hotfix(1.6): 5 fix(es) on top of v1.6.0

[community-shaders-release-bot]

Automated hotfix candidate built off v1.6.0.

• 5 commit(s) cherry-picked from dev (explicit list (5 requested, 5 after breaking-change filter))

How to use this PR

1. PR checks will build this branch and publish a v1.6.0-prNNNN prerelease — install and verify.
2. If the candidate is bad, close this PR and re-run the Release: Hotfix Candidate workflow (it auto-supersedes).
3. If extra fixes are needed, land them on dev first then re-run, or push directly to hotfix-staging/1.6.x-26773388973.
4. When verified, merge this PR, then dispatch Release: Semantic Version with release_type=stable on hotfix/1.6.x to cut the patch.
5. Standard release pipeline (build → publish → Nexus dry-run → Nexus upload) takes over from there.

Picked commits

• 4c0f27822 ci: fix release build and nexus upload pipeline after 1.6 (ci: fix release build and nexus upload pipeline after 1.6 #2444)
• ca1c494f2 fix(hooks): promote snow render targets to fp16 for banding (fix(hooks): promote snow render targets to fp16 for banding #2410)
• 055d508a8 fix(emat): allow solid-black height-only masks (fix(emat): allow solid-black height-only masks #2441)
• 22ea0567d fix(water): fix water blending (ghosting) and LOD gaps (fix(water): fix water blending (ghosting) and LOD gaps #2440)
• 26c10c40d ci: fix perm for hotfix workflow (ci: fix perm for hotfix workflow #2451)

See: Hotfix Release Process

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[github-actions]

✅ A pre-release build is available for this PR:
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