE was looking up the message
text as the recipient name. Swapped the field order in
ChatRequests.BuildTell so message is written first; updated the
pinned BuildTell test to expect the corrected layout. The
WorldSessionChatTests round-trip continues to pass since SendTell
delegates to BuildTell.
2. Retail-style FormatEntry. The user asked for the canonical retail
strings:
/say (own): You say, "text"
/say (incoming): Name says, "text"
/tell (own echo): You tell Caith, "text"
/tell (incoming): Caith tells you, "text"
channel: [Trade] +Acdream says, "text"
/shout (own): You shout, "text"
/shout (incoming):Name shouts, "text"
Discriminators: SenderGuid == 0 distinguishes our own outbound
echoes (set by OnSelfSent) from real incoming whispers (carry the
sender's player guid). Sender == "" or "You" distinguishes our own
/say echoes (OnLocalSpeech substitutes "You" when the wire sender
is empty per holtburger client/messages.rs:476-487).
ChatEntry gains a new ChannelName slot so Channel-kind entries
render with the friendly room name ("Trade") instead of "ch 3".
Falls back to "ch {ChannelId}" when ChannelName isn't populated
(legacy ChatChannel inbound or older callers).
3. Suppress optimistic Channel echo. The user saw duplicates per
/trade /lfg in the live trace:
[ch 0] Trade: hello <-- our optimistic
[ch 3] +Acdream: [Trade] hello <-- ACE's TurbineChat broadcast
ACE's TurbineChatHandler at Network/Handlers/TurbineChatHandler.cs
broadcasts EventSendToRoom to ALL recipients in the room including
the sender, so the canonical echo always arrives via 0xF7DE. Drop
the optimistic OnSelfSent for Turbine kinds in GameWindow's
SendChatCmd handler; trust the server. Legacy ChatChannel paths
(Fellowship / Allegiance / Patron / Monarch / Vassals / CoVassals)
keep the optimistic echo because the legacy 0x0147 broadcast may
not always come back to the sender.
Inbound TurbineChat also stops embedding "[Trade] " into the
message text — passes the friendly name out-of-band via the new
channelName parameter on ChatLog.OnChannelBroadcast.
11 tests updated for the new format strings (8 in ChatVMTests, 1 in
ChatVMCombatTests, 1 BuildTell, plus the format additions cover
incoming/outgoing variants per kind). Solution total: 1007 green
(243 + 114 + 650), 0 warnings.
Tells should now actually deliver. Channel echoes show as
[Trade] +Acdream says, "hello" without the duplicate.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Full port of holtburger's TurbineChat sidecar wire path:
- TurbineChat.cs: 0xF7DE codec with three payload variants
(EventSendToRoom S->C, RequestSendToRoomById C->S, Response).
10-field outer header (size_first/blob_type/dispatch_type/
target_type/target_id/transport_type/transport_id/cookie/
size_second + payload).
- UTF-16LE turbine string codec with 1-or-2 byte variable-length
prefix (high bit on first byte signals 2-byte form). Mirrors
holtburger's read_turbine_string / write_turbine_string at
references/holtburger/.../messages/chat/turbine.rs:502-544.
- SetTurbineChatChannels.cs: 0x0295 GameEvent sub-opcode parser
(10 x u32 channel ids). Wired through GameEventDispatcher in
WorldSession ctor; routes to GameEventWiring + TurbineChatState.
- ChatChannelInfo.cs (Core): unified record union with Legacy
(channel id + name) and Turbine (room id + chat type +
dispatch type + name) variants, plus IsSelfEchoChannel
predicate (Tells = false, channels = true so optimistic echo
is suppressed where the server will echo).
- TurbineChatState.cs (Core): Enabled flag + 10 cached room ids
+ NextContextId() cookie counter starting at 1.
- WorldSession adds TurbineChatReceived + TurbineChannelsReceived
events; SendTurbineChatTo outbound builds RequestSendToRoomById
+ sends through SendGameAction. ProcessDatagram dispatches
0xF7DE at the top level.
- GameWindow constructs TurbineChatState, subscribes inbound
EventSendToRoom -> ChatLog.OnChannelBroadcast; extends I.3's
SendChatCmd handler to route Turbine kinds (General/Trade/Lfg/
Roleplay/Society/Olthoi) through TurbineChat first, fall back
to legacy ChatChannel send when state.Enabled == false.
Round-trip golden fixtures from holtburger source verified for
all three payload variants + UTF-16LE strings (short + long
prefix + non-ASCII Cafe + empty) + SetTurbineChatChannels.
26 new tests:
- TurbineChatTests, SetTurbineChatChannelsTests in Core.Net.Tests
- ChatChannelInfoTests, TurbineChatStateTests in Core.Tests
Solution total: 960 green (243 Core.Net + 625 Core + 92 UI).
ACE doesn't run a TurbineChat server, so codec is "ready when
needed" for retail-server-emulating setups. Legacy ChatChannel
fallback continues to work for current ACE-against-acdream play.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Three fixes to the Vitals HUD path:
1. EnchantmentMask Vitae/Cooldown bit values (parser regression).
ACE's enum at references/ACE/Source/ACE.Entity/Enum/EnchantmentCategory.cs
has Vitae=0x4 and Cooldown=0x8. I had them swapped — when ACE wrote
the Vitae singleton with mask bit 0x4 set, my parser read it as
"Cooldown" and tried to consume a count-prefixed list (no count
present), blowing up with FormatException, returning null from
TryParse. PlayerDescription consequently failed to parse on every
live login. Fix: swap the bit values + bucket constants to match ACE.
2. Vitae applies regardless of StatModKey. Live trace showed:
vitals: PD-ench spell=666 layer=0 bucket=Vitae key=0 val=0.95
ACE's Vitae enchantment serializes with key=0 (meaning "any vital")
per retail. EnchantmentMath was filtering Vitae by key like other
buffs, so the 5% death penalty never applied to Health/Stam/Mana
max — the Vitals percent read 95% because current=276 / max=290
(server already reduced current; our max didn't match). Fix:
Vitae bucket short-circuits the per-key check and applies its
multiplier to all vitals.
3. Absolute current/max in HUD overlay. VitalsVM exposes
HealthCurrent/Max, StaminaCurrent/Max, ManaCurrent/Max from
LocalPlayerState. VitalsPanel overlay format is now
"current / max (percent%)" when absolutes are available; falls
back to percent-only pre-PlayerDescription. Matches the retail
look the user requested ("HP 400/400" style).
Test deltas (841 -> 842):
- Existing Vitae test still passes (key matches statKey case).
- New Vitae key=0 test pins the "any vital" semantics.
- Existing PlayerDescription Vitae singleton test updated to
write mask=0x4 (was 0x8 with the swapped enum).
Live verification: with +Acdream's Vitae-666 active and Endurance.current=290:
HP : current=138, max=145×0.95≈138 → bar 100% (was 95%)
Stam : current=276, max=290×0.95≈276 → bar 100%
Mana : current=190, max=200×0.95≈190 → bar 100%
Overlay reads e.g. "276 / 276 (100%)".
