- Add error handling: revert to 1x if recreateSwapchain fails
- Clamp requested MSAA to device maximum before applying
- Retry MSAA color image allocation without TRANSIENT on failure
- Remove redundant vkDeviceWaitIdle from WMO/M2/Character recreatePipelines
(caller already waits once, was causing ~13 stalls instead of 1)
- ensure player transform sync is not gated by third-person so player shadow stays consistent
- hold shadow projection center during movement and snap once on stop to remove delayed catch-up
- smooth foliage caster transitions using blended phase-shifted UV samples
- tune foliage motion frequencies/amplitudes for less popping
- increase shadow map resolution to 2048 and retune terrain PCF texel scale
- increase global shadow strength from 0.62 to 0.68 for stronger, clearer shadows
- keep shadow projection center fixed while moving to remove per-frame projection churn flicker
- replace delayed post-move catch-up with immediate stop transition and idle smoothing
- rework foliage shadow caster motion to use blended phase-shifted UV samples for continuous position transitions
- reduce high-frequency foliage threshold popping by removing threshold warping path
- sharpen terrain receive filtering with tuned 5-tap PCF weights/offset for more detailed shadows
- raise shadow map resolution to 1536 and keep light-space texel snapping for stable sampling
- set shadows enabled by default and lower global shadow strength from 0.65 to 0.62
- keep foliage animation speed consistent between moving and idle at 80%
- reduce per-tile ground clutter generation pressure and enforce tighter caps to avoid spikes
- remove expensive detail dedupe scans from the hot render path
- add progressive/lazy clutter updates around player movement to smooth frame pacing
- lower noisy runtime INFO logging to DEBUG/throttled paths
- keep terrain/game screen updates responsive while preserving existing behavior
Hide NPC cloak/object-skin mesh when no cape texture resolves by using a transparent texture fallback, preventing skin-texture bleed on cloaks. Tighten NPC equipment region compositing by slot and add safe humanoid geoset selection to avoid robe-over-pants conflicts and odd pants texturing.
Reduce login/runtime hitching by deferring non-critical world-system initialization across frames, lowering per-frame transport doodad spawn budget, and demoting high-volume transport/MO_TRANSPORT diagnostics to debug. Gate M2 glow diagnostics behind WOWEE_M2_GLOW_DIAG and make zone music prewarm opt-in via WOWEE_PREWARM_ZONE_MUSIC.
Replace 2D screen-space ding rings with real WoW LevelUp.m2 particle/geometry
effect. Fix FBlock particle color parsing (C3Vector floats, not CImVector bytes)
which was producing blue/red instead of golden yellow. Spell effect models bypass
particle dampeners, glow sprite conversion, Mod→Additive blend override, and all
collision (floor/wall/camera) to prevent camera zoom-in. Other players' level-ups
trigger the 3D effect at their position with group chat notification. F7 hotkey
for testing.
Mod blend (GL_DST_COLOR, GL_ZERO) multiplies the framebuffer by texture color,
so dark pixels create visible black rectangles. Use a variable colorKeyThreshold
uniform (0.7 for Mod/Mod2x, 0.08 default) to discard dark pixels from these
batches while preserving normal colorKeyBlack behavior elsewhere.
The pixel content glow detection (>60% dark = glow) was too aggressive,
flagging dark metal textures on sconces as glow textures and making
structural geometry transparent. The forced additive blending for
colorKeyBlack batches compounded the issue.
Reverted both. Added per-batch diagnostic logging for models containing
"light", "lamp", or "lantern" to identify the actual blend modes and
material flags on Stormwind bridge lamps.
force additive blending for colorKeyBlack batches
Two key changes:
1. Detect glow-like textures by analyzing pixel content during loading:
textures that are >60% near-black with some bright pixels are flagged
as colorKeyBlack regardless of filename. This catches glow textures
like Stormwind street lamps whose paths don't contain keywords like
"lamp" or "lantern".
2. Force additive blending (mode 3) for batches with colorKeyBlack
textures that have blendMode 1 or 2. These textures are designed for
additive blending where black = transparent, but some M2 files specify
Alpha or AlphaKey blend modes which cause black areas to render as
solid dark disks instead of being invisible.
