Reduces the world-save freeze window from ~740ms to ~78ms (measured on a synthetic 10M-entity / 1.7GB world, 24 cores, through the real pipeline classes) by removing the per-entity handoff between the game loop and the serialization workers, fixing how large indivisible payloads are scheduled, rewriting the BufferWriter hot path, removing per-entity placement state entirely, and finally replacing the global serialized-types tracking with a per-file type table (idx v4) that also shrinks idx files by ~21% and speeds the background write phase. The pipeline has also been validated end-to-end on live-copy worlds in the multi-million-entity range, where the freeze is drain-bound (real `Serialize()` costs far more CPU per byte than synthetic writes) — the same structural wins hold, and entity/file round-trips are byte-clean across both load paths.
## The problem
The freeze window is `max(main-thread handoff, slowest worker drain)`:
1. **The producer was the bottleneck.** The main thread round-robined every entity through per-worker `ConcurrentQueue`s — two interlocked ops per entity, ~740ms of freeze floor at 10M entities before any serialization happened.
2. **Round-robin distributes count, not cost.** "Deep" systems (50MB generic persistence blobs) and "thick" entities (100K-item storage keys) landed on arbitrary workers, producing lopsided drain times on large worlds.
3. **Worst-case scheduling.** `GenericEntityPersistence.Serialize` pushed its self-payload *after* all entities, and generic persistences sort last in the registry — so the biggest indivisible blobs started serializing at the very end, extending the freeze by their entire duration.
## The fix
**Commit 1 — chunked handoff + LPT scheduling + heap pre-sizing:**
- Pooled 4096-entity chunks published to one shared queue; workers pull chunks and load-balance dynamically (a worker busy with a thick entity simply takes fewer chunks).
- `Persistence.SerializeAll` pushes systems largest-first (LPT) using the previous save's payload size (or loaded file size on first boot); self-payloads get dedicated single-entity chunks so they overlap the entity stream instead of ending it.
- Worker heaps pre-size from the loaded save's `.bin` totals, eliminating copy-on-grow inside the first save's freeze.
- `SpinWait` backoff in the drain loop (never `Sleep(1)`), per-worker balance stats logged in debug builds (the call site is compiled out of Release), 1MB snapshot write buffer.
**Commit 2 — workers iterate the dictionaries directly + main thread joins the drain:**
- `GenericEntityPersistence` publishes 4096-slot ranges over its dictionary's backing entries array; workers serialize occupied slots (`value != null`) directly through a `ShadowEntry<TValue>` struct mirroring the runtime's private `Entry` layout. Safe because the dictionary is frozen during `Saving` (mutations divert to the pending safety queues).
- The layout is **proven at startup before any code reads through it**: validation measures the true `Entry` stride via precise allocation accounting (guaranteeing all shadow reads are in-bounds), then verifies every key/value of a churned, resized, freelist-exercised dictionary — reading value slots as raw pointer bits only, never materializing a managed reference until the layout is proven. If a future runtime changes `Dictionary` internals, validation fails with a logged warning and saves fall back to the (fully maintained) enumerate-and-push path.
- The main thread joins the drain via an inline worker after publishing, instead of idling — worth a full worker share, proportionally more on low-core hosts.
**Commit 3 — 2.2x faster BufferWriter write path, single-pass short strings:**
- PGO already devirtualizes and inlines every `IGenericWriter.Write` callsite (interface vs concrete measured identical) — the real per-write cost was the non-inlinable `Index` setter (range-check throw path + per-write high-water tracking) plus span bounds checks. Writes now reserve capacity once, then do an unaligned store through a ref with a raw index increment; the high-water mark folds at Seek/Resize instead of per write.
- Class-level implementations of the hottest default interface methods keep nested writes inlined (a DIM re-dispatches on `this` even at a devirtualized callsite).
- Strings of 85 chars or fewer encode once into a stack scratch instead of walking the string twice (`GetByteCount` + `GetBytes`). Byte output is identical.
- Measured: 34.4 → 15.7 ns/entity on a generated-style write mix; end-to-end freeze ~99ms → ~74-82ms.
