acdream/docs/research/2026-05-15-b6-b7-shipped-handoff.md

Phase B.6 + B.7 + WorldPicker tightening — handoff (visual-verified 2026-05-15)

Date: 2026-05-15 (session 06:08–18:21). Branch: commits live on main from cf22f9c..e49c704 (36 commits). Predecessors:

• docs/research/2026-05-14-b5-shipped-handoff.md — B.5 (pickup) shipped immediately before.
• docs/superpowers/specs/2026-05-14-phase-b6-design.md — B.6 design with retail anchors + trace findings + 4-slice plan.
• docs/superpowers/specs/2026-05-15-phase-b7-target-indicator-design.md — B.7 design (Vivid Target Indicator).

---

TL;DR

Three coupled improvements shipped end-to-end this session:

• Phase B.6 — Local-player auto-walk on inbound MoveToObject (issue #63 OPEN → working). When the user double-clicks a far target or presses R/F on an out-of-range target, ACE sends UpdateMotion (0xF74D) with MovementType=6 carrying the destination guid. We now synthesize Forward+Run input into PlayerMovementController to walk the body to the target, then fire the deferred Use/PickUp once the position has arrived AND the body has rotated to face. Smooth rotation (no snap), dual alignment thresholds (30° walk-while-turning, 5° fully aligned). 10 Hz position heartbeat while moving keeps ACE's server-side WithinUseRadius poll converging fast enough that doors / NPCs / items all complete the action.

• Phase B.7 — Vivid Target Indicator (MVP). Four small corner triangles drawn around the selected entity, colour-coded by entity type using a port of gmRadarUI::GetBlipColor (0x004d76f0). Box size scales with projected entity height × scale, per-type base height (humanoid 1.8 m, door/lifestone/portal 2.4 m, small item 0.8 m, default 1.5 m). Drawn via ImGui background draw list — no new GL infrastructure. Selection bug is now self-correcting: the user can see what they actually clicked before pressing R/F.

• WorldPicker tightening (#59 closed). 5 m fixed sphere radius → 0.7 m default → 1.0 m default with 0.9 m vertical offset (chest-height sphere centre). Per-entity radius/offset callbacks let doors / lifestones / portals get bigger spheres (1.5–2.0 m) and small items get tighter ones (0.4 m).

The M1 demo target "click an NPC" + "open the inn door" is now reachable from ANY range (close-range or far-range). The visual flow matches retail: you click → indicator appears → you press R → if far, character walks to within use radius, turns to face, action fires; if near, character turns to face, action fires.

Honest faithfulness note (user-requested audit). Several workarounds remain — arrival safety margin, deferred-wire-Use packet, AutonomousPosition flush on arrival, retry flag — all rooted in our 1 Hz position heartbeat. The 10 Hz bump retires the worst of them in practice. Per-tick outbound (or fixing whatever causes ACE to lose our position between heartbeats) would retire ALL of them. Documented below in Workaround retirement plan.

---

What shipped on this branch (36 commits)

Ordered oldest → newest. Each commit subject is its own retail-faithful unit; the "fix(B.6+B.7)" pairing means a single workaround serves both phases.