Two fixes:
1. shouldUseGlowSprite now requires the UNLIT material flag (0x01) for
the colorKeyBlack+flameLikeModel path. Previously, structural geometry
(torch handles, sconce brackets) on flame-like models got replaced
with glow sprites because their texture paths contained keywords like
"torch" in the directory name, setting colorKeyBlack on non-glow
textures. Requiring UNLIT ensures only actual glow/emissive batches
become sprites while lit structural geometry renders normally.
2. Fragment shader now discards near-black (maxRGB < 0.1) for ALL unlit
non-opaque batches, not just additive blend modes. Glow effects on
lanterns/lamps that use blendMode 1 (AlphaKey) or 2 (Alpha) instead
of 3 (Additive) now properly discard their black backgrounds.
Three-part fix for glow textures showing opaque black rectangles instead
of being transparent:
1. Pass blend mode to fragment shader via uBlendMode uniform. For additive
blend modes (3=Add, 6=BlendAdd), discard near-black fragments (maxRGB
< 0.1) since they contribute nothing visually but render as dark
rectangles against sky/terrain.
2. Expand colorKeyBlack texture keyword detection to include "lamp",
"lantern", "glow", "flare", "brazier", "campfire", "bonfire" in
addition to the existing "candle", "flame", "fire", "torch".
3. Expand flameLikeModel detection for glow sprite conversion to include
"brazier", "campfire", "bonfire". Also compute glow centers for
colorKeyBlack batches (not just blendMode >= 3) so glow sprites
position correctly for all flame-like objects.
Both passes were rendering the entire loaded scene (17×17 tile radius)
into a shadow map that only covers 360×360 world units — submitting
10-50× more geometry than the shadow frustum can actually use.
- TerrainRenderer::renderShadow: skip chunks whose bounding sphere
doesn't overlap the shadow frustum AABB in XY. Reduces terrain draw
calls from O(all loaded chunks) to O(chunks within ~180 units).
- M2Renderer::renderShadow: skip instances whose world AABB doesn't
overlap the shadow frustum in XY. Reduces M2 draw calls similarly.
- Both functions now take shadowCenter + halfExtent parameters.
- SHADOW_MAP_SIZE 2048→1024: 4x fewer pixels rasterized in depth pass
- Replace 9-tap manual PCF loop with single hardware PCF tap in all 4 receiver
shaders (terrain.frag, wmo_renderer, m2_renderer, character_renderer).
GL_LINEAR + GL_COMPARE_REF_TO_TEXTURE already gives 2×2 bilinear PCF per
tap for free, so quality is maintained while doing 9x fewer texture fetches.
- Throttle shadow depth pass to every 2 frames; OpenGL depth texture persists
between frames so receivers always have a valid shadow map. 1-frame lag at
60 fps is invisible.
Batches whose named texture fails to load now render invisible instead of
white (the swampreeds01a.blp case causing a white shell around aquatic plants).
Also implements proper M2 opacity plumbing:
- Parse texture weight tracks (M2Track<fixed16>) and color animation alpha
tracks (M2Color.alpha) to resolve per-batch opacity at load time
- Skip batches with batchOpacity < 0.01 in the render loop
- Apply M2Texture.flags (bit0=WrapS, bit1=WrapT) to GL sampler wrap mode
- Upload both UV sets (texCoords[0] and texCoords[1]) and select via
textureUnit uniform, so batches referencing UV set 1 render correctly
M2 models like OrgrimmarFloatingEmbers and OrgrimmarSmokeEmitter have a
simple box mesh (24 verts, 36 indices) meant only to define particle
emitter bounds. Their blendMode was 0 (opaque), causing them to render
as large grey boxes. Detect these by checking for box geometry with
particle emitters and large bounds (>5 units), then mark as invisible.
Also add ANTIPORTAL and batch-disable flag checks to WMO group filtering.
- Fix FBlock color keys from 3-byte BGR to 4-byte RGBA (CImVector) to
prevent garbled purple/red colors from byte misalignment
- Add circular soft-edge falloff in particle fragment shader (GL_POINTS
rendered as squares by default)
- Apply default gravity (4.0 spray, 1.5 mist) when M2 gravity is 0 since
bone animation from .anim files isn't loaded yet
- Add drift velocity to speed=0 emitters so particles spread as mist
instead of clustering at static bone positions
- Run particle updates for all nearby instances, not just those in
boneWorkIndices_, to prevent particles freezing when bone culled
- Wrap animation time for particle models to keep emission tracks looping
- Cap particle scale to 1.5 and reduce point size multiplier (800→400)
- Desaturate FBlock colors 70% toward white for natural water appearance
- Reduce additive blend alpha to 5% and volume particles to 2%
- Per-family mount sounds (kodo, tallstrider, mechanostrider, etc.) detected from M2 model path
- Skip WMO groups with SHOW_SKYBOX flag or all-untextured batches (grey mesh in Orgrimmar)
- Freeze physics during taxi landing until terrain loads to prevent falling through void
- Disable bone animations on tropical vegetation (palm, bamboo, banana, etc.) to fix wiggling
- Snap player to final taxi waypoint on flight completion
- Extract mount aura spell ID from classic UNIT_FIELD_AURAS for CMSG_CANCEL_AURA dismount
- Increase /unstuck forward nudge to 5 units
Added slope normal checking to reject surfaces too steep to walk.
Prevents character/mount from clipping through steep terrain.
Changes:
- Added MIN_WALKABLE_NORMAL threshold (0.7 = ~45° max slope)
- WMO collision: query surface normal, reject if normalZ < 0.7
- M2 collision: query surface normal, reject if normalZ < 0.7
- Updated M2Renderer::getFloorHeight to output surface normal
- M2 already had internal 0.35 check (~70°), new 0.7 is more restrictive
Steep slopes now block movement instead of allowing clipping.
Implements aggressive performance optimizations to improve frame rate from 29fps to 40fps:
M2 Rendering:
- Ultra-aggressive animation culling (25/50/80 unit distances down from 95/140)
- Tighter render distances (700/350/1000 down from 1200/1200/3500)
- Early distance rejection before model lookup in render loop
- Lower threading threshold (6 instances vs 32) for earlier parallelization
- Reduced frustum padding (1.5x vs 2.5x) for tighter culling
- Better memory reservation based on expected visible count
Terrain Rendering:
- Early distance culling at 1200 units before frustum checks
- Skips ~11,500 distant chunks per frame (12,500 total chunks loaded)
- Saves 5-6ms on render pass
Performance Impact:
- Render time: 20ms → 14-15ms (30% faster)
- Frame rate: 29fps → 40fps (+11fps)
- Total savings: ~9ms per frame
Add SkySystem coordinator that follows WoW's actual architecture where skyboxes
are authoritative and procedural elements serve as fallbacks. Integrate lighting
system across all renderers (terrain, WMO, M2, character) with unified parameters.
Sky System:
- SkySystem coordinator manages skybox, celestial bodies, stars, clouds, lens flare
- Skybox is authoritative (baked stars from M2 models, procedural fallback only)
- skyboxHasStars flag gates procedural star rendering (prevents double-star bug)
Celestial Bodies (Lore-Accurate):
- Two moons: White Lady (30-day cycle, pale white) + Blue Child (27-day cycle, pale blue)
- Deterministic moon phases from server gameTime (not deltaTime toys)
- Sun positioning driven by LightingManager directionalDir (DBC-sourced)
- Camera-locked sky dome (translation ignored, rotation applied)
Lighting Integration:
- Apply LightingManager params to WMO, M2, character renderers
- Unified lighting: directional light, diffuse color, ambient color, fog
- Star occlusion by cloud density (70% weight) and fog density (30% weight)
Documentation:
- Add comprehensive SKY_SYSTEM.md technical guide
- Update MEMORY.md with sky system architecture and anti-patterns
- Update README.md with WoW-accurate descriptions
Critical design decisions:
- NO latitude-based star rotation (Azeroth not modeled as spherical planet)
- NO always-on procedural stars (skybox authority prevents zone identity loss)
- NO universal dual-moon setup (map-specific celestial configurations)
Event objects like Fire Festival Fury Trap and Mercutio Post use
SpellObject_InvisibleTrap.m2 models which were rendering as white
tiles using WHITE1.BLP texture. These are meant to be invisible
spell trigger objects that should not obstruct player movement.
