Stabilizing v2 — NPC AI, Dialog, Inventory & VR fixes

A second round of stabilization fixes targeting NPC perception globals, dialog conditions, inventory checks, font rendering, and VR-specific edge cases.

Changes by file

LiberationSans SDF empty.asset

Set atlas mode to Static. In Dynamic mode the empty atlas was being populated with Gothic characters on first render, causing them to render in Liberation Sans instead of the Gothic bitmap font. Static prevents any atlas population so all characters fall through to the TMP_SpriteAsset set by AbstractMenu/dialogs.

StatusBar.prefab

Fixed HP bar appearing empty in PCVR headsets.

AnimationSystem.cs

Minor adjustment related to the death/hit animation bypass changes.

AiHandler.cs

• Set GlobalOther = GlobalHero before executing ZS_* state functions. After the perception save/restore was corrected in NpcAiService, a stale NPC (e.g. a Shadow guard) could remain in GlobalOther between perception calls — causing NPCs to turn their backs during conversations and guild/distance dialog conditions to evaluate against the wrong NPC.
• Added null guard for waypoint in ReEnableNpc + warning log for bad re-enables.

VobMeshCullingDomain.cs

Skip destroyed Rigidbodys in StopVobTrackingBasedOnVelocity to prevent null-ref exceptions during VOB cleanup.

NpcHeadMeshBuilder.cs

Null-safe NpcLoader/Npc access during async head construction — prevents crash when the NPC is destroyed before the build completes.

Attack.cs

• Death animation now clears the queue and calls StopAllAnimations before playing, so dying always wins regardless of queued actions.
• Hurt animation overlays without interrupting the current action.
• OnHit early-outs if the target is already dead to prevent double damage/animation.
• AI_Attack is skipped with a log for human NPCs (guild < GIL_SEPERATOR_HUM) — not yet implemented for humans.

GoToNpc.cs

NPCs now stop 1.5 m before the target instead of walking into them.

GoToWp.cs

FindFastestPath returning null no longer crashes — path is guarded before use.

VobInitializerDomain.cs

InitVobCoroutine now wraps each InitVob call in try/catch so a single broken VOB can't halt all lazy loading. Root cause: BIRD/OWL NEAR MARKET referenced wood_night2 which doesn't exist in Gothic's SfxInst.d, causing GetFirstSound() to return null and silently kill the entire coroutine.

SfxModel.cs

Logs a warning when an SFX symbol is missing from the VM instead of silently returning null from GetFirstSound.

FightService.cs

Cooperates with the death animation bypass — HP reaching 0 sets BodyState = BsDead which Npc_IsDead now reads.

NpcAiService.cs

• GlobalOther/GlobalVictim were incorrectly swapped during restore after perception calls (oldOther was assigned from GlobalVictim instead of GlobalOther), causing both globals to be set to the victim. Fixed save/restore order and replaced the fragile npc2.Id == 0 hero check with an Index comparison against GlobalHero.
• Npc_IsDead was a FIXME stub hardcoded to return false. Now checks Props.BodyState == BsDead, fixing e.g. Thorus not recognizing Mordrag as dead after being killed.

NpcHelperService.cs

aiState filter was comparing npcVob.CurrentStateIndex (the calling NPC's own state index) against each candidate, instead of comparing the requested aiState value.

NpcInventoryService.cs

ExtNpcHasItems was reading from GetItem/ItemCount (the VOB world-file list), which is never populated by runtime CreateInvItems calls. Rewrote to iterate all InvCats and read from GetPacked via GetInventoryItems — the same path used by all other inventory operations. Fixes Npc_HasItems always returning 0 for the player, breaking dialogs that check inventory (Fisk ore purchase, Bloodwyn extortion, Drax beer, etc.).

DialogService.cs

Save/restore GlobalOther and set it to GlobalHero around Info_*_Condition calls, matching Gothic's convention (self = NPC, other = hero in all dialog condition functions). Prevents important dialogs from failing when a stale NPC was left in GlobalOther.

FontService.cs

Pre-warms the TMP font atlas on startup by iterating all string-type Daedalus symbols, collecting unique characters, and calling TryAddCharacters before any UI renders. Prevents TMP fallback glyphs on first display of Gothic NPC/item names.

VobService.cs

World VOB items have Amount = 0 by Gothic convention (single item = 0). Applied Mathf.Max(1, amount) so items picked up from the floor aren't stored as e.g. ITFOBEERx0 in packed inventory.

BackPack.prefab

Cleared placeholder texts ("x/y", "{{CATEGORY}}") that were triggering TMP warnings before boot because they rendered before FontService set the default sprite asset.

VRBackpack.cs

Added null guard for vobLoader in OnItemPutOutOfHolster. Also applies the Mathf.Max(1, amount) fix for picked-up item amounts.

VRNpc.cs

HVR sets isKinematic = false on the grabbed Rigidbody during a grab, causing the NPC corpse to fall or be pushed by the player capsule after releasing. ForceRelease + DisablePhysicsForNpc are now called when opening the loot panel to keep the body frozen.

How to test

1. Load the Old Camp and talk to Thorus — he should recognize Mordrag as dead (if killed) and dialog conditions should evaluate against the hero, not a nearby NPC.
2. Pick up items from the floor and check Npc_HasItems dialogs (Drax beer, Fisk ore) — they should work correctly.
3. Kill an NPC in VR and open the loot panel — the corpse should not fall or slide around.
4. Observe NPC routines — NPCs in conversation should face the player, not turn their backs.
5. Check the HP bar in-headset — should show correct values.