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Extends PlayerDescriptionParser past the spell block to parse the
Enchantment trailer per holtburger events.rs:462-501 +
magic/types.rs:40. New EnchantmentEntry record carries the full
60-64 byte wire payload:
u16 spell_id, layer, spell_category, has_spell_set_id
u32 power_level
f64 start_time, duration
u32 caster_guid
f32 degrade_modifier, degrade_limit
f64 last_time_degraded
u32 stat_mod_type, stat_mod_key
f32 stat_mod_value
[u32 spell_set_id]?
+ EnchantmentBucket (Multiplicative / Additive / Cooldown / Vitae)
EnchantmentMask outer u32 selects which buckets follow; each bucket
(except Vitae) is u32 count + N records. Vitae is a singleton.
Parsed.Enchantments now exposed as IReadOnlyList<EnchantmentEntry>.
GameEventWiring routes each entry through Spellbook.OnEnchantmentAdded
with the full StatMod data + bucket. EnchantmentMath.GetMod consumes
StatMod records to produce real (Multiplier, Additive) per stat key:
Bucket 1 (Multiplicative): multiplier *= val
Bucket 2 (Additive): additive += val
Bucket 8 (Vitae): multiplier *= val (applied last)
Bucket 4 (Cooldown): skipped (not a vital mod)
ActiveEnchantmentRecord extended with optional StatModType /
StatModKey / StatModValue / Bucket fields. Existing 4-arg callers
stay compatible (defaults to null / 0). New OnEnchantmentAdded
overload accepts the full record from PlayerDescription path.
Tests: 7 new (834 -> 841):
- PlayerDescriptionParserTests (2): enchantment block schema with
multiplicative + additive buckets, Vitae singleton.
- EnchantmentMathTests (5): multiplicative buffs aggregate, additive
buffs sum, stat-key mismatch filters out, Vitae applied
multiplicatively, family-stacking picks higher spell-id.
Closes#7 (parser past spells, enchantment block parsed).
Closes#12 (StatMod flow architecture — data lights up #6's
aggregator). Files #13 (remaining trailer sections: options /
shortcuts / hotbars / desired_comps / spellbook_filters / options2 /
gameplay_options / inventory / equipped — needs the heuristic
gameplay_options walker per holtburger).
Note: ParseMagicUpdateEnchantment (live-update 0x02C2) NOT yet
extended — still uses 4-field summary. PlayerDescription is the
load-bearing path for #6; live updates can be folded in separately.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Visual-verified — Vitals window now shows three bars (HP/Stam/Mana)
with live values. Closes ISSUES.md #5; ~95% reading on Stam/Mana
traced to active buff multipliers, filed as #6.
Why the rewrite
The first attempt (commit d42bf57) routed PlayerDescription (0x0013)
through AppraiseInfoParser, trusting a misleading xmldoc claim.
Live diagnostics proved the format is wrong — ACE source
(GameEventPlayerDescription.WriteEventBody) hand-writes a body
distinct from IdentifyObjectResponse's AppraiseInfo: property
hashtables gated on DescriptionPropertyFlag, vector-flag-gated
attribute / skill / spell blocks, then a long options + inventory
trailer. Vitals only arrive via the attribute block at login.
Holtburger's events.rs:220-625 has the canonical client-side
unpacker; this commit ports the early-section walker through spells.
What landed
PlayerDescriptionParser.cs (new — 350 LOC):
Walks propertyFlags + weenieType, then property hashtables
(Int32/Int64/Bool/Double/String/Did/Iid) + Position table —
each gated on a property flag bit, header is `u16 count, u16
buckets`. Then vectorFlags + has_health + the attribute block
(primary attrs 1..6 = 12 B each, vitals 7..9 = 16 B with
`current`), then optional Skill + Spell tables. Stops cleanly
before the options/shortcuts/hotbars/inventory trailer (filed
as #7 — heuristic alignment search needed for gameplay_options).
PrivateUpdateVital.cs (new — 95 LOC):
Wire parsers for the GameMessage opcodes 0x02E7 (full snapshot)
and 0x02E9 (current-only delta), per holtburger UpdateVital +
UpdateVitalCurrent. WorldSession dispatches each to a session-
level event the GameWindow forwards into LocalPlayerState.
LocalPlayerState (full redesign):
VitalKind (Health/Stamina/Mana) + AttributeKind (six primary).
VitalSnapshot stores ranks/start/xp/current; AttributeSnapshot
stores ranks/start/xp with `Current = ranks+start` per
holtburger. GetMaxApprox computes the retail formula
vital.(ranks+start) + attribute_contribution
where the contribution is hardcoded from retail's
SecondaryAttributeTable: Endurance/2 for Health, Endurance for
Stamina, Self for Mana. Enchantment buffs not yet folded in
(filed as #6). VitalIdToKind now accepts both ID systems
(1..6 wire, 7..9 PD attribute block); AttributeIdToKind covers
primary attrs 1..6.
GameEventWiring:
PlayerDescription handler. Walks parsed.Attributes, routes
primary attrs (id 1..6) to OnAttributeUpdate and vitals
(id 7..9) to OnVitalUpdate. Player's full learned spellbook
also lands here. ACDREAM_DUMP_VITALS=1 traces every PD attribute
+ every PrivateUpdateVital(Current) opcode for diagnostics.
WorldSession:
Dispatch chain re-ordered — the diagnostic else-if for
ACDREAM_DUMP_OPCODES=1 was originally placed before
GameEventEnvelope.Opcode, which silently intercepted 0xF7B0 and
broke UpdateHealth dispatch when the env var was set. Moved to
the very end of the chain so it only fires for genuinely
unhandled opcodes. (Diagnostic-only regression; production
launches without the env var were unaffected.)
Test deltas
Added:
- PlayerDescriptionParserTests (6 — empty header, full attribute
block, partial flags, post-property-table walk, spell table)
- PrivateUpdateVitalTests (7 — fixture round-trip, vital ID
coverage, opcode rejection, truncation)
- LocalPlayerStateTests rewritten (20 — VitalIdToKind +
AttributeIdToKind theories, Endurance/Self formula coverage,
delta semantics, change events)
- GameEventWiringTests for PlayerDescription dispatch (2 —
end-to-end populate + spellbook feed)
Updated:
- VitalsVMTests rephrased onto the new OnVitalUpdate API.
Total: 765 → 817 tests passing.
Diagnostics
ACDREAM_DUMP_VITALS=1 — log every PD attribute extracted,
every 0x02E7/0x02E9 dispatch.
ACDREAM_DUMP_OPCODES=1 — log first occurrence of any unhandled
GameMessage opcode (now correctly placed at end of chain).
Visual verify
$env:ACDREAM_DEVTOOLS = "1"
dotnet run --project src\AcDream.App\AcDream.App.csproj -c Debug
Vitals window shows three bars; HP at 100%, Stam/Mana at ~95%
(the gap is buff enchantments — filed as #6 with the holtburger
multiplier+additive aggregator pattern as the reference for the
fix).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Ports the retail client's client-side remote-entity motion pipeline
verbatim per the decompile research. Every remote now runs its own
PhysicsBody + MotionInterpreter + AnimationSequencer stack — retail has
no special "interpolator" for remotes, it runs the full motion state
machine on every entity. Now we do too.
