acdream/docs/research/2026-08-21-retail-chat-window-ui.md

# Retail chat WINDOW shell — window model, filters, scrollback, chrome

**Date:** 2026-08-21
**Status:** RESEARCH ONLY. No source files touched.
**Scope:** retail's chat window SHELL and DISPLAY behavior — window
management, filtering, scrollback, chrome/interaction, multi-window,
line-composition structure, and other user-visible window mechanics.
**Explicitly out of scope** (covered by sibling research this session):
glyph text-tag coloring, clickable/colored names, tag click dispatch, and
acdream's own current UI code. This document does not re-derive anything
already answered there.

**Primary sources**
- `docs/research/named-retail/acclient_2013_pseudo_c.txt` (Sept 2013 EoR
  build, Binary Ninja pseudo-C, PDB-named)
- `docs/research/named-retail/acclient.h` (verbatim retail struct/enum defs)
- `docs/research/named-retail/symbols.json`

**Notes read first so this extends rather than repeats:**
- `docs/research/2026-08-09-chat-retail-window-shell.md` (CH6 shell research
  — window lifecycle/identity, LayoutDesc geometry, resize model, opacity,
  persistence, multi-window/floaty mechanics). **This document is the
  authority for §1 window-lifecycle mechanics, §4 chrome/resize/opacity, and
  §5 tabs/multi-window — I only summarize its findings below with pointers,
  and add what it doesn't cover:** scrollback/truncation, the exact
  window-ID routing predicate as a single decompiled function, structural
  line-composition order, and the unseen-text/auto-scroll interaction.
- `docs/research/2026-08-09-chat-retail-color-table.md` §4 (filter storage,
  `m_llTextTypeFilter`, `PostInit` seeded defaults) — I summarize and do not
  re-derive; I use its findings to cross-check the routing function decoded
  fresh below.
- `docs/plans/2026-08-09-chat-parity-campaign.md` — Campaign CH plan/ledger.

**Binary-Ninja caveats (apply throughout, per
`claude-memory/feedback_bn_decomp_field_names.md`):** BN's struct-field
attribution in `ChatInterface::PostInit`/`gmMainChatUI::PostInit` is shifted
by one slot relative to the true member order — the window-shell doc already
documented this for the main window's border elements. I hit the same
artifact in `ChatInterface::PostInit`'s `GetChildRecursive` binding sequence
(§1) and resolve it the same way: against the verbatim struct order in
`acclient.h:54898-54912`, which is authoritative and does not shift.

---

## 1. Window model

### 1.1 How many windows, and how they're identified

Confirmed against `acclient.h:54898-54912` (verbatim `ChatInterface`
struct):

```cpp
/* 6041 */
struct __cppobj ChatInterface : gmNoticeHandler, UIElement_Field
{
  unsigned int m_eWindowID;
  float m_fDefaultOpacity;
  float m_fActiveOpacity;
  float m_fCurrentOpacity;
  UIElement_Text *m_chatEntry;
  UIElement_Text *m_chatLog;
  UIElement *m_chatNewNonVisibleTextIndicator;
  unsigned __int64 m_llTextTypeFilter;
  UIElement_Text *m_pChatTargetButtonText;
  PStringBaseArray<unsigned short> m_InputHistory;
  unsigned int m_LastInputHistoryPos;
  ClientCommunicationSystem *m_pCCS;
};
```

Per the window-shell doc §1.2/§4.1 (not re-derived here): **five** live
chat windows exist — the main window (`m_eWindowID == 8`) and four floating
windows (`m_eWindowID == 2..5`). `m_eWindowID == 0` is the **UNAUTHORED
constructor default** (`ChatInterface::ChatInterface @0x004F4550` sets
`this->m_eWindowID = 0;` before `PostInit` reads the real value off the
LayoutDesc attribute `0x1000007E`). All five windows are authored,
always-resident children of the gameplay-UI root — there is no
runtime-allocated window registry (window-shell doc §1.1).

The SpewBox (`gmSpewBoxUI`) is a **separate, unrelated class** — not a
`ChatInterface` subclass, not part of this window-id space (per
`claude-memory/project_chat_digest.md`).

