re: a third menu-outgoing gap, and leaving the archive costs no extra black

sylpheed-port's BLOCKED row asks for a second value on one outgoing screen --
what would make "the gap tracks the outgoing screen" predictive rather than a
restatement of the data.

First, a correction their ask surfaced without needing a run: THE MENU ALREADY
HAD TWO VALUES AND THEY DIFFER -- 0 leaving for the title, 1 leaving for EXTRAS.
So "the outgoing screen determines the gap" was too strong and is withdrawn; what
holds is an ordering, not a determination. Also recorded: their ask is answerable
only from the menu, since the title's sole exit is (A) to the menu and EXTRAS's
sole exit is (B) to the menu.

Then took a third menu-outgoing measurement, to a screen outside GP_TITLE.
Confound named in advance rather than after: that transition leaves the ARCHIVE,
so a pak load could inflate the gap for reasons unrelated to the outgoing screen.

Result: outgoing quad rises across frames 24-28 (4-5 frames, matching build 5's
declared 10-unit close), then ONE empty frame at 30. Gap = 1, identical to
menu -> EXTRAS. So the confound is measured ABSENT -- leaving the archive costs no
extra black, which is worth having on its own.

Six transitions now group as: menu {0, 1, 1} over three different destinations
including another pak, EXTRAS {2}, title {3, 3, 3}. The ordering rests on 3+1+3
measurements and the menu's three agree to within one frame.

Still not predictive: outgoing closes are 5, 5, 4 frames against gaps {0,1}, {2},
{3}, and EXTRAS has n=1 with no way to obtain a second value.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01Wuu56cE8vJGTBtn1ppsk8v

docs/port/HANDOFF.md

@@ -35,9 +35,17 @@ transition orders them. [`data/fade-four-transitions.txt`](../re/data/fade-four-
 | EXTRAS → menu (Ⓑ) | **2** | EXTRAS |
 | title → menu (Ⓐ) ×3 | **3, 3, 3** | title |
 
-📌 **The gap is a property of the screen being LEFT.** Two transitions leaving the
-menu give 0 and 1; the one leaving `EXTRAS` gives 2; the three leaving the title
-give 3 every time.
+📌 **The gap tracks the screen being LEFT — but CONSTRAINS rather than determines
+it.** ⚠️ Corrected the same day, prompted by `sylpheed-port` asking for *"a second
+value on any one outgoing screen"*: **the menu already has two, and they differ** —
+0 leaving for the title, 1 leaving for `EXTRAS`. So "the outgoing screen determines
+the gap" is too strong and I withdraw that phrasing. What holds is an ordering:
+menu {0, 1} < `EXTRAS` {2} < title {3, 3, 3}.
+
+⚠️ **And their ask is answerable only from the menu.** The title's sole exit is Ⓐ
+to the menu and `EXTRAS`'s sole exit is Ⓑ to the menu, so neither can supply a
+second destination. The menu is the only screen in this archive with more than one
+way out, which caps what these five transitions can establish.
 
 * **Direction is ruled out** — `EXTRAS → menu` (2) and `menu → EXTRAS` (1) are the
   same pair both ways and differ.