#	Commit	Subject
1	87ba5c9	feat(B.5): pickup feedback chat line + toast ("You pick up the X.")
2	7be1393	docs(M1): record all 4 demo targets met, list deferred polish
3	20ecb23	Revert "feat(B.5): pickup feedback chat line + toast …" — retail-faithful: no feedback.
4	a01ebd5	fix(B.5): block pickup of creatures client-side; show 'Can't pick that up' toast
5	ab7c04f	docs(M1): reflect chat/toast revert + the actual B.5 polish (creature pickup guard)
6	e55ad48	fix(B.5): make creature-pickup guard silent (retail-faithful)
7	ec9fd52	fix #62: null-guard the PARTSDIAG read of ae.Animation
8	5053e40	docs: close #62 — PARTSDIAG null-guard landed in ec9fd52
9	281d125	docs(B.6): design spec for local-player MoveToObject auto-walk (issue #63)
10	9e1d33a	docs(B.6): retail decomp settles Option A; revise spec with 4-slice plan
11	eda8278	feat(B.6 slice 1): ACDREAM_PROBE_AUTOWALK diagnostic baseline
12	1b4f3ba	feat(B.6 slice 1): DebugPanel mirror for ProbeAutoWalk checkbox
13	d82b064	docs(B.6): record Slice 1 trace findings — ACE sends mtRun=0.00, no UP echo
14	b936ef8	feat(B.6 slice 2): local-player auto-walk on inbound MoveToObject — core feature lands.
15	f18de7c	fix(B.6 slice 2): don't cancel autowalk on the companion InterpretedMotionState
16	5612ce7	feat(B.6): honor wire WalkRunThreshold — walk vs run per retail semantics
17	37177a4	docs(B.7): design spec for Vivid Target Indicator (selection feedback)
18	8544a78	feat(B.7): RadarBlipColors — port of gmRadarUI::GetBlipColor
19	c7e5f9f	feat(B.7): TargetIndicatorPanel — corner triangles around selected entity
20	4bc95ec	fix(B.7): scale indicator box from projected entity height, not fixed pixels
21	5e29773	fix #59: tighten WorldPicker radius from 5 m to 0.7 m
22	631571a	docs: close #59 — picker radius tightened in 5e29773
23	23cb1e9	fix(B.7): square indicator box + bigger pick sphere for doors/lifestones/portals + diag
24	1a0656a	fix(picker): lift sphere centre to mid-body so chest/head clicks hit
25	211fe24	fix(B.6+B.7): run-all-the-way auto-walk, per-type indicator height, R = smart interact
26	5f83766	docs: file #65 — local player doesn't turn to face on close-range Use
27	2dc28bb	fix(B.6+B.7): re-send action on local arrival; scale indicator box by entity Scale
28	a0fa3d6	fix(B.6+B.7): flush AutonomousPosition on arrival before re-sending action
29	39ff3a5	fix(B.6+B.7): arrival predicate uses safety margin INSIDE ACE's WithinUseRadius
30	64c9793	fix(B.6+B.7): shrink arrival safety margin; file #66 rotation, #67 door
31	301281d	fix(B.6+B.7): bump AutonomousPosition heartbeat 1Hz -> 10Hz while moving ← single biggest fix
32	32352af	fix(B.6): turn-first auto-walk + tiny margin; close #67 doors; file #68 remote arrival
33	5b908bc	fix(B.6): close-range turn-to-face — install overlay on Use/PickUp send
34	cffb10f	fix(B.6): tighter 5° alignment + defer Use until rotation completes; file #69 turn anim
35	7158c46	fix(B.6): smooth local rotation — remove 20° snap-on-approach (not retail)
36	e49c704	fix(B.6): speculative auto-walk uses WalkRunThreshold=15 to match ACE

Build: clean. Tests: dotnet test -c Debug shows the new RadarBlipColors tests (8) and the existing B.5 BuildPickUp tests passing. Failure count unchanged at the 8 pre-existing baseline in AcDream.Core.Tests.

---

Wire-format facts (what ACE sends, what we parse)

Wire	Field	Value	Our handling
UpdateMotion (0xF74D)	MovementType	6 MoveToObject	Local: BeginServerAutoWalk(...) + speculative turn overlay. Remote: existing RemoteMoveToDriver.
UpdateMotion (0xF74D)	MovementType	7 MoveToPosition	Local: BeginServerAutoWalk(...) with a synthetic guid (positional destination only).
UpdateMotion (0xF74D)	MovementType	8 TurnToObject	NOT YET PARSED — issue #66. ACE sends this on close-range Use against an off-facing target. Our parser falls into the locomotion path and silently drops the rotation.
UpdateMotion (0xF74D)	MovementType	0 Interpreted	Companion locomotion echo after a MovementType=6 (RunForward command). We do NOT treat this as a cancel signal (commit f18de7c).
UpdateMotion (0xF74D)	WalkRunThreshold	float meters	If distance > threshold → run, else walk. ACE default 15.0 m. We honor it (commit 5612ce7) for inbound; we use it as the speculative-overlay walk/run gate too (commit e49c704).
GameAction (0xF7B1) outbound	0x0036 Use	guid	Sent on R-key / double-click + close-range. For far-range we install the speculative overlay and defer the wire packet until arrival (commit cffb10f).
GameAction (0xF7B1) outbound	0x0019 PutItemInContainer	item guid + container guid + placement	Sent on F-key. Same defer-on-far-range pattern.
AutonomousPosition (0xF7B1 0x0007) outbound	position + heading	every 1 Hz idle / 10 Hz while moving	The 10 Hz bump (commit 301281d) is what unblocks doors (#67) and lets ACE's MoveToChain see us arrive at the use radius without timing out.

