# Slice K2 — deterministic scheduler and bot parity closeout

**Date:** 2026-07-27
**Implementation:** `38e83640d907ee3e0819f3b38ca117ca60914d6b`
**Status:** COMPLETE

## Outcome

Graphical and headless clients now drive the same Runtime-owned local-player
frame sequence, movement controller, action owners, typed commands, and ordered
event stream. Headless is not a second gameplay implementation and does not
poll mutable App state.

One monotonic `HeadlessProcessScheduler` owns absolute deadlines for every
configured session. Due sessions execute in stable configuration order, long
pauses use bounded catch-up while preserving elapsed time, and reconnect
quiescence is an absolute deadline rather than a blocking sleep.

## Shipped mechanisms

- Complete generation-gated direct command coverage for selection, use,
  appraisal, pickup, combat, spell casting, sustained movement, stance,
  inventory shortcuts, spellbook state, advancement, character options,
  social state, chat, and recalls.
- Exact object selection and persistent movement intent are first-class typed
  commands shared by graphical and headless consumers.
- `RuntimeLocalPlayerFrameController` owns retail's pre-network object phase,
  inbound barrier, and post-network AutonomousPosition phase. App is a thin
  graphical adapter; headless uses the same controller with no render mirror.
- Runtime-owned hostile-target query and retail spell-target policy are
  presentation-independent.
- Runtime remote-physics wall-clock reads use the instance `TimeProvider`.
- Headless combat and magic operations route through the same canonical action
  owners and live `WorldSession` as the graphical client.
- The lazy event hub now publishes combat-state outcomes in addition to
  lifecycle, entity, inventory, chat, movement, portal, and command outcomes.
  With no subscriber, it attaches no gameplay callbacks.
- Accepted inbound work remains serialized inside each session's Runtime turn;
  bot policy runs after inbound, post-network position, and combat simulation.

The synchronous Core.Net connect handshake retains its bounded wall-clock
timeout and retail/ACE 200 ms ConnectResponse race suffix. It is outside the
steady scheduler, creates no per-session thread, and is not used for movement
or packet cadence.

## Deterministic gates

- Absolute-deadline stable-order execution for multiple sessions.
- Bounded catch-up with exact elapsed-time preservation.
- Monotonic reconnect deadline without a blocked scheduler.
- 100,000 idle pre-deadline dispatch probes: zero turns and zero managed
  allocation.
- Graphical wrapper versus direct Runtime local-frame trace equality.
- Headless packet order: MoveToState before AutonomousPosition.
- AutonomousPosition cadence remains elapsed-time based at the retail
  one-second boundary; unchanged movement emits no duplicate MoveToState.
- Stale generation movement and selection commands are inert.
- Horizontal/vertical landblock target distance and hostile-only filters.
- Combat-state and command outcomes share the generation-stamped ordered event
  sequence.

## Automated gates

- Runtime: 411/411.
- Headless: 31/31.
- App: 3,732 passed / 3 intentional skips.
- Complete Release solution: 8,744 passed / 5 intentional skips.
- Release build succeeds. The 17 warnings are pre-existing nullable/analyzer
  warnings in Core test fixtures; the changed projects build without warnings.

## K3 carry

K3 introduces a process content owner with exact leases:

- one mapped `acdream.pak`, synchronized DAT access, and immutable lookup
  tables per process;
- per-session physics engine, mutable cache/bookkeeping, body graph, scratch,
  command state, and diagnostics;
- content-backed local-player physics/spell hydration in headless sessions;
- 1/5/10-session isolation, same-GUID, reconnect, and policy-fault gates.

## Rollback

The scheduler foundation landed separately:

```text
git revert 7e8acb74dd20931d5ba88430fd100cd074a32e4d
```

The K2 parity cutover is:

```text
git revert 38e83640d907ee3e0819f3b38ca117ca60914d6b
```