settled-reach/docs/sprints/sprint-37/client.md

Sprint 37: Sweep — Client Tasks

Goal: Spring-clean accumulated debt: asset pipeline discipline, PROTOCOL_VERSION removal, D-167/D-032 dead-code purge, New Game regression fix, copy wiki residue, bookmark save-state, and generator quality patches.

Branch: sprint-37/client Agents: Stig (dev), Hoshe (QA)

New Tickets

#	Title	Priority	Blocked by
#872	New Game flow hangs on 'connecting' after sprint-36 Option A handoff	high	—
#873	Scene-level merge-path UI flow tests (gdUnit4)	high	—
#866	dialogue_box _escape_bbcode chained replace corrupts [lb] escapes	high	—
#869	Fix MetaScreen test helper regression — anti_tedium suite (7 fails)	high	—
#870	Delete or revive 8 parse-error test files	medium	—
#875	Drop PROTOCOL_VERSION on client (D-192)	medium	#874 (server)
#882	Strip archetype-driven client code (follow-up to #878)	medium	#878 (server)

Use tooling/db/ticket show <id> for full details.

Key Decisions

• decisions/architecture.md — D-192 (drop PROTOCOL_VERSION lockstep handshake), D-005 (IPC protocol)

Notes

#872 — New Game flow hangs on 'connecting' (motivating regression)

• Manual repro during Sprint 36 PR #134 smoke test: main menu → New Game → loading screen shows 'connecting' and never progresses.
• Likely suspects:
  1. client/ui/meta/screens/main_menu/main_menu.gd — _process() polls SimBridge.poll_snapshot() while _waiting_for_catalog is true. If bookmark_catalog never arrives (or arrives but the flag isn't cleared), the loop runs forever.
  2. client/ui/meta/screens/loading/loading_screen.gd — opaque BG + MOUSE_FILTER_STOP means a never-dismissed loading state looks identical to 'hung connecting'.
  3. client/scripts/protocol/protocol.gd — bookmark_catalog decode landed in v23 (commit 41e89579). Verify server is actually sending bookmark_catalog in the first snapshot after connect.
  4. Option A scene handoff race — confirm main_menu → character_creation triggers on a signal, not a polled flag.
• Suggested investigation order: add trace prints in main_menu._process to confirm SimBridge.state and GameState.bookmark_catalog contents during the hang. That will disambiguate suspects 1 vs 3 in minutes.

#873 — Scene-level merge-path UI flow tests (gdUnit4)

• Add gdUnit4 scene-level tests for merge-path UI flows so regressions like #872 are caught pre-merge instead of post-merge.
• Scope — one test per flow:
  • main menu → new game → character creation → confirm → connected state
  • main menu → load game → save picker → selected
  • character creation → submit → sim_bridge receives correct payload
  • bookmark tab → select location → confirm → server gets bookmark action
• Tests must run headless via tests/run-godot. Pattern: load scene → simulate input via _input() or button.pressed.emit() → await signals or poll state with timeout → assert terminal state.
• NOT pixel/screenshot diffing. NOT RPA/xdotool. NOT CI integration (existing make test-client already covers this).
• Reference pattern: test_character_creation_sprint28.gd.
• These tests are the mechanism the pr-review merge-path gate (added Sprint 36 retro) assumes exists.

#866 — _escape_bbcode chained replace corruption

• dialogue_box.gd:628 chains .replace('[', '[lb]').replace(']', '[rb]'). The second replace turns [lb] into [lb[rb], corrupting the escape. BBCode injection guard is effectively broken for server-sourced text.
• Fix: escape only [ (not ]), since unmatched ] in RichTextLabel renders as literal.
• Test: test_escape_bbcode_brackets_in_server_text in test_dialogue_sprint18.gd (currently skipped) — unskip and make it pass.

#869 — MetaScreen test helper regression (7 fails)

• Sprint 36 migrated bug_report_dialog.gd from extends Control to extends MetaScreen. test_anti_tedium.gd:94 builds the dialog via Control.new() + set_script(BugReportDialogScript), which no longer satisfies the MetaScreen base contract.
• Every call to dialog.start_capture() fails with Nonexistent function in base Control. 7 failing tests in the anti_tedium suite.
• Fix: instantiate the .tscn (preserves the MetaScreen runtime stack) instead of building from script, OR have the test instantiate a MetaScreen-rooted node.

#870 — Delete or revive 8 parse-error test files

• These 8 files fail to parse (not just fail tests), contributing to gdUnit error counts: test_debug_overlay_sprint19.gd, test_entanglement_sprint22.gd, test_fog_sprint22.gd, test_journal_sprint18.gd, test_minimap_sprint18.gd, test_session_manager_sprint19.gd, test_sprint30.gd, test_sprite_integration.gd.
• They reference removed/renamed APIs from prior sprints.
• Default: delete. File a fresh ticket if/when the underlying coverage is needed again. If any file is worth reviving, rewrite it against the current API.

#875 — Drop PROTOCOL_VERSION on client (D-192)

• Blocked by server ticket #874 — merge server PR first.
• Remove: version field read in client/scripts/protocol/protocol.gd (Protocol.decode_snapshot), the PROTOCOL_VERSION constant, and the version-mismatch guard.
• Update any fixture-replay paths that read version.
• Keep all field-presence and roundtrip behavioral tests.

#882 — Strip archetype-driven client code (follow-up to server #878)

• Added 2026-04-21. Blocked by server #878 (removes character_archetype from StartupMessage; rides #874's PROTOCOL_VERSION break).
• Per lead direction: the CharacterArchetype trace is Phase 6 filler, not production. Keep character-creation UI and insert screens; strip everything else.
• Strip: character_archetype field in game_state.gd (line 100), lattice_profile derivation (line 47); session_manager.gd save_character_archetype(), _read_archetype_file(), character.txt save/load (lines 58, 172–192); protocol.gd character_archetype on StartupMessage; sim_bridge.gd archetype wire-up; any monologue color-palette code keyed on lattice_augmented/lattice_baseline; audit tests/client/test_signal_sprint24.gd.
• Verify: client launches, character creation UI loads, insert screens render, session starts. Grep character_archetype, lattice_profile, smuggler, detective in client/ — only character-creation UI references remain.
• Context: server-side audit at docs/architecture/sprint-37-878-audit.md (on server branch until #878 merges).

Dependency Chain

#874 (server) → #875 (client PROTOCOL_VERSION drop)
#878 (server) → #882 (client archetype strip)
#872 (New Game regression fix) → #873 (merge-path tests add coverage for this flow)
#866, #869, #870 → standalone, parallel

PR Workflow

tea pr create --repo jpmschweitzer/settled-reach --login schweitz \
  --title "fix(client): sprint 37 — New Game regression, test cleanup, PROTOCOL_VERSION drop" \
  --description "body" \
  --base main --head sprint-37/client