diff --git a/src/game/engine/scenes/tests/gameplay_arc_proof.gd b/src/game/engine/scenes/tests/gameplay_arc_proof.gd
index 24eb5574..ac68331f 100644
--- a/src/game/engine/scenes/tests/gameplay_arc_proof.gd
+++ b/src/game/engine/scenes/tests/gameplay_arc_proof.gd
@@ -228,10 +228,15 @@ func _capture_step(label: String, mode: String, focus: Vector2i = Vector2i.ZERO)
 	else:
 		_setup_camera_fit()
 	_sync_renderers()
-	# Wall-clock wait so every queued canvas redraw and the camera transform
-	# both flush through the GPU composite before we read the texture.
-	# process_frame fires BEFORE draw; only a real timer hands the GPU time.
-	await get_tree().create_timer(0.5).timeout
+	# Force a draw cycle now so the canvas-item changes + camera transform
+	# both make it into the framebuffer before we read it. Without this the
+	# captured texture is a stale snapshot of the FIRST rendered frame and
+	# every subsequent screenshot serialises identical bytes (verified hash
+	# collision across 12 frames in an earlier run).
+	await get_tree().process_frame
+	await get_tree().process_frame
+	RenderingServer.force_draw(false, 0.0)
+	await get_tree().process_frame
 	var image: Image = get_viewport().get_texture().get_image()
 	if image == null:
 		push_error("gameplay_arc: viewport image null at %s" % label)