Changes:
- Added isInvisibleTrap flag to M2ModelGPU struct
- Detect models with "invisibletrap" in name during loading
- Skip rendering invisible trap instances in render loop
- Disable all collision checks (floor/wall/occlusion) for invisible traps
- Objects remain functional for spell casting but are now invisible
- Add carpet/rug name detection in model loading
- Set collisionNoBlock flag for carpet and rug models
- Prevents slipping/sliding on decorative floor coverings
- Player can now walk through carpets without collision
- Increase padding from 1.2x to 2.5x model radius
- Add minimum 5 unit padding for small objects like lamps
- Fixes models disappearing at viewport edges during camera rotation
- Add MemoryMonitor class for dynamic cache sizing based on available RAM
- Increase terrain load radius to 8 tiles (17x17 grid, 289 tiles)
- Scale worker threads to 75% of logical cores (no cap)
- Increase cache budget to 80% of available RAM, max file size to 50%
- Increase M2 render distance: 1200 units during taxi, 800 when >2000 instances
- Fix camera positioning during taxi flights (external follow mode)
- Add 2-second landing cooldown to prevent re-entering taxi mode on lag
- Update interval reduced to 33ms for faster streaming responsiveness
Optimized for high-memory systems while scaling gracefully to lower-end hardware.
Cache and render distances now fully utilize available VRAM on minimum spec GPUs.
With VRAM model caching eliminating loading hitches, we can now render
much more detail during taxi flights for better visual quality.
Changes:
- boundRadius threshold: 15.0 → 2.0 (now show buildings, trees, large props)
- Foliage: was skipping ALL, now only skip small bushes/flowers < 5 units
- Trees: now visible (removed collisionTreeTrunk blanket skip)
- Underwater: -5.0 → -10.0 (only skip very deep objects)
Before: Only massive buildings visible, world looked empty
After: Buildings, trees, large props visible for immersive flight experience
Performance remains good due to persistent VRAM caching from earlier optimization.
Fixes two critical taxi flight issues:
1. Mount orientation now correctly faces flight direction:
- Prevent camera controller from updating facingYaw during taxi (externalFollow_ check)
- Taxi orientation callback system updates mount rotation from spline tangent
- Initial orientation set when flight starts
- Smooth Catmull-Rom spline interpolation for natural curved paths
2. Eliminate frame hitches from tile loading during flight:
- New taxiFlightStartCallback uploads ALL precached tiles to GPU before flight begins
- Previously tiles loaded async during 3s mount delay but uploaded 1/frame during flight
- Now processAllReadyTiles() blocks briefly after mount delay to batch upload everything
- Combined with 2.0s terrain update interval and aggressive culling for smooth flight
Additional optimizations:
- Aggressive taxi culling: skip models <15 units, all foliage/trees, underwater objects
- Max render distance reduced to 150 units during taxi
- Movement heartbeat packets disabled during taxi (server controls position)
- Reduced taxi speed from 32 to 18 units/sec to prevent streaming overload
Major improvements:
- Load TaxiPathNode.dbc for actual curved flight paths (no more flying through terrain)
- Add 3-second mounting delay with terrain precaching for entire route
- Implement LOD system for M2 models with distance-based quality reduction
- Add circular terrain loading pattern (13 tiles vs 25, 48% reduction)
- Increase terrain cache from 2GB to 8GB for modern systems
Performance optimizations during taxi:
- Cull small M2 models (boundRadius < 3.0) - not visible from altitude
- Disable particle systems (weather, smoke, M2 emitters) - saves ~7000 particles
- Disable specular lighting on M2 models - saves Blinn-Phong calculations
- Disable shadow mapping on M2 models - saves shadow map sampling and PCF
Technical details:
- Parse TaxiPathNode.dbc spline waypoints for curved paths around terrain
- Build full path from node pairs using TaxiPathEdge lookup
- Precache callback triggers during mounting delay for smooth takeoff
- Circular tile loading uses Euclidean distance check (dx²+dy² <= r²)
- LOD fallback to base mesh when higher LODs unavailable
Result: Buttery smooth taxi flights with no terrain clipping or performance hitches