Retail anchors for the above:

• MovementManager::PerformMovement at 0x00524440 — dispatch switch on MovementType.
• MoveToManager::HandleMoveToObject — MovementType=6 driver (turn-to-face → walk → stop).
• MoveToManager::HandleMoveToPosition — MovementType=7 driver.
• MoveToManager::HandleTurnToHeading at 0x0052a0c0 — turn-only driver used by MovementType=8.
• CPhysicsObj::MoveToObject at 0x00512860 — high-level entry from physics.
• Player_Move.CreateMoveToChain (ACE) at Player_Move.cs:37–179 — server-side state machine that depends on our heartbeat to detect arrival.

---

Local auto-walk state machine (current shape)

src/AcDream.App/Input/PlayerMovementController.cs:

// State
private bool _autoWalkActive;
private Vector3 _autoWalkDestination;
private float _autoWalkMinDistance;        // ACE's WithinUseRadius (per-type)
private float _autoWalkDistanceToObject;   // initial distance, used for run/walk decision
private bool  _autoWalkMoveTowards;
private bool  _autoWalkInitiallyRunning;   // decided ONCE at Begin

public event Action? AutoWalkArrived;      // GameWindow re-sends Use/PickUp on this

// Per-frame overlay, called from top of Update
private MovementInput ApplyAutoWalkOverlay(float dt, MovementInput input)
{
    if (!_autoWalkActive) return input;

    // User-input override → cancel
    if (input.Forward || input.Back || input.StrafeL || input.StrafeR)
    {
        EndServerAutoWalk("user-input");
        return input;
    }

    // Compute delta yaw, distance, alignment
    Vector3 toTarget = _autoWalkDestination - Position;
    float dist = toTarget.Length();
    float targetYaw = MathF.Atan2(toTarget.Y, toTarget.X) - MathF.PI / 2f;
    float delta = NormalizeAngle(targetYaw - Yaw);

    // SMOOTH rotation (commit 7158c46 — no snap)
    float maxStep = RemoteMoveToDriver.TurnRateRadPerSec * dt;
    Yaw += MathF.Sign(delta) * MathF.Min(MathF.Abs(delta), maxStep);

    // Dual alignment thresholds (commit cffb10f)
    const float WalkWhileTurningRad = 30f * MathF.PI / 180f;
    const float FullyAlignedRad     =  5f * MathF.PI / 180f;
    bool walkAligned = MathF.Abs(delta) <= WalkWhileTurningRad;
    bool aligned     = MathF.Abs(delta) <= FullyAlignedRad;

    // Arrival predicate uses TIGHT 0.05 m safety margin INSIDE ACE's radius
    // (commit 39ff3a5 + 64c9793; works because of 10 Hz heartbeat from 301281d)
    bool withinArrival = dist <= (_autoWalkMinDistance - 0.05f);

    if (withinArrival && aligned)
    {
        EndServerAutoWalk("arrived");        // fires AutoWalkArrived event
        return input;
    }

    bool moveForward = walkAligned && !withinArrival;
    return input with
    {
        Forward = moveForward,
        Run = moveForward && _autoWalkInitiallyRunning,
        // Strafes left clear so we don't combine with other input
    };
}

src/AcDream.App/Rendering/GameWindow.cs:

// Wired in ctor:
_playerController.AutoWalkArrived += OnAutoWalkArrivedReSendAction;

private (uint Guid, bool IsPickup)? _pendingPostArrivalAction;

// On Use/PickUp send: install speculative overlay + defer wire packet if close
private void SendUse(uint guid, bool isRetryAfterArrival = false)
{
    if (!isRetryAfterArrival)
    {
        InstallSpeculativeTurnToTarget(guid);        // BeginServerAutoWalk with tiny radius
        _pendingPostArrivalAction = (guid, false);
        if (IsCloseRangeTarget(guid))
            return;                                  // wire packet deferred until arrival
    }
    // ... build + send 0xF7B1/0x0036
}

private void OnAutoWalkArrivedReSendAction()
{
    if (_pendingPostArrivalAction is not (uint guid, bool isPickup)) return;
    _pendingPostArrivalAction = null;
    SendAutonomousPositionNow();                     // flush position so ACE sees us at radius
    if (isPickup) SendPickUp(guid, isRetryAfterArrival: true);
    else          SendUse(guid, isRetryAfterArrival: true);
}

