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Author SHA1 Message Date
Joe DiPrimaandClaude Opus 5 cacca58836 #148 is NOT A BUG: a peer mech does not tick before RunningMission -- by engine design
Chased to the bottom instead of stopping.  The answer is that there was
nothing to fix, and my bench was lying to me.

Entity::Execute (ENTITY.cpp:556, real engine source [T0]) calls PerformAndWatch
ONLY when the app state is RunningMission/EndingMission or the entity
IsPreRunnable(); otherwise it merely WriteSimulationUpdate()s.
Entity::DefaultFlags is DynamicFlag|MasterInstance -- no PreRunFlag.  Only
Player and Director add it, and Mech::Reset sets it for a reset MASTER ("a
reset master must tick").  A REPLICANT mech never gets it.

So a peer mech performs ZERO subsystem ticks until the round actually starts,
however much correctly-replicated data is arriving.  Measured on the observer:

     235  [perf-first] mech 3:161 master      <- own mech, immediately
     402  [torso-rec-rx]                      <- peer torso records arriving
    2754  [perf-first] mech 2:55 REPLICANT    <- peer's FIRST performance
    2758  [torso] PushTwist COPY              <- its torso ticks 4 lines later
    2761  [ent-exec] state=5                  <- RunningMission

The peer starts performing exactly at the RunningMission transition.  That is
the engine doing what it says.

WHICH MEANS THE PREFIX WAS A BENCH ARTIFACT.  BT_AUTOFIRE starts shooting
immediately, during WaitingForLaunch -- something no player can do in a real
match -- so those 60 leading salvos measured a peer whose torso had never run.
Every "ZZZZ...XXXX" pattern in this investigation was that, and the first X
lands within a few lines of the state transition.  #141's fix is unaffected and
remains verified: the segment-cache defect was real and mid-match.

Chain of things ruled out on the way, all measured:
  * record CADENCE is authentic -- sends on RATE CHANGE (payloads are the sweep
    extremes, rate flips sign), peer dead-reckons between them.  12 records for
    12 reversals is correct, not starved.  My "only 13 records" premise was wrong.
  * ComputeTargetTwist clamp -- limits load fine on the copy (+/-2.44346).
  * the torso's own executable flag -- restoring the engine's instance branch
    (f36f013) is a genuine fidelity fix but moved this by nothing.
  * the replicant entity IS offered to the performer, executable=1, from line
    171 -- 2500 lines before its first PerformAndWatch.  The gate was inside
    Execute, not the scheduler.

Adds [perf-first]: a ONE-SHOT per-mech receipt naming entity ID + instance at a
mech's first performance.  Every other per-frame receipt in mech4 is anonymous,
which is precisely why this took so long in a 2-node log -- master and replicant
lines were indistinguishable.  Name the mech.

Gotcha #29 records the bench-design rule this cost: judge a 2-node bench by
PREFIX vs INTERLEAVED, never by raw percentage, and check [ent-exec] state=
before suspecting replication.  missileframe.sh carries the same warning.

#148 to be closed as not-a-bug.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_018SgmXGNMXavXiafKXf9MDC
2026-08-08 10:11:14 -05:00
Joe DiPrimaandClaude Opus 5 05d7b5890a #141 peer missiles: the launch frame read a STALE segment cache on replicants
Oracle: "missiles are firing in the direction the mech feet are facing ...
and then coming around to track the target", peer POV only -- the shooter's
own view is correct.

REPRODUCED AND MEASURED (scratchpad/night13/missileframe.sh, 2-node: only A
sweeps its torso and only A fires, so every REPLICANT line in B's log is the
mirror of one A salvo).  New [launchframe] receipt prints the yaw of the
launch forward vs the BODY forward on both nodes:

    master     n=165  |twistDelta| max=2.2962  mean=1.2283  >0.1rad: 100%
    REPLICANT  n=165  |twistDelta| max=0.0000  mean=0.0000  >0.1rad:   0%

segResolved=1 on BOTH, and segYaw == bodyYaw EXACTLY on the peer.

WHAT IT IS NOT.  Both sides already pass the mount segment (mislanch.cpp:363
master, :478 replicant mirror, both `GetSegmentIndex()` from task #67), and
the peer's torso data is fine end to end: records arrive (atUpd=2.44/-2.39,
rate 0.305), the copy extrapolates correctly (cur=-2.13987 target=-2.13987
copy=1), and the copy torso demonstrably writes its joint (PushTwist COPY
twist=-1.49601).  Hierarchy is identical too: same seg 18, same parentIdx 4,
non-null parent + joint subsystem on both.

ROOT CAUSE.  BTPushProjectile composed the frame BY HAND --
`mw.Multiply(seg->GetSegmentToEntity(), localToWorld)`.  But
EntitySegment::GetSegmentToEntity (SEGMENT.cpp:262) recomputes ONLY when
`segmentModified` is set, and the thing that sets it after a joint moves is
JointedMover::GetSegmentToWorld (JMOVER.cpp:136-146), which tests
AreJointsModified() and then marks every segment dirty.  Hand-composing skips
that, so you read whatever cache is sitting there.  On the MASTER that was
invisible -- the renderer/cockpit camera call GetSegmentToWorld for the local
mech every frame, AFTER the local torso pushes its joint, so the cache was
already correct.  A REPLICANT gets no such refresh: its cache stayed at the
BIND POSE, and the twist never reached the launch direction.

FIX.  Use the engine accessor, and set the joints-dirty flag first so it
actually refreshes (by fire time the frame's render pass has already consumed
and cleared it -- measured jointsDirty=0 on BOTH nodes).

RESULT (same bench):
    REPLICANT  max 0.0000 -> 2.1145   mean 0.0000 -> 0.8252   0% -> 64%

PARTIAL, and I am not claiming otherwise.  36% of peer salvos still read the
exact-zero stale signature while the master is 100%.  Forcing every per-joint
`jointModified` flag as well (GetSegmentToParent's own gate, SEGMENT.cpp:196)
was tried and moved the number by NOTHING -- 64% either way -- so the residual
is a different cause, most likely frame ORDER (the salvo mirror running before
the copy torso has posed that frame).  Cheap form kept.

Also fixes a SAMPLING TRAP in the torso probe: PushTwist sampled one shared
static every 30th call, and with a master torso and a copy torso ticking 1:1
every 30th call is always the SAME instance -- so the probe showed only the
local untwisted torso and hid the copy's writes entirely.  Now sampled per
instance-kind, which is what made the copy's correct joint writes visible and
moved the search downstream to the segment cache.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_018SgmXGNMXavXiafKXf9MDC
2026-08-08 08:14:25 -05:00