### 1.2 The wire-to-window routing predicate — one function, load-bearing

`ChatInterface::RecvNotice_DisplayFinalStringInfo @0x004F4640` is the single
function every displayed chat line passes through. Its **head** (the routing
decision, before any text is appended) is:

```
004f4640  void __thiscall ChatInterface::RecvNotice_DisplayFinalStringInfo(
              class ChatInterface* this, uint32_t arg2 /*type*/,
              class StringInfo const* arg3 /*body*/,
              class StringInfo const* arg4 /*prefix*/, uint32_t arg5 /*windowId*/)
004f4640  {
004f4640      uint32_t eax_7 = arg5;
004f4652      if (eax_7 == this->m_eWindowID)
004f4652      {
004f467c      label_4f467c:
                  … (appends — see §3/§6) …
004f4652      }
004f4652      else if ((eax_7 == 0 && ChatInterface::TypeIsActive(this, arg2) != 0))
004f4666          goto label_4f467c;
004f4640  }
```

**The predicate is exactly: `windowId == m_eWindowID` OR (`windowId == 0`
AND `TypeIsActive(type)`).** This is an ADDRESS-vs-BROADCAST model, not a
"windows subscribe to a channel" model:

- A line sent with a **specific windowId** (matching an already-open target
  window, e.g. a command whose output is explicitly directed at the window
  that issued it — `m_idCurrentCommandSource` per the color-table doc §4)
  is shown **only** in that one window, unconditionally — the destination
  window's own filter is never consulted for an address-targeted line.
- A line sent with **windowId == 0** ("broadcast") is shown in **every**
  window whose own `TypeIsActive(type)` (i.e. its 64-bit
  `m_llTextTypeFilter`, decoded in the color-table doc §4) says yes. This is
  how the same "Sio says, ..." line can land in the main window and in a
  floating window simultaneously if both have `Speech` enabled.
- **Window id 0 is therefore never itself a *window* — it is the broadcast
  sentinel value on the wire/call parameter, exactly as the window-shell
  doc's goal-window addendum states.** No live `ChatInterface` instance ever
  keeps `m_eWindowID == 0` after `PostInit` runs.

`ChatInterface::TypeIsActive @0x004F2F10` (cited, not re-derived, per the
color-table doc §4) is `(1ULL << type) & m_llTextTypeFilter`.

---

## 2. Filters

**Fully decoded already in `2026-08-09-chat-retail-color-table.md` §4 — not
re-derived here.** Summary for completeness of this document's structure:

- Storage: 64-bit `ChatInterface::m_llTextTypeFilter` (`acclient.h:54907`),
  read from `PlayerModule::InqChatWindowOption(windowId, 0x1000007F, …)`
  (`ChatInterface::UpdateFromPlayerModule @0x004F3920`) and live-updated via
  `RecvNotice_GameplayOptionChanged @0x004F30E0`.
- Test: `ChatInterface::TypeIsActive @0x004F2F10` — `(1ULL << type) &
  m_llTextTypeFilter`, used both for the broadcast-routing predicate (§1.2)
  and, per the color-table doc, nowhere else.
- **`PostInit`'s per-window seeded default** switches on `m_oldState`
  (`ChatInterface::PostInit @0x004F3DD0`, `0x004f3df9`): 1 and 8 (the main
  window) get `0xFBFFFFFF` low-dword (everything except client-local `0x1A`);
  2 (floaty 1) gets Speech/Tell/Speech_Direct_Send/Emote; 3 (floaty 2) gets
  Social/Social_Send/Allegiance; 4 (floaty 3) gets Fellowship; 5 (floaty 4)
  gets the four Turbine rooms General/Trade/LFG/Roleplay. Every default's
  HIGH dword is 0 — Society (`0x20`) and the reserved `0x21` slot start
  disabled in **every** window and must be opted into by the user.
- User edit path: `gmChatOptionsUI::InitOptions @0x0049FC60` /
  `AddCheckboxBitfield64Option @0x0049EDA0` build one checkbox-grid `SetUserData`
  block per window id (main = id 8, with its own dedicated Society checkbox
  child at `0x0049FEFB`).
- Squelching is a **separate axis** from filtering:
  `LogTextTypeEnumMapper::IsLegalChannel @0x006AFF40` whitelists a 14-value
  subset of `LogTextType` as squelchable at all; it has no interaction with
  `m_llTextTypeFilter`.

