diff --git a/docs/re/BACKLOG.md b/docs/re/BACKLOG.md
index 39179112..30d9ef1a 100644
--- a/docs/re/BACKLOG.md
+++ b/docs/re/BACKLOG.md
@@ -776,8 +776,16 @@ shader, all screen-space, none 3D — against a known-good 2.9 MB capture from a
 earlier session. The 8 000-draw budget was not the limit and the scene *was*
 rendering. ⚠️ The "cache refuted" claim above is **overstated**: this run used
 the same complete cache as `tut4` and got 0 crashes vs 11 497, so variance
-dominates. **Next (static, no emulator):** compare this capture's shape against
-the known-good one to find why the 3D draws never reach `CaptureShipDrawForRE`. 🔴 The resume-refused lead (1 663 on one
+dominates. 🔴 **Corrected:** nothing is broken. Ship
+geometry is `stride=24 prim=4` with a large vcount (`vcount=10891` for a real
+one); this capture has one `prim=4 vcount=6` quad and the 2.9 MB "known-good"
+file has **no `prim=4` at all** — it is a **UI** capture (1 303 of 1 582 draws
+are `stride=24 prim=13`, the UI sprite shader). The earlier "3D draws" test
+counted UI sprite coordinates as 3D. The capture recorded what was on screen, and
+the tutorial's opening has **no capital ship**. **What remains** is what the
+capture doc always said: play into a real mission and frame a ship side-on —
+gameplay driving, not a menu step, and the original was taken on HW Vulkan where
+this container has lavapipe. 🔴 The resume-refused lead (1 663 on one
 thread) is **REFUTED**: that thread did execute, and `KeWaitForSingleObject` /
 `NtWaitForSingleObjectEx` are `kHighFrequency`, which is unlogged unless
 `--log_high_frequency_kernel_calls=true` — so a parked thread is invisible and
diff --git a/docs/re/title-crash-stl-tree.md b/docs/re/title-crash-stl-tree.md
index f33a88ea..fd6baddb 100644
--- a/docs/re/title-crash-stl-tree.md
+++ b/docs/re/title-crash-stl-tree.md
@@ -441,10 +441,42 @@ So the hook fires, the frame has 3D in it, and none of the 3D reaches the
 capture. For comparison, the capture this project already has from an earlier
 session is **2.9 MB**.
 
+### 🔴 Correction: nothing is broken — there was no ship to capture
+
+The section above frames the empty capture as "the 3D draws never reach
+`CaptureShipDrawForRE`". **That framing is wrong**, and the static comparison it
+proposed is what showed it.
+
+**The discriminator for ship geometry is `stride=24 prim=4` with a large
+vcount** — `xbg7-mesh.md` records a real one as
+`stride=24 vcount=10891 indices=18 prim=4`. Not "positions outside the screen
+rectangle", which is what was used above and is a bad test: a UI sprite placed at
+(137,308) passes it.
+
+By the correct test:
+
+| capture | `prim=4` draws | verdict |
+|---|---|---|
+| this run, 329 KB | one, `vcount=6` (a full-screen quad) | no ship geometry |
+| `uicap`, **2.9 MB** | **none at all** | no ship geometry either |
+
+So the 2–3 MB files this was being compared against are **UI captures**, not ship
+captures: 1 303 of their 1 582 draws are `stride=24 prim=13`, which
+[`ui-quad-class-foothold.md`](ui-quad-class-foothold.md) and
+[`ui-title-paint-order-capture.md`](ui-title-paint-order-capture.md) both identify
+as the UI sprite shader. The "1 300 3D draws" they appeared to contain were UI
+sprite coordinates counted by the bad test.
+
+The capture recorded exactly what was on screen. The tutorial's opening is an
+empty starfield, the player's own ship and a HUD — **there is no capital ship in
+it**. [`ship-placement-runtime-capture.md`](ship-placement-runtime-capture.md)
+states the procedure plainly and always did: *"Play into the mission, frame the
+ship side-on, press F10."*
+
 ### Next
 
-Find why. `CaptureShipDrawForRE` is called from one place in
-`command_processor.cc`; the question is whether the 3D scene's draws go through
-that path at all in this build, or whether they are being deduped away. Comparing
-the shape of this file against the known-good 2.9 MB one is the cheap first step,
-and does not need the emulator.
+Not a code question. A second capital-ship capture needs a **capital ship on
+screen**, which means driving real gameplay in a real mission (`STAGE01` via LOAD
+GAME) far enough to frame one — a much larger ask than a menu step, and the
+original capture was taken interactively on **HW Vulkan** where this container
+has lavapipe. That is the honest size of what remains.