Prefetch char.ini for characters present in area via playerlist

Store player data (charId, area) in an in-memory Map on the client,
updated by PR/PU packet handlers. Use this to eagerly load char.ini
when a player's character appears in our area or when switching areas,
eliminating the lazy-load delay on first IC message.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

1 files changed, 8 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/webAO/dom/areaClick.ts b/webAO/dom/areaClick.ts
index 1e41f4b..19953a5 100644
--- a/webAO/dom/areaClick.ts
+++ b/webAO/dom/areaClick.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import { client } from "../client";
 import { updatePlayerAreas } from "./updatePlayerAreas";
+import { ensureCharIni } from "../client/handleCharacterInfo";
 /**
  * Triggered when an item on the area list is clicked.
  * @param {HTMLElement} el
@@ -14,5 +15,12 @@ export function area_click(el: HTMLElement) {
   document.getElementById("client_log")!.appendChild(areaHr);
   client.area = Number(el.id.substring(4));
   updatePlayerAreas(client.area);
+
+  // Prefetch char.ini for all characters present in the new area
+  for (const player of client.players.values()) {
+    if (player.area === client.area && player.charId >= 0) {
+      ensureCharIni(player.charId);
+    }
+  }
 }
 window.area_click = area_click;