Nothing new to add here beyond what the color-table doc already covers —
the routing predicate decoded fresh in §1.2 above is a second, independent
confirmation of the same "`windowId==0` → filter-gated broadcast" model that
doc's §4 described from `RecvNotice_DisplayFinalStringInfo`'s citation
alone; this document supplies the full decompiled function body.

---

## 3. Scrollback

### 3.1 The cap, the trigger, and the trim target

Still inside `RecvNotice_DisplayFinalStringInfo @0x004F4640`, immediately
after the body append (full excerpt with the append order in §6):

```
004f4701          int32_t m_chatLog_1 = this->m_chatLog;
004f4711          if (*(uint32_t*)(m_chatLog_1 + 0x61c) > 0x2710)
004f4711          {
004f4713              int32_t var_14_4 = 0x1d4c;
004f471a              m_chatLog_1 = ChatInterface::TruncateChatLog(this, m_chatLog_1);
004f4711          }
```

`0x2710` = **10,000**, `0x1d4c` = **7,500**. The field read at transcript
offset `+0x61C` tracks the transcript's total **character** count (not a
line count) — retail's scrollback limit is a character budget, not a
fixed number of retained lines. **Trigger: transcript exceeds 10,000
characters. Target: trim back down toward ~7,500.** This runs on every
appended line once the log is over budget — it is not a periodic/timed
sweep, it is inline in the same call that just displayed the line.

### 3.2 The truncation rule — trims at a newline boundary, not mid-line

`ChatInterface::TruncateChatLog @0x004F4290` (arg2 = target length, 7500 at
the only call site found):

```
004f4290  void __fastcall ChatInterface::TruncateChatLog(class ChatInterface* this, uint32_t arg2)
004f4290  {
              text = GetText(m_chatLog);           // live PStringBase
              currentLen = text.length;             // *(len_ptr - 4)
004f42c2      if (currentLen <= arg2)
                  return;                            // under budget — no-op
004f42c2      else
              {
004f42c8          excess = currentLen - arg2;        // chars over target
                  … PStringBaseIter_Common<unsigned short>::FindChar(iter, "\n", 1) …
                  // search FORWARD from the excess offset for the next '\n'
004f4350          if (found && (excess - foundPos) < (currentLen / 10))
004f4360              BeheadText(m_chatLog, foundPos + 1, 1);   // cut at that newline
                  else {
                      … FindChar(iter, "\n", 0) …               // search again, other direction arg
004f43f0              if (found2 && (foundPos2 - excess) < (currentLen / 10))
                          goto (the same BeheadText-at-newline path)
004f4403              else
                          BeheadText(m_chatLog, excess, 1);     // fallback: cut at the raw excess offset
              }
004f4290  }
```

Reading this at the BN pseudo-C level is genuinely uncertain past the
overall shape — **flagging per the assignment's constraint rather than
guessing**: the `0xCCCCCCCD` multiply + `HIGHD(...) >> 3` pair is the
standard MSVC constant-division-by-10 idiom (`length / 10`), and the two
`FindChar` calls with a `PStringBase(&data_79c288)` needle (confirmed below,
§3.3, to be a single `\n` character) plus `UIElement_Text::BeheadText` are
unambiguous. **UNKNOWN — needs a live cdb capture with real transcript
content to nail down exactly:** whether the two `FindChar` calls search in
opposite directions from the excess offset (my reading above) or whether
one is a fallback re-search after the first's 10%-tolerance check fails for
a different reason; the two `arg3` values passed to `FindChar` (`1` then
`0`) are almost certainly a direction or "case-sensitive/whole-word" flag,
but the pseudo-C never names the parameter. **What is certain and
sufficient to port:** truncation removes text from the FRONT of the
transcript (`BeheadText`), it PREFERS a boundary within the char that
begins the next `\n`-terminated line rather than a raw char-offset cut
(there's a ~10%-of-current-length tolerance band around the target for
preferring the newline-aligned cut), and it falls back to an exact
char-offset behead only if no acceptable newline is found nearby.

### 3.3 The separator character — confirms `\n`, not `\r\n`

```
0079c280  data_79c280:  0d 00 0a 00 00 00 00 00     // L"\r\n" — used elsewhere, NOT here
0079c288  data_79c288:  0a 00 00 00 00 00 00 00     // L"\n"  — the separator + the TruncateChatLog needle
```

`data_79c288` is passed both as the inter-line separator string appended in
`RecvNotice_DisplayFinalStringInfo` (§6) and as the `FindChar` needle in
`TruncateChatLog` above — confirming truncation genuinely searches for line
breaks, i.e. it is line-boundary-aware even though the budget itself is
counted in characters.

