ModernUO/Projects/UOContent
Kamron Batman 9a3d88988c
feat(pathfinding): non-eager TryGetMask + second-touch promotion (#2451)
## Summary

Closes the Cold-cache regression flagged in PR #2450. `StepCache.TryGetMask` no longer eagerly runs `BuildChunk` on the first miss for a chunk that isn't in a `.swb` lazy reader. Instead it returns `Fallthrough_NotBuilt` and the caller (`BitmapAStarAlgorithm`) takes the per-cell slow path. The chunk is only promoted to the bitmap fast path after the **second** miss within a 30-second window, filtering single-touch pass-throughs.

This makes BitmapAStar's worst-case (cold cache + short hops) collapse from **12–47× slower** than FastAStar to **roughly the same**, which is the floor the slow path can deliver. Steady-state warm performance (the actual deliverable) is unchanged from PR-5 — it was always the cache fast path.

## The pet-follow scenario this fixes

A mounted player at ~4 tiles/sec with a pet/hireable following will trigger an NPC pathfind every 100–300 ms. Each pathfind is 1–6 tiles. As the player crosses chunk boundaries (~4 sec/chunk), the pet's first pathfind in the new chunk under the previous behavior triggered a full ~700 µs `BuildChunk` for a chunk the player would leave shortly after. At 50–100 mobiles per shard, this exceeded the 8 ms tick budget. PR-5 BDN data showed scenarios 6–9 (2–8 tile NPC perception) at 2,300–3,700 µs Cold vs FastAStar's 80–200 µs.

Under the new gate:

- First miss → `Fallthrough_NotBuilt` → caller uses slow path (~30–50 µs short path). No `BuildChunk`. No allocation.
- Player keeps moving → chunk never gets a second touch within window → never promoted, no rot.
- NPC patrolling a fixed territory → repeatedly hits the same chunks → second touch within window → promote → cache fast path on subsequent calls.

## What changed

- **`CacheHitKind.Fallthrough_NotBuilt = 6`** + **`CacheStats.FallthroughNotBuilt`** counter. `IsHit=false`, so the caller routes to slow path.
- **`StepCache._chunkMissTracker`** — `Dictionary<long, ChunkMissState>` capped at 4096 entries. State is `(byte missCount, uint lastMissTickStamp)` keyed by chunk key. Window-expired entries reset count to 1; capacity overflow prunes window-old entries first.
- **`StepCache.MissPromotionThreshold`** (default `2`) and **`StepCache.MissPromotionWindowMs`** (default `30_000`) — tunable, can be wired through `ServerConfiguration` if shards want different policy. Setting threshold to `1` restores legacy eager-build behavior (used by tests that prime chunks via single `TryGetMask` call).
- **`StepCache.TryGetMask` miss branch** — try lazy reader first (file-loaded chunks bypass the tracker entirely; an `.swb` represents an explicit prior decision to keep the chunk warm). Otherwise consult the tracker.
- **`BitmapAStarAlgorithm.GetSuccessorsSlowPath`** now layers `IsBlockedByDynamic` on top of `CalcMoves.CheckMovement`. Previously the slow path only ran for `CanFly` creatures and rare cache fallthroughs — `CheckMovement` doesn't iterate same-cell mobiles, so the bitmap fast path's `IsBlockedByDynamic` was the only mobile-blocking check. Now first-touch pathfinds run through the slow path, so the gap had to close.

## Tests

50 pathfinding tests pass (was 47). New / updated:

- **`TryGetMask_FirstTouchOnUnbuiltChunk_DefersBuildAndReturnsFallthrough`** — single TryGetMask call returns `Fallthrough_NotBuilt`, no chunk built, no allocation.
- **`TryGetMask_SecondTouchWithinWindow_PromotesAndBuilds`** — second call inside the 30s window builds + serves.
- **`TryGetMask_SecondTouchAfterWindow_RestartsCounterAndDefers`** — second call outside the window restarts the count, returns Fallthrough again.
- **`TryGetMask_DistinctChunks_TrackedIndependently`** — counters are per-chunk; one touch on each of two adjacent chunks both stay in fallthrough.
- **`LazyReaderHit_BypassesMissTrackerOnFirstTouch`** — open `.swb` + first touch hits without consulting the tracker. Production with `.swb` loaded skips the gate entirely.
- **`MultisVersion_Bump_TriggersDirtyRebuild`** — updated to reflect the new 3-step flow (Fallthrough → Miss_NotBuilt → Miss_DirtyRebuild).
- Tests that prime chunks via a single `TryGetMask` call (multi-Z, Tier4, lifecycle, parity, BitmapAStar uses-cache) set `MissPromotionThreshold = 1` to opt into eager behavior.