## What changed
### Parser fixes (CreateObject, UpdateMotion)
Wire flag bits for InterpretedMotionState (per ACE MovementStateFlag enum):
CurrentStyle=0x01, ForwardCommand=0x02, ForwardSpeed=0x04,
SideStepCommand=0x08, SideStepSpeed=0x10, TurnCommand=0x20, TurnSpeed=0x40
Previously we only extracted CurrentStyle + ForwardCommand + ForwardSpeed
and SKIPPED the side/turn fields entirely. Result: we had zero rotation-
or strafe-intent data from the server — impossible to render turn or
sidestep animations. Now ServerMotionState carries all 7 fields and the
parser reads the bytes in ACE's write order (style, fwd, side, turn, then
fwdSpd, sideSpd, turnSpd).
### RemoteMotion (new per-remote struct in GameWindow)
Each remote gets its own PhysicsBody + MotionInterpreter + observed
angular velocity. Replaces the earlier shortcut RemoteInterpolator
(deleted — retail has no such thing).
On UpdateMotion:
- ForwardCommand flag absent → stop signal (reset to Ready) per
retail FUN_0051F260 bulk-copy semantics (absent = Invalid = default).
- Forward + sidestep + turn each route through DoInterpretedMotion,
exactly as retail FUN_00528F70 does.
- Animation cycle selection: forward wins if active, else sidestep,
else turn, else Ready. Matches the user's observation that retail
plays turn animation when only turning.
- Turn command seeds ObservedOmega = π/2 × turnSpeed (from Humanoid
MotionData.Omega.Z ≈ π/2 per decompile).
- Turn absent → ObservedOmega = 0 (stops rotation immediately).
On UpdatePosition:
- Hard-snap Body.Position + Body.Orientation per retail FUN_00514b90
set_frame (direct assignment, no slerp — retail does not soft-snap).
- HasVelocity + |v| < 0.2 → StopCompletely + SetCycle(Ready).
- ForwardSpeed=0 on wire is a VALID stop signal (ACE sends this when
alt releases W); previously we defaulted to 1.0, causing the "slow
walk that never stops" symptom.
Per-tick:
- apply_current_movement → Body.Velocity via get_state_velocity
(retail FUN_00528960: RunAnimSpeed × ForwardSpeed in body-local,
rotated by orientation).
- Manual omega integration: Orientation *= quat(ObservedOmega × dt).
Bypasses PhysicsBody.update_object's MinQuantum=1/30s gate that
was eating every-other-tick rotation updates at our 60fps render
rate — the cause of the persistent "rotation snaps every UP" bug.
- update_object still called for position integration and the motion
subsystem it drives.
### AnimationSequencer synthesis extension
Added omega synthesis for TurnRight/TurnLeft cycles (same pattern as
the earlier velocity synthesis): when the Humanoid dat leaves HasOmega
clear, SetCycle synthesizes CurrentOmega = ±π/2 × speedMod on Z so
dead-reckoning and stop detection can read a non-zero omega for turn
cycles.
### Stop-detection heuristic removed
No more 300ms/2000ms/5000ms idle timers. Retail's stop signal is
explicit (UpdateMotion with ForwardCommand flag absent → Ready); we
handle it directly. Client-side timers were a source of flicker during
normal running.
## Confirmed working
- Walking (matches retail speed + leg cadence)
- Running (matches retail speed + leg cadence)
- Strafing (body moves sideways + strafe animation plays)
- Turning while stationary (body rotates smoothly + turn animation plays)
- Turning while running (body rotates + leg anim continues)
- Stopping (instant stop, no slow-walk tail)
All 717 tests green.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
UpdateMotion's InterpretedMotionState payload includes not just
ForwardCommand but a whole Commands[] list of MotionItem entries — each
carrying an Action (attack, portal, skill use), Modifier (jump,
stop-turn), or ChatEmote (Wave, BowDeep, Laugh) that should overlay the
current cycle. The old parser stopped reading after ForwardSpeed, so
emotes/attacks/deaths never reached the sequencer and NPCs just sat in
their idle cycle.
Three parts:
1. New MotionItem wire record in ServerMotionState — carries Command
(u16), PackedSequence (u16 with IsAutonomous bit + 15-bit stamp),
and Speed (f32). Mirrors ACE Network/Motion/MotionItem.cs.
2. Both UpdateMotion.TryParse and CreateObject.TryParseMovementData
now read the full InterpretedMotionState: all 7 flag fields
(CurrentStyle, ForwardCommand, SidestepCommand, TurnCommand,
ForwardSpeed, SidestepSpeed, TurnSpeed) plus the numCommands ×
MotionItem tail. The packed u32 encodes flags in low 7 bits and
command count in bits 7+ (see ACE InterpretedMotionState.cs:131).
3. New MotionCommandResolver — reconstructs the 32-bit MotionCommand
class byte from a 16-bit wire value via a reflection-built lookup
of DatReaderWriter.Enums.MotionCommand. Server serializes as u16
(ACE InterpretedMotionState.cs:139) and we need the class to route:
- 0x10xxxxxx Action / 0x20xxxxxx Modifier / 0x12,0x13 ChatEmote →
PlayAction (resolves from Modifiers or Links dict, overlays on
current cycle)
- 0x40xxxxxx SubState → SetCycle (cycle change)
4. OnLiveMotionUpdated in GameWindow dispatches each command:
- SubState class (0x40xxx) → SetCycle (treated same as
ForwardCommand)
- Action/Modifier/ChatEmote → PlayAction — the link animation
plays once then drops back to the current cycle naturally
(matches retail's action-queue pattern in CMotionInterp
DoInterpretedMotion, decompile FUN_00528F70).
Result: NPCs now animate attacks, waves, bows, death throes, and other
one-shots that ACE broadcasts via the Commands list rather than the
primary ForwardCommand field. Combined with the dead-reckoning + speed-
scaling from the prior commits, remote characters look visually correct
during the full motion spectrum (idle → walk → run → attack → death).
Tests: 2 new UpdateMotion wire-format tests (ForwardSpeed parse, full
Wave command list parse) + 19 new MotionCommandResolver reconstruction
tests covering SubState, Action, and ChatEmote classes. 654 tests green
(was 633).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Root cause found from ACE source:
- Player_Tick.cs:368 — "the client will never send a 'client released
forward' MoveToState in this scenario unfortunately"
- Server therefore can't broadcast a MotionCommand.Ready UpdateMotion
when a remote player stops moving.
- Retail observer infers stopped state from position deltas going to
zero, not from an explicit motion message.
Also found + fixed the UpdateMotion parser's 2-byte offset bug: ACE's
Align() pads based on absolute stream length (length=15 → 1 pad byte),
not relative-to-block. Previous parser assumed 3 pad bytes after the
MovementData header, which mis-aligned every subsequent field by 2.
After fix, stance/command/speed decode correctly for both server-
controlled NPCs (full stance 0x003D + cmd transitions) and remote
players (stance=0 meaning "no change" + per-axis commands).
OnLiveMotionUpdated rewrite: use SetCycle directly for sequencer
entities instead of routing through GetIdleCycle (which ignored
command when stance was 0). Preserve current style/motion when the
server omits a field ("no change" semantics). Reconstruct full
MotionCommand high byte from current motion or SubState mask.
Remote stop-detection: new _remoteLastMove dict tracks per-entity last
meaningful position + time. OnLivePositionUpdated updates only on
moves > 0.05m so the timestamp captures last actual movement.
TickAnimations checks every entity in a locomotion cycle; if their
last-move time is >400ms stale, swap sequencer to Ready. Excludes
player's own entity (driven by local input, not server observation).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Closes the single biggest P0 gap from r08: the AppraiseInfo blob
carried by both IdentifyObjectResponse (0x00C9) and the initial
PlayerDescription (0x0013) is now parsed end-to-end for the six core
property tables.
Wire layer:
- AppraiseInfoParser.TryParse returns a Parsed record:
(Guid, Flags, Success, PropertyBundle, SpellBook[]).
- IdentifyResponseFlags enum mirrors ACE's bitfield exactly.
- Header reader: u16 count + u16 numBuckets (ACE
PackableHashTable.WriteHeader format).
- Per-table readers: IntStatsTable, Int64StatsTable, BoolStatsTable
(u32 → bool), FloatStatsTable (f64 values), StringStatsTable
(string16L values with 4-byte pad), DidStatsTable.
- SpellBook reader: u32 count followed by count u32 spell ids, with
sanity cap at 4096 entries.
What's NOT yet parsed (deferred, noted in XML doc):
- ArmorProfile / CreatureProfile / WeaponProfile / HookProfile blobs
require porting their respective Structure classes.
- Enchantment bitfields (u16 highlight + u16 color triplets).
- ArmorLevels block.
The parser is defensive: malformed / truncated tables raise
FormatException which is caught internally; the caller gets
whatever properties parsed successfully before the error.
Tests (7 new):
- Header-only (no tables).
- IntStatsTable round-trip with mixed sign values.
- BoolStatsTable (u32 ↔ bool conversion).
- StringStatsTable with padded-length strings.
- SpellBook parsing.
- Combined flags across multiple tables.
- Truncated payload → null.
Build green, 628 tests pass (up from 621).
This unlocks the Attributes / Skills / Paperdoll UI panels once their
renderers land — every property key the server sends now gets stored
on the target ItemInstance (or — for PlayerDescription — the player's
own property bag once wired).
Ref: ACE AppraiseInfo.Write (AppraiseInfo.cs:735), PackableHashTable.
Ref: r08 §4 payload for 0x00C9.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Outbound GameActions for XP-spending + combat-mode-change. These
complete the wire surface for the character-sheet UI: the player
clicks "spend XP on Strength," the panel calls BuildRaiseAttribute,
the session sends it, the server responds with updated PlayerDescription
or PrivateUpdateAttribute GameEvents.
Wire layer:
- BuildRaiseAttribute (0x0045): attrId u32, xpSpent u64.
- BuildRaiseVital (0x0044): vitalId u32, xpSpent u64.
- BuildRaiseSkill (0x0046): skillId u32, xpSpent u64.
- BuildTrainSkill (0x0047): skillId u32, credits u32 (note: credits
is u32 here, NOT u64 like the xpSpent variants).
- BuildChangeCombatMode (0x0053): mode enum as u32
(Undef=0, NonCombat=1, Melee=2, Missile=3, Magic=4, Peaceful=5).
Tests (5 new): byte-exact encoding of each, including the Train/
Raise size difference due to u32 vs u64 payloads.
Build green, 621 tests pass (up from 616).
Ref: r08 §3 rows 0x0044 / 0x0045 / 0x0046 / 0x0047 / 0x0053.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Click-to-interact wire layer. Adds the three most common "do a thing
to an object" GameActions that the UI triggers on left-click / use-item
contexts.
Wire layer:
- InteractRequests.BuildUse (0x0036): single target guid — click a
door, loot a corpse, talk to an NPC, activate a lifestone, step on
a portal.
- InteractRequests.BuildUseWithTarget (0x0035): source + target —
key on locked door, scroll on self, salvage tool on item.
- InteractRequests.BuildTeleToLifestone (0x0063): no-arg recall. Fails
server-side if not tied; reply comes back as GameEvent WeenieError.
Server reply for Use + UseWithTarget is GameEventType.UseDone (0x01C7)
carrying a WeenieError code (0 = success). Already parsed; wiring
into a "UseDone" event on CombatState-style holder can be a follow-up.
Tests (3 new): byte-exact encoding of all three builders.
Build green, 616 tests pass (up from 613).
Ref: r08 §3 rows 0x0035/0x0036/0x0063.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Client-side allegiance data model + outbound swear/break actions.
The inbound AllegianceUpdate blob (0x0020) is complex and is deferred;
the tree API here is designed so the handler can push nodes in when
the blob parser lands.
Wire layer:
- AllegianceRequests.BuildSwear (0x001D): single uint32 patronGuid.
- AllegianceRequests.BuildBreak (0x001E): single uint32 targetGuid
(works for both breaking from patron and breaking away a vassal;
the server picks behavior based on the relationship).
Core layer (AcDream.Core/Allegiance):
- AllegianceNode: Guid, Name, PatronGuid, Rank (clamped 0..10),
VassalGuids list.
- AllegianceTree: Dictionary-backed, events on TreeChanged.
- SetMonarch: registers the root (no patron).
- UpsertNode: adds/refreshes + auto-inserts into parent's vassal list.
- RemoveNode: removes from parent list too; descendants are left with
dangling patron pointers for the UI to hide (next AllegianceUpdate
refreshes).
- GetAncestors: walks up to monarch, cycle-detected for defense.
- GetDescendants: BFS-order flattening.
- AllegianceMath.ComputePassup: retail XP formula
(50+22.5×loyalty)/291 × (1+RT/730×IG/720) × earned,
clamped at 0.
Tests (11 new):
- Tree: SetMonarch fires TreeChanged, UpsertNode auto-populates parent
vassal list, rank clamp at 10, RemoveNode cleans parent list,
GetAncestors chain, cycle-safe walk, GetDescendants BFS order.
- Math: Passup known-value check (1000 XP, 10 loyalty, 100 RT/IG
days → ~963 XP), negative clamp.
- Wire: Swear + Break byte-exact encoding.
Build green, 613 tests pass (up from 602).
Next: wire inbound AllegianceUpdate (0x0020) + AllegianceInfoResponse
(0x027C) handlers once the blob parser lands. Chat "Allegiance"
Turbine channel joining (r11 §2.1 step 9) layers on top of
Phase H.1 chat infrastructure.
Ref: r11 §1 (tree structure + rank cap), §2 (swear/break wire),
§3.2 (XP passup formula).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Completes the client-side combat loop: send attacks, receive server's
damage broadcasts, maintain per-entity health state for HP bars +
damage floaters. All atop Phase F.1's GameEvent dispatcher.
Wire layer:
- AttackTargetRequest (0x0008 C→S, inside 0xF7B1): targetGuid +
powerLevel + accuracyLevel + attackHeight. 28-byte body.
- GameEvents parsers for all combat notifications from r08 §4:
- VictimNotification (0x01AC) — you got hit, full details
- KillerNotification (0x01AD) — you killed X
- AttackerNotification (0x01B1) — you hit X for Y (damage%)
- DefenderNotification (0x01B2) — X hit you
- EvasionAttackerNotification (0x01B3) — X evaded
- EvasionDefenderNotification (0x01B4) — you evaded X
- AttackDone (0x01A7) — attack sequence completed
Core layer:
- CombatState: per-entity health-percent cache + typed events
(HealthChanged, DamageTaken, DamageDealtAccepted, EvadedIncoming,
MissedOutgoing, AttackDone). Each event carries enough detail for
the UI to render damage floaters, HP bars, and a combat log panel.
Server is authoritative; client only mirrors state.
The server computes damage (armor, resist, crit, hit-chance); the
client only displays results. Predictive UI like "estimated damage
at 0.75 power" still works via the existing CombatMath helper class
that was in the scaffold (r02 §5 formulas).
Tests (13 new):
- AttackTargetRequest byte-exact wire encoding
- VictimNotification / AttackerNotification / EvasionAttacker /
AttackDone round-trip parse.
- CombatState: UpdateHealth caches + fires, Victim fires DamageTaken,
Attacker fires DamageDealt, Evasion routes to right event, AttackDone
carries sequence+error, Clear resets cache.
Build green, 544 tests pass (up from 532).
Ref: r02 §7 (wire formats), r08 §4 (event payloads), ACE
GameEvent*Notification.cs families.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Implements the inbound GameEvent routing layer — the single biggest
network-protocol gap per r08 (94 sub-opcodes, zero handled before).
WorldSession now detects 0xF7B0, parses the 16-byte header (guid +
gameEventSequence + eventType), and forwards to a pluggable
GameEventDispatcher.
Added:
- GameEventEnvelope record + TryParse with layout from
ACE GameEventMessage.cs.
- GameEventType enum: all 94 S→C sub-opcodes from
ACE.Server.Network.GameEvent.GameEventType, named per ACE conventions.
- GameEventDispatcher: handler registry + unhandled-counts bag for
diagnostics ("which server events are firing that we don't parse?").
Handlers invoked synchronously on the decode thread; thrown exceptions
are swallowed + logged to stderr so one bad handler can't take down
the packet loop.
- GameEvents parsers: ChannelBroadcast, Tell, TransientMessage,
PopupString, WeenieError (+ WithString), UpdateHealth, PingResponse,
MagicUpdateSpell. Each returns a typed record or null on malformed
payload. String16L helper matches the existing CharacterList pattern
(u16 length + ASCII bytes + 4-byte pad).
- WorldSession.GameEvents property exposing the dispatcher so
GameWindow / UI / chat can register handlers at startup.
Wired into WorldSession.ProcessDatagram: new `else if (op ==
GameEventEnvelope.Opcode)` branch with TryParse + Dispatch.
Tests (13 new):
- Envelope: valid round-trip, wrong outer opcode, too-short body.
- Dispatcher: handler invoked, unhandled count, exception isolation,
unregister + rollover to unhandled.
- Event parsers: ChannelBroadcast, Tell, UpdateHealth, WeenieError,
Transient, MagicUpdateSpell.
Total: 521 tests pass (up from 508).
With this dispatcher in place, Phase F.2 (items + appraise), F.3 (combat
+ damage), F.4 (spell cast state machine), chat UI, allegiance, quest
tracker — all of which depend on GameEvent handling — are unblocked.
Ref: r08 §4 (GameEvent sub-opcode table), §2 (envelope wire shape).
Ref: ACE GameEventMessage.cs / GameEventType.cs.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Three separate fixes landed today, each addressing a specific bug the
user observed during live play:
1. NPC clothing changes by camera angle (InstancedMeshRenderer)
- Group key was (GfxObjId) only, so every humanoid NPC using the
same body mesh piled into one instance group; only the first
instance's texture was used for the entire DrawInstanced batch,
so which NPC's palette "won" changed as frustum culling and
iteration order shuffled entries.
- Now keyed by (GfxObjId, PaletteHash ^ SurfaceOverridesHash)
so only compatible instances batch; each unique appearance gets
its own draw call. Perf hit is small (humanoid NPCs each emit
one more draw call); visually every NPC is now stable.
2. GpuWorldState dedup on respawn
- Server re-sends CreateObject for the same guid on visibility
refresh / landblock crossing / appearance update. AppendLiveEntity
was blindly appending each time, so GpuWorldState accumulated
multiple copies of the same entity, each with its own
PaletteOverride / MeshRefs. That alone wasn't the clothing bug
(that was #1) but it would have caused other overlap problems
downstream.
- Added RemoveEntityByServerGuid + WorldGameState.RemoveById;
OnLiveEntitySpawnedLocked calls both before creating the new
entity so respawns replace cleanly.
3. Motion wire format — run animation sync with retail observers
- ACE's MovementData constructor only computes interpState.ForwardSpeed
on the WalkForward/WalkBackwards branch; every other ForwardCommand
falls into `else` and passes through WITHOUT speed set, giving
observers speed=0. Sending RunForward directly meant retail
clients saw us "run in place" while position drifted forward.
- Wire: always WalkForward + HoldKey.Run for running. ACE
auto-upgrades to RunForward with creature.GetRunRate() for
broadcast — correct command + correct speed at observers.
- Added per-axis FORWARD_HOLD_KEY / SIDE_STEP_HOLD_KEY /
TURN_HOLD_KEY so every active axis carries HoldKey.Run when
running (matches holtburger's build_motion_state_raw_motion_state).
- Added LocalAnimationCommand to MovementResult so our own
client still plays the RunForward cycle locally while the wire
stays WalkForward. Wire vs. local animation command are now
decoupled.
- Walk-backward wire command changed from WalkForward@-0.65 to
WalkBackward@1.0 (holtburger pattern).
- Strafe speed changed from 0.5 to 1.0 on wire AND local physics
(matches retail sidestep pace).
4. Jump height default + env-var tuning
- Default jumpSkill bumped from 100 → 200 (jump ≈ 3m at full
charge, closer to retail feel for a mid-level character).
- ACDREAM_RUN_SKILL and ACDREAM_JUMP_SKILL env vars now override
the defaults so the user can tune per-character until we parse
PlayerDescription and plumb real skill values through.
5. JustLanded signal on MovementResult
- Tracks airborne→grounded transition so future animation code
can fire the landing cycle when we land. Just a bool flag for
now — no consumer yet (the proper action-queue path will use it).
Not in this commit: jump animation itself. An earlier attempt to
SetCycle(Jump=0x2500003b) fed an Action-type motion into the SubState
cycle resolver, which produced a "torso" mis-render. Reverted. The
proper fix is porting the retail motion action-queue semantics into
AnimationSequencer — see docs/research/deepdives/r03-motion-animation.md
for the spec. That's the next session's work.
470 tests pass, build clean.
