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docs+tools: a mission freeze that made an experiment lie, and the counter is not a class head-count

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Three things from one Stage 02 run.

The address recurs a third time: HUD=4 RAM=4 at 0xbdb59668, so 3 of the 5 runs
measured put the counter exactly there.

The counter is NOT a live class head-count. With the counter at 4 the typed
entity list was 8 attackers, 7 friendly Delta Sabers, 7 turrets and the player -
no class has 4 members and no pair of them sums to 4. That sharpens the corpus's
existing "012 against 118 live ADAN" note from "not the hostile count" to "not
the count of any class this enumeration can see".

The flag experiment itself proves nothing, and why is the useful part. It found
20 offsets where exactly 4 of 23 entities agree, then reported "the counter never
moved" for 600 s. The guest had stopped advancing ten seconds into flight:
pilot.py logged 724 s of identical speed/yaw/pitch, and two screenshots six
seconds apart were byte-identical, max delta 0 over 863325 pixels - while
screen_id said "flight", the emulator burned 212% CPU and every liveness check
passed. So that was a fact about a dead world. Withdrawn along with it: the claim
in ob_session.sh that the counter climbs on its own in the first minutes, which
one advancing run supports and this one cannot.

frozen.py makes it a single call, checked in both directions (0 on the frozen
pair, 254 on two frames of a live run), and ob_hunt/ob_flag now say GUEST FROZEN
rather than waiting out their timeouts.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01PMRJjbxLqZtsb5Vb7KunPE
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Sylpheed RE agent
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docs/re/mission-freeze-and-ob-flag.md Normal file
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# An in-mission freeze, and the first cut at what `REMAINING OB` counts
**2026-08-23.** One Stage 02 run, aimed at the ❔ that
[`structures/mission-objective-counter.md`](structures/mission-objective-counter.md)
leaves open — *what* the counter counts. It produced one clean refutation, one
new confirmation, and one experiment that proves nothing, for a reason worth
having a tool for.
## ✅ The address recurs a third time
`HUD=4 RAM=4` at `0xbdb59668`, read before anything else was attempted. That is
the **third** run putting the counter at that exact address (runs 1, 4, 5 of the
five measured), against runs 2 and 3 where it read a hard 0. The rule in the
structure file — *try it, check it against the HUD, re-scan when it reads 0* —
survives another test.
## 🔴 The counter is not a live class head-count
With the counter at **4**, the typed live entity list was:
| n | class |
|---|---|
| 8 | `UN_e010_ADAN_Attacker_S` |
| 7 | `UN_f001_TCAF_DeltaSaber_T` |
| 7 | `UN_e007_ADAN_Turret` |
| 1 | `UN_f001_TCAF_DeltaSaber_T_Player` |
**No class has 4 members**, and no sum of two of them does either. This is a
sharper version of the corpus's existing note (`012` on the HUD against 118 live
ADAN): it is not merely "not the hostile count", it is not the count of *any*
class the enumeration can see. So the counter is either a subset marked some
other way — the `OB` badge — or a number the mission script keeps of its own.
## 🔴 The flag experiment proves nothing — the guest had frozen
The plan was the same shape that settled the address: find every 4-byte offset
around an entity where exactly *N* entities agree, then require the survivors to
agree exactly *N′* times after the counter moves. The first half ran —
**20 candidate offsets** where exactly 4 of the 23 entities share a value — and
then the counter sat at 4 for the whole 600 s window and the run reported
"counter never moved".
**That reading was wrong, and the correction is the useful part.** The guest had
stopped advancing about **ten seconds into flight**:
* `pilot.py` logged 5 910 samples over 734 s and every one after t=10.6 s carried
the identical speed, yaw and pitch — **724 s of frozen state**.
* Two screenshots six seconds apart were **byte-identical**: max difference 0
over 863 325 pixels ([`captures/stage02-inmission-freeze.png`](captures/stage02-inmission-freeze.png)).
* Everything that is supposed to notice, did not: `screen_id.py` still said
`flight`, the emulator was alive at **212 % CPU**, and the process liveness
check every script uses was satisfied.
So "the counter never moved" was a fact about a dead world, not about the game.
🔴 **Withdrawn with it:** the claim written into `ob_session.sh` that the counter
"climbs on its own as waves spawn in the first minutes" — in a run that *is*
advancing it did (004 → 008 → 012 twice), but this run cannot support the general
statement and the two facts had been about to be conflated.
**The freeze is intermittent, not universal:** the run an hour earlier stepped
the counter twice and had `pilot.py` in `DEFEND` at t=629 s with changing state.
### [`frozen.py`](../../tools/re-capture/frozen.py)
Two screenshots, a gap, exact comparison — no tolerance, because a stopped
simulation is *identical*, not merely similar. Checked in both directions: 0 on
the frozen pair, `max_pixel_delta=254` on two frames of a live one. `ob_hunt.py`
and `ob_flag.py` now consult it after a minute of no movement and say
`GUEST FROZEN` instead of quietly waiting out their timeout.
## What is still open
* ❔ **The flag itself.** 20 candidate offsets exist but have never been put to
the second test. Repeat `ob_flag.py` on a run that is actually advancing; it
now aborts early instead of wasting the window if it is not.
* ❔ **Whether the enumeration can even see the objectives.** `entities2.typed`
finds entities by their position *changing*, so a stationary objective is
invisible to it. Stage 02's objective is "shoot down all invading enemy
fighters", which move — but a null result would not rule out a flag on objects
this method never enumerates, and that limit is now written into the tool.
* ❔ **What causes the freeze.** Not investigated here at all; this run only
establishes that it happens, that it can happen within seconds of the HUD
appearing, and how to detect it in one call.