docs/re/data/fade-four-transitions.txt

@@ -173,3 +173,41 @@ frame  untextured full-screen   textured (distinct)        draws tex
 # the data; a rule would PREDICT. And nothing declared does: the outgoing close is
 # 5, 5, 5, 4 frames against gaps 0/1, 2, 3 -- if anything inverted, on three
 # points. Recorded as a narrowing of WHERE to look, not as a rule.
+
+################################################################################
+# SIXTH TRANSITION: menu -> a screen OUTSIDE GP_TITLE, via (A). 2026-08-30.
+#
+# Taken because sylpheed-port's BLOCKED row asks for a SECOND VALUE ON ONE
+# OUTGOING SCREEN -- the thing that would make "the gap tracks the outgoing
+# screen" predictive rather than a restatement. ⚠️ The menu is the only screen in
+# GP_TITLE that can supply it: the title's sole exit is (A) to the menu and
+# EXTRAS's sole exit is (B) to the menu, so neither has a second destination.
+#
+# ⚠️ CONFOUND NAMED IN ADVANCE, before the result was seen: this transition leaves
+# the ARCHIVE, so a pak load could inflate the gap for reasons having nothing to
+# do with the outgoing screen.
+#
+#   frames  4-21   menu settled ([64] = pteff02.prm)
+#   frames 24-28   outgoing quad 25, 127, 255 -- 4-5 frames, matching build 5's
+#                  declared close of 10 units = 5 frames
+#   frame  30      EMPTY: 3 draws, 0 textured
+#   frames 32+     the new screen builds ([127] primitive, not the menu's [64])
+#
+# ✅ GAP = 1, the same as menu -> EXTRAS. So the confound is MEASURED ABSENT:
+# leaving the archive costs no extra black. That is worth having on its own.
+#
+################################################################################
+# SIX TRANSITIONS, GROUPED BY OUTGOING SCREEN
+#
+#   outgoing screen      gaps            n
+#   menu   (build 5)     0, 1, 1         3   -> title, -> EXTRAS, -> another archive
+#   EXTRAS (build 6)     2               1   -> menu
+#   title  (build 4)     3, 3, 3         3   -> menu (three runs)
+#
+# 🟡 The ordering menu {0,1} < EXTRAS {2} < title {3} now rests on 3 + 1 + 3
+# measurements rather than 2 + 1 + 3, and the menu's three values agree to within
+# ONE frame across three different destinations, one of them in another pak.
+#
+# 🔴 Still not predictive. Nothing declared separates 0/1 from 2 from 3: the
+# outgoing closes are 5, 5, 4 frames for menu, EXTRAS, title against gaps of
+# {0,1}, {2}, {3}. And EXTRAS still has n=1 with no way to get a second value.

tools/re-capture/fade_decompose.sh

@@ -76,6 +76,31 @@ if [ "$WHERE" = "menu" ]; then
   done
   [ "$s" = "menu" ] || { echo "NO MENU (screen=$s)"; exit 2; }
   BTN=B
+elif [ "$WHERE" = "menu2other" ]; then
+  # A THIRD value for the menu as outgoing screen. The menu is the only screen in
+  # GP_TITLE with more than one exit, so it is the only place the port's ask -- a
+  # second value on one outgoing screen -- can be tested at all. Here we take an
+  # exit that LEAVES the archive (NEW GAME / LOAD / TUTORIAL / OPTIONS), which the
+  # discriminator reports as "neither" with a collapsed margin.
+  BRANCH="menu2other: arm on the MENU with focus on a non-EXTRAS item -> press (A)"
+  python3 "$SD/pad.py" tap A 0.5
+  for _ in 1 2 3 4 5 6; do
+    sleep 4; s="$(screen)"; echo "  after A: $s"
+    [ "$s" = "menu" ] && break
+  done
+  [ "$s" = "menu" ] || { echo "NO MENU (screen=$s)"; exit 2; }
+  # Confirm the focused item is NOT extras: press (A), check, (B) back. If it WAS
+  # extras, step the cursor once so the armed press goes somewhere else.
+  python3 "$SD/pad.py" tap A 0.5; sleep 5
+  shot "$OUT/probe.png"
+  w="$(python3 "$SD/which_title_screen.py" "$OUT/probe.png")"
+  echo "  probe: $w"
+  python3 "$SD/pad.py" tap B 0.5; sleep 6
+  case "$w" in extras*) echo "  focus was EXTRAS — stepping once"
+                        python3 "$SD/pad.py" dpad UP 0.3; sleep 2;; esac
+  shot "$OUT/armed-on-menu.png"
+  echo "  arming on: $(python3 "$SD/which_title_screen.py" "$OUT/armed-on-menu.png")"
+  BTN=A
 elif [ "$WHERE" = "extras" ] || [ "$WHERE" = "menu2extras" ]; then
   BRANCH="extras-family: navigate to EXTRAS"
   python3 "$SD/pad.py" tap A 0.5