Build and send GameAction(Jump) with extent + world-space launch
velocity + sequence counters. Wire format from holtburger
JumpActionData::pack. Server can now validate and replicate jumps
to nearby clients.
Also compute RunRate locally via PlayerWeenie.InqRunRate when
running (server doesn't echo UpdateMotion ForwardSpeed to sender).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Parse ForwardSpeed from UpdateMotion (0xF74C) InterpretedMotionState.
Feed server-echoed RunRate into the player's MotionInterpreter so
get_state_velocity produces the correct speed. Previously hardcoded
at 1.0 (4.0 m/s), now matches character's Run skill.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Sprint 1a of the audit remediation plan.
Extracts the 4 movement sequence counters from inbound server messages
and echoes them in outbound MoveToState + AutonomousPosition instead
of hardcoded zeros:
- instanceSequence (slot 8 in CreateObject PhysicsData timestamps)
- teleportSequence (slot 4, also from PlayerTeleport 0xF751)
- serverControlSequence (slot 5)
- forcePositionSequence (slot 6, also from UpdatePosition 0xF748)
Source: holtburger player/types.rs:237-245, mutations.rs:182-706.
The server uses these to detect stale/reordered movement packets.
Previously all zeros → server couldn't distinguish epoch boundaries.
Changes:
- CreateObject.Parsed: +4 sequence fields extracted from timestamps
- UpdatePosition.Parsed: +3 sequence fields from trailing u16s
- WorldSession: tracks 4 counters, updates from CreateObject/
UpdatePosition/PlayerTeleport for the player's own GUID
- GameWindow: passes tracked values to MoveToState.Build and
AutonomousPosition.Build
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Outbound GameAction message builders for player movement:
- MoveToState (0xF61C): sent on motion state changes (start/stop
walking, turn, speed change). Carries RawMotionState (flag-driven
variable fields) + WorldPosition + sequence numbers.
- AutonomousPosition (0xF753): periodic position heartbeat sent
every ~200ms while moving. No RawMotionState — just WorldPosition
+ sequences + contact byte.
Both follow the GameAction envelope pattern (0xF7B1 + sequence +
action type) established by GameActionLoginComplete. Wire format
ported from references/holtburger movement protocol — field order
and alignment match exactly (contact byte + pad_to_4).
Also:
- Adds WriteFloat to PacketWriter (needed by both builders)
- Adds SendGameAction + NextGameActionSequence to WorldSession
(public wrappers for PlayerMovementController in Task 2)
11 new tests, 265 total, all green.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
User reported that even with the Phase 4.9 ack pump, acdream's
character still rendered to other clients as the purple loading haze.
Spent another round in holtburger's references and found two more
gaps in the post-EnterWorld handshake:
1. Server sends DddInterrogation (game opcode 0xF7E5) and waits for
the client to acknowledge dat-list versions. We never replied.
Build the canonical empty response (12 bytes: opcode + language=1
+ count=0 lists) and ship it as soon as DddInterrogation arrives.
2. LoginComplete was being sent immediately after CharacterEnterWorld
in Phase 4.8, which is too early — the server hasn't finished
creating the player object yet so it ignores LoginComplete and
the player stays in transition state. The correct trigger is the
server's PlayerCreate (0xF746) game message for our character;
that's when holtburger fires send_login_complete (see references/
holtburger/.../client/messages.rs::PlayerCreate handler).
Wired both into ProcessDatagram. Removed the unconditional
LoginComplete from the EnterWorld flow. Added a _loginCompleteSent
latch so re-PlayerCreate (e.g., across portal teleports) doesn't
re-fire LoginComplete during the same session.
Reference repo cited per the new CLAUDE.md guidance — holtburger is
the authoritative client-behavior reference. Should have looked there
sooner; this would have saved the Phase 4.8 false fix.
220 tests still green.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
User reported that when they observed acdream's character through a
second AC client running on a different account, the character
rendered as a stationary purple haze (AC's "loading screen / portal
space" indicator) instead of a normal avatar. The character was
"in-world enough" to receive the CreateObject stream but never
"in-world enough" for the server to flip its first-enter-world flag,
push initial property updates / equipment overrides, or show the
character to other clients in the area.
Root cause: WorldSession.EnterWorld stopped after sending
CharacterEnterWorld (0xF657). The handshake is supposed to continue
with one more message — a GameAction(LoginComplete) — that ACE's
GameActionLoginComplete handler interprets as "client has exited
portal space, mark FirstEnterWorldDone, push property updates,
make the character visible to others."
Wire layout (confirmed via
references/ACE/Source/ACE.Server/Network/GameAction/GameActionPacket.cs
and .../Actions/GameActionLoginComplete.cs):
u32 game-message opcode = 0xF7B1 (GameAction)
u32 sequence = 0 (ACE ignores; TODO comment in source)
u32 GameActionType opc = 0x000000A1 (LoginComplete)
Send happens immediately after CharacterEnterWorld and just before
flipping the WorldSession state to InWorld. acdream has no portal-
space transition animation, so we can claim "loading complete" the
moment we've sent the EnterWorld message — the dat-side world is
already loaded by then.
1 new test (97 Core.Net total). 220 tests green overall.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Companion to the Phase 6.6 UpdateMotion parser. Without this, every
server-spawned entity stays frozen at its CreateObject origin forever
— NPCs don't patrol, creatures don't hunt, other players don't walk
past. UpdatePosition is the per-entity position delta the server sends
on every movement tick.
The wire format is straightforward but fiddly:
u32 opcode | u32 guid | u32 flags | u32 cellId | 3xf32 pos
(0..4) conditional f32 rotation components, present iff the
corresponding OrientationHasNo* flag is CLEAR
optional 3xf32 velocity iff HasVelocity
optional u32 placementId iff HasPlacementID
four u16 sequence numbers (consumed but not used)
Layout ported from references/ACE/Source/ACE.Server/Network/Structure/
PositionPack.cs::Write and ACE.Entity/Enum/PositionFlags.cs.
WorldSession dispatches PositionUpdated(guid, position, velocity) on
a successful parse. GameWindow wiring (guid → WorldEntity lookup and
transform swap) is deferred to the same follow-up commit that lands
Phase 6.6 wiring, after the in-flight Phase 9.1 translucent-pass work
merges so we don't step on GameWindow.cs edits.
96 Core.Net tests (was 89, +7 for UpdatePosition coverage).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Server sends UpdateMotion whenever an entity's motion state changes:
NPCs starting a walk cycle, creatures switching to a combat stance,
doors opening, a player waving, etc. Phase 6.1-6.4 already handles
rendering different (stance, forward-command) pairs for the INITIAL
CreateObject, but without this message NPCs freeze in whatever pose
they spawned with and never transition to walking/fighting.
Added UpdateMotion.TryParse with the same ServerMotionState the
CreateObject path uses, reached via a slightly different outer
layout (guid + instance seq + header'd MovementData; the MovementData
starts with the 8-byte sequence/autonomous header this time rather
than being preceded by a length field). Only the (stance, forward-
command) pair is extracted — same subset CreateObject grabs.