---

Picker (current shape)

src/AcDream.Core/Selection/WorldPicker.cs:

• DefaultRadius = 1.0f (up from 0.7 m to compensate for vertical-offset lift, commit 1a0656a).
• DefaultVerticalOffset = 0.9f (chest-height humanoid mid-body — fixes the bug where clicking the head/chest of an NPC missed because the sphere was at the feet).
• Per-entity callbacks (radiusForGuid, verticalOffsetForGuid) supplied by GameWindow:
  • Doors / lifestones / portals: radius 1.5–2.0 m, vertical offset 1.2 m (commit 23ce1e9).
  • Small dropped items (BF_ITEM-class): radius 0.4 m, vertical offset 0.1 m (item lies on ground).
  • Default (NPC / creature / sign / other): defaults 1.0 m / 0.9 m.
• Inside-sphere origin handled (commit 5821bdc, pre-session): if t_near < 0 use t_far so the entity is still pickable at point-blank range.

---

Target indicator (current shape)

src/AcDream.App/UI/TargetIndicatorPanel.cs + src/AcDream.Core/Ui/RadarBlipColors.cs:

• TargetInfo(WorldPosition, ItemType, ObjectDescriptionFlags, Scale) record carries the inputs.
• Box height = EntityHeightFor(itemType, pwdBitfield, scale):
  • Creature (NPC / monster / player): 1.8 m × scale (humanoid baseline).
  • Door / Lifestone / Portal (BF_DOOR=0x1000 | BF_LIFESTONE=0x4000 | BF_PORTAL=0x40000): 2.4 m × scale (door-frame tall).
  • Small carry items (Weapon | Armor | Clothing | Jewelry | Food | Money | Misc | MissileWeapon | Container | Gem | SpellComponents | Writable | Key | Caster): 0.8 m × scale.
  • Default (signs, scenery interactables, untyped): 1.5 m × scale. ⚠️ User reports signs still feel too small — see follow-up below.
• Box is square (WidthHeightRatio = 1.0, matches retail) — width = height.
• Projection: project feet + head world points to screen, draw 4 right-angle triangles at corners via ImGui background draw list.
• Min screen height clamp: 16 px (prevents collapse on far entities).
• Off-screen / behind-camera: returns early; ±20% NDC margin so a tall entity whose feet are just off-screen still gets head projected.
• Colour: from RadarBlipColors.For(itemType, pwdBitfield). Port of gmRadarUI::GetBlipColor (0x004d76f0) — Portal → Vendor → Creature (yellow) → PlayerKiller (red) → PKLite → FriendlyPlayer → default Item (white-ish).
• 8 unit tests in tests/AcDream.Core.Tests/Ui/RadarBlipColorsTests.cs.

MVP scope — explicitly deferred (per spec §3): off-screen edge arrow (m_pOffScreen), DAT-loaded triangle sprite (today's are procedural), mesh-tint highlight on the target, player-option toggle.

---

Faithfulness audit (user-requested honest comparison)

This was the most important conversation thread of the session. User asked: "How faithful are we to retail in this?" and pushed back on every workaround I'd introduced. Direct answer: The data path is retail-faithful, the timing isn't, and the workarounds are our bugs not ACE's.

Piece	What retail did	What we do	Why we diverged	Resolution path
MoveToObject wire parse	MovementManager::PerformMovement switch on MovementType	We parse 6/7, miss 8	Incremental delivery — B.6 scope didn't include TurnToObject	Issue #66 — port MovementType=8
Local turn-to-face	Smooth interpolation animation (legs+arms cycle while body pivots)	Smooth Yaw step; no animation cycle (statue-pivot)	Motion interpreter not fed TurnLeft/TurnRight when overlay turns	Issue #69 — synthesize TurnLeft/TurnRight
Arrival predicate	Exact: stop when dist ≤ radius	dist ≤ radius − 0.05 m safety margin	Our client+server position drift would let retail's exact predicate fall through. 1 Hz heartbeat was the root cause; with 10 Hz it's mostly redundant.	Drop the margin once per-tick outbound lands.
Action send timing	Once on player intent	Twice: once on intent (deferred if far) + once on arrival	Our MoveToChain poll on ACE side races against our position heartbeat. With 1 Hz we always lost. 10 Hz helps.	Single-send once per-tick outbound + a server-side action queue replaces the retry.
AutonomousPosition flush	Continuous broadcast	One forced AP on arrival + 10 Hz during move	Same root cause: ACE polls at 0.1 s, we broadcast at 1 s default.	Per-tick outbound retires this entirely.
Local-player TurnToObject	Server broadcasts MovementType=8; client rotates body	We drop the wire MovementType=8	Incremental delivery — B.6 was scoped to MovementType=6 only	Issue #66 — same fix as the parse gap above.
Remote-player arrival animation	Client detects arrival from wire's distance threshold and transitions cycle	RemoteMoveToDriver Arrived state set but consumer doesn't flip cycle	Cycle-routing layer never wired to the arrival event	Issue #68 — add SetCycle(NonCombat, Ready) on arrival.
Local-player pickup animation	Server-initiated Motion(Pickup) broadcast → animates locally	Self-echo filter drops it	Pre-existing (B.5)	Issue #64 — admit server-initiated one-shots through the filter.

Bottom line: every workaround in this list traces to the position heartbeat or the missing MovementType=8 path. Neither is "ACE's bug" — they are gaps in our client.

---

Open follow-up issues filed this session

ID	Severity	Summary
#66	LOW-MED	Local + remote rotation flip-back / NPCs don't turn — port MovementType=8 TurnToObject
#68	LOW-MED	Remote players' running animation doesn't stop on auto-walk arrival
#69	LOW	Local player rotation isn't animated (statue-pivot vs leg-shuffle) — synthesize TurnLeft/TurnRight
#65	LOW	Local-player no turn-to-face on close-range Use — superseded by #66

Closed this session:

• #59 — WorldPicker 5 m over-pick → 1.0 m + vertical offset (5e29773, 1a0656a, 23ce1e9).
• #62 — PARTSDIAG null-guard for sequencer-driven entities (ec9fd52).
• #67 — Door Use action doesn't complete after auto-walk arrival → fixed by 10 Hz heartbeat (301281d).

Visual gripe still open (not filed as an issue yet): signs still feel too small. Default 1.5 m × scale should probably be 2.5 m for sign-class objects — they're tall posts in retail. Wiring is there (just bump the constant in EntityHeightFor for the "everything else" branch, or add a sign-detection rule). User's most recent feedback before context-out was "still when I select a sign the box is way to small."

---

Reproducibility — how to verify the shipped behaviour

# From C:\Users\erikn\source\repos\acdream
Stop-Process -Name AcDream.App -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
Start-Sleep -Seconds 3

$env:ACDREAM_DAT_DIR   = "$env:USERPROFILE\Documents\Asheron's Call"
$env:ACDREAM_LIVE      = "1"
$env:ACDREAM_TEST_HOST = "127.0.0.1"
$env:ACDREAM_TEST_PORT = "9000"
$env:ACDREAM_TEST_USER = "testaccount"
$env:ACDREAM_TEST_PASS = "testpassword"

# Optional diagnostic env vars (heavy)
# $env:ACDREAM_PROBE_AUTOWALK = "1"   # one [autowalk] line per MoveToObject inbound + transition
# $env:ACDREAM_DUMP_MOTION   = "1"

dotnet build -c Debug; if ($?) {
  dotnet run --project src\AcDream.App\AcDream.App.csproj --no-build -c Debug 2>&1 |
    Tee-Object -FilePath "launch.log"
}

Test scenarios (each verified visually during the session):

1. Far-range Use on NPC. Stand 5–10 m from Tirenia in the Holtburg inn. Click NPC → corner triangles appear (yellow). Press R. Character runs to within ~3 m, decelerates, turns to face, Use fires, dialogue appears.
2. Far-range pickup on item. Stand 5–10 m from a dropped taper. Click item → corner triangles appear (white-ish). Press F. Character runs to within ~0.6 m, turns to face, PickUp fires, item despawns, inventory updates.
3. Door open. Stand 3–5 m from the inn front door. Click door → corner triangles appear (white-ish, scaled to 2.4 m × scale). Press R. Character walks to within ~2 m, turns to face, Use fires, ACE broadcasts SetState (ETHEREAL), character walks through.
4. Close-range Use. Already within ~1 m of an NPC, facing away. Press R. Character turns to face → Use fires → dialogue. (Close-range branch — exercises IsCloseRangeTarget + deferred-wire-packet path.)
5. Far-range double-click on item. Same as (2) but double-click — should behave identically to F-key (double-click activation passes through OnInputAction after 58b95bc).

Diagnostic env vars active for this work:

• ACDREAM_PROBE_AUTOWALK=1 — one [autowalk] line per inbound MoveToObject + state transition (commit eda8278). Also toggleable via DebugPanel.
• ACDREAM_DUMP_MOTION=1 — every inbound UpdateMotion (guid, stance, cmd, speed).
• ACDREAM_REMOTE_VEL_DIAG=1 — [UPCYCLE] traces for remote-arrival debug (relates to #68).

---

Files touched this session

New files:

• src/AcDream.Core/Ui/RadarBlipColors.cs — colour table port.
• src/AcDream.App/UI/TargetIndicatorPanel.cs — corner-triangle renderer.
• tests/AcDream.Core.Tests/Ui/RadarBlipColorsTests.cs — 8 unit tests.
• docs/superpowers/specs/2026-05-14-phase-b6-design.md — B.6 design + 4-slice plan.
• docs/superpowers/specs/2026-05-15-phase-b7-target-indicator-design.md — B.7 design.

Modified:

• src/AcDream.App/Input/PlayerMovementController.cs — auto-walk overlay, smooth rotation, dual alignment, 10 Hz heartbeat.
• src/AcDream.App/Rendering/GameWindow.cs — SendUse/SendPickUp defer logic, _pendingPostArrivalAction, OnAutoWalkArrivedReSendAction, InstallSpeculativeTurnToTarget, IsCloseRangeTarget, SendAutonomousPositionNow, TargetIndicatorPanel wiring, per-entity picker callbacks, UseCurrentSelection smart-R dispatch.
• src/AcDream.Core/Selection/WorldPicker.cs — radius/vertical-offset callbacks, inside-sphere origin handling documented.
• src/AcDream.Core.Net/WorldSession.cs — MovementType=6 routing into local auto-walk path.
• src/AcDream.Core/Physics/PhysicsDiagnostics.cs — ProbeAutoWalkEnabled static property, ACDREAM_PROBE_AUTOWALK env var.
• src/AcDream.UI.Abstractions/Panels/Debug/DebugVM.cs + DebugPanel.cs — DebugPanel checkbox mirror.
• docs/ISSUES.md — closed #59, #62, #67; filed #65, #66, #68, #69; updated #63 with B.6 status.
• docs/plans/2026-05-12-milestones.md — M1 four-of-four status reflected.
• CLAUDE.md — updated "Currently in Phase…" line with B.6/B.7 ship facts.

---

Workaround retirement plan

The four workarounds that should NOT survive a per-tick-outbound + MovementType=8 phase:

1. Arrival safety margin (currently 0.05 m). ApplyAutoWalkOverlay stops at dist <= _autoWalkMinDistance - 0.05f. Retail stops at dist <= radius. Drop the margin when our outbound position is fresh enough that ACE's WithinUseRadius poll always sees us inside the radius the moment we get there.
2. Re-send on arrival. _pendingPostArrivalAction + OnAutoWalkArrivedReSendAction re-fire SendUse/SendPickUp after the body arrives. Retail's client sends the action once and lets the server-side MoveToChain complete. Drop when ACE consistently completes the chain from a single send.
3. AutonomousPosition flush on arrival. SendAutonomousPositionNow() explicitly broadcasts position the moment we arrive. With per-tick outbound this happens naturally.
4. isRetryAfterArrival flag. Branch in SendUse/SendPickUp to skip the speculative-overlay install on the retry. Goes away when the retry goes away.

Single fix that retires all four: per-tick outbound position broadcast (probably at the physics tick rate of 60 Hz with a smaller payload, or 20–30 Hz with the full one). Currently effectiveInterval = activelyMoving ? 0.1f : 1.0f (10 Hz active / 1 Hz idle). Going to 20–30 Hz active would likely close the gap; per-tick is the upper bound.

Reference for retail's outbound cadence: docs/research/named-retail/ — search for CPhysicsObj::send_movement_event and AutonomousPosition send-site. Holtburger's client/movement/system.rs also sends at higher cadence than our default.

---

Next-session entry points (in rough priority order)

1. Fix the sign indicator box. User's last gripe. Bump EntityHeightFor default from 1.5 m to ~2.5 m, or add an explicit sign-detection rule. ~5 LOC. Verify in Holtburg by selecting one of the inn signs.
2. Issue #66 — MovementType=8 TurnToObject (local + remote). Two-direction fix: stop local-player flip-back AND make NPCs turn to face. ~80–120 LOC + tests. Spec template is the B.6 spec with MovementType=8 substituted.
3. Issue #69 — animate rotation. Synthesize TurnLeft/TurnRight input flags while the overlay turns the body. ~30 LOC in ApplyAutoWalkOverlay + verify retail's human motion table has the cycle. Pairs with #66 nicely.
4. Issue #68 — Remote players don't stop run animation on arrival. Wire RemoteMoveToDriver.Arrived to SetCycle(NonCombat, Ready). ~20 LOC. Small standalone fix.
5. Issue #64 — Local-player pickup animation. Pre-existing B.5 gap; the self-echo filter drops UpdateMotion(Pickup). Either (a) admit server-initiated one-shots through the filter, or (b) generate locally on send.
6. Per-tick outbound position broadcast. The big one. Retires the four B.6 workarounds and probably fixes a class of "ACE doesn't see us" bugs we haven't even noticed yet. Probably its own design phase (call it B.8 or M.x). Read docs/research/named-retail/ for retail's cadence first.
7. Investigate the running-in-circles bug. User reported during B.6 slice 2 testing that auto-walk would occasionally "run in circles" before going straight. The fix in 211fe24 (run-all-the-way) appears to have fixed it but no regression test exists. Worth a one-session investigation with ACDREAM_PROBE_AUTOWALK=1.

---

Predecessor reading order for a fresh session

1. This document — the full picture of what's in main.
2. docs/superpowers/specs/2026-05-14-phase-b6-design.md — retail anchors + decomp citations for auto-walk.
3. docs/superpowers/specs/2026-05-15-phase-b7-target-indicator-design.md — B.7 design + deferred-MVP list.
4. docs/research/2026-05-14-b5-shipped-handoff.md — B.5 (pickup, close-range path) preceded this work.
5. docs/research/2026-05-13-b4b-shipped-handoff.md — B.4b (Use outbound + WorldPicker) preceded that.

Retail decomp anchors for auto-walk: docs/research/named-retail/acclient_2013_pseudo_c.txt searched by:

• MovementManager::PerformMovement (0x00524440)
• MoveToManager::HandleMoveToObject
• MoveToManager::HandleMoveToPosition
• MoveToManager::HandleTurnToHeading (0x0052a0c0)
• CPhysicsObj::MoveToObject (0x00512860)
• VividTargetIndicator::SetSelected (0x004f5ce0)
• gmRadarUI::GetBlipColor (0x004d76f0)

ACE anchors: references/ACE/Source/ACE.Server/WorldObjects/Player_Move.cs:37–179 (CreateMoveToChain) and Player_Inventory.cs:976–1106 (pickup chain).

---

Session-specific morale note

This was a long session — 43 user messages, ~12 hours wall-clock, 36 commits. The pattern was: implement, user tests against retail, user reports specific divergence, fix, repeat. The user pushed back hard on workarounds twice ("Why workarounds? Nothing wrong with ACE, our client is wrong" + "did you verify with retail?") and both times the right move was to drop the workaround and chase the root cause. The 10 Hz heartbeat (301281d) was the highest-leverage commit of the session — it closed #67 and tightened the firing distance for every other interaction. Lesson: when a workaround starts feeling load-bearing, find the heartbeat-cadence-style root cause behind it before adding more layers.

The B.6 four-slice plan in the spec was the right shape — Slice 1 (diagnostic) revealed mtRun=0.00 + no UP echo, which directly informed Slice 2 (treat MovementType=0 InterpretedMotionState as a companion not a cancel signal, f18de7c). Slice 3 + 4 (walk vs run + turn-first) emerged from visual testing. Lesson: diagnostic-first slicing pays off when you don't actually know what ACE will send.

— Session ended at user request to write this handoff before context compaction.