diff --git a/emulator/vpx-device/vpxlog.cpp b/emulator/vpx-device/vpxlog.cpp
index 897a316..99403f4 100644
--- a/emulator/vpx-device/vpxlog.cpp
+++ b/emulator/vpx-device/vpxlog.cpp
@@ -405,6 +405,13 @@ static void vpx_write(Bitu port, Bitu val, Bitu iolen) {
     }
 }
 
+/* VDB display-palette storage (shared: written by the VDB I/O handler on the
+ * emulator thread, read by the GL thread for the live palette strips).
+ * Declared here so rt_draw() below can see it. */
+struct VDBPalette { unsigned char waddr, raddr, sub, mask; unsigned char ram[768]; };
+static VDBPalette vdb_pal[3];
+static bool vpx_show_vdb_strips = true;   /* draw live palette strips (VPX_VDBSTRIP=0 off) */
+
 /* ================= Phase 3b: live render backend (VPX_RENDER=1) ==========
  * Reconstructs the DPL scene graph from the FIFO message stream (protocol
  * established in PHASE3-PROGRESS.md / render_capture.py) and draws each
@@ -643,6 +650,34 @@ static void rt_draw(HDC dc, const VFrame &f, int cw, int ch) {
         glDisable(GL_TEXTURE_2D);
         glDisable(GL_LIGHTING);
     }
+    /* Live VDB palette strips: the three display color maps (secondary/aux1/
+     * aux2) as 256-wide bars along the bottom, updating in real time as the
+     * game rewrites them (VPX_VDBSTRIP=0 to hide). Read straight from the VDB
+     * storage -- a torn read is invisible at this cadence. */
+    if (vpx_show_vdb_strips) {
+        glDisable(GL_DEPTH_TEST);
+        glDisable(GL_TEXTURE_2D);
+        glDisable(GL_LIGHTING);
+        glMatrixMode(GL_PROJECTION); glLoadIdentity();
+        glOrtho(0, cw, ch, 0, -1, 1);        /* screen pixels, y-down */
+        glMatrixMode(GL_MODELVIEW); glLoadIdentity();
+        int barh = 16, gap = 2;
+        int total = 3 * barh + 2 * gap;
+        int y0 = ch - total - 4;
+        for (int g = 0; g < 3; g++) {
+            float y = (float)(y0 + g * (barh + gap));
+            glBegin(GL_QUADS);
+            for (int i = 0; i < 256; i++) {
+                float x0 = (float)i / 256.0f * cw;
+                float x1 = (float)(i + 1) / 256.0f * cw;
+                const unsigned char *e = &vdb_pal[g].ram[i * 3];
+                glColor3ub(e[0], e[1], e[2]);
+                glVertex2f(x0, y);         glVertex2f(x1, y);
+                glVertex2f(x1, y + barh);  glVertex2f(x0, y + barh);
+            }
+            glEnd();
+        }
+    }
     SwapBuffers(dc);
 }
 
@@ -1083,8 +1118,6 @@ static void vpx_render_start(void) {}
  * later; reads return 0xFF. Active when VPXLOG is set; logs to the same file. */
 static const io_port_t VDB_BASE = 0x300;
 
-struct VDBPalette { unsigned char waddr, raddr, sub, mask; unsigned char ram[768]; };
-static VDBPalette vdb_pal[3];
 static bool vdb_splitter_on = false;
 /* lazy coalescing of palette data-byte writes so a 768-byte load is one line */
 static int vdb_data_group = -1;
@@ -1115,10 +1148,20 @@ static void vdb_flush_data(void) {
             fflush(vpx_fp);
         }
         if (vdb_paldump && vdb_data_count >= 768) {
-            char path[600];
-            snprintf(path, sizeof path, "%s%d.rgb", vdb_paldump, vdb_data_group);
-            FILE *pf = fopen(path, "wb");
-            if (pf) { fwrite(vdb_pal[vdb_data_group].ram, 1, 768, pf); fclose(pf); }
+            /* keep the MOST-LIT snapshot per group (max non-black bytes), so
+             * the real content is captured no matter when it lands or which
+             * phase an animated palette is sampled in. */
+            static unsigned pal_max_nz[3] = { 0, 0, 0 };
+            int g = vdb_data_group;
+            unsigned nz = 0;
+            for (int i = 0; i < 768; i++) if (vdb_pal[g].ram[i]) nz++;
+            if (nz >= pal_max_nz[g]) {
+                pal_max_nz[g] = nz;
+                char path[600];
+                snprintf(path, sizeof path, "%s%d.rgb", vdb_paldump, g);
+                FILE *pf = fopen(path, "wb");
+                if (pf) { fwrite(vdb_pal[g].ram, 1, 768, pf); fclose(pf); }
+            }
         }
     }
     vdb_data_group = -1; vdb_data_count = 0;
@@ -1194,6 +1237,9 @@ void VPXLOG_Init(void) {
         if (fifo_dump_fp == NULL) LOG_MSG("VPXLOG: cannot open fifodump '%s'", fd);
     }
 
+    const char *vs = getenv("VPX_VDBSTRIP");
+    if (vs && vs[0] == '0') vpx_show_vdb_strips = false;
+
     const char *rn = getenv("VPX_RENDER");
     if (rn && rn[0] && rn[0] != '0') {
         vpx_render_start();