WorldSession dispatches MotionUpdated(guid, state) when a 0xF74C
body parses successfully. The App-side wiring (guid→entity lookup
and AnimatedEntity cycle swap) is intentionally deferred to a
separate commit because it touches GameWindow which is currently
being edited by the Phase 9.1 translucent-pass work.
89 Core.Net tests (was 83, +6 for UpdateMotion coverage).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
The Foundry's drudge statue Setup (0x020007DD) has DefaultMotionTable=0,
so MotionResolver returned null and the renderer fell back to
PlacementFrames[Default] — an upright pose, which is wrong. The retail
crouched/aggressive pose comes from a per-instance motion table the
server attaches via PhysicsDescriptionFlag.MTable (confirmed live as
0x090000DA for the statue).
CreateObject.TryParse was already walking the MTable field but
discarding the value. Now it captures it as Parsed.MotionTableId and
WorldSession.EntitySpawn forwards it. GameWindow passes it as the
motionTableIdOverride to MotionResolver.GetIdleFrame, so the cycle
lookup uses the server-supplied table when the dat-side default is
empty. With this in place the drudge resolves a real cycle and
renders in the correct crouched pose.
Trimmed the heavy STATUE motion-table dump diagnostics now that the
mechanism is verified; left a one-line summary so future regressions
remain debuggable. 160 tests green.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
CreateObject's MovementData was being skipped past, so the renderer
always fell back to the MotionTable's default style/substate. That's
correct for most NPCs and characters but wrong for entities the
server explicitly puts into a non-default stance — most visibly the
Foundry's Nullified Statue of a Drudge, which the server sends with
a combat stance + Crouch ForwardCommand override and which therefore
rendered as an upright drudge instead of the aggressive crouched
statue you see on the retail client.
CreateObject.TryParse now extracts ServerMotionState (Stance +
optional ForwardCommand) from the inner MovementData. The header=false
layout was confirmed via ACE/.../WorldObject_Networking.cs:326 plus
MovementData.cs::Write and InterpretedMotionState.cs::Write. Only the
two fields the resolver needs are read; remaining InterpretedMotionState
bytes are skipped via the outer length so we don't have to handle
alignment of fields we don't care about.
MotionResolver.GetIdleFrame now takes optional stanceOverride and
commandOverride. Resolution priority is server-stance+command →
server-stance + style-default substate → MotionTable default. If the
composed cycle key doesn't resolve we fall back to the table default
rather than returning null, so a partial server override never makes
the entity worse than Phase 6.1.
160 tests green.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
The Nullified Statue of a Drudge renders correctly in color/shape
after Phase 5b's SubPalette fix, but the user reported it's rendering
at base drudge size when it should be larger. AC statues use the
PhysicsDescriptionFlag.ObjScale field to scale the base mesh; my
parser was consuming-and-skipping those 4 bytes.
Changes:
- CreateObject.TryParse: extract the u32 float from the ObjScale
field instead of advancing past it. Declaration moved to the top
of the method alongside other accumulators so the PartialResult
local function at the bottom can reference it for the truncation
fallback path. Same structural change for position and setupTableId
since PartialResult already needed them too.
- CreateObject.Parsed gains ObjScale (float?).
- WorldSession.EntitySpawn gains ObjScale; propagated through the
fire site in ProcessDatagram.
- GameWindow.OnLiveEntitySpawned bakes a scale matrix into every
MeshRef's PartTransform when ObjScale != 1.0, following the same
pattern the offline scenery hydration already uses. No change to
WorldEntity or StaticMeshRenderer — the scale is absorbed into the
per-part transform the renderer already multiplies through.
Tests: 77 core + 83 net = 160, all green.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Finishes the TextureChange half of ObjDesc. Characters' clothing now
renders with correct per-part textures (user-verified "looks good"
after previous "partial coverage" / "wrong clothes"). The Nullified
Statue still looks like a flesh-colored drudge because the statue's
color comes from SubPalettes (palette-indexed texture recoloring),
which is the remaining major Phase 5 piece.
The first attempt at TextureChange application was silently broken by
an ID-type mismatch: the server encodes OldTexture/NewTexture as
SurfaceTexture (0x05XXXXXX) ids, but my sub-meshes are keyed by
Surface (0x08XXXXXX) ids. The override dict was keyed by one type
and looked up by the other, so TryGetValue never hit and no override
actually applied.
Diagnosed via Phase 1 systematic debugging with resolve-level logging:
live: spawn +Acdream texChanges=20
live: texChange part=0 old=0x05000BB0 new=0x0500025D
...
live: resolve part=0 surface=0x08000519 origTex=0x05000BB0 [MATCH]
live: resolve part=0 surface=0x0800051C origTex=0x05000CBE [MATCH]
... 10/10 lines [MATCH]
The [MATCH] lines proved the server's OldTexture IS reachable via a
Surface→OrigTextureId lookup, just needed keying by the right value.
Fix:
- TextureCache.GetOrUploadWithOrigTextureOverride(surfaceId, origTexOverride):
loads the base Surface dat for its color/flags/palette, but
substitutes the override SurfaceTexture id in the decode chain.
Caches under a (surfaceId, origTexOverride) composite key.
- MeshRef.SurfaceOverrides is now Dictionary<uint, uint> keyed by
Surface id, value = replacement OrigTextureId. Null means no
overrides.
- GameWindow.OnLiveEntitySpawned now does TWO passes when texture
changes are present:
1. Group the raw server changes by PartIndex into (oldOrigTex →
newOrigTex) dicts
2. For each affected part's post-animPartChange GfxObj, iterate
its Surfaces list, resolve each Surface → OrigTextureId, and
if that matches a raw change's oldOrigTex, write an entry
Surface id → newOrigTex into the final override map
- StaticMeshRenderer.Draw: when sub-mesh surface id has an override,
call GetOrUploadWithOrigTextureOverride instead of GetOrUpload.
Verified live: +Acdream's clothing renders correctly, NPCs are
"much better" (characters previously naked are now dressed). Statue
has the full mechanical pipeline working (resolve diagnostic shows
2/2 Surfaces [MATCH] for the statue's override dict) but its visible
color comes from the separate SubPalette overlay that isn't wired yet.
Also added a statue-targeted diagnostic block that dumps its full
ObjDesc contents (texChanges + subPalettes + animPartChanges) by
name match, which is how I traced the Nullified Statue of a Drudge's
specific ObjDesc. Lives under `if (isStatue && ...)` so normal logins
aren't spammed.
Cross-referenced against two new references this session:
* references/Chorizite.ACProtocol (cloned from github.com/Chorizite/
Chorizite.ACProtocol.git on user's suggestion) — confirms the
ObjDesc field order and PackedDword-of-known-type convention.
* references/WorldBuilder/... (already in repo) — confirms the
Surface→OrigTexture→SurfaceTexture→RenderSurface chain and the
P8/INDEX16 palette decode path.
Tests: 77 core + 83 net = 160, all green.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
statue identified (Phase 4.7h/i/j/k/l)
Makes three big improvements to the CreateObject decode path:
1. Extract AnimPartChanges from the ModelData section instead of
skipping them. Each change is (PartIndex, NewModelId); the server
uses these to replace base Setup parts with armor/clothing/statue
meshes. The player character has ~34 of them on a normal login.
