Crusader_Decomp/docs/map_renderer/editor-object-survey.md

# Editor/Helper Object Survey

This pass widened the renderer research beyond egg and NPC spawner objects and focused on editor/helper shapes that already carry useful classification data in the exported scene payload.

## Evidence Base

- The renderer already exports `shapeDefinitions[*]` entries with `kind`, `family`, `dimensions`, `visibilityTags`, `traits`, and the matching catalog entry.
- The public catalogs already distinguish many non-gameplay helper families that are currently easy to miss in the UI.
- Representative catalog anchors in Remorse include:
  - `0x005A`, `0x005B`, `0x005C`, `0x005D`, `0x0066`-`0x0069`: invisible/editor wall objects
  - `0x01B8`: `camera`
  - `0x0290`, `0x0336`: `LIGHT_BRIDGE_*`
  - `0x0251`, `0x0318`, `0x0337`, `0x0361`: placeholder cubes and placeholder UI/editor markers
  - `0x0108`, `0x0113`, `0x01B9`, `0x01BA`, `0x025F`, `0x0260`, `0x02F0`, `0x0373`, `0x0399`, `0x03A1`, `0x04C8`: `wallgun_shape_*` helper cluster

## What This Means For The Renderer

- A lot of the useful information is already present without more reverse-engineering. The main problem was presentation, not raw data availability.
- Editor/helper objects often carry meaningful `mapNum`, `npcNum`, `quality`, or `nextItem` values even when they are not DTABLE-backed NPC spawners. Those raw linkage values are worth exposing because they help separate placeholder geometry from logic markers.
- Catalog names already identify several broad classes that deserve different handling in the UI:
  - invisible walls/editor walls
  - camera/helper markers
  - light bridge / forcefield / editor-authored bridge surfaces
  - placeholder cubes and placeholder UI markers
  - auto-derived helper shapes tied to specific USECODE families like `WALLGUN`

## Implemented UI Enrichment

The tooltip now exposes generalized metadata for editor/helper objects instead of reserving extra detail almost entirely for NPC spawners:

- `Dimensions`: shape dimensions from the exported shape definition
- `Tags`: exported visibility tags such as `editor`, `helper`, `egg`, `roof`, and `oob`
- `Traits`: exported rendering/collision traits such as `occluding`, `translucent`, `solid`, `fixed`, and nonzero animation type
- `Role hint`: a cautious catalog-backed note for important helper families like invisible walls, cameras, light bridges, placeholders, `WALLGUN` helper shapes, `0x04D0` NPC spawners, and `0x024F` monster eggs
- `Raw linkage`: `map`, `npc`, `quality`, and `next` fields for editor/helper/egg objects so unresolved objects still expose their control data

## Practical Next Targets

- Add dedicated filters or list views for helper subfamilies such as invisible walls, camera markers, light bridges, and placeholder cubes.
- Add shape-family frequency summaries so repeated helper markers can be audited across a map.
- Decode more shape-specific field semantics for the still-unresolved editor objects, especially the remaining non-promoted invisible-wall, camera/helper, and music-controller families, and keep folding any new results back into the dedicated USECODE-link note.
- Find the No Regret replacement for the Remorse `0x024F` monster-egg workflow instead of assuming the same shape is reused.

`0x04B1` now has a stable `CMD_LINK -> TRIGGER.slot_20` viewer target, and `0x04E3` is already promoted as `SKILLBOX::equip`, so they no longer belong in the unresolved editor-object bucket here.