UI System Quick Reference

Ownership

Presentation	Author	Draw/input owner
Main menu, campaign selector, lobby	games/warcraft-3/menu/	Menu library, gated by CL_MenuActive()
Loading screen	Game	Generic client loading layout
HUD and command card	games/warcraft-3/game/hud/	Generic client svc_layout handlers
In-game dialogs	Game	Generic client svc_window manager

Selection Flow

Client input sends the selection/order command and updates its local selection hint. The game's authoritative selection path validates the entity set and authors command, inventory, queue, and information frames from games/warcraft-3/game/hud/. Those frames travel through svc_layout to the generic client renderer and input handlers. No menu callback, separate HUD query, or menu-owned unit cache participates.

Recipient-specific skin keys are resolved in the game before registering concrete texture paths. HUD templates and media identities are rebuilt across map/save-load transitions; see HUD Media Lifetime.

Lifecycle

CL_Init initializes the renderer and menu. Loading suspends menu resources through Shutdown. During loading and gameplay the menu receives no draw/input/command callbacks. Return-to-menu initializes its resources again. The library itself stays loaded so registered function pointers remain valid.

Verification

Run make test and python3 tools/menu_boundary_audit.py. The suite covers selection state, packet alignment, exclusive screen/input/command dispatch, menu suspension/reinitialization, and per-recipient HUD textures.

See UI architecture, screen flow, and the engine UI boundary.