2. Flow AnimPartChanges through WorldSession.EntitySpawn into
GameWindow.OnLiveEntitySpawned, which now patches the flattened
Setup's part list BEFORE uploading GfxObjs. Patching is a simple
"parts[change.PartIndex] = new MeshRef(change.NewModelId, oldTransform)"
keeping the base Setup's placement transform but swapping the mesh.
3. Read the WeenieHeader Name (String16L) that follows the PhysicsData
section. Required walking past every remaining physics flag (Parent,
Children, ObjScale, Friction, Elasticity, Translucency, Velocity,
Acceleration, Omega, DefaultScript, DefaultScriptIntensity) plus the
9 sequence timestamps (2 bytes each) plus 4-byte alignment. The
Name field is then the second thing in the WeenieHeader after
u32 weenieFlags.
Critical bug fix in the same commit: ACE's WritePackedDwordOfKnownType
STRIPS the known-type high-byte prefix (e.g. 0x01000000 for GfxObj ids)
before writing the PackedDword. The first version of AnimPartChange
decoding called plain ReadPackedDword, so it got 0x0000XXXX instead of
0x0100XXXX and every GfxObj dat lookup silently failed — the drop
counter showed 19+ noMeshRef drops including +Acdream himself.
Added ReadPackedDwordOfKnownType that ORs the knownType bit back in
on read (with zero preserved as the "no value" sentinel). After the
fix, noMeshRef drops = 0 across a full login.
LIVE RUN after all three changes:
live: spawn guid=0x5000000A name="+Acdream" setup=0x02000001
pos=(58.5,156.2,66.0)@0xA9B40017 animParts=34
live: spawn guid=0x7A9B4035 name="Holtburg" setup=0x020006EF
pos=(94.6,156.0,66.0)@0xA9B4001F animParts=0
live: spawn guid=0x7A9B4000 name="Door" setup=0x020019FF
pos=(84.1,131.5,66.1)@0xA9B40100 animParts=0
live: spawn guid=0x7A9B4001 name="Chest" setup=0x0200007C
pos=(78.1,136.9,69.5)@0xA9B40105 animParts=0
live: spawn guid=0x7A9B4036 name="Well" setup=0x02000180
pos=(90.1,157.8,66.0)@0xA9B4001F animParts=0
live: spawn guid=0x800005FD name="Wide Breeches" setup=0x02000210
pos=no-pos animParts=1
live: spawn guid=0x800005FC name="Smock" setup=0x020000D4
pos=no-pos animParts=1
live: spawn guid=0x800005FE name="Shoes" setup=0x020000DE
pos=no-pos animParts=1
live: spawn guid=0x80000697 name="Facility Hub Portal Gem"
setup=0x02000921 pos=no-pos animParts=0
live: spawn guid=0x7A9B404B name="Nullified Statue of a Drudge"
setup=0x020007DD pos=(65.3,156.8,72.8)@0xA9B40017 animParts=1
summary recv=60 hydrated=43 drops: noPos=17 noSetup=0
setupMissing=0 noMesh=0
The statue's exact data is now known and the hydration path runs
without errors. The user's "look at the Name field in the CreateObject
body" insight turned this from an unbounded visual hunt into a targeted
grep of ~60 log lines.
Tests: 77 core + 83 net = 160 passing (offline suite unchanged).
Live handshake + enter-world tests still pass.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Decodes the CreateObject (0xF745) game message body far enough to hand
an entity off to acdream's existing IGameState/MeshRenderer pipeline.
Ported from ACE's WorldObject_Networking.cs (SerializeCreateObject,
SerializeModelData, SerializePhysicsData) and Position.cs.
Scope: the parser extracts exactly three fields —
- GUID (u32 right after the opcode)
- ServerPosition (landblockId + XYZ + rotation quaternion), if the
Position bit is set in the PhysicsDescriptionFlag
- SetupTableId (setup dat id for the visual mesh chain), if the
CSetup bit is set
Everything else in a CreateObject body (weenie header, object description,
motion tables, palettes, texture overrides, animation frames, velocity,
acceleration, omega, scale, friction, elasticity, translucency,
default scripts, sequence timestamps, ...) is consumed-or-skipped with
just enough bytes to advance past the correct flag-gated sections.
The parser stops at the end of PhysicsData — we don't need weenie-header
fields for rendering placement.
Components parsed in order (all from ACE's serialize routines):
1. Opcode u32 (must be 0xF745)
2. u32 GUID
3. ModelData header (byte 0x11 marker, byte subPaletteCount,
byte textureChangeCount, byte animPartChangeCount), followed by
PackedDword palette/subPalette fields, texture change records,
anim part change records, aligned to 4 bytes at end
4. u32 PhysicsDescriptionFlag
5. u32 PhysicsState (skipped)
6. Conditional Movement/AnimationFrame section
7. Conditional Position section (LandblockId, X, Y, Z, RW, RX, RY, RZ)
8. Conditional MTable/STable/PeTable u32 ids (all skipped)
9. Conditional CSetup u32 (extracted as SetupTableId)
The PackedDword reader is a new helper: AC's variable-width uint format
where values ≤ 32767 encode as a u16, larger values use a marker bit in
the top of the first u16 and a continuation u16. Ported from
Extensions.WritePackedDword.
LIVE RUN AGAINST THE ACE SERVER (test account, Holtburg):
step 4: CharacterList received account=testaccount count=2
character: id=0x5000000A name=+Acdream
character: id=0x50000008 name=+Wdw
sent CharacterEnterWorldRequest
step 6: CharacterEnterWorldServerReady received
sent CharacterEnterWorld(guid=0x5000000A)
step 8 summary: 83 GameMessages assembled, 68 CreateObject,
68 parsed, 52 w/position, 68 w/setup
First 10 parsed CreateObjects:
guid=0x5000000A lb=0xA9B40021 xyz=(104.89,15.05,94.01) setup=0x02000001
guid=0x80000600 no position setup=0x02000181
guid=0x800005FF no position setup=0x02000B77
guid=0x80000603 no position setup=0x02000176
guid=0x80000604 no position setup=0x02000D5C
guid=0x80000694 no position setup=0x020005FF
guid=0x80000697 no position setup=0x02000921
guid=0x80000601 no position setup=0x02000179
guid=0x80000605 no position setup=0x02000155
guid=0x80000695 no position setup=0x020005FF
The first line is +Acdream himself — GUID matches what we picked from
CharacterList, landblock 0xA9B4 is Holtburg (the area we already render),
setup 0x02000001 is the default humanoid player mesh. The other 67 are
NPCs/weenies/scenery-weenies in the same area; the 16 without positions
are inventory items whose position is inherited from the parent.
ALL 68 CreateObjects parsed cleanly — no short reads, no format errors.
Phase 4.7d proves byte-level compatibility with ACE's outbound network
serialization format. The remaining Phase 4 work (WorldSession type +
GameWindow wiring) is glue code above a codec that now speaks the real
AC wire format.
Tests: 77 core + 83 net (+1 live test) = 161 passing, all green.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