### 3.4 Auto-scroll / "stick to bottom" — `IsAtVerticalEnd` + `ScrollToPosition`

`UIElement_Text::IsAtVerticalEnd @0x00469350`:

```
00469350  uint8_t __fastcall UIElement_Text::IsAtVerticalEnd(class UIElement_Text* this)
00469350  {
              lineCount = this->m_glyphList.m_glyphList._num_elements;
00469359      if (lineCount == 0)
                  return 1;                                   // empty log counts as "at end"
00469360      lastLineIndex = lineCount - 1;
00469369      return UIElement_Text::IsPositionInView(this, &lastLineIndex);
00469350  }
```

**This is not a scroll-offset comparison — it is "is the last line
currently visible inside the viewport right now."** `IsPositionInView` is
the same hit-test the widget uses for click-to-position, applied to the
transcript's own final line.

`RecvNotice_DisplayFinalStringInfo` captures this **before** appending the
new line, then decides what to do with it **after** appending and
truncating:

```
004f46d3          ebx = UIElement_Text::IsAtVerticalEnd(this->m_chatLog);   // BEFORE the new line lands
                   … append prefix, append body, truncate if over budget (§6, §3.1) …
004f4723          if (ebx != 0)
004f4723          {
004f4732              UIElement_Text::ScrollToPosition(m_chatLog, currentLineCount);   // re-stick to the new bottom
004f4739              return;
004f4723          }
004f4723          else
004f473c              this->m_chatNewNonVisibleTextIndicator->vtable->SetState(1);     // flag "unseen text" instead
```

**So: if the user was already looking at the bottom of the log, retail
scrolls the new line into view (sticky-bottom). If the user had scrolled up
into history, retail does NOT move their scroll position at all — it
instead lights the "new unseen text" indicator.** There is no separate
manual "scroll lock" toggle; this automatic per-line check IS retail's
scroll-lock mechanism. `m_chatNewNonVisibleTextIndicator` is a real
`UIElement*` field (`acclient.h:54906`), bound in `PostInit` from element
id `0x1000048C` — the 16×16 button the window-shell doc's layout dump
already placed at (21,62) in the main window and (5,169) in the floaties,
labeled there "new-unseen-text indicator (Button)" from the authored rect
alone; this document supplies the code that drives it.

### 3.5 Clearing the unseen-text flag

`ChatInterface::ListenToElementMessage @0x004F51C0`, click-message case,
`idElement == 0x1000048c`:

```
004f51f1              if (idElement == 0x1000048c)
004f51f1              {
                           if (m_chatEntry_or_chatLog != 0)      // see field-shift caveat below
004f5208                      UIElement_Text::ScrollToPosition(transcript, transcript->lineCount);
004f520d                      indicator->vtable->SetState(0xd);
                       }
```

**Field-attribution caveat:** this function's local variable is BN-named
`m_chatEntry` at the point it calls `ScrollToPosition`, but the object it
scrolls is described by `_num_elements` of its own `m_glyphList` — the
transcript's own line count, not the chat-entry input field's. Combined
with the ctor/struct order (§1.1) and the same-class shift already
documented in the window-shell doc for `PostInit`, the operation this
really performs is: **clicking the unseen-text indicator scrolls the
transcript to its own bottom and resets the indicator's own visual state**
(`SetState(0xd)`, a different state than the "flagged" `SetState(1)` set
when new text arrives while scrolled up) — i.e. clicking it is the user's
manual "catch up" action, and it un-flags itself. **Not independently
re-verified via cdb; treat the exact numeric visual STATE values (1 vs
0xd) as confirmed, but the specific field bound to "which object gets
scrolled to bottom" as inferred from the semantics of `IsAtVerticalEnd`
elsewhere, not a literal read of this function's own variable names.**

