diff --git a/emulator/firmware-decomp/IGC-ENCODING-DERIVATION.md b/emulator/firmware-decomp/IGC-ENCODING-DERIVATION.md
index 96ef9bd6..7f6f71bf 100644
--- a/emulator/firmware-decomp/IGC-ENCODING-DERIVATION.md
+++ b/emulator/firmware-decomp/IGC-ENCODING-DERIVATION.md
@@ -211,6 +211,24 @@ the eof-block ops 0xfa/0x7c/0x1f/0xf2/0x97/0x05/0x49/0x30/0x75/0xdb (builder =
 one linear fn 0xf041ee30-0xf041f7b0, per-word pcs logged in builder_trace2.log —
 disasm each site to name them).
 
+## FRAME PIPELINE STATUS (2026-07-18 early)
+
+frame_render.py (scratchpad) executes a send-captured frame end-to-end:
+cap7 draw#1 = 52 tiles (13x4 ✓ for 832x512; tile-id origin = (id&0x1f)*64,
+(id>>5&0x1f)*128 ✓), 5 distinct payloads (4/16/33/41/69 words) broadcast to all
+tiles. Output with 11 ops stubbed = uniform navy (constant from SCAintoMEM in
+the eof planes) — structurally sound, pattern generators missing.
+
+**ARCHITECTURE FINDING:** fxtest's animation frame ALSO sends only 4 distinct
+payloads — the per-tile IGC program is FIXED; scene content flows through the
+TEXTURE path (TXDN per tile + texu/texv computed per-pixel by the 69-block
+transform + ramp/mode bits). The wire 'set_texmap_texels' payloads for cap7 are
+FLOAT blocks (vertex/normal-like: the action-25 geometry sub-protocol), not
+texel arrays — the bar colours are NOT a simple texel table; they come through
+the ramp/eof machinery (the stubbed ops). NEXT: name the 11 stubbed ops from the
+builder disasm (writer pcs in builder_trace2.log, builder = 0xf041ee30-f7b0
+straight-line) + implement the texture/ramp lookup; then bars.
+
 ## NEXT (the miner)
 Write `eofs_mine.py`: parse EOF.S per function; track `st.l`/`fst.l` stores
 through the coeff pointer; recover, in order, each emitted word (int literals
diff --git a/emulator/firmware-decomp/render_wide30.py b/emulator/firmware-decomp/render_wide30.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..dab4559e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/emulator/firmware-decomp/render_wide30.py
@@ -0,0 +1,100 @@
+"""Render the cap7 test-scene from cap7_wide30.pkl's REAL captured IGC packets.
+Packets = {SETENABS, 3x TREEgeZERO_L3 edges, MEMltTREE_L3 z-test, TREEintoMEM_L0
+z-write, 3x color-plane instrs, scalar}. Executed vectorized (numpy) on a full
+832x512 surface with a persistent 1/w z-buffer (MEMltTREE: keep where old < new
+=> greater 1/w wins = closer wins)."""
+import sys, pickle, struct
+import numpy as np
+
+S = r'C:\Users\cyd\AppData\Local\Temp\claude\c--VWE-TeslaRel410\4e848c76-6e89-4034-8047-d8d491cb32d8\scratchpad'
+W, H = 832, 512
+
+d = pickle.load(open(S + r'\cap7_wide30.pkl', 'rb'))
+mem = d['mem']
+
+def f32(w):
+    return struct.unpack('<f', struct.pack('<I', w & 0xffffffff))[0]
+
+starts = sorted(a for a, w in mem.items() if w == 0x3ae80d00)
+# packet head = SETENABS right before the first of each edge triple
+# group: consecutive geZERO addresses 16 bytes apart form one packet's 3 edges
+packets = []
+i = 0
+while i < len(starts):
+    a = starts[i]
+    if i + 2 < len(starts) and starts[i+1] == a + 16 and starts[i+2] == a + 32:
+        packets.append(a)
+        i += 3
+    else:
+        i += 1
+print("%d triangle packets" % len(packets))
+
+def rdf(a):
+    return f32(mem.get(a, 0))
+
+def rd(a):
+    return mem.get(a, 0)
+
+yy, xx = np.mgrid[0:H, 0:W].astype(np.float64)
+zbuf = np.full((H, W), -1e30)
+rgb = np.zeros((H, W, 3))
+drawn = 0
+for a in packets:
+    # edges at a, a+16, a+32: {hdr, A, B, C}
+    en_pos = np.ones((H, W), bool)
+    en_neg = np.ones((H, W), bool)
+    for e in range(3):
+        ea = a + 16 * e
+        A, B, C = rdf(ea + 4), rdf(ea + 8), rdf(ea + 12)
+        v = A * xx + B * yy + C
+        en_pos &= v >= 0
+        en_neg &= v < 0
+    en = en_pos | en_neg          # winding-agnostic
+    if not en.any():
+        continue
+    # z instr: scan forward from a+48 for the MEMltTREE header (preambles vary)
+    za = None
+    for off in range(48, 48 + 44, 4):
+        if (rd(a + off) & 0xffffff00) == 0x44ea2100:
+            za = a + off
+            break
+    if za is None:
+        continue
+    A, B, C = rdf(za + 4), rdf(za + 8), rdf(za + 12)
+    z = A * xx + B * yy + C
+    en &= z > zbuf
+    if not en.any():
+        continue
+    zbuf[en] = z[en]
+    # z-write at a+64 (1 word), colors from a+68: three 5-word groups
+    # {clmp-hdr, pword, w2, w3, w4} -- empirical: value plane = {B?, A?, C?}
+    cols = []
+    ca = za + 20
+    for c in range(3):
+        g = ca + 20 * c
+        hdr = rd(g)
+        w1, w2, w3, w4 = rd(g + 4), rd(g + 8), rd(g + 12), rd(g + 16)
+        # try: the plane floats are the last three words {A?, B?, C?}
+        fA, fB, fC = f32(w2), f32(w3), f32(w4)
+        cols.append((fA, fB, fC))
+    for c, (fA, fB, fC) in enumerate(cols):
+        plane = fA * xx + fB * yy + fC
+        rgb[..., c][en] = np.clip(plane[en], 0, 255)
+    drawn += 1
+
+print("drawn: %d packets" % drawn)
+print("rgb range:", rgb.min(), rgb.max())
+# normalize for viewing if the scale is off
+mx = rgb.max() or 1.0
+img = (np.clip(rgb / (mx if mx > 255 else 255), 0, 1) * 255).astype(np.uint8)
+from PIL import Image
+Image.fromarray(img, 'RGB').save(S + r'\wide30_render.png')
+# also a z-buffer visualization (structure check independent of colors)
+zv = zbuf.copy()
+m = zv > -1e29
+if m.any():
+    zn = (zv - zv[m].min()) / max(1e-9, (zv[m].max() - zv[m].min()))
+    zi = np.zeros((H, W), np.uint8)
+    zi[m] = (40 + 215 * zn[m]).astype(np.uint8)
+    Image.fromarray(zi, 'L').save(S + r'\wide30_depth.png')
+print("wrote wide30_render.png + wide30_depth.png")