Ports retail's ParticleEmitterInfo / Particle::Init / Particle::Update
(0x005170d0..0x0051d400) and PhysicsScript runtime to a C# data-layer
plus a Silk.NET billboard renderer. Sky-PES path is debug-only behind
ACDREAM_ENABLE_SKY_PES because named-retail decomp confirms GameSky
copies SkyObject.pes_id but never reads it (CreateDeletePhysicsObjects
0x005073c0, MakeObject 0x00506ee0, UseTime 0x005075b0).
Post-review fixes folded into this commit:
H1: AttachLocal (is_parent_local=1) follows live parent each frame.
ParticleSystem.UpdateEmitterAnchor + ParticleHookSink.UpdateEntityAnchor
let the owning subsystem refresh AnchorPos every tick — matches
ParticleEmitter::UpdateParticles 0x0051d2d4 which re-reads the live
parent frame when is_parent_local != 0. Drops the renderer-side
cameraOffset hack that only worked when the parent was the camera.
H3: Strip the long stale comment in GfxObjMesh.cs that contradicted the
retail-faithful (1 - translucency) opacity formula. The code was
right; the comment was a leftover from an earlier hypothesis and
would have invited a wrong "fix".
M1: SkyRenderer tracks textures whose wrap mode it set to ClampToEdge
and restores them to Repeat at end-of-pass, so non-sky renderers
that share the GL handle can't silently inherit clamped wrap state.
M2: Post-scene Z-offset (-120m) only fires when the SkyObject is
weather-flagged AND bit 0x08 is clear, matching retail
GameSky::UpdatePosition 0x00506dd0. The old code applied it to
every post-scene object — a no-op today (every Dereth post-scene
entry happens to be weather-flagged) but a future post-scene-only
sun rim would have been pushed below the camera.
M4: ParticleSystem.EmitterDied event lets ParticleHookSink prune dead
handles from the per-entity tracking dictionaries, fixing a slow
leak where naturally-expired emitters' handles stayed in the
ConcurrentBag forever during long sessions.
M5: SkyPesEntityId moves the post-scene flag bit to 0x08000000 so it
can't ever overlap the object-index range. Synthetic IDs stay in
the reserved 0xFxxxxxxx space.
New tests (ParticleSystemTests + ParticleHookSinkTests):
- UpdateEmitterAnchor_AttachLocal_ParticlePositionFollowsLiveAnchor
- UpdateEmitterAnchor_AttachLocalCleared_ParticleFrozenAtSpawnOrigin
- EmitterDied_FiresOncePerHandle_AfterAllParticlesExpire
- Birthrate_PerSec_EmitsOnePerTickWhenIntervalElapsed (retail-faithful
single-emit-per-frame behavior)
- UpdateEntityAnchor_WithAttachLocal_MovesParticleToLiveAnchor
- EmitterDied_PrunesPerEntityHandleTracking
dotnet build green, dotnet test green: 695 / 393 / 243 = 1331 passed
(up from 1325).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
5.1 KiB
2026-04-28 Sky Cloud Material Trace
Context: Phase C.1 originally treated the Rainy/Cloudy sky visual as a SkyObject PES problem. Retail named-decomp and dat inspection disprove that for the broad cloud/ray layer.
Retail Trace
LScape::draw(0x00506330) callsGameSky::Draw(0)before terrain andGameSky::Draw(1)after terrain.SkyDesc::GetSkycopiespes_id, butGameSky::CreateDeletePhysicsObjectscompares/replaces onlygfx_idand callsGameSky::MakeObject(gfx_id, ...). The sky object PES id is not part of retailGameSkyrendering.GameSky::UseTimeapplies keyframe replace fields to instantiated sky objects:0x005076e1:CPhysicsObj::SetLuminosity(luminosity * 0.01)0x00507715:CPhysicsObj::SetDiffusion(max_bright * 0.01)0x00507747:CPhysicsObj::SetTranslucency(transparent * 0.01)
CMaterial::SetTranslucencySimple(0x005396f0) writes material alpha as1 - translucency.CMaterial::SetDiffuseSimple(0x00539750) writes material diffuse RGB. ThereforeSkyObjectReplace.MaxBrightis diffuse, not an emissive cap.D3DPolyRender::SetSurface(0x0059c4d0) disables fixed-function fog alpha whenever the rawSurfaceType.Additivebit is set (0x0059c882), even when the earlierTranslucent + ClipMapbranch forces normal alpha blending.