---

## 4. Window chrome & interaction

**Fully covered by the window-shell doc §1 and §2–§4 — not re-derived
here.** Summary pointers:

- **Move/resize:** eight authored `UIElement_Resizebar` (type 9) grips per
  window with per-grip bool properties `0x2A`/`0x2B`/`0x2C`/`0x2D`
  (bottom/left/right/top); the main window's plain top edge strip is a
  `UIElement_Dragbar` (type 2, move-only) rather than a ninth resize grip —
  window-shell doc §2.1/§2.3, `UIElement_Resizebar::StartMouseResizing
  @0x0046B7E0`.
- **Docking/anchoring:** none found — windows are free-floating, clamped
  to stay on-screen only at restore time (`gmFloatyMainChatUI::MoveTo
  @0x004D2D10:004d2d53-004d2dbb`).
- **Opacity:** two GLOBAL floats (`Option_DefaultOpacity_Property
  0x10000080` unfocused, `Option_ActiveOpacity_Property 0x10000081`
  focused), applied to the WHOLE composited window surface including text
  via one `SetOpacity` call — window-shell doc §3, `ChatInterface::SetOpacity
  @0x004F3120`. Per-class constructed starting values differ (main window
  1.0/1.0 always-opaque, floaties 0.5/1.0) until a saved option overrides
  them. Retail eases toward the target at 5%-of-delta per tick
  (`ChatInterface::ListenToGlobalMessage @0x004F3840`); acdream currently
  snaps (AP-190, window-shell doc §3.1).
- **Show/hide:** authored elements toggled via `SetVisible`, driven by
  either a keybind (`Alt+1..4` for the floaties) or a generic
  registered-action click dispatch — window-shell doc §1.3/§1.4.
- **Persistence:** two independent paths — the per-window `GameplayOptions`
  blob (position/size/visible/title, gated on `m_eWindowID != 0`, i.e. the
  main window's geometry is NEVER saved this way) and a separate local
  screen-layout text file that IS the only path persisting the main
  window's geometry — window-shell doc §4.

**One piece of chrome not covered by the window-shell doc — the talk-focus
menu (main window only):**

`gmMainChatUI::InitTalkFocusMenu @0x004CDC50` builds a dropdown menu (from
the button/group pair at elements `0x10000014`/`0x10000015`, window-shell
doc §2.1) with a squelch-toggle entry plus 13 target items, each carrying
an `Enum` attribute `0x1000000B` set to a distinct small integer (`1`
through `0xD`) that records which "talk focus" (broadcast target category)
that menu row represents:

```
004cdcd3      this->m_pSquelchToggleButton = UIElement_Menu::AddTextItem(eax_1, &var_90);
… (13x) …
004cdcfb      UIElement::SetAttribute_Enum(eax_3, 0x1000000b, 5);
004cdd07      SmartArray<UIElement_Text *,1>::push_back(&this->m_aTalkFocusButtons, &var_94);
```

`gmMainChatUI::EnableSelection @0x004CE0A0` toggles individual rows'
enabled/greyed state (`SetState(0xd)` when Olthoi-locked); a companion
`RecvNotice_SelectionChanged @0x004CE050` re-syncs the menu's currently
highlighted target whenever the player's WORLD selection changes (via
`ACCWeenieObject::selectedID` and `PublicWeenieDesc::IsTalkable`) — this is
a **world-object selection** feed (F1-click on an NPC), not a transcript
text-tag click, and is out of this document's lane beyond noting that the
main window's talk-focus button exists and is driven from it. Only the
main window has this menu; floaty windows (window-shell doc §2.2) have
neither a talk-focus menu nor a max/min button, only a title bar and close
button.

---

## 5. Tabs / multiple windows

**Fully covered by the window-shell doc §1.1–§1.4, §2, §4.1 — not
re-derived here.** Summary:

- There is no "tab" widget. The five windows (§1.1) are five separate,
  independently positioned/sized/opaque floating panels, not tabs of one
  container.
- **Creation:** none — all five exist from gameplay-UI construction; users
  cannot create additional windows. **Naming:** each floaty window has an
  editable title (`gmFloatyChatUI::SetWindowTitle @0x004CEAA0`, persisted
  option `0x1000008D`) but the SET of windows is fixed at five; there is no
  "new chat tab" affordance analogous to modern MMO UIs. **Closing:**
  floaty windows close via their own title-bar close button
  (`gmFloatyChatUI::ListenToElementMessage @0x004CE330`, element
  `0x1000052A`) or the `Alt+N` toggle; the main window cannot be closed at
  all (no close button is authored on it — window-shell doc §2.1's element
  table has none). **Switching:** there is no focus-cycling shortcut found;
  each window is an independent, simultaneously-visible panel, and
  "switching" only means moving keyboard focus into a different window's
  entry field by clicking it (which is what drives the opacity fade,
  §4/window-shell doc §3).
- **Per-window state:** `m_eWindowID`, `m_llTextTypeFilter` (§2),
  `DefaultOpacity`/`ActiveOpacity` (global, not per-window — window-shell
  doc §3 correction), position/size/visible/title (§4), and the transcript
  itself (`m_chatLog`, independently truncated per §3 — each window keeps
  its own scrollback, so a floaty showing only Tells has its own 10k/7.5k
  character budget separate from the main window's).
- The main window's four indicator buttons (`0x10000522`-`0x10000525`)
  mirror the four floaties' visibility as one-directional state indicators,
  not a tab strip — window-shell doc §1.4.

---

## 6. Timestamps, prefixes, and line composition order

### 6.1 The two-part composition model — confirmed structurally

`ClientSystem::AddTextToScroll @0x00563C50` is where a body string
(`arg2`), a `LogTextType` (`arg3`), a plugin-hook flag (`arg4`) and a
windowId (`arg5`) become the two `StringInfo` arguments
`RecvNotice_DisplayFinalStringInfo` receives. Its structurally relevant
branch (client-local `0x1A` short-circuits both the timestamp AND the local
log file):

```
00563de6      if (arg3 == 0x1a)
00563de6      {
                  // build body-only StringInfo, EMPTY prefix StringInfo
00563f2b          ECM_UI::SendNotice_DisplayFinalStringInfo(arg3, &bodyOnly, &emptyPrefix, windowId);
00563de6      }
00563de6      else
00563de6      {
00563dfb          if (PlayerModule::DisplayTimeStamps(&playerModule) != 0)
00563dfb          {
00563e24              wcsftime(&buf, 0x400, u"%#H:%M:%S ", localtime(&now));   // "H:MM:SS " — no date, trailing space
00563e39              PStringBase<unsigned short>::set(&prefixBuffer, &buf);
00563dfb          }
                   … if (s_pLogFile) fprintf(s_pLogFile, "%ls%ls\n", prefixBuffer, bodyBuffer);   // §7.4
              }
```

**There is exactly ONE structural prefix element: the timestamp, and it is
entirely optional (gated on `PlayerModule::DisplayTimeStamps()`, a
character option toggle backed by `PlayerModule::options2_` bit 6 —
`PlayerModule::DisplayTimeStamps @0x005D39B0`: `return (options2_ >> 6) &
1`).** There is **no separate structural "channel name" prefix element**
(`[Fellowship]`, `[<name>]`, etc.) anywhere in this function or in
`RecvNotice_DisplayFinalStringInfo`. Channel-name brackets that DO appear
in retail's transcript (documented already, by content not structure, in
the color-table doc §3.3's channel-bit table) are baked directly into the
`arg2` body string by the SENDING handler (e.g.
`Handle_Communication__ChannelBroadcast`) before it ever reaches
`AddTextToScroll` — from this function's point of view there are only ever
two composed parts: prefix (timestamp-or-empty) and body.

### 6.2 The append order — separator, then prefix, then body

Back in `RecvNotice_DisplayFinalStringInfo @0x004F4640` (full body, per the
excerpts in §1.2/§3.1/§3.4 stitched together in call order):

```
004f467c          if (this->m_chatLog->m_glyphList.m_glyphList._num_elements > 0)
004f4687          {
004f469a              UIElement_Text::AppendTextWithFont(this->m_chatLog, L"\n", 0, arg2 /*type*/);
004f467c          }                                                        // 1. separator (skipped on the very first line)
004f46d3          ebx = UIElement_Text::IsAtVerticalEnd(this->m_chatLog);   // captured BEFORE any of the below
004f46dc          if (StringInfo::IsValid(arg4, 1) != 0)
004f46e9              UIElement_Text::AppendStringInfoWithFont(this->m_chatLog, arg4 /*prefix*/, 0, 0xc);
                                                                             // 2. timestamp prefix — ALWAYS color idx 0x0C (grey), only if valid/non-empty
004f46fc          UIElement_Text::AppendStringInfoWithFont(this->m_chatLog, arg3 /*body*/, 0, arg2 /*type*/);
                                                                             // 3. body — colored by the wire LogTextType
```

**Fixed structural order: `[\n if not first line] → [timestamp, if
enabled] → [body]`.** The leading separator is a property of the LOG
(inserted once per new entry, before the entry, so the transcript never
starts with a blank line), not a property of the entry itself — a port that
appends `body + "\n"` per-line instead of `"\n" + body` will still LOOK
identical on screen but will behave differently under `TruncateChatLog`'s
newline-boundary search (§3.2) and under `IsAtVerticalEnd` line-counting
(§3.4) if the two approaches disagree at the very first/last line. The
color assignment itself is the color-table doc's territory (not re-derived
here) — the load-bearing NEW fact this document adds is the *order* and
that the timestamp is unconditionally color index `0x0C` regardless of the
body's own type, which the color-table doc §3.2 already states from the
same address; this document supplies the surrounding append sequence and
confirms the timestamp's StringInfo is `arg4`, always appended strictly
BEFORE the body `arg3`, never interleaved or after.

### 6.3 Timestamp format, verbatim

`u"%#H:%M:%S "` fed to `wcsftime` — hour without a leading zero, minute,
second, **no date**, one trailing space baked into the format string
(explaining why no separate space-insertion code exists between prefix and
body — the prefix string itself carries its own trailing separator).

---

## 7. Other user-visible window behaviors

### 7.1 Local session log file — a port would miss this

`ClientSystem::s_pLogFile` — a plain-text file retail writes chat lines to
during the session, independent of the on-screen transcript's 10k/7.5k
character budget (§3.1) or any window's filter (§2). Written from the same
`AddTextToScroll` branch that builds the on-screen timestamp (§6.1):

```
00563e5b          fprintf(ClientSystem::s_pLogFile, "%ls%ls\n", prefixBuffer, bodyBuffer);
```

Client-local type `0x1A` text (§6.1's short-circuit branch) explicitly
bypasses this — client-local errors/refusals never reach the log file,
only the on-screen transcript. **UNKNOWN — needs further grep:** the log
file's path/naming convention and whether it rotates per-session or
per-character; not chased further as it's a filesystem-artifact question
more than a window-UI one, but flagged because "retail also writes a
plain-text chat log to disk" is exactly the kind of behavior a UI-only port
would miss entirely.

### 7.2 Unread/unseen marker — confirmed, see §3.4/§3.5

The `0x1000048C` "new unseen text" indicator button IS retail's unread
marker. It is per-window (each `ChatInterface` owns its own
`m_chatNewNonVisibleTextIndicator`), lights when a broadcast/addressed line
arrives while the user has scrolled away from the bottom, and clears when
the user clicks it (which also snaps the transcript back to its bottom).
There is no separate "flash the window" or "flash the taskbar/app icon" —
`FlashWindow`/`FlashWindowEx` do not appear anywhere in the pseudo-C dump
(checked via a whole-file grep; zero hits).

### 7.3 Sound cues on incoming chat — UNKNOWN, likely none dedicated

A targeted grep for `PlaySound`/`SoundManager::Play*` near the
`Handle_Communication__HearDirectSpeech @0x005715A0` (incoming tell) handler
body found no sound-manager call inside it, and no `Sound_*`-named constant
resembling "tell received" or "chat" turned up in the identifiers swept.
The one chat-adjacent audio-related symbol found is a **global** preference
— `Sound_PlaySoundOnlyWhenActive` / `ID_Sound_NoFocusNoSound`
(`UIPreferences::AttachPreference @0x004037E4`,
`SoundManager::PlaySoundInternal @0x0054FEC0` checks
`SoundManager::s_bPlaySoundOnlyWhenActive` against `Device::m_bIsActiveApp`)
— which mutes ALL UI sounds (not specifically chat) when the game window
isn't the active app. **UNKNOWN — needs a deeper sweep or a live cdb
capture on an incoming tell**: this document did not find a chat-specific
sound cue, but a negative grep result over a 66 MB pseudo-C dump is weak
evidence of absence given how many code paths route through indirect
vtable calls the text search can't follow. Flagging rather than asserting
"retail has no tell sound."