**Commit 4 — branch-free fallback push loop:**
- A bare `foreach { PushToCache(entity); }` runs at 2.3ns/entity; the same loop carrying a per-entity heavy-check runs 2.3x slower — the cost is the fatter loop body defeating tight-loop codegen. Entity-level >1MB payloads are rare enough to ride in shared chunks; system self-payloads (the large ones) are still explicitly scheduled largest-first.
**Commit 5 — drop the 9-byte per-entity placement state; snapshots write from worker segment logs:**
- Every `ISerializable` carried `SerializedThread/SerializedPosition/SerializedLength` so `WriteSnapshot` could gather each entity's bytes from the worker heaps in dictionary order. But the idx records absolute positions — bin order is free — so the snapshot is now written in worker-heap order and the join inverts: workers log segments (owner, slot range, heap start) plus one length per record as they serialize; positions are implicit because a worker's writes are contiguous, and identity comes from re-walking the same snapshot slots in the same order (stable until `PostWorldSave`).
- Chunks are persistence-homogeneous (the partial chunk publishes at each `SerializeAll` boundary) so segments route to files by owner with zero per-entity state. Self-payloads keep placement as three private fields on the handful of persistence instances.
- Net: 9 bytes (plus padding) of resident state removed from every item, mobile, guild, and account on every shard; three interface-property stores per entity leave the drain hot path (stamping dirtied one cache line per entity mid-freeze — the lengths log is one sequential stream); each segment's bytes hit the bin as a single span write instead of one copy per entity, speeding the background write phase; and `IGenericSerializable` shrinks to just `Serialize(IGenericWriter)`. Transient cost: ~4 bytes per entity in pooled per-worker logs, released after each write. The save format was unchanged at this point (idx v3, same loader); the v4 bump comes later in the branch.
**Commit 6 — staged file writes replace memory-mapped snapshot writing:**
- `MemoryMapFileWriter` is removed. `FileBufferWriter` composes through the full `BufferWriter` raw write path into a pooled staging block that drains to the file as large sequential positional writes (`RandomAccess.Write`); seeks flush the block and move the file offset, so backwards patches (the idx entity count) become small positional writes.
- Memory-mapped composition paid a soft page fault on every composed page plus unpredictable dirty-section teardown stalls at dispose — measured ~4x slower end-to-end than staged writes at snapshot sizes.
**Commits 7–11 — idx v4: per-file type table replaces SerializedTypes.db and all runtime type tracking:**
- Previously every `Write(Type)` from every worker enqueued into a shared `ConcurrentQueue<Type>` during the freeze (interlocked writes on a shared cache line, millions of mostly-duplicate entries), the background phase drained and deduped it all into a `HashSet`, and the snapshot recomputed `xxHash64(Type.FullName)` once per entity record (~5.4M redundant hashes per save on a large world) to write 9-byte tag+hash idx records plus a global `SerializedTypes.db`.
- The db's only real job was diagnostics: the string name behind "Type `<X>` was not found. Delete all of those types?" during idx loading. That map now lives in the idx itself: each `GenericEntityPersistence<T>` keeps an insertion-ordered `Type -> ushort` table, hydrated at `AddEntity` and on every deserialize path — one dictionary `TryAdd` per entity add on the game thread, amortized across gameplay, and provably immutable while the background writer reads it (adds divert to the pending queues during saves).
- idx v4 layout: the table (names only) is written before the records; records reference it by 2-byte index, shrinking from 33 to 26 bytes (−21%). The loader resolves each table name **once** (`FindTypeByHash(ComputeHash64(name))` — semantically identical to v3 resolution, `TypeAlias` included) into a constructor array, and each record becomes an array index instead of an 8-byte hash read plus dictionary probe. The unresolved-type prompt now surfaces once per type, with the name.
- Deleted outright: `World.SerializedTypes`, the drain/dedupe pass in `WriteFiles`, `BufferWriter`'s type tracking (its `Write(Type)` is now pure — payload format unchanged: tag byte + xxHash64), `FileBufferWriter`'s typeSet parameter, `Persistence.WriteSerializedTypesSnapshot`, and the adhoc db write. SerializedTypes.db is no longer produced.