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tools/re-capture/frozen.py Executable file
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#!/usr/bin/env python3
"""Is the guest still ANIMATING, or has the mission frozen?
Measured 2026-08-23: a Stage 02 run entered flight, drew a correct HUD, and then
stopped advancing about ten seconds later. `screen_id.py` still said `flight`,
the emulator still burned 212 % CPU, `pilot.py` still logged 5 900 samples, and
every one of them carried the same speed, yaw and pitch — 724 s of identical
state. Two screenshots six seconds apart were **byte-identical**, max difference
0 over 863 325 pixels.
That is worth its own test because of what it costs when missed: an experiment
that waits for `REMAINING OB` to change will wait out its whole timeout and then
report "the counter never moved", which reads as a fact about the game and is
really a fact about a dead world. Nothing else in the toolkit notices — the
screen classifier, the liveness check and the CPU are all happy.
A frozen frame is EXACTLY identical, not merely similar: this is a stopped
simulation, not a still scene, so no tolerance is needed and none is used. The
one thing that must be excluded is a screenshot that failed.
Usage: frozen.py [gap_s] -> prints frozen|animating, exit 0 if FROZEN
frozen.py --pair <a.png> <b.png> -> same test on two saved frames, so the
NEGATIVE side can be checked without
a live game to be un-frozen in
"""
import subprocess
import sys
import time
from PIL import Image, ImageChops
def grab(path):
subprocess.run(["screenshot", path], stdout=subprocess.DEVNULL,
stderr=subprocess.DEVNULL)
return Image.open(path).convert("RGB")
def frozen(gap=6.0):
a = grab("/tmp/frz-a.png")
time.sleep(gap)
b = grab("/tmp/frz-b.png")
if a.size != b.size:
return None, -1
bbox = ImageChops.difference(a, b).getbbox()
px = list(ImageChops.difference(a.convert("L"), b.convert("L")).getdata())
return (bbox is None), max(px)
def compare(pa, pb):
a, b = Image.open(pa).convert("RGB"), Image.open(pb).convert("RGB")
if a.size != b.size:
return None, -1
px = list(ImageChops.difference(a.convert("L"), b.convert("L")).getdata())
return (ImageChops.difference(a, b).getbbox() is None), max(px)
if __name__ == "__main__":
if len(sys.argv) > 1 and sys.argv[1] == "--pair":
f, mx = compare(sys.argv[2], sys.argv[3])
gap = "pair"
else:
gap = float(sys.argv[1]) if len(sys.argv) > 1 else 6.0
f, mx = frozen(gap)
if f is None:
print("unknown (screenshot failed)")
sys.exit(2)
suffix = gap if gap == "pair" else f"{gap}s"
print(f"{'frozen' if f else 'animating'} max_pixel_delta={mx} gap={suffix}")
sys.exit(0 if f else 1)

