World: flora feel fix — kill double-animation (root sway off, shader wind is the idle motion) + thin flowers

Operator: base flora too dense + "the waving/shader doesn't look great".
Diagnosis: EVERY Synty flora prop (both biomes) uses the Synty/Foliage
VERTEX-wind shader — the transform root-tilt sway has been double-animating
all flora since 1.5, and ground-flush carpet props (Flowers_Flat,
Grass_*_Plane) visibly lift their edges when tilted.

- AmbientMotionConfig.SwayEnabled -> false (code default + the serialized
  scene value): idle motion = the authored per-vertex shader wind (tips bend,
  bases planted). Knob kept for A/B; walk-through RUSTLE stays as the
  reactive layer the shader can't provide.
- AmbientMotionSystem: flat carpet props excluded from the flora cache
  entirely — no tilt even from rustle.
- Flower density thinned deterministically: Flowers_Flat keep 40%,
  Wildflowers/Sunflowers keep 50%, center (r<13) thinned harder (x0.6) —
  17/38 drifts off; play/build area reads clear, flowers become ring accents.

Console clean; sway/rustle knobs remain live-tunable in the scene.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

Assets/Scenes/Game.unity

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   CavernMoteColor: {r: 0.55, g: 0.65, b: 0.95, a: 0.33}
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   AridWind: {x: 2.2, y: -0.15, z: 0.5}
-  SwayEnabled: 1
+  SwayEnabled: 0
   SwayRadius: 30
   SwayAmpDeg: 1.4
   SwayHz: 0.8
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Assets/_Project/Scripts/Client/Presentation/AmbientMotionConfig.cs

@@ -26,8 +26,9 @@ namespace ProjectM.Client
         public Color BlightSporeColor = new Color(0.72f, 0.50f, 0.85f, 0.33f);
         public Vector3 AridWind = new Vector3(2.2f, -0.15f, 0.5f);
 
-        [Header("Idle foliage sway (flora prop roots within view of the camera)")]
+        [Header("Idle foliage sway (root tilt) — OFF by default since 1.5b: ALL Synty flora uses the Synty/Foliage")]
-        public bool SwayEnabled = true;
+        [Header("VERTEX-wind shader, so root tilt double-animates. Keep for A/B; rustle below stays the reactive layer.")]
+        public bool SwayEnabled = false;
         [Min(1f)] public float SwayRadius = 30f;
         [Min(0f)] public float SwayAmpDeg = 1.4f;
         [Min(0.05f)] public float SwayHz = 0.8f;

Assets/_Project/Scripts/Client/Presentation/AmbientMotionSystem.cs

@@ -87,6 +87,10 @@ namespace ProjectM.Client
                     if (!FloraName.IsMatch(t.gameObject.name)) continue;
                     if (t.gameObject.name.Contains("LOD")) continue; // prop roots only; LOD children follow
                     if (t.GetComponent<LODGroup>() == null && t.GetComponent<MeshRenderer>() == null) continue;
+                    // 1.5b: ground-flush carpet props (Flowers_Flat, Grass_*_Plane) must NEVER root-tilt —
+                    // any rotation lifts their edges off the ground; they stay fully static (shader wind only).
+                    if (t.gameObject.name.IndexOf("Flat", System.StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase) >= 0
+                        || t.gameObject.name.IndexOf("Plane", System.StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase) >= 0) continue;
                     var p = t.position;
                     _flora.Add(new Flora
                     {