- **Backward compatibility:** v0–v3 saves (including their SerializedTypes.db and legacy tdb files) load exactly as before, and every legacy load path hydrates the new table so the first v4 save after an upgrade is complete. Stale db files in existing save folders are simply ignored. Verified live: a v3 save boots, saves as v4 (Items.idx −20.2% on a dev world), and reloads with identical entity counts.
## Measured (synthetic 10M entities / 1.7GB, 64+64+32MB system blobs, 24x 2MB thick entities, dense write profile, 24 cores)
| Metric | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Steady-state freeze | ~740 ms | **~78 ms** |
| Main-thread publish cost | ~740 ms | **~0.1 ms** |
| Steady-state allocations | 0 | 0 (by iter 2) |
| Worker byte-load spread | 2x | ~1.15x |
The freeze is now bound by pure serialize throughput (payload / cores).
## Tests
- 779 Server.Tests + 501 UOContent.Tests pass.
- New across the branch: chunk fill/flush/owner-boundary tests, pool reuse/clear tests, an end-to-end multi-worker drain through the real wake/push/flush/pause protocol, a 50K-entry churn equivalence test for the shadow iteration re-walk (the exact pairing the snapshot writer relies on), byte-level BufferWriter output/position pins, `RuntimeLayoutIsSupported` so a silent fallback on a future runtime upgrade fails loudly in CI, and a full snapshot **round-trip test** that serializes 25K entities plus a self-payload through real workers, writes the idx/bin from the segment logs, and reloads them through the standard loader (now in v4 format).
- For idx v4 specifically: `FileBufferWriter` staging/drain/seek-patch and oversized-item tests, type-table registration tests, a hand-written v4 fixture proving an unresolvable type name skips only its own records through the console confirmation flow, and a hand-written **legacy v3 fixture** proving old saves still load and hydrate the type table for their next save.
## Trade-offs
- Chunk scheduling is nondeterministic, so worker heaps ratchet to each worker's max-ever draw rather than a fixed share. With slot ranges the balance is tight (~1.15x), so the effect is small; a shared slab pool remains an option if production shows retention creep.
- Entity-level heavy items inside slot ranges are serialized wherever they're encountered (no LPT for them); worst-case tail is one thick entity's serialize time (~ms). System self-payloads — the large ones — are still explicitly scheduled largest-first.
- Snapshot-write error granularity is per segment rather than per entity (heap-bounds bugs were the only thing the per-entity catch ever caught; idx metadata reads keep per-record granularity).
- idx v4 is a save-format version bump: old saves load unchanged through the preserved legacy paths, but saves written by this branch require this loader. Per-persistence type tables cap at 65,535 distinct entity types per boot (hard throw, orders of magnitude of headroom), and a type's table slot persists until restart even if its last entity is deleted — a few stale name entries per file, by design.
## Problem
On headless Linux deployments (systemd service, Docker without a TTY, `nohup`), the ModernUO process pegs a full CPU core even when idle. It does not reproduce on Windows because that runs with an interactive console.
## Root cause
`ConsoleInputHandler` runs a background thread (named "Console Input Handler") that loops on `Console.ReadLine()`. When stdin is **not** an interactive terminal, `Console.ReadLine()` returns `null` at end-of-stream **immediately** on every call, so the loop `continue`s in a tight spin — one core at 100%.
Reproduced in a container running the actual distribution: the "Console Input Handler" thread sat at ~90% CPU on a headless boot; with a blocking stdin it dropped to idle.
## Fix
1. **Detect headless once at startup:** `Core.Headless = Console.IsInputRedirected`.
2. **Extract a testable `ConsoleInputPump`** that owns the input stream: per line read, it *atomically* (under one lock) either delivers the line to a waiting prompt or dispatches a console command, and it **ends on EOF instead of spinning**. Cleanup runs unconditionally in a `finally`, so a pending prompt is always released (never hangs). Replaces the old `async void` loop and the fragile `_expectUserInput` / two-`AutoResetEvent` / `_input` handshake.
3. **`ConsoleInputHandler` becomes a thin headless-aware facade** over the pump. Headless: the reader thread never starts (`Console input disabled (headless: stdin is not a TTY).`), and `ReadLine()` throws a fatal `HeadlessConsoleInputException`.
4. **Data-gating and first-boot prompts** (deserialization "delete bad types? y/n", save-conflict, config/expansion setup) now route through `ConsoleInputHandler.ReadLine()`, so a headless server crashes fatal with a clear message instead of reading `null` (previously an NRE or a silent wrong branch).
Design decision (model b): headless servers are expected to be supplied with configuration/save data (including the owner account); interactive prompts when headless are fatal by design.
## Testing
- New `ConsoleInputPumpTests` (5 tests): EOF ends the loop without spinning; command dispatch; a pending prompt receives the next line; EOF while a prompt is pending completes it with `null` (no hang); a throwing command lookup does not hang a pending prompt. The tests synchronize on real pump state (no `Thread.Sleep`), so they are deterministic on slow CI.
- Full `Server.Tests`: no new failures introduced.
## End-to-end verification (Docker, real distribution)
| | Console Input Handler thread | Container CPU |
|---|---|---|
| Before fix (headless boot) | ~90% | ~199% (2 cores) |
| After fix (headless boot) | **not started** | **~11%** |
After the fix, a headless boot logs `Console input disabled (headless: stdin is not a TTY).`, loads the world normally, and idles instead of spinning.
## Problem
Running the full `UOContent.Tests` suite, the test host **hangs ~2.5 minutes at shutdown and then crashes** (`Test host process crashed` / run aborted). The tests themselves are fine — they complete in ~1s — but the process can't exit.
Captured via `--blame-hang` dump. The blocking thread:
```
System.Threading.WaitHandle.WaitOne()
Server.SerializationThreadWorker.Sleep() SerializationThreadWorker.cs:54 (_stopEvent.WaitOne())
Server.SerializationThreadWorker.Exit() SerializationThreadWorker.cs:61
Server.World.ExitSerializationThreads() World.cs:429
Server.Tests.UOContentFixture..ctor()
```
### Root cause
Both collection fixtures (`UOContentFixture` and `PathfindingTestFixture`) each run the **full process-global ModernUO bootstrap**. `World.Load()` is guarded to run once per process, so the **second** fixture's `World.Load()` is a no-op and does **not** respawn the serialization workers — but `World.ExitSerializationThreads()` is **not** guarded, so the second fixture calls `Exit()` on workers whose threads have already terminated. `Exit()` → `Sleep()` → `_stopEvent.WaitOne()` then blocks forever (a dead thread never sets the event). The first collection's tests run; the second collection's fixture deadlocks in its constructor; the host eventually gets killed.
This is why single-collection (filtered) runs were fine — only one fixture ever bootstraps — but the full suite hangs. It's not a parallelization race: even strictly sequential, the second fixture deadlocks.
## Fix
**(a) Engine — idempotent `SerializationThreadWorker.Exit()`**
A second `Exit()` is now a safe no-op instead of a permanent block. Only the owning (main) thread calls `Exit()`, so no synchronization is needed, and the single-call production shutdown path is unchanged.
**(b) Tests — one shared bootstrap, strictly sequential collections**
- New `TestServerBootstrap.EnsureInitialized()` runs the superset global init **exactly once per process** (lock + once-flag).
- `UOContentFixture` / `PathfindingTestFixture` slim down to delegate to it and no longer tear down global state (which the single-bootstrap model owns for the host's lifetime).
- `[assembly: CollectionBehavior(DisableTestParallelization = true)]` so collections never overlap.
## Result
| | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Tests run (full suite) | 258 (UOContent collection deadlocked) | **418** |
| Outcome | 2.5-min hang → host crash | **418 passed, clean exit** |
| Wall time | killed | **~7s** |
## Summary
- Refactors the poison system to separate `Index` (globally unique ID) from `Level` (tier within a family), enabling multiple poison families (Standard, Darkglow, Parasitic) to coexist without collisions
- Implements Darkglow and Parasitic poison special effects from Mondain's Legacy: Darkglow boosts damage by 10% when attacker is ranged, Parasitic heals the attacker for damage dealt in melee range
- Fixes several bugs: `Register()` crashing on duplicate `Level` values across families, `IncreaseLevel()` crossing family boundaries, `InfectiousStrike` and `NinjaWeapons` stripping poison family via level-based lookups, and `ArchCure`/`CleansingWinds` using raw `Level + 1` instead of `IncreaseLevel()`
## Changes
**`Projects/Server/Poison.cs`** — Adds `PoisonFamily` enum and abstract `Family` property. Adds `Index` as unique identifier. Fixes `Register()` to check `Index` uniqueness (not `Level`) and validate the new poison's name (not the existing one's). Fixes `IncreaseLevel()` to use `Index + 1`, naturally respecting family boundaries via Index gaps. Replaces linear name lookup with `Dictionary`-based `PoisonsByName`.
