acdream/docs/superpowers/specs/2026-08-14-launcher-campaign-design.md

# Campaign LA — Launcher / Installer / Updater + character-select screen (design spec)

**Date:** 2026-08-14
**Status:** APPROVED design, pre-plan
**Plan doc (next step):** `docs/plans/2026-08-14-launcher-campaign.md` (to be written)
**Prior decisions consumed:** `claude-memory/project_launcher_direction.md` (2026-08-09)

Campaign LA is distinct from Modern Runtime **Slice L** (Linux graphical,
parked at L1) — "LA" is a campaign identifier in the N/V/P/A/CH/OP/FA
series, not a slice.

## 1. Goal

One external product — the **acdream launcher** — that is simultaneously
the installer, the updater, and the multi-server / multi-account /
multi-character session launcher (ThwargLauncher UX model), on Windows and
Linux. Plus the one client-side feature the launcher flow exposes as
missing: the **retail character-selection screen**.

Distribution model: alpha users receive ONLY the launcher (per-RID
self-contained single-file publish). The launcher fetches the client from
the release feed, locates retail DATs, runs the pak bake, and launches
sessions.

## 2. Decisions log

Pinned 2026-08-09 (NOT re-litigated here):

| Decision | Value |
|---|---|
| UI stack | Avalonia (Windows + Linux day one) |
| Project split | `AcDream.Launcher` (thin Avalonia) + `AcDream.Launcher.Core` (BCL-only) |
| Credentials | **Plaintext file, user-decided.** 0600 on Linux; never in logs/crash bundles |
| UX reference | ThwargLauncher (servers × accounts × character pre-select) |
| Launch contract | Reuse Slice K1's strict portable config shape |
| Paths | Consume Slice L0's `ApplicationPathSet` XDG/Windows contract |

Decided this session (2026-08-14):

| Question | Decision |
|---|---|
| Headless launch purpose | **Run plugins** (VirindiTank-style) + login commands; same on GUI. Launcher selects which plugins per character |
| Character-select screen | **Retail screen, no Create.** CORRECTED by 2026-08-14 recon: retail's `gmCharacterManagementUI` is a flat listbox + Enter Game / Delete / Restore buttons + dialogs — **no 3D preview exists on retail's select screen** (that machinery, `gmCG3DView`, is character-CREATION-only). We port what retail actually had; Create deferred to its own campaign |
| Campaign scope | **Everything now** — launch flows + first-run install + update pipeline in one campaign |
| Launcher ↔ client coupling | **Approach A: file-contract orchestrator** (config in, status events out; no game-protocol code in the launcher) |
| Update feed | **GitHub Releases** (manifest.json + per-RID zips as release assets) |
| Profile editing | **Full CRUD in the launcher UI** — add/edit/remove servers, accounts, passwords, per-character settings. The JSON file is storage (hand-editable as a bonus), never the required interface |
| Linux scope | **Full launcher stack Linux-tested in LA** (launcher UI, install/update, headless + plugins + probe); GUI launches stay Windows-only until Slice L resumes later (user 2026-08-14). Launcher disables GUI modes on Linux with an explicit note |
| Character enumeration | **On-demand probe**: launcher spawns the headless host in a probe mode (connect → `CharacterList` → status event → graceful disconnect BEFORE entering world → exit) and folds the roster into the profile store |

Rejected: the launcher itself embedding Runtime/Core.Net to speak the
game protocol — the character probe runs in the headless host via the
normal launch contract, so the launcher stays protocol-free. The probe
never enters the world; a graceful account-level disconnect at the
character-list stage is the same dance every normal login performs, so
the ACE stale-session landmine (hard-killed in-world sessions poisoning
the account ~3 min) does not apply on the happy path. Deferred: live IPC
fleet dashboard (the status-file format is its forward seam), Create
Character, community server-list import.

