re: a title negative that survives its own cross-check

Three earlier "the title never appears" claims came from instruments
later found broken -- a stale pixel oracle, a 41 s sampling interval, a
freezing stream. This one carries its own evidence.

title_probe_xchecked.py restarts its capture stream every 30 s AND prints
its reading beside an independent `import` grab every 60 s:

  1851 frames in 560.2 s = 3.30 fps
  cross-checks 9, disagreements 1
  max glyph 0

  t= 62s stream   6.05 | import   0.07  disagree (a fade, logos mid-transition)
  t=123s stream   7.40 | import   7.49  agree
  t=183s stream   8.18 | import   8.29  agree
  t=243s stream   0.23 | import   0.10  agree
  t=311s stream  89.68 | import  89.51  agree
  t=371s stream  80.97 | import  81.58  agree
  t=426s stream 117.43 | import 117.72  agree
  t=487s stream  77.71 | import  76.25  agree
  t=546s stream  70.43 | import  70.55  agree

Eight of nine agree within 2%, fps held at 3.30 with no collapse to 1.60,
and the surface moved through dark and bright phases. So the frames were
live: over 560 continuous seconds from launch, sampled 3.3 times a
second, the interactive title's green (A) plate never appears while the
game renders throughout. The final frame correlates 0.0145 / -0.0047 /
0.0102 with our title / main menu / EXTRAS renders -- attract-movie
content, not a UI screen.

Why remains unknown. live-title-press-a.png with its 753 glyph pixels
proves the title was reachable from this container on 2026-08-28, and
clearing the shader cache fixed the black surface but not this.

The two emulator-side questions (gamma control, 8AX vs ptbase) are
therefore blocked on a characterised failure rather than a suspicion.
Neither blocks the five menu screens, so I am returning to static work;
the probe is committed for whoever picks it up.

METHOD: a probe that cross-checks itself turns "no result" into a result.

docs/port/MISSION.md

@@ -77,6 +77,29 @@ alongside it.
 | **Q10** | **What are a music bank's sub-waves?** `BGM_001.slb` is three sub-waves — 10 KB, 4.47 MB, 4.67 MB — and we currently **concatenate them blindly** into one 347 s track. Two near-equal halves could be intro + loop, or two variations, or two halves of one piece. A menu that loops its music needs to know which | The role of each sub-wave, established for at least the menu BGM. "Concatenate" is a decision, not a default — right now it is a default nobody chose |
 | **S1** | ~~**Ready Room probe.**~~ **DONE 2026-08-28 — [no-go](../re/ready-room-probe.md).** It is 2D and enumerates fine, but the pak is briefing/tactical-map content, not the Ready Room menu | ✅ go/no-go written |
 
+## 🔴 Emulator-side questions are blocked — the title is not reachable here
+
+**Status 2026-08-29, instrument-verified.** Two open items need a running menu:
+the gamma control behind [tone curve](../re/structures/ui-render-tone-curve.md),
+and separating `8AX` from `ptbase` in
+[8AX](../re/structures/ui-8ax-fullres-background.md). Both are blocked.
+
+✅ **The negative is now solid.** A probe that restarts its capture stream every
+30 s and cross-checks itself against an independent grabber every 60 s
+(9 checks, 8 agreeing to within 2 %) ran **560 continuous seconds from launch at
+3.30 fps**: the interactive title's green Ⓐ plate never appeared, while the game
+rendered throughout. The final frame correlates 0.0145 / −0.0047 / 0.0102 with
+our title / main-menu / `EXTRAS` renders — attract-movie content.
+
+❔ **Why is unknown.** `live-title-press-a.png` (753 glyph pixels) proves it was
+reachable from this container on 2026-08-28. Clearing the shader cache fixed a
+*black surface* but not this.
+
+⚠️ Neither blocked item blocks the five menu screens. See
+[capture-harness-status](../re/capture-harness-status.md) for the full trail,
+including three earlier "the title never appears" claims that were withdrawn
+because the instrument was broken each time.
+
 ## 🟡 Needs one more run — a Japanese-locale capture
 
 Recorded rather than worked around, per "do not improvise around a blocker".