Document and test preview compatibility (#10)

docs/PORTING.md

@@ -53,7 +53,9 @@ documented in [AGE_PROFILES.md](AGE_PROFILES.md).
 The core mod must remain usable without Create, Ponder, or Immersive Portals.
 The built-in legacy animation is the dependency-free destination preview.
 Optional preview modes may use Create/Ponder snapshots or Immersive Portals
-live rendering when their dependencies are installed.
+live rendering when their dependencies are installed. The tested selection
+matrix and integration boundaries are documented in
+[PREVIEW_COMPATIBILITY.md](PREVIEW_COMPATIBILITY.md).
 
 The writing system and Age grammar will build on the existing page-free Age
 path. Page-free books remain a useful deterministic fallback and test fixture

docs/PREVIEW_COMPATIBILITY.md

@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
+# Destination preview compatibility
+
+Rivencraft has three destination preview backends. The selected backend is a
+client presentation detail; the server validates travel and Age generation is
+independent of every preview integration.
+
+## Selection matrix
+
+Set `book_preview.mode` in `rivencraft-client.toml`.
+
+| Configured mode | Immersive Portals installed | Create/Ponder installed | Selected backend |
+| --- | --- | --- | --- |
+| `AUTO` | yes | either | Immersive Portals |
+| `AUTO` | no | yes | Ponder snapshot |
+| `AUTO` | no | no | built-in legacy animation |
+| `IMMERSIVE_PORTALS` | yes | either | Immersive Portals |
+| `IMMERSIVE_PORTALS` | no | either | built-in legacy animation |
+| `PONDER` | either | yes | Ponder snapshot |
+| `PONDER` | either | no | built-in legacy animation |
+| `LEGACY` | either | either | built-in legacy animation |
+
+Explicit optional modes fall back directly to `LEGACY`. They do not silently
+select the other optional integration. GameTests exercise every row and every
+dependency-presence permutation.
+
+## Book behavior
+
+Held Linking and Descriptive Books render the selected backend in the preview
+panel. Immersive Portals additionally exposes **Explore**: the player remains
+at the opening position, mouse look controls the remote camera, and
+right-click returns to the standard book view.
+
+Books on a Book Stand use the same preview panel, but Explore is disabled so
+the player cannot move away and leave a remote preview session owned by the
+stand screen. Closing either screen releases its server chunk loader. Linking,
+disconnecting, unloading the destination Age, and stopping the server also
+release affected loaders.
+
+The Immersive Portals backend force-loads the initial 3 by 3 destination area
+before registering its wider preview chunk loader. The Ponder backend clears
+the previous snapshot before applying replacement block data. The live backend
+clears its framebuffer on each render and restores the Minecraft viewport
+afterward. These rules prevent stale snapshot frames and book UI elements from
+being captured in the preview.
+
+## Supported combinations and upstream limits
+
+The compatibility baseline is Minecraft 1.21.1, NeoForge 21.1.251, Create
+6.0.10, and Immersive Portals 6.0.7. Core Age generation and the `LEGACY`
+backend run without Create or Immersive Portals; the headless GameTest server
+uses that dependency-free path.
+
+Immersive Portals 6.0.7 is incompatible with Sodium 0.8.13 for Minecraft
+1.21.1: its Sodium compatibility mixin references the removed
+`OcclusionCuller.Visitor` class and crashes while entering a world. Sodium
+0.6.13 avoids that specific mixin failure. This compatibility boundary belongs
+to Immersive Portals and Sodium, before Rivencraft's preview code runs.
+
+Immersive Portals reports that some Create contraptions can be invisible when
+the two mods are installed together. Rivencraft does not replace either mod's
+world or contraption renderer, so this remains an upstream rendering limit.
+The `PONDER` or `LEGACY` mode is the supported fallback when live rendering is
+unstable in a particular graphics or mod configuration.
+
+## Release verification
+
+For preview-related releases:
+
+1. Run `./gradlew runGameTestServer` to verify the complete selection matrix,
+   core Age creation, persistence, and travel without optional renderers.
+2. Open held Linking and Descriptive Books once with each available backend.
+3. Open both book types from a Book Stand and confirm Explore is disabled.
+4. With Immersive Portals, enter and leave Explore, travel between dimensions,
+   close the screen, and disconnect; confirm destination chunks render and no
+   preview loader remains active.
+5. With Ponder, reopen different destinations and confirm the previous
+   snapshot does not bleed into the next one.
+