**`Projects/UOContent/Misc/Poison.cs`** — Adds `family` parameter to `PoisonImpl`. Implements Darkglow effect (10% damage boost when `From` >1 tile, cliloc 1072850) and Parasitic effect (heals `From` for damage dealt within 1 tile, cliloc 1060203) in `PoisonTimer.OnTick()`. Renames `m_` fields to `_` convention.
**`Projects/UOContent/Misc/PoisonKinds.cs`** — New file. Moves poison registration out of `PoisonImpl` into `PoisonKinds.Configure()`. Adds `PoisonFamily` to Darkglow/Parasitic registrations. Provides extension properties (`Lesser`, `Deadly`, `LesserDarkglow`, etc.), `GetPoison(int level)` (standard-only), `GetPoisonByFamilyAndLevel()`, and `IsDarkglow`/`IsParasitic` instance helpers.
**`Projects/UOContent/Items/Weapons/Abilities/InfectiousStrike.cs`** — Family-aware poison scaling: Darkglow caps at Deadly (Poisoning/33.3), Parasitic caps at Lethal (Poisoning/25), Standard unchanged. Level bump uses `IncreaseLevel()` with family boundary check.
**`Projects/UOContent/Items/Skill Items/Ninjitsu/NinjaWeapons.cs`** — EvilOmen level bump uses `Poison.IncreaseLevel()` instead of `Poison.GetPoison(Level + 1)`.
**`Projects/UOContent/Spells/Fourth/ArchCure.cs`** and **`CleansingWindsSpell.cs`** — Replace `poison.Level + 1` with `Poison.IncreaseLevel(poison).Level` for family-safe cure chance calculation.
**`Projects/Server/Serialization/SerializationExtensions.cs`** — Serializes/deserializes `Index` instead of `Level`.
**`DarkglowPotion.cs`** / **`ParasiticPotion.cs`** — Point to actual Darkglow/Parasitic poisons instead of placeholder `Greater`.
**`PotionKeg.cs`** / **`BasePotion.cs`** — Adds Darkglow, Parasitic, Invisibility, and FlintsPungentBrew to `PotionEffect` enum and keg label support.
## Test plan
- [ ] `dotnet build` compiles cleanly (verified, 0 warnings 0 errors)
- [ ] Verify `PoisonKinds.Configure()` registers all poisons without throwing (Register bug fix)
- [ ] Standard poison behavior unchanged — PoisonField, PoisonSpell, SerpentArrow, SavageShaman, TrappableContainer all use `GetPoison(int level)` which now correctly filters to Standard family
- [ ] Darkglow: poison tick deals +10% damage when attacker is >1 tile away, sends "Darkglow poison increases your damage!" message
- [ ] Parasitic: poison tick heals attacker for damage dealt when within 1 tile, sends heal message
- [ ] InfectiousStrike preserves poison family and respects family-specific skill scaling
- [ ] EvilOmen + NinjaWeapons level bump stays within poison family
- [ ] ArchCure/CleansingWinds cure chance calculations work correctly across all poison families
- [ ] Serialization round-trips correctly using Index
Fixes serialization/deserialization edge cases with BitArray. If you use BitArray, you will need to migrate.
1. Change the type in the migration JSON file (if there is one) from `BitArray` to `byte[]` for all the versions you need to migrate.
2. Then in the `MigrateFrom`, use the following function to convert the field from a byte[] back to the BitArray.
Example Migration JSON:
```json
{
"name": "RestrictedSpells",
"type": "byte[]",
"rule": "ArrayMigrationRule",
"ruleArguments": [
"byte",
"PrimitiveTypeMigrationRule",
""
]
},
```
Migration function to use in MigrateFrom:
```cs
public static BitArray MigrateBitArray(byte[] data, int bitLength) => new(data) { Length = bitLength };
```
Example use:
```cs
private void MigrateFrom(V0Content content)
{
// ... deserialize
_restrictedSpells = content.RestrictedSpells.MigrateBitArray(SpellRegistry.Types.Length);
_restrictedSkills = content.RestrictedSkills.MigrateBitArray(SkillInfo.Table.Length);
// ... rest of deserialize
}
```
### Summary
- `GenericEntityPersistence` is now a type of `GenericPersistence`. This allows developers to serialize both entities and non-entities in the same system. 🎉
- Each `SerializationThreadWorker` now allocates 1MB of heap for serialization _permanently_. If more memory is needed, that thread will double it's memory, not to exceed increments of 64MB.
- Several bugs with serialization introduced with the pure MMF implementation have been fixed.
- `BinaryFileReader` has been added back. 🎉
- Adds `world.useMultithreadedSaves` to allow disabling threaded saves.
> [!IMPORTANT]
> **Developer Note**
> The split file serialization has been deprecated and is no longer used. We have effectively gone back to the same file writing we had before the pure MMF implementation.
### Summary
Updates the serialization strategy to use `MemoryMappedFile` instead of thick buffers. This has the benefit of being on-par with the current implementation (based on hardware/OS), however won't incur the double-memory issue.
> [!Important]
> **Developer Note**
> The `BinaryFileWriter` and `BinaryFileReader` has been removed in favor of `MemoryMapFileWriter` and `UnmanagedDataReader`
### Summary
- Fixes infinite loop with binary file writer
- Removes extra buffer copying with binary file writer
- Removes storing type counts during world save file writing
- Fixes display cache self-deletion warning during world load
### Summary
* Fixes spawner timer deserialization
* Adds a check for a null timer and allows the timer to get recreated
* Adds PotionKeg reverse lookup
* Heavily optimizes decimal serialize/deserialize
### Summary
The BitArray class will be optimized over the next several years for various platforms/hardware and maintaining a duplicate for serialization is not practical. Removing the custom implementation. Recommend against using BitArray for serialization unless it is absolutely necessary.
### Summary
- Fixes usernames not being `Intern`ed
- Reverts methods related to getting accounts from returning `Account` to `IAccount`.
- Makes `IAccount` also `ISerializable`
- Adds `IGenericReader.ReadAccount()` and `IGenericWriter.Write(IAccount)` -> The read method supports the original serialization of username, and using `IAccount.Serial`. The write method only serializes the `Serial`.
- Exposes `ReadStringRaw()` to allow some advanced scenarios.
### Summary
- [X] Fixed a bug where entity persistence was serialized out of order, causing world corruption.
- [X] Fixed LastSerialized not being utilized properly and dangling references still becoming an issue.
- [X] Added a new `GenericEntityPersistence<T>` type to encapsulate `ISerializable` serialization.
- [X] Removing the custom logic and moved Items, Mobiles, Guilds, and Accounts to GenericEntityPersistence.
- [X] Changed serialization to use the singleton pattern to reduce calling methods from stored variables.
### Summary
Adds a generic entity persistence. This can be used to create new entity types that have a `Serial`.
Here is an example:
```cs
public class BOBEntries : GenericEntitySerialization<IBOBEntry>
{
public static void Configure()
{
Configure("BOBEntries");
}
}
```
The annotation tells the system what folder to serialize the entries to. The class/interface (`IBOBEntry`) is the root type that implements `ISerializable`.
## MAJOR CHANGE
Added a champion title system to facilitate the existing champion titles. This should make it easier to extend or create other related game content. Champion titles will be saved in a folder called _ChampionTitles_.
### Motivation
The motivation to refactor was two-folder, but mostly related to performance in two ways.
First, every player had a ChampionTitleInfo object with an array of ChamptionTitleInfo. We want to eliminate the need for this information unless a player actually uses it. This should save a considerable amount of memory.
Second, to facilitate the atrophy mechanic, the champion titles would run atrophy post-world save, adding to the time that the server is frozen. Eliminating this post-world save side effect unlocks our ability to further optimize the world save process since there are no direct side effects.