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tools/re-capture/ob_flag.py Executable file
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#!/usr/bin/env python3
"""Does an `OB`-badged entity carry a flag, and is `REMAINING OB` its count?
`mission-objective-counter.md` has the counter's address; what it *counts* is the
part the autopilot needs, because "shoot what closes the mission" requires
picking the right target, not knowing how many are left.
Two questions, in order of how cheaply they can be killed:
1. **Is the counter just a per-class head-count?** Print the class histogram
beside the counter. The corpus already suspects not (012 on the HUD against
118 live ADAN), and one run settles it for every class at once.
2. **Is there a per-entity flag whose set-cardinality is the counter?** For every
4-byte offset in a window around each entity, count how many entities share
each value. An offset where exactly N entities agree, with N the counter, is a
candidate — and there will be many by chance, so the answer is the SECOND
sample: after the counter moves to N', the same (offset, value) must be shared
by exactly N' entities. That is the same "verify across a transition you did
not select on" rule the address itself had to pass.
🔴 Known limit, stated because it bounds the conclusion: `entities2.typed`
enumerates entities by their position triple CHANGING between two samples, so a
stationary objective is invisible to it. Stage 02's objective is "shoot down all
invading enemy fighters", which move — but a null result here does not rule out a
flag on objects this enumeration never sees.
Usage: ob_flag.py <out-dir> [timeout_s]
"""
import json
import os
import struct
import subprocess
import sys
import time
from collections import Counter, defaultdict
sys.path.insert(0, os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)))
import entities2 # noqa: E402
import frozen # noqa: E402
import gmem # noqa: E402
import gworld # noqa: E402
import ob_read # noqa: E402
VA = 0xBDB59668
RADIUS = 0x400
DELTA = 0x130
def counter(fd):
return struct.unpack(">I", os.pread(fd, 4, gmem.va_to_off(VA)))[0]
def hud(shot):
subprocess.run(["screenshot", shot], stdout=subprocess.DEVNULL,
stderr=subprocess.DEVNULL)
txt, _ = ob_read.read(shot)
return int(txt) if txt.isdigit() else None
def sample(w, defs, out, tag):
"""(counter, entity list, {(offset, value): [entity positions]})."""
fd = w.fd
n = counter(fd)
movers = entities2.moving(fd, w.size)
ents = entities2.typed(fd, defs, movers, DELTA)
uniq = {}
for off, nm, pos, sp in ents:
uniq.setdefault((nm, tuple(round(c, 1) for c in pos)), (off, nm))
ents = list(uniq.values())
groups = defaultdict(list)
for off, nm in ents:
lo = off - RADIUS
blob = os.pread(fd, RADIUS * 2, lo)
for k in range(0, len(blob) - 3, 4):
groups[(lo + k - off, blob[k:k + 4])].append(nm)
print(f"[{tag}] counter={n} entities={len(ents)}", flush=True)
return n, ents, groups
def main():
out = sys.argv[1]
deadline = time.time() + (float(sys.argv[2]) if len(sys.argv) > 2 else 600)
os.makedirs(out, exist_ok=True)
w = gworld.World()
defs = entities2.definitions(w)
v = hud(f"{out}/a.png")
n0 = counter(w.fd)
print(f"HUD={v} RAM={n0}", flush=True)
if v != n0:
print("HUD and RAM disagree — wrong address for this run; re-scan with "
"ob_hunt.py before trusting anything below", flush=True)
return 2
nA, entsA, gA = sample(w, defs, out, "A")
hist = Counter(nm for _, nm in entsA)
print(f"[A] class histogram vs counter {nA}:", flush=True)
for nm, k in hist.most_common(12):
print(f" {k:4d} {nm}", flush=True)
exact = [nm for nm, k in hist.items() if k == nA]
print(f"[A] classes whose head-count equals the counter: {exact or 'NONE'}",
flush=True)
candA = {k: v for k, v in gA.items() if len(v) == nA}
print(f"[A] offsets where exactly {nA} entities agree: {len(candA)}", flush=True)
stuck = 0
while time.time() < deadline:
time.sleep(5)
if counter(w.fd) != nA:
break
stuck += 1
if stuck % 12 == 0 and frozen.frozen(6.0)[0]:
print("GUEST FROZEN — the world stopped advancing, so the counter "
"was never going to move; this run proves nothing", flush=True)
return 3
nB = counter(w.fd)
if nB == nA:
print("counter never moved — no verification possible", flush=True)
return 1
vb = hud(f"{out}/b.png")
print(f"counter {nA} -> {nB} (HUD {vb})", flush=True)
_, entsB, gB = sample(w, defs, out, "B")
survivors = {k: (len(gA[k]), len(gB.get(k, []))) for k in candA
if len(gB.get(k, [])) == nB}
print(f"[B] of {len(candA)} candidates, {len(survivors)} still hold "
f"exactly {nB}", flush=True)
rows = [{"delta": d, "value": val.hex(), "a": a, "b": b}
for (d, val), (a, b) in sorted(survivors.items())]
json.dump({"nA": nA, "nB": nB, "hud_a": v, "hud_b": vb,
"entities_a": len(entsA), "entities_b": len(entsB),
"class_matches": exact, "candidates_a": len(candA),
"survivors": rows}, open(f"{out}/flag.json", "w"), indent=1)
for r in rows[:40]:
print(f" pos{r['delta']:+#07x} = {r['value']} {r['a']} -> {r['b']}",
flush=True)
print(f"wrote {out}/flag.json", flush=True)
return 0
if __name__ == "__main__":
raise SystemExit(main())

12
tools/re-capture/ob_hunt.py
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@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ import sys
import time
sys.path.insert(0, os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)))
import frozen # noqa: E402
import gmem # noqa: E402
import ob_read # noqa: E402
import ob_scan # noqa: E402
@@ -66,11 +67,22 @@ def main():
# --- filter on each following transition ---------------------------------
prev, done, results = v0, 0, []
stuck = 0
while done < want and time.time() < deadline:
time.sleep(5)
v = hud(f"{out}/poll.png")
if v is None or v == prev:
# "the counter never moved" is a claim about the GAME; a frozen
# guest makes it a claim about a dead world instead, and the run
# then burns its whole timeout saying nothing. Measured once: the
# world stopped ~10 s into flight and everything downstream --
# screen_id, the liveness check, the CPU -- stayed happy.
stuck += 1
if stuck % 12 == 0 and frozen.frozen(6.0)[0]:
log("GUEST FROZEN — the world stopped advancing; abandoning")
break
continue
stuck = 0
# Confirm the new value before spending a filter on it.
time.sleep(1.5)
if hud(f"{out}/poll2.png") != v: