# Animation Runtime Crib

## Current live presentation ownership (2026-07-21)

`LiveEntityAnimationScheduler` owns ordinary-object time, PartArray advance,
root motion, and the retail manager tail. `RetailStaticAnimatingObjectScheduler`
owns the separate retail static-object workset. `LiveEntityAnimationPresenter`
is the sole consumer that composes final drawable part transforms, publishes
rigid part/effect poses, and binds `MotionDone`. `GameWindow` wires these owners
but no longer contains the presentation body.

The frame handoff is identity- and lifetime-bound. A schedule carries the exact
`LiveEntityRecord`, `WorldEntity`, animation state, sequencer, object-clock
epoch, projection mutation version, and presentation revision. Both ordinary
and static schedulers copy the sequencer's borrowed PartArray view into their
own buffers before invoking callbacks. Presentation is non-reentrant because
it consumes legacy elapsed time and static prepared frames exactly once.

Appearance rebinding increments `PresentationRevision`. That rejects a pose
prepared against the old part template without replacing the live animation
component. For a static owner, rejecting only that stale visual pose must retain
the same sequencer's pending `process_hooks` tail so `MotionDone` is not lost;
owner, sequencer, residency, projection, or clock mismatches still invalidate
the entire handoff.

Retail `CPartArray::UpdateParts` updates only the authored AnimFrame prefix.
When a frame contains fewer parts than the Setup, trailing parts keep their
previous pose (or their rest pose on first presentation) in both channels:

- visual: `DefaultScale * rotation * translation(origin) * ObjScale`;
- rigid/effect: `rotation * translation(origin * ObjScale)`.

Canonical per-frame order remains scheduler tick, static tick, live presenter,
equipped-child update, static `process_hooks`, deferred hook drain, attached
effects/lights, particles, and draw. The end-to-end order assertion belongs to
Slice 6's extracted update orchestrator; do not reintroduce local ordering into
the presenter.

## Live entity lifecycle invariant

`CreateObject` creates a live entity and a real `DeleteObject` destroys it.
`ObjDescEvent (0xF625)` is neither: it changes appearance on the existing object.

For an appearance update, preserve:

- `WorldEntity` object identity and local `Id`
- `AnimatedEntity`, `AnimationSequencer`, frame/range/rate state
- movement-controller and animation-manager bindings
- physics host, collision registration, dead reckoning, and selection state

Replace only resolved `MeshRefs`, palette override, part overrides, and visual
bounds, then invalidate the entity-classification cache. The paperdoll may clone
the updated appearance separately.

Retail oracle chain:

`SmartBox::HandleObjDescEvent` → `SmartBox::UpdateVisualDesc` →
`ACCObjectMaint::SetVisualDesc` →
`CPhysicsObj::DoObjDescChangesFromDefault` →
`CPartArray::DoObjDescChanges`.

Regression history: treating `0xF625` as despawn/respawn severed the player
controller from the active animation state, so unequipping armor froze character
animation and made animation-dependent door interaction appear frozen. Fixed as
issue #203 on 2026-07-11 and user-gated in a Release client.

## CreateObject enter-world invariant

The wire motion is applied while the new physics object is still detached, and
only then is the object placed in the world:

`ACCObjectMaint::CreateObject` → `CPhysicsObj::set_description` (`0x00514F40`)
→ apply MovementData → `CPhysicsObj::enter_world` (`0x00516170`) →
`CPartArray::HandleEnterWorld` (`0x00517D70`) →
`MotionTableManager::HandleEnterWorld` (`0x0051BDD0`).

The final call strips every description-time transition link and drains the
manager queue. This is not optional cleanup. A corpse CreateObject carries
`NonCombat + Dead`, while a door carries `NonCombat + On/Off`; both come from
the same wire MovementData path.

Issue #204 exposed a structural trap: the persistent Dead rest pose can be
static, so corpses use the same static/reactive registration branch as doors.
That branch had been data-driven at its gate but door-hardcoded in its
initializer, which discarded Dead and left Ready playing. Every spawn branch
must call the shared wire-driven description-then-enter-world initializer,
keyed by data and never by object name/type. 2026-07-12.