## Expected BDN impact

The Cold column from PR-5's BDN should change as follows once the bench's submodule pointer is updated to this branch:

| # | Scenario        | Cold (PR-5)  | Cold (PR-6 expected) | FastAStar Cold |
|--:|-----------------|-------------:|---------------------:|---------------:|
| 2 | sewer corridor  | 1,627 µs     | ~36 µs               | 36 µs          |
| 4 | causeway        | 1,533 µs     | ~39 µs               | 39 µs          |
| 6 | pet 2-tile      | 2,364 µs     | ~80 µs               | 81 µs          |
| 8 | npc 5-tile      | 3,708 µs     | ~140 µs              | 141 µs         |
| 9 | npc 8-tile      | 2,386 µs     | ~200 µs              | 197 µs         |

WarmNoFile and LazyWarm rows should be unchanged — they were always cache-warm. The miss tracker only fires when neither resident chunks nor the lazy reader can satisfy the request.

## Future work (not in this PR)

- **Background-thread bake**: builds outside the game thread so even promoted chunks don't pay the 700 µs build cost on the main thread. Rule 10 (no Task.Run) applies, so this needs careful design — the bake is a pure data transform but main-thread synchronization on chunk-state transitions has to be threaded through. Defer to a follow-up.
- **Long-traverse BDN scenario**: a multi-Find benchmark simulating 50 pet repaths across chunk transitions. Requires restructuring the bench harness; the existing 10-scenario corpus + Cold provider already exercises the gate.
- **Swim sourceZ bake**: scenario 5 (sea serpent) shows 56 B alloc on warm paths because the cache's SourceZ is computed under default-walker rules. Swim creatures fall through to slow path. Independent of this PR.
2026-06-06 13:11:53 -07:00
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Accounting feat: add young_player_system feature flag to disable Young player system (#2445) 2026-05-05 20:09:49 -07:00
Assistants chore: Use var everywhere (#2294) 2025-12-27 16:47:28 -08:00
Commands perf(messages): mechanical interpolation cleanups (#2436) 2026-05-03 18:26:49 -07:00
Compression feat: Implements new robust/pluggable backup/archive system. (#2388) 2026-03-22 19:51:20 -07:00
Configuration fix: Bumps deps. Updates copyrights (#2353) 2026-03-05 19:36:54 -08:00
Console feat: Adds console commands (#1714) 2024-03-30 09:40:43 -07:00
Context Menus fix: Moves ContextMenu out of core, streamlines code, fixes bugs (#1873) 2024-07-20 21:33:23 -07:00
Engines feat(pathfinding): non-eager TryGetMask + second-touch promotion (#2451) 2026-06-06 13:11:53 -07:00
Gumps perf: Migrate RewardGump to DynamicGump (#2432) 2026-05-03 10:22:52 -07:00
Holiday Stuff perf: Migrate Veteran Reward gumps to DynamicGump/StaticGump (#2415) 2026-04-25 20:09:27 -07:00
Items fix: HouseRaffleStone timer cleanup (#2456) 2026-05-23 10:39:58 -07:00
Migrations feat: Adds rope teleporter for New Haven Mines (#2439) 2026-05-03 17:23:31 -07:00
Misc perf(messages): mechanical interpolation cleanups (#2436) 2026-05-03 18:26:49 -07:00
Mobiles fix(ai): creatures pathfind around concave obstacles instead of oscillating (#2461) 2026-06-06 10:20:52 -07:00
Multis perf: Migrate vendor management gumps to DynamicGump/StaticGump (#2431) 2026-05-03 10:19:12 -07:00
Network feat: Adds robust speed hack detection and movement throttling (#2266) 2026-03-07 11:44:37 -08:00
Regions fix: Fixes criminals having guards called on them (#2348) 2026-03-13 17:35:47 -07:00
Skills perf: Migrate NPC and Skill UI gumps to DynamicGump/StaticGump (#2414) 2026-04-25 19:51:42 -07:00
Special Systems feat: Add zero-alloc interpolation handler to ValueStringBuilder, replace all StringBuilder usage (#2387) 2026-03-22 14:23:44 -07:00
Spells feat: Adjusts fame and karma system with era gates for OSI accuracy (#2389) 2026-04-25 11:19:57 -07:00
Systems/JailSystem fix: Bumps deps. Updates copyrights (#2353) 2026-03-05 19:36:54 -08:00
Targets chore: Use var everywhere (#2294) 2025-12-27 16:47:28 -08:00
Text fix: Bumps deps. Updates copyrights (#2353) 2026-03-05 19:36:54 -08:00
Utilities chore: Use var everywhere (#2294) 2025-12-27 16:47:28 -08:00
World Saves perf(messages): mechanical interpolation cleanups (#2436) 2026-05-03 18:26:49 -07:00
Module.cs fix: Fixes sending packets and sidesteps a major issue with stackalloc and PGO in .NET 8 (#1607) 2023-11-21 12:18:20 -08:00
UOContent.csproj feat(pathfinding): JSONL recorder + public bake helpers (#2449) 2026-05-06 13:06:28 -07:00