fix(ui): address PR #90 review — 8 items (W1–W4, S5–S6, A3–A4)

W1/A2: add SimBridge.CONNECTED guard before send_input in toggle handler
W2/A1: assert PlatformInfo != null in HardwareDetector._ready();
       add ordering comment in project.godot [autoload] section
W3: replace FileAccess.open() with get_file_as_string() in
    read_benchmark_cache() — auto-closes, no leak
W4/A3: add _extract_bool_setting() helper in game_state.gd that handles
       both {"Bool": true} and plain bool; push_warning on type mismatch
S5: sync _pre_battery_pref from GameState after load_ai_pref() in
    HardwareDetector._ready() — closes race if system starts on battery
S6: separate "red" TPT status into its own arm with STATUS_RED dot and
    label colour — three-colour mapping: green/yellow/red now distinct
A4: replace DebugConsole.PREFS_PATH compile-time dependency in
    _save_ai_pref() with local SETTINGS_CFG_PATH constant

S7 (battery CI guard) already applied by Hoshe in test file.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

client/project.godot

@@ -17,6 +17,8 @@ config/icon="res://icon.svg"
 
 [autoload]
 
+; PlatformInfo MUST remain first — HardwareDetector (and other autoloads) depend on it
+; being initialised before their own _ready() runs. Do not reorder.
 PlatformInfo="*res://scripts/autoloads/platform_info.gd"
 Protocol="*res://scripts/protocol/protocol.gd"
 SimBridge="*res://scripts/autoloads/sim_bridge.gd"

client/scripts/autoloads/game_state.gd

@@ -352,8 +352,8 @@ func apply_snapshot(snapshot: Dictionary) -> void:
 						continue
 					if entry.get("key") == "ai_dialogue.enabled":
 						var val: Variant = entry.get("value")
-						if val is Dictionary and val.has("Bool"):
-							ai_enhanced_dialogue_enabled = bool(val["Bool"])
+						if val != null:
+							ai_enhanced_dialogue_enabled = _extract_bool_setting("ai_dialogue.enabled", val)
 	else:
 		settings_response = null
 
@@ -403,3 +403,16 @@ func apply_snapshot(snapshot: Dictionary) -> void:
 				boundary_positions[pos] = true
 			elif not has_explicit_positions:
 				visible_positions[pos] = true
+
+
+# -- Helpers ------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+## Extract a bool from a tagged-union {"Bool": true} or plain bool value.
+## Handles both serde encoding styles; emits push_warning on unrecognised format.
+static func _extract_bool_setting(key: String, val: Variant) -> bool:
+	if val is bool:
+		return val
+	if val is Dictionary and val.has("Bool"):
+		return bool(val["Bool"])
+	push_warning("GameState: unexpected type for setting '%s': %s" % [key, str(val)])
+	return false

client/ui/hardware_detector.gd

@@ -32,7 +32,9 @@ var _pre_battery_pref: bool = true
 # -- Lifecycle ----------------------------------------------------------------
 
 func _ready() -> void:
+	assert(PlatformInfo != null, "PlatformInfo must load before HardwareDetector")
 	load_ai_pref()
+	_pre_battery_pref = GameState.ai_enhanced_dialogue_enabled
 	PlatformInfo.power_profile_changed.connect(_on_power_profile_changed)
 
 
@@ -75,11 +77,11 @@ func read_benchmark_cache() -> Variant:
 	var cache_path: String = PlatformInfo.benchmark_cache_path
 	if not FileAccess.file_exists(cache_path):
 		return null
-	var f := FileAccess.open(cache_path, FileAccess.READ)
-	if f == null:
+	var text: String = FileAccess.get_file_as_string(cache_path)
+	if text.is_empty():
 		return null
 	var json := JSON.new()
-	if json.parse(f.get_as_text()) != OK:
+	if json.parse(text) != OK:
 		return null
 	var data: Variant = json.get_data()
 	if not data is Dictionary or not data.has("tps"):

client/ui/settings_dialog.gd

@@ -16,6 +16,9 @@ const STATUS_RED    := Color("#c84040")
 const FONT_SIZE := 14
 const FONT_SIZE_SMALL := 11
 
+## Shared client preferences file — avoids compile-time dependency on DebugConsole for path.
+const SETTINGS_CFG_PATH := "user://settings.cfg"
+
 const BOX_WIDTH  := 460
 const BOX_HEIGHT := 500  # +36 debug console, +88 AI dialogue section
 const PADDING    := 20
@@ -203,9 +206,9 @@ func _build_ui() -> void:
 	match _ai_hw_status:
 		"pass", "green":
 			status_dot.color = STATUS_GREEN
-		"marginal", "yellow", "red":
+		"marginal", "yellow":
 			status_dot.color = STATUS_YELLOW
-		_:  # "fail"
+		_:  # "red", "fail"
 			status_dot.color = STATUS_RED
 	ai_hbox.add_child(status_dot)
 
@@ -227,9 +230,9 @@ func _build_ui() -> void:
 	ai_status_label.autowrap_mode = TextServer.AUTOWRAP_WORD_SMART
 	ai_status_label.custom_minimum_size = Vector2(BOX_WIDTH - PADDING * 2, 0)
 	match _ai_hw_status:
-		"marginal", "yellow", "red":
+		"marginal", "yellow":
 			ai_status_label.add_theme_color_override("font_color", STATUS_YELLOW)
-		"fail":
+		"red", "fail":
 			ai_status_label.add_theme_color_override("font_color", STATUS_RED)
 		_:
 			ai_status_label.add_theme_color_override("font_color", TEXT_COLOR)
@@ -247,11 +250,12 @@ func _build_ui() -> void:
 	_ai_check_node.toggled.connect(func(enabled: bool) -> void:
 		GameState.ai_enhanced_dialogue_enabled = enabled
 		_save_ai_pref(enabled)
-		SimBridge.send_input({
-			"action": InputMapper.Action.CHANGE_SETTINGS,
-			"action_data": {"ai_enhanced_dialogue": enabled},
-			"timestamp_msec": Time.get_ticks_msec(),
-		})
+		if SimBridge.state == SimBridge.ConnectionState.CONNECTED:
+			SimBridge.send_input({
+				"action": InputMapper.Action.CHANGE_SETTINGS,
+				"action_data": {"ai_enhanced_dialogue": enabled},
+				"timestamp_msec": Time.get_ticks_msec(),
+			})
 		ai_dialogue_toggled.emit(enabled)
 	)
 
@@ -335,9 +339,9 @@ func set_ai_inference_suspended(suspended: bool) -> void:
 ## Uses the same settings.cfg as DebugConsole — different section ("ai_dialogue").
 func _save_ai_pref(enabled: bool) -> void:
 	var cfg := ConfigFile.new()
-	cfg.load(DebugConsole.PREFS_PATH)
+	cfg.load(SETTINGS_CFG_PATH)
 	cfg.set_value("ai_dialogue", "enabled", enabled)
-	cfg.save(DebugConsole.PREFS_PATH)
+	cfg.save(SETTINGS_CFG_PATH)
 
 
 func _draw() -> void: