open-wc/docs/M00_FINAL_PAIRED_EVIDENCE.md

# M00 Final Paired Evidence — 2026-07-13

## Scope and result

The final local M00 audit used Godot 4.6.1, the existing cache state, the manifest-standard 8-second readiness wait, and `2560x1440` visual candidates. Seven private WoW 3.3.5a build 12340 references produced fourteen cold/warm comparisons with no missing pair. Private images and generated reports remain outside Git.

Every pair exceeded the strict regression tolerance. Comparator exit code `1` means a valid report with measured visual gaps; only codes outside `0/1` are infrastructure failures. This evidence establishes coverage and current differences, not renderer parity.

```powershell
.\tools\run_render_baseline.ps1 `
  -Output user://render_baseline_m00_complete_2026-07-13 `
  -CacheState existing `
  -WaitSeconds 8 `
  -MeasureSeconds 0.5 `
  -ReferenceCheckpointDirectory .\sources\OpenWCReferenceCheckpoints `
  -VisualComparisonReport user://render_baseline_m00_complete_2026-07-13/visual_comparison.json `
  -VisualComparisonWidth 2560 `
  -VisualComparisonHeight 1440
```

The initial shell timeout detached the canonical capture process after it started. The process completed all fourteen canonical captures and wrote `report.json`; the documented visual-capture and comparator stages were then invoked separately with the same arguments. The final output directory contains both complete reports.

## Paired metrics

| Checkpoint | Pass | Mean perceptual error | Changed-pixel ratio | Classification |
|---|---|---:|---:|---|
| `elwynn_adt_boundary` | cold | 0.087258 | 0.634580 | Composition plus terrain/vegetation/material gaps |
| `elwynn_adt_boundary` | warm | 0.087255 | 0.634598 | Stable against revisit |
| `elwynn_sky_dusk` | cold | 0.094778 | 0.575956 | Approximate paired camera; sky color, lighting and scene-composition gaps |
| `elwynn_sky_dusk` | warm | 0.094757 | 0.575898 | Stable against revisit |
| `elwynn_terrain_overview` | cold | 0.174137 | 0.851791 | Largest composition/framing gap |
| `elwynn_terrain_overview` | warm | 0.176955 | 0.861271 | Stable gap, not a cold-load artifact |
| `elwynn_waterfall_liquid` | cold | 0.088629 | 0.706522 | Framing, terrain, liquid and lighting gaps |
| `elwynn_waterfall_liquid` | warm | 0.087398 | 0.693690 | Stable against revisit |
| `goldshire_dense_m2` | cold | 0.066893 | 0.575257 | Smallest available paired gap; vegetation/material differences remain |
| `goldshire_dense_m2` | warm | 0.066927 | 0.575592 | Stable against revisit |
| `goldshire_inn_large_wmo` | cold | 0.101224 | 0.701835 | WMO is ready; manual framing and presentation gaps remain |
| `goldshire_inn_large_wmo` | warm | 0.101206 | 0.701855 | Stable against revisit |
| `gryphon_roost_native_animation` | cold | 0.119467 | 0.882073 | Same build-12340 asset, different real/synthetic placement and uncontrolled animation phase |
| `gryphon_roost_native_animation` | warm | 0.119471 | 0.882076 | Full-frame metric is diagnostic only; animation observation is human evidence |

Cold and warm values are close for all seven references. The measured gaps are therefore not explained by first-visit cache readiness. Goldshire timing evidence separately demonstrated that the 8-second wait is necessary for WMO publication.

## Animation and sky provenance

The private source corpus preserves exact screenshot bytes; no resize, crop or generated content was used:

| Evidence | SHA-256 | Interpretation |
|---|---|---|
| `elwynn_sky_dusk.jpg` | `1fb06836cacae714c76eaf9b8bf7c292fd5e2f2df33eef821bfe4c4a6bd97072` | Build 12340, Elwynn camera position, server time approximately 19:00, UI hidden |
| `gryphon_roost_native_animation.jpg` | `d3488c741cb8dfe7212198e48332842631a951862a4388b67045338f37357447` | Build 12340 real-world `GryphonRoost01` placement, first visible wing phase |
| diagnostic animation phase B | `1025572c7ab9fa0d2e500ff026be46eb9c1e6e5447116dbdc3675dd5f44574ab` | Same camera three seconds later; visibly raised wing phase |
| diagnostic placement context | `b12c0b713a7d75123ed30f5a316b33537331442cd56615aea69214c7cc4e7a42` | Two real Lakeshire placements and surrounding build-12340 scene |

An ADT scan found no `GryphonRoost01` placement in Goldshire. The M00 checkpoint deliberately injects the model there as a synthetic probe. The original-client observation therefore uses two real Lakeshire placements. The three-second pose change establishes `Observed` native animation behavior, but the full-frame comparison cannot establish spatial or animation-phase parity.

## Fidelity interpretation

M00 now has private build 12340 evidence for every required coverage category: terrain, ADT boundary, dense M2, large WMO, liquid, animated M2 and sky transition. The sky reference is approximately paired by map position/time and manually approved composition. Animated-M2 evidence is asset-paired but placement-unpaired because the OpenWC probe is synthetic.

The reports demonstrate current differences and do not claim `1:1`. Camera calibration experiments also show that unknown manual yaw/pitch/FOV cannot be recovered reliably from full-frame color error alone. Region scoring reduces terrain bias but still requires semantic landmark approval.

## Operational risks

A follow-up shutdown ownership fix removed the GUI renderer leaks found by the final visual capture. Before the fix, the focused animated-M2 checkpoint retained 6 mesh, 6 material, 4 shader, 6 texture, 6 instance and associated RenderingDevice RIDs, for 30 resources in use. After the fix, both the focused 8-second capture and a seven-checkpoint single-pass capture completed without Node, resource or RID leak diagnostics.

Godot can still emit a timing-dependent ObjectDB warning for one or more anonymous `RefCounted` objects whose reported reference count is already zero. The warning has no retained Node, renderer resource or RID ownership in the verified captures. It remains recorded as an engine-teardown diagnostic rather than being hidden, but it is distinct from the resolved GUI renderer leak.

## Integrator decision checklist

- Seven required reference checkpoints: cold/warm report complete, `compared=14`, `missing=0`.
- Animated M2: build-12340 native motion observed in two phases; synthetic/real placement mismatch explicitly classified.
- Sky transition: build-12340 19:00 evidence present with approximate paired camera and human-approved composition.
- Renderer visual differences: registered as gaps, not parity claims.
- GUI renderer RID/resource diagnostics: resolved by explicit shutdown ownership and covered by a headless regression verifier; the residual zero-reference `RefCounted` engine-teardown warning remains tracked separately.
- Target status, target Evidence and `OPENWC_TARGET_DONE` marker: integrator-only actions.