### Bugs fixed
- [X] Fixed titles getting cut off on the paperdoll
- [X] Fixed champion title not displaying overhead (OPL)
### Screenshots
<img width="216" alt="image" src="https://github.com/modernuo/ModernUO/assets/3953314/8916f895-8d68-4fb0-892e-108a0c43be90">
## **MAJOR CHANGE**
* `Stabled` has been moved to `PlayerMobile`.
* New methods added, `PlayerMobile.AddStabled` and `PlayerMobile.RemoveStabled`.
* Added `PlayerMobile.AddFollower` and `PlayerMobile.RemoveFollower`.
* `Stabled`, `AutoStabled`, and `AllFollowers` are now `HashSet` and **_CAN BE NULL_**.
### Summary
* Fixes monster abilities causing harm to the monster through reflect
* Adds `CanTriggerAgainstSelf` to override this for healing or some other self-affecting ability
* Fixes a major memory leak where `UnsummonTimer` from animated dead spell lasts up-to 24hrs and therefore holds onto references of dead/deleted mobs.
* Fixes another minor leak where a mob is not unregistered from the animated dead spell list until the next spell cast.
### Summary
Updates BufferWriter with more standard ways of writing primitives. Eliminates looping to write a string per @jaedan's suggestion.
Note: This change assumes we don't have crazy large strings.
### BREAKING CHANGE ###
The constructor for `TextDefinition` has been removed. Instead use `TextDefinition.Of()` or cast the integer/string to TextDefinition.
### Changes
* Implements an AfterSerialize method that is executed synchronously.
* Removes `BeforeSerialize` support since it was dangerous in its current implementation.
* Moves PlayerMobile kill/virtual decay to AfterSerialize.
* Adds kill decay to after Deserialize.
## Changes
* Improves type hashing by introducing xxHash3 (64bit)
* Removes individual `tdb` files in favor of a single `SerializedTypes.db` file. This file is only used to identify a type that is being deserialized, which doesn't exist.
* Adds duplicate type alias detection
* Adds `AssemblyHandler.FindTypeByHash`
View changed files whitespaces: https://github.com/modernuo/ModernUO/pull/1172/files?diff=split&w=1
## SerializedTypes.db
The serialized types file is used to get back the original name of a type in case it no longer exists in code. This can easily be necessary if a class is renamed in code and no `TypeAlias` is provided.
### Format
byte[4] - version
byte[4] - count
--array--
byte[8] - xxHash
byte[1] - flag, 0 - null, 1 - not null
byte[n] - Full class name in UTF8
### Example
<img width="472" alt="SerializedTypes_Example" src="https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/3953314/195255429-31d24293-6bd1-419e-811b-07874dd0f78d.png">
## Benchmarks
Serialized 500 Type fields. The 8192bytes comes from the _ConcurrentQueue_ that would later be used for SerializedTypes.
Note that the queue is never cleared, so it's size grew considerably.
```cs
| Method | Mean | Error | StdDev | Allocated |
|--------------------- |---------:|---------:|---------:|----------:|
| BenchmarkXXHash | 18.44 us | 0.278 us | 0.260 us | 8192 B |
| BenchmarkTypeStrings | 25.09 us | 0.292 us | 0.259 us | - |
```
TODO:
* Add support in the Serialization Generator for `ReadType()` and `Write(Type)`
* Remove `SetTypeRef` from Serialization Generator
**Only one functional change**
* Fixes a bug in LogFactory where `Warning` is being logged as `Information`
Non-functional changes:
* Updates/Fixes copyright headers
* Removes namespace scopes for core files.
View with [whitespace off](https://github.com/modernuo/ModernUO/pull/1187/files?w=1).
Fixes bit array serialization. This may cause objects that were serialized by bit array to fail to deserialize. I am sorry, please accept my condolences. It is probably easiest to just delete those objects. If it becomes a major problem, contact me and I'll help with a hacky per-case solution.
* Adds a custom BitArray class with the following added features:
* ctor for creating BitArray against read only span
* ctor for creating BitArray against BinaryReader
* CopyTo to copy a BitArray to a Span
* Adds BitArray to UO Primitive serialization so it can be codegenned.