## 3. Architecture — file-contract orchestrator

The launcher never speaks the game protocol and references nothing from
the game solution except a new tiny platform assembly. Its contracts with
the client are exactly three:

1. **Config in** — a per-launch session config file (K1 shape, extended).
2. **Credential in** — password piped to child stdin (K1 `StandardInput`
   provider).
3. **Status out** — a per-session JSON-lines event file the launcher tails.

Character enumeration has two feeds, both flowing through the same
status-stream vocabulary:

1. **Cache-from-observation** — hosts report the account's
   `CharacterList` in the status stream on every login; the launcher
   folds it into its profile store.
2. **On-demand probe** — a "refresh characters" action per account spawns
   the headless host with a probe-mode session config: connect, receive
   `CharacterList`, emit the status event, gracefully disconnect
   **without entering the world**, exit. The launcher folds the roster in
   exactly as in (1). The launcher refuses to probe an account it is
   itself currently running a session for; an externally-active session
   makes the probe fail gracefully (reported on the status stream, never
   an exception in the launcher).

A never-seen account can therefore be enumerated before its first real
launch, or simply launched in `guiSelect` mode and picked in-client.

## 4. Components

- **`AcDream.Launcher.Core`** (new, BCL-only): profile store
  (load/save/validate/merge-charlist), session-config composition, process
  spawn + supervision + stdin credential feed, status-event reader,
  install engine (DAT locate/validate, bake-tool invocation, SHA verify),
  update engine (manifest client, download, SHA verify, versioned install,
  pointer swap), self-update stager. Fully unit-testable.
- **`AcDream.Launcher`** (new, Avalonia): MVVM shell over Launcher.Core.
  Server list → accounts → characters tree with **full CRUD in the UI**:
  add/edit/remove servers (name/host/port), add/edit/remove accounts
  (account name + password entry), per-character settings editor (launch
  mode / plugins / login commands), a per-account "refresh characters"
  probe action, session status column, first-run install wizard, update
  prompts. Hand-editing the JSON is never required for any flow.
- **`AcDream.Platform`** (new, tiny, BCL-only): `ApplicationPathSet` +
  `IApplicationPathEnvironment` move here from
  `src/AcDream.Runtime/Platform/ApplicationPathSet.cs`. Runtime, App,
  Headless, Launcher.Core reference it. Dependency guards (K0 family)
  amended deliberately in the same commit.
- **`AcDream.App`**: gains `--session-config <path>` CLI ingestion into
  `RuntimeOptions` (env-var dev workflow untouched), the `StandardInput`
  credential resolver, the status-event writer, the launcher-selected
  plugin set, login-command execution, and the character-select screen.
- **`AcDream.Headless`**: gains the two config fields (`Plugins`,
  `LoginCommands`), an `idle` consumer policy (enter world, run
  plugins/commands, stay until stopped), the probe mode (§3/§6), plugin
  hosting, and the same status-event writer.

## 5. Profile & credential store

One JSON file, created and maintained entirely by the launcher UI (the
CRUD flows in §4): `ConfigDirectory/launcher-profiles.json`
(`%APPDATA%\acdream\` / `~/.config/acdream/`), permissions 0600 on Linux.
Hand-editability is a property of the format, not a required workflow.

```json
{
  "version": 1,
  "servers": [
    {
      "name": "Local ACE",
      "host": "127.0.0.1",
      "port": 9000,
      "accounts": [
        {
          "account": "testaccount",
          "password": "testpassword",
          "characters": [
            {
              "name": "+Acdream",
              "id": "0x5000000A",
              "launchMode": "gui",
              "plugins": ["ExamplePlugin"],
              "loginCommands": ["/tell someone, hi", "/vt start"]
            }
          ]
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}
```

- `characters[]` = launcher-maintained cache (name/id, fed by status
  events) + user settings (`launchMode`, `plugins`, `loginCommands`).
- `launchMode`: `gui` (straight to world), `guiSelect` (GUI, stop at
  character-select screen; default when no character chosen), `headless`.
- Passwords live in this file and NOWHERE else: never in process
  arguments, never in session configs, never in logs (K1 redaction
  discipline extends to the launcher).
- Server entries are manual-add (name/host/port). No published-list
  import this campaign.

## 6. Launch contract

**Session config** (written to
`CacheDirectory/launcher/sessions/<id>/session.json`): the K1
`HeadlessConfiguration` shape extended with:

- `Plugins: string[]` — plugin names to load from the standard
  `PluginsDirectory`; absent/null loads all discovered plugins, while an
  explicit empty array loads none. Launcher-composed normal-empty and probe
  sessions emit the empty array.
- `LoginCommands: string[]` — ordered chat-typed strings.
- Graphical host: `Character` selector may be ABSENT → character-select
  screen instead of auto-enter.
- `Content` descriptor (existing K1 field): `DatDirectory` +
  `PreparedAssetPath`, filled from the launcher's install records.

**Spawn:**

- Headless: `AcDream.Headless --config <path>` (existing CLI).
- GUI: `AcDream.App --session-config <path>` (new; parsed once in
  `Program.cs` into `RuntimeOptions` per code-structure rule 4).
- Probe: `AcDream.Headless --config <path>` with a probe-mode session
  (connect → `characterList` status event → graceful disconnect before
  `EnterWorld` → exit). Today's config loader requires a character
  selector and a policy per session (`JsonRequired`); probe mode relaxes
  that for the probe shape only.
- Credential: K1 `StandardInput` provider; launcher writes the password
  to child stdin then closes it. Headless supports this today; App gains
  the resolver.

**Status stream**
(`CacheDirectory/launcher/sessions/<id>/status.jsonl`), appended by both
hosts, one JSON object per line:

`started`, `connected`, `characterList` (names + ids + slots),
`enteredWorld` (id + name), `pluginLoaded` / `pluginFailed` (name +
error), `loginCommandFailed` (zero-based command index + exact configured
line + isolated error), `disconnected`, `exited` (code + reason).

The launcher tails this for live per-session UI state and folds
`characterList` into the profile store. This exact event vocabulary is
the seam a future IPC channel (fleet dashboard) replaces — same events,
different transport — so event names/payloads are versioned from day one
(`"v": 1` per line).

## 7. Character-select screen (client-side, retail)

A new pre-world session state between `CharacterList` receipt and
`EnterWorld`. Today `LiveSessionController` (`TrySelectCharacter`,
`src/AcDream.Runtime/Session/LiveSessionController.cs`) auto-selects and
enters immediately. New behavior: **no character selector in options →
stop at the retail character-select screen.** Selection there feeds the
same `EnterWorld` path.

**CORRECTED 2026-08-14 (named-retail recon):** retail's screen is
`gmCharacterManagementUI` (`acclient.h:56545`) — a `UIElement_ListBox`
character list plus Create / Enter Game / Delete / Restore buttons and
dialog contexts (delete-confirm, please-wait, entering-world, error).
**It has NO 3D preview** — the rotating-model viewport (`gmCG3DView` /
`UIElement_Viewport` / `CreatureMode`) exists only on character
CREATION's appearance/heritage/profession pages. The earlier
"3D preview on a pedestal" belief traced to one uncited line in
`docs/research/retail-ui/05-panels.md` §13. We port the real screen; a
preview would be a deliberate divergence we are NOT taking.

- **Ownership:** J-owner pattern. A Runtime-owned selection state (roster
  incl. greyed/pending-delete seconds, highlighted entry, pending-delete
  confirmation) with typed commands (highlight / enter / delete-request /
  delete-confirm / restore); App projects the authored screen. Headless
  never uses it (config always carries a selector; the loader already
  requires one).
- **UI:** imported retail screen. The root layout id is resolved
  indirectly — retail calls
  `UIMainFramework::CreateAndAddRootElement(0x10000005, 0x1000039a)` and
  resolves the concrete DataID via `DBObj::GetDIDByEnum(..., 5)` (the same
  GetDIDByEnum machinery OP8 already ported for key names, category 4).
  Child widget ids from the decomp: listbox `0x1000039d`, create
  `0x100003a0` (hidden/no-op this campaign), enter `0x100003a2`, delete
  `0x1000039f`, restore `0x1000039e`. Behavior oracles:
  `RebuildCharacterList@0x004ec3a0`, `SelectCharacter@0x004ec160`,
  `UpdateButtons@0x004ec240` (Delete↔Restore visibility swap on greyed
  state), `EnterGame@0x004ed440`,
  `MakeDeleteCharacterConfirmationDialog@0x004ecca0`.
- **Wire (new messages):** `CharacterDelete` 0xF655 (outbound: account
  String16L + **slot index**, per `Proto_UI::SendDeleteCharacter@0x00546b30`
  — NOT the guid; inbound: opcode-only ack, then a fresh CharacterList),
  `CharacterRestore` 0xF7D9 (guid) with response 0xF643, and a
  `CharacterError` 0xF659 parser (currently absent — acdream cannot
  surface any character-stage server error today). Enter-world's
  two-phase handshake (0xF7C8 → 0xF7DF → 0xF657) is already implemented.
- **Open items** carried to the plan: the concrete layout DataID (dump
  enum-table 5 from installed DATs), and whether retail rendered any
  render-loop-level background scene behind the UI (the pseudo-C only
  proves the UI class owns no viewport) — both resolved in the screen
  slice before the user visual gate.
- **Non-goals:** Create Character (own future campaign; the Create button
  exists on the authored screen but is disabled); a login screen ("back"
  exits the client — credentials always arrive via config/env).
- Retail-workflow rules apply: any behavioral deviation ships with its
  divergence-register row in the same commit.

## 8. Plugins & login commands on both hosts

- **Plugin loading** mechanics already live in Core
  (`src/AcDream.Core/Plugins/PluginLoader.cs`, collectible ALC,
  `IPluginHost` from `AcDream.Plugin.Abstractions`). This campaign makes
  the loaded SET session-config-driven on both hosts.
- **Headless plugin host:** an `IPluginHost` implementation over Runtime
  state. UI-only surfaces (`IUiRegistry.AddMarkupPanel`, etc.) become
  explicit no-ops behind a capability flag so plugins can detect headless.
  Contract documented in `Plugin.Abstractions`.
- **Login commands** run *as if typed into chat*: sequentially, with a
  default 500 ms inter-command delay (config-overridable per session),
  starting at entered-world. Failures are logged to the status stream and
  do not abort the session.
- **The parser seam:** chat-string parsing/dispatch (`ChatInputParser`,
  `ChatCommandRouter`, 152-verb `RetailClientCommandCatalog`) lives in
  `AcDream.UI.Abstractions`, unreachable from Headless under the K0
  dependency guard. The campaign extracts the parsing/dispatch CORE to a
  location both hosts reach — Runtime vs a small shared assembly is
  decided in the plan after reading the CH seams. The K0 guard amendment
  is a deliberate, documented change in the same slice. GUI chat behavior
  must be bit-identical before/after the extraction (CH campaign is
  closed and user-accepted; this must not reopen it).

## 9. Installer / updater

- **First-run wizard:** auto-detect DAT directories
  (`%USERPROFILE%\Documents\Asheron's Call`, `C:\Turbine\Asheron's Call`)
  + manual picker; validate the four DAT files; run bake tool 4 with a
  real progress UI (~30 GB read); SHA-verify the pak; record
  `DatDirectory` + `PreparedAssetPath` for session configs.
- **Client install/update:** poll the GitHub Releases feed's
  `manifest.json` (version, per-RID zip URL, SHA-256); download; verify;
  install to `DataDirectory/app/<version>/`; atomic pointer swap
  (`current.json`); never while any session is running; keep the previous
  version for one-step rollback.
- **Launcher self-update:** same feed; staged download; rename-dance swap
  on next start (a running exe can't replace itself on Windows).
- **Feed hosting:** GitHub Releases (user-confirmed). Manifest and zips
  are release assets; the launcher pins the repo/owner in its config.

## 10. Testing

- **Launcher.Core unit tests** (new test project, registered in
  `AcDream.slnx`): profile round-trip + merge, full CRUD operations
  (add/edit/remove servers/accounts/characters surviving save/load),
  session-config composition (including the probe shape), manifest/SHA
  against a local HTTP fixture, process supervision + stdin feed against
  a fake child, self-update staging.
- **Launch contract:** App/Headless suite round-trips — `--session-config`
  → `RuntimeOptions`, stdin credential resolution, status-event writer
  output shape, plugin-set narrowing, login-command execution order.
- **Character-select:** Runtime selection-state tests; authored screen
  exercised by focused App tests (UI Studio no longer exists — deleted at
  Campaign V); visuals settle at the user gate.
- **Headless plugin host:** fixture plugin in the Headless suite
  (load, capability flag, teardown).
- **Connected gates (user-driven):** every launch mode against local ACE
  (gui / guiSelect / headless), the character probe (fresh account →
  refresh → roster appears, and repeated probes leaving no stale ACE
  session), clean-profile first-run wizard end-to-end, staged-manifest
  update swap, character-select visual matrix, delete flow,
  login-commands + plugin observable behavior on both hosts, and
  add-server/add-account flows done purely through the UI.

## 11. Risks / open items for the plan phase

1. Parser-extraction landing spot (Runtime vs shared assembly) — decide
   after reading CH seams; do not regress CH-accepted chat behavior.
2. Current App plugin-loading behavior (what loads today, when) — read
   before wiring the session-driven set.
3. RESOLVED by recon except the concrete root-layout DataID: widget tree +
   behavior symbols are in §7; the DataID hides behind `GetDIDByEnum`
   enum-table 5 (enum `0x10000005`) — dump the table from installed DATs
   in the screen slice.
4. RESOLVED by recon, CORRECTED by the LA7a Opus review (2026-08-14):
   delete = 0xF655 account+slot (ack opcode-only, then fresh
   CharacterList); restore = 0xF7D9 → 0xF643 response; ACE's
   `secondsSincePendingDelete` computes to a constant 1 during the grace
   window (ACE quirk — treat any non-zero as "pending delete", don't
   display it as a countdown). The restore "two extra strings" question
   resolved AGAINST the earlier reading: the PDB-paired binary shows two
   REAL constant-string arguments (the decompiler mangled their
   rendering, not their existence), so retail's request is ≥16 bytes and
   our guid-only 8-byte form is an ADAPTATION — register row AD-97,
   filed with the LA7a fix round. ACE reads only the guid; holtburger
   ships guid-only successfully.
5. Whether retail rendered a render-loop-level background scene behind the
   character-management UI — pseudo-C only proves the UI class owns no
   viewport. Resolve in the screen slice (user memory of retail + the
   visual gate settle it).
6. Bake tool 4 invocation surface from Launcher.Core (in-process reference
   vs child process) — child process preferred to keep Launcher.Core free
   of game-solution references; confirm the tool's CLI is sufficient.
7. `AcDream.Platform` extraction touches K0-family dependency guards —
   amend the guard assertions in the same commit, never loosen silently.
8. Windows profile-file permissions: 0600 is Linux hygiene; Windows keeps
   default user-profile ACLs (no extra hardening — accepted plaintext
   posture).
9. Probe semantics: verify against ACE source (and one live check) that a
   graceful disconnect at the character-list stage leaves no lingering
   account session — the design assumes the landmine is exclusive to
   hard-killed in-world sessions. Also verify ACE's behavior when a probe
   hits an account with an externally-active session (reject vs boot),
   and make the probe's failure path graceful either way.
10. Probe config shape: the headless loader's `JsonRequired` character
    selector + policy need a deliberate relaxation for probe sessions
    only — normal sessions keep strict validation.