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acdream/docs/research/2026-06-10-issue113-phantom-stairs-misplaced-cell-handoff.md

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HANDOFF — #113 phantom exterior staircase (A9B3) / misplaced-interior-cell suspect

Date: 2026-06-10 (very late). Branch: claude/thirsty-goldberg-51bb9b, HEAD 77d7ea1. Pick rationale: the user's standing directive from tonight — "we should not have to verify all houses like this" — wants systemic fixes. #113 is the cheapest highest-information probe: if the misplaced-cell hypothesis holds, ONE bug class explains phantom geometry + containment gaps (#112) + some collision gaps across every affected house. Rider task: the #112 residual oracle read (same code area, ~30 min).

Read the physics digest (claude-memory/project_physics_collision_digest.md) first — its top banners carry tonight's #107/#111/#112 arc. Render digest unchanged except #105.

1. The issue (user side-by-side vs retail, 2026-06-10)

An A9B3 building (near the #112 hill cottage; NPCs Aun Kielerea + The Sentry adjacent; the user stood at ~world (183, −111, 116), which is A9B3-local (183, 81, 116)) shows a stone-and-wood staircase attached to its exterior wall in acdream. Retail shows a plain wall with a window. Screenshots are in the session transcript (2026-06-10); the spot is trivially re-findable — it's next to the A9B3 hill cottage with interior cells 0x100/0x103/0x104 at z=116.

Key fact: the stairs are NOT pickable — clicks select the NPCs behind them (issue112-gate1.log:37032+). Not a stab/WorldEntity ⇒ building-shell geometry or an interior EnvCell's geometry drawn outside.

2. The hypothesis to test FIRST

A misplaced interior EnvCell — an indoor staircase cell whose world transform (Position.Origin/orientation from the dat, or our application of it) places its geometry outside the shell. One misplaced cell would unify, at this building:

  • the phantom exterior stairs (its geometry pokes through/outside the wall),
  • an interior containment dead-zone (#112's gap = the volume is where the geometry ISN'T — note the #112 scan found a real gap inside the HILL COTTAGE; check whether the staircase building and the hill cottage are the same building or neighbors),
  • missing collision on objects inside (their owning cell volume is elsewhere).

3. Attribution plan (cheap, ordered)

  1. ACViewer oracle (feedback_acviewer_as_oracle): open landblock A9B3 in ACViewer and look at the same building. Stairs present there too ⇒ shared dat-interpretation (both projects misread the dat — go to the dat bytes); absent ⇒ OUR transform/draw path (EnvCell world-transform application or the building shell draw). This single check halves the space.
  2. Identify the building + cell: dump A9B3's LandBlockInfo.Buildings (model id, Position) + every interior EnvCell.Position (dats.Get<EnvCell>(0xA9B301xx)). The conformance harness pattern is ready-made: ConformanceDats.LoadEnvCell + a scratch test with ITestOutputHelper (see Issue112MembershipTests.cs for the loader shape; A9B3-local frame: world y + 192, world x unchanged, center A9B4). Look for a cell whose origin/AABB escapes its building's footprint, and specifically for a STAIR-shaped Environment near the user's spot (stairs = the EnvironmentId's CellStruct will have ramp polys).
  3. Cross-check the #112 gap: the gap point A9B3-local (184.9, 82.5, 116.5) — which cell SHOULD cover it per the dat layout? If the misplaced cell's correct position covers the gap, the hypothesis is proven end-to-end.
  4. Fix per finding; conformance test the transform (golden origins from the dat).

4. Rider: #112 residual (same session, ~30 min)

Issue112MembershipTests.A9B3CottageGap_..._DocumentsResidual pins it: at the doorway gap, the pick demotes via the NORMAL outdoor-candidate path (NOT the removed hatch). Oracle read needed: retail CEnvCell::find_transit_cells (around pc:317499) — is add_all_outside_cells gated on sphere-proximity to the exterior portal POLYGON or on mere graph reachability? If proximity-gated, tighten our port and flip the DocumentsResidual assert to keep-curr (0xA9B30104). Re-promotion at doorways already works — this residual self-heals walking in; it's polish, not a stranding.

5. Tonight's shipped state (do not redo — see digests + ISSUES.md)

Issue State Commits
#105 white walls CLOSED (per-frame texture flush restored) c787201
#110 near plane CLOSED (retail 0.1 re-landed, corner gated) d4b5c71
#107 login wedge CLOSED (snap validation + PortalSpace fix + wire pairs + hold) 1090189, e4f6750
#111 login placement CLOSED user-gated (claim-authoritative snap, walkable-poly grounding, entity parity) 5f1eb7c, 5706e0e, 2735695
#112 transparent-while-walking PRIMARY FIX shipped (hatch removed, lateral stab recovery, retail keep-curr); residual documented; live cottage re-walk gate pending 2d6954e
#113 phantom stairs FILED (this handoff) 77d7ea1

Key new invariants: server (cell,pos) pairs are VALIDATED at the snap (PhysicsEngine.Resolve head: retail AdjustPosition :280009 + walkable-poly grounding WalkableFloorZNearest + [snap]/[spawn-adjust] log lines, one per login/teleport); the per-tick pick keeps curr_cell on null result (retail pc:308788-308825) with lateral stab-graph recovery. ACE persists ITS OWN physics state, not our reports (SetRequestedLocation — ACE source confirmed) — every restore shape it produced tonight is survivable.

6. Ops notes

  • Launch protocol: standard PowerShell launch (CLAUDE.md) + ACDREAM_PROBE_RESOLVE=1
    • ACDREAM_PROBE_CELL=1; tee a log. In-world marker auto-entered player mode. Graceful close ⇒ ~5 s ACE hold; hard kill ⇒ ~3 min exit-29.
  • Character +Acdream is parked near the A9B3 staircase building (outdoors) — login is clean with tonight's fixes regardless of where ACE restores.
  • ⚠️ Never bulk-edit source with PS5.1 Get/Set-Content (mojibake). Tee logs = UTF-16LE.
  • Baseline: Core 1383 green + 4 pre-existing #99-era failures (DoorBugTrajectoryReplay ×2 / DoorCollisionApparatus / BSPStepUp) + 1 skip; App 223 / UI 420 / Net 294. Gates that must stay green: P1 membership conformance (FindCellListConformance, ThresholdPortalCrossing, CottageDoorway, CameraCornerSeal), CornerFloodReplayTests, Issue107SpawnDiagnosticTests, Issue112MembershipTests.
  • After #113: #108 (cellar grass-sweep) + #109 (far-door oscillation) render residuals, then #99/A6.P4 per-cell shadow architecture (the big systemic debt).