re: the boot splash dwells are declared -- and wall clock is the wrong unit

The port asked for two wall-clock timestamps across the boot splashes. Measured,
and the measurement's own result is that timestamps are not the invariant.

The dwells are the bundles' own declared timelines: publisher t=0..255 = 4.250 s
at 60 units/s, developer t=0..210 = 3.500 s. The corpus's independent screenshot
timing over three cold boots gives 4.30/4.60/4.37 and 3.51/3.50/3.37 -- the
developer agreeing to 1.1%, two of its three runs to 0.3%.

A fresh no-input boot with a frame->wall-clock map puts the same two dwells at
5.10-5.61 s and 3.83-4.30 s, 15-20% longer than both the declared values and the
corpus's runs, on the same disc and the same declared timeline. So the
wall-clock dwell is an emulator-pacing artefact that varies run to run, and a
port authoring seconds is authoring one run's pacing.

Boundaries from the draw stream, read per quad: publisher glow frame 1, wordmark
6-119, three frames with NO sprite drawn, developer glows 123, wordmarks
140-209, intro video 216. The 3-frame gap replicates the earlier 4-frame
measurement within the +-1 both are quantised to.

New tool frame_clock.sh, and its limitation found by its own control: it
resolves to one BUFFER FLUSH, not one frame. The capture writes through a C++
ofstream, so tail sees the log in bursts -- 69 of 125 samples showed no advance
and the rest jumped 7-15 frames. Naive interpolation inside a burst made the
apparent rate swing between 0.0164 and 0.0316 s/frame, which is the flush and
not the guest. Frames 119 and 123 fall in one burst, so the inter-splash gap is
not separable by this clock at all. Everything is quoted as brackets and the
point estimates were withdrawn before being reported.

palogo_anima never appears in the log and is NOT reported as undrawn: the
developer bundle batches 7 elements into one draw and only the first two quads
are logged. That is the trap that produced the eff3 false negative, so it is
named rather than claimed.

Also records the port's correction: ptcopyright has 105 instants with alpha >= 1
(t=139..243) against 105.89 units of span; I had quoted the rounded span.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01QsEPXWVaEpyfudtR6re1Pd

docs/re/INDEX.md

@@ -176,3 +176,4 @@ files, which is how the same ground got covered twice.
 | [`structures/ui-forced-backdrop.md`](structures/ui-forced-backdrop.md) | Where a keyless primitive paints, when the file forces it | ✅ **decoded**, partly closing `ui-prm-primitives.md`'s standing blocker: **an element covering the screen and fully opaque at some instant cannot paint above anything visible then**, and where that set is *every* other element its position is **forced first**. Disc-wide **80** instances forced, 50 constrained but not forced, 0 unconstrained. ✅ **Two controls, both measured orders from the running game**: it reproduces `palogo_eff0.prm` = FIRST (opaque 211 instants, below 6/6) — which a **name**-based rule gets wrong, since it is named like an overlay — and permits `pteff00.prm` on top (opaque 2 instants, below 3/23), which is where it is measured. ✅ Answers the port's `build_12`/`build_15` blank-screen contradiction: `pgloading_eff00.prm` is forced first, 4/4. ✅ Explains 36 builds the corpus recorded as "one colour" with no cause — `pzeff00.prm` forced first 32/32, so **our own sort wiped them**. 🔴 The rule's limit was found by its own test failing: applied to `.t32` sprites it claimed 22 must sort first against their own keys (`pneff01` 0xd850 at #8/13, `pbfriendly` 0x9230 at #17/49) — a sprite's *element* alpha says nothing about its *texture*'s coverage, so it is now restricted to untextured primitives. ⚠️ Assumes straight alpha-over; blend mode is still ❔. ⚠️ A lower bound, not an ordering. ⚠️ No new oracle run — the controls are prior measurements |
 | [`structures/ui-forced-backdrop.md`](structures/ui-forced-backdrop.md) *(span sensitivity)* | How much of the forced-backdrop rule rests on the timeline convention | ✅ **decoded**: the span is `0..=max keyframe time over every element`, and an element **holds** its final pose — decoded, not assumed ([`ui-keyframe-time-unit.md`](ui-keyframe-time-unit.md), [`ui-record-loop-length.md`](structures/ui-record-loop-length.md)). Sensitivity over the 130 keyless full-screen primitives with an opaque interval: using the header's declared **`+0x08`** instead changes **0** verdicts (interchangeable); using the primitive's **own** last keyframe changes **72**; counting elements **gone** after their last keyframe changes **72**. 🔴 So the hold decides **55 %** of verdicts — and dropping it is **refuted by a measured order**: `palogo_eff0.prm` is a single keyframe at t=0, so without the hold it is opaque for one instant, nothing else is up, and the rule calls it *free* against a game measured painting it first. ✅ The verdicts that matter are convention-independent — `pgloading_eff00.prm` is FIRST under all four, `pteff00.prm` FREE under all four. ⚠️ The port's **256 vs 211** was a **bundle mismatch, not a definitional one**: `palogo_eff0.prm` runs to t=255 on the publisher splash (entries 10/13) and t=210 on the developer (11/14) |
 | [`structures/ui-clock-freezes-at-settle.md`](structures/ui-clock-freezes-at-settle.md) | The top-level clock stops at the settle point — observed in the running game | ✅ **measured**: `GP_TITLE` build 4 declares `t = 0…269`, about 120 presented frames at this run's pacing, and the dwell lasted **~1 100**. `ptcopyright` declares alpha≥1 for **106 units** (t=138…244) and is **drawn for 1 050 frames**; `ptlogo1` declares an exit at t=264 and is drawn for 1 095. Both vanish within three frames of the dwell ending. **The clock advances through the build-in, stops inside the settle window `[160,236]`, and holds; the exit ramp plays when the screen leaves, not on a timer** — [`ui-settle-time.md`](structures/ui-settle-time.md)'s decode observed from the other side. A nested record keeps looping on its own clock throughout. 🔴 **This closes the 114-vs-120 gap, and it was my arithmetic**: 2.231 units/frame was regressed over *build-in* events (the only stretch the top-level clock advances) and applied to a period measured during the freeze — two different clocks. The declared **120** was never in doubt from the calibration-free dark-fraction test. ✅ The 51.158-frame period is now confirmed by a **second independent estimator** (autocorrelation, lag 51 with harmonics at 102/154) — ⚠️ whose first version **failed its control**, returning 48, because it indexed by sample position where the log's frame numbers have gaps. ❔ The **sweeps'** period stays unmeasured: the same validated estimator disagrees between two dwells of one screen (515 vs 452 frames). 🔴 **Blocker: a single Ⓐ on the title faults the guest** — 3 attempts, 2 register dumps of 223 MB and 519 MB, against 3 no-input runs that all completed; bounds menu-side dynamic RE here, and any scripted button press needs a `canary.stdout` size guard |
+| [`structures/boot-splash-dwells-are-declared.md`](structures/boot-splash-dwells-are-declared.md) | How long each boot splash is shown | ✅ **decoded**: the dwells are the bundles' own declared timelines — publisher **t=0…255 = 4.250 s**, developer **t=0…210 = 3.500 s** at 60 units/s. The corpus's independent screenshot timing over 3 cold boots gives 4.30/4.60/4.37 and **3.51/3.50/3.37** — the developer agreeing to **1.1 %**, two of its three runs to 0.3 %. 🔴 **Wall clock is the wrong unit to author**: a fresh no-input boot measured the same two dwells at **5.10–5.61 s** and 3.83–4.30 s, 15–20 % longer than both the declared values and the corpus's runs, on the same disc — so a seconds figure is one run's emulator pacing. Boundaries from the draw stream: publisher wordmark frames 6–119, **3 frames with no sprite drawn**, developer glows 123, wordmarks 140–209, intro video 216. 🔴 **The frame→wall-clock instrument resolves to one BUFFER FLUSH, not one frame** — 69 of 125 samples showed no advance and the rest jumped 7–15 frames, making the apparent rate swing 0.0164–0.0316 s/frame; frames 119 and 123 fall in one burst, so the inter-splash gap is **not separable** by it. Quoted as brackets; sub-flush estimates withdrawn before reporting. ⚠️ `palogo_anima` never appears — almost certainly the 8-vertex cap (7 elements batched, 2 logged), the same trap as the `eff3` false negative, so it is named not reported. ❔ the publisher's 4.1 % error vs the developer's 1.1 % is unexplained |