Dat Trace
The broad Rainy/Cloudy layer is GfxObj 0x01004C35, not one of the tiny
0x020xxxxx setup anchors:
0x01004C35: huge sky mesh, bbox roughly20175 x 20175 x 1180, UVs tile across the sheet.- Surface
0x08000023:Base1ClipMap | Translucent | Alpha | Additive(0x00010114),Translucency=0.25,Luminosity=0,Diffuse=1. - Texture
0x060037AF: 256x256 A8R8G8B8 cloud/ray texture.
The setup ids observed in Rainy groups (0x02000588, 0x02000589,
0x02000BA6, 0x02000714) are one-part dummy anchors with tiny 0x010001EC
geometry and default scripts/PES for sounds/flashes. They are not the broad
cloud layer.
Port Consequences
- Keep per-SkyObject PES rendering debug-only until another retail path proves it is used.
- Render
0x08000023as final alpha blend because retail's translucent/clipmap branch overrides the raw additive blend. - Still disable sky fog for that surface because retail keys fog-alpha disable
off the raw
Additivebit. - Route
MaxBrightto diffuse (uDiffuseFactor) andLuminosityto emissive. - Use a final opacity multiplier for material/surface transparency before the
fragment alpha write; dynamic keyframe transparency remains
1 - value.
WorldBuilder Cross-Check
Cloned upstream https://github.com/Chorizite/WorldBuilder.git at commit
167788be6fce65f5ebe79eef07a0b7d28bd7aa81. Its
Chorizite.OpenGLSDLBackend/Lib/SkyboxRenderManager.cs renders sky objects
camera-centered with depth off, but it is not a faithful retail oracle for sky
tint: GameScene.cs has the skybox render call commented out, the manager
always selects DayGroups[0], and it uploads SunlightColor = Vector3.Zero
/ AmbientColor = Vector3.One for sky. RegionInfo.cs interpolates
DayGroup[0] lighting for terrain/world objects, not the active retail
DayGroup/weather sky.
That explains why WorldBuilder cannot answer the missing green/purple Rainy
sky tint directly. The actionable lesson is narrower: do not fog-paint the
raw-additive cloud sheet itself. In acdream, non-additive sky layers now receive
the keyframe fog tint so the broad background wash appears behind clouds, while
surfaces with the raw Additive bit (notably 0x08000023) keep fixed-function
fog disabled and preserve the pink cloud/ray detail.
WorldBuilder's regular object path does collect Setup.DefaultScript
particle hooks (ObjectMeshManager.CollectEmittersFromScript) and instantiates
them via ObjectRenderManagerBase, but its skybox manager does not use that
setup/particle path for SkyObjects. Dat inspection also showed the canonical
Rainy default script target 0x3300042C is a sound-loop chain (SoundTweaked
CallPES), not the broad green tint or cloud ray layer.
Additional renderer lessons from upstream WorldBuilder:
- Particle blend is material-derived.
ParticleEmitterInfodoes not carry an additive flag; WorldBuilder readsObjectRenderData.Batches[0].IsAdditivefrom the particle GfxObj surface. acdream now leaves DAT emitters non-additive by default and resolves particle blend from the selected particle surface. - Particles must be globally sorted back-to-front before drawing. Sorting only inside per-texture dictionaries can reorder translucent particles whenever multiple textures/blend states are active.
- Particle quads come from the authored particle GfxObj bounds. Degenerate
extents fall back to
1.0, and point-sprite degrade mode applies a0.9base scale. - Texture decoding must try highres
RenderSurfacerecords after portal lookup and must zero alpha for black pixels on compressed clipmap textures. - WorldBuilder tracks UV wrap and cull mode per object batch. acdream's sky path already uses authored UV wrap, but shared object rendering still needs the same metadata carried through a later C.4 pass.