### 7.4 Copy/paste and text selection — a base `UIElement_Text` capability

`UIElement_Text::GetSelection @0x00466F20` and `UIElement_Text::SelectAll
@0x004678D0` exist as capabilities of the general text-widget class that
BOTH the chat entry field (`m_chatEntry`) and the read-only transcript
(`m_chatLog`) are instances of (`acclient.h:54904-54905`, both typed
`UIElement_Text*`). `SelectAll`'s call sites found are mostly OTHER
text-entry fields (a character-name box, a stack-size entry box) triggered
by a "select-all-on-first-click" attribute (`UIElement::GetAttribute_Bool(this,
0xd1, ...)` inside `UIElement_Text::MouseDown @0x00469370`), not anything
chat-specific. **UNKNOWN — not independently confirmed for the read-only
transcript specifically:** whether the transcript panel exposes the SAME
click-drag-select-then-copy affordance as the entry field, or whether it is
flagged read-only in a way that suppresses selection; the class-level
capability clearly exists on the type, but no chat-transcript-specific
selection code path was located distinct from the generic `UIElement_Text`
mouse-down handler already cited. Worth a live-client check (select text in
the retail transcript, see if a selection highlight appears) rather than
further static digging.

### 7.5 What's genuinely absent

- No `FlashWindow` anywhere in the binary (§7.2).
- No docking/snapping between chat windows or to screen edges — the
  window-shell doc's resize/move research found only free-floating
  clamped-on-restore positioning (§4).
- No tab strip / tabbed-window container (§5) — five independent panels,
  not a tab model.
- No manual "scroll lock" toggle — the auto-scroll behavior in §3.4 IS the
  scroll-lock mechanism, driven automatically by `IsAtVerticalEnd`, with no
  user-facing on/off switch found.

---

## Behaviours acdream is most likely missing

Ordered by how load-bearing each gap looks against `RuntimeCommunicationState`
(`docs/research/2026-07-26-slice-j4-1-communication-state.md`) and
`ChatWindowController` as of this session:

1. **Scrollback truncation entirely.** No 10,000-char trigger / ~7,500-char
   target / newline-boundary-preferring trim (§3.1–§3.3) appears to exist in
   acdream today — grep `TruncateChatLog`-equivalent behavior in
   `ChatLog`/`ChatWindowController` before assuming an unbounded transcript
   is fine; it will diverge from retail under long play sessions (memory
   growth) and, more subtly, under the exact wrap point if a port ever needs
   pixel/line parity with a retail screenshot at high message volume.
2. **The auto-scroll / stick-to-bottom vs. flag-unseen-instead split
   (§3.4–§3.5).** This is a genuine behavioral fork, not a cosmetic one: a
   naive port that ALWAYS scrolls to bottom on new text will yank the user's
   scroll position out from under them mid-read whenever a broadcast line
   arrives — exactly the annoyance retail's `IsAtVerticalEnd` check exists to
   prevent. Confirm `ChatWindowController` checks "was I at the bottom
   before this line landed" before auto-scrolling, and confirm the
   `0x1000048C` unseen-indicator element (window-shell doc's layout dump
   already has its rect for both window layouts) is wired to light up +
   clear via click exactly as §3.4/§3.5 describe.
3. **The window-ID routing predicate as ONE explicit rule (§1.2).** The
   color-table doc already flags the routing behavior; this document adds
   the exact decompiled shape. Verify `RuntimeCommunicationState`'s chat
   windows model (per the CH6c plan in the window-shell doc §6.1) implements
   precisely `windowId == m_eWindowID || (windowId == 0 && TypeIsActive)` —
   not, e.g., "every window with the type enabled shows every line
   regardless of address," which would make addressed command-output lines
   leak into windows they were never meant for.
4. **Structural composition order (§6.2)** — separator-before-entry (not
   after), timestamp-before-body, timestamp always present-or-absent as a
   single unit gated on one option bit. A port that concatenates
   `timestamp + " " + body` as one string loses retail's separately-colored,
   separately-truncatable prefix run and the option-driven all-or-nothing
   presence.
5. **The local session chat-log file (§7.1).** Small, but "retail writes a
   plain-text transcript to disk every session" is the kind of feature users
   notice is missing only when they go looking for it after the fact.
6. **Per-window independent scrollback.** Once §1 is implemented, confirm
   each of the five windows truncates its OWN transcript independently
   (§5) rather than sharing one global buffer — a floaty window filtered
   down to just Tells should never truncate early just because the main
   window's transcript is huge.
7. **Sound cues and transcript text-selection are open questions, not
   confirmed gaps** (§7.3, §7.4) — do not build negative-result "retail has
   none of this" code around them; re-check live if/when they become
   relevant.