perf(diag): complete trustworthy Slice A capture tooling

Correct whole-frame GPU timestamps so they bracket only the accepted render transaction and associate delayed query results with the owning CPU frame. Add route-wide frame-history summaries, fixed-camera screenshot comparison, process counters, contention traces, a pinned Arwic workload, and credential-safe launch disclosure.

The reference hardware/display contract now keeps local and RDP populations separate and defines the screenshot and re-baseline rules needed by later prepared-content gates.

Co-Authored-By: Codex <noreply@openai.com>

docs/research/2026-07-24-performance-reference-configuration.json

@@ -0,0 +1,74 @@
+{
+  "schemaVersion": 1,
+  "recordedUtc": "2026-07-24T00:00:00Z",
+  "referenceHardware": {
+    "cpu": {
+      "name": "AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D 8-Core Processor",
+      "physicalCores": 8,
+      "logicalProcessors": 16
+    },
+    "memoryBytes": 34359738368,
+    "gpu": {
+      "name": "AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT",
+      "driverVersion": "32.0.31021.5001"
+    },
+    "os": {
+      "name": "Microsoft Windows 11 Pro",
+      "version": "10.0.26200",
+      "build": "26200",
+      "architecture": "x64"
+    },
+    "dotnetSdk": "10.0.300"
+  },
+  "displayPaths": {
+    "authoritativeLocal": {
+      "adapter": "AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT",
+      "desktopResolution": "2560x1440",
+      "refreshHz": 240,
+      "authority": "performance-gate"
+    },
+    "diagnosticRdp": {
+      "adapter": "Microsoft Remote Display Adapter",
+      "desktopResolution": "2056x1290",
+      "refreshHz": 32,
+      "authority": "diagnostic-only"
+    }
+  },
+  "clientConfiguration": {
+    "build": "Release",
+    "windowMode": "windowed",
+    "renderResolution": "1280x720",
+    "quality": "High",
+    "fieldOfViewDegrees": 60,
+    "vsync": false,
+    "retailUi": true,
+    "developerUi": false,
+    "audio": true,
+    "datSource": "local retail EoR DAT files",
+    "server": "local ACE"
+  },
+  "routes": {
+    "canonicalNineStop": "tools/connected-r6-soak.route.txt",
+    "denseTown": {
+      "name": "Arwic",
+      "route": "tools/connected-dense-town.route.txt",
+      "arrival": "ACE canonical /telepoi Arwic position and heading",
+      "camera": "six seconds of MovementTurnRight after materialization",
+      "timeOfDay": 0.5
+    }
+  },
+  "screenshotComparison": {
+    "channelTolerance": 2,
+    "maxDifferentPixelFraction": 0.001,
+    "timeOfDay": 0.5,
+    "dynamicPixelRule": "Particles and other nondeterministic dynamic pixels must be excluded by an explicit same-resolution alpha mask. An unmasked failure is never waived by increasing the global tolerance."
+  },
+  "baselineRules": [
+    "Capped-local, uncapped-local, capped-RDP, and uncapped-RDP captures are separate populations and are never compared as if interchangeable.",
+    "Only an authoritative-local capture may establish or pass FPS, CPU, GPU, or frame-time budgets.",
+    "RDP captures may validate automation, lifetime, allocation attribution, and large regressions, but are labeled diagnostic-only.",
+    "Re-baseline after a CPU, GPU, driver, OS build, physical display path, render resolution, quality, FOV, VSync, DAT set, route, or measurement-schema change.",
+    "A re-baseline records the source commit and keeps the prior committed baseline for historical comparison unless its data is invalid.",
+    "Performance captures use a clean tracked worktree and disclose all ACDREAM_* launch variables with secrets redacted."
+  ]
+}