diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index cd8c0b81..98efeaf8 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -38,6 +38,14 @@
   `$style` while the encoded prompt had it resolved.
 
 ### Fixed
+- **A wired reference conditioning is no longer thrown away by the scene split.** The split
+  re-encodes every scene from text and its entries replace the output wholesale. It
+  re-establishes H3's visual conditioning from `source_image` / `h3_references` — neither of
+  which anything in the editor pipeline sets — so on a reference run the identity was
+  replaced by text-only encodes and the character came out as a different person entirely.
+  With CLIP disconnected the split returned None and the wired conditioning survived, which
+  is why disconnecting CLIP appeared to fix it. Studio cannot split a conditioning it did not
+  build, so it now keeps the one it was given and says so.
 - **A reference image's encoded rows are no longer steered.** H3 tokenizes a reference INTO
   the conditioning — comfy marks the whole vision block as 0 in `minimax_token_tags` and text
   as 1 — and those rows are Qwen's encoding of the picture. Every steering path (learned
diff --git a/conditioning.py b/conditioning.py
index 877b13e1..d22740a4 100644
--- a/conditioning.py
+++ b/conditioning.py
@@ -13094,7 +13094,23 @@ class FunPackVideoRefinerV2(FunPackVideoRefiner):
         )
         if _conditioning_plan_reason:
             print(f"[FunPackVideoRefinerV2] {_conditioning_plan_reason}")
-        if split_by_transitions:
+        # The split RE-ENCODES every scene from text and its entries replace
+        # `output_conditioning` wholesale. It re-establishes H3's visual conditioning from
+        # `source_image` / `h3_references` — but a wired CONDITIONING carries a reference this
+        # node never received: nothing in the editor pipeline sets either of those, so the
+        # re-encode is textually blind to the picture and the identity is simply gone. Not
+        # drift — a different person. Studio cannot split a conditioning it did not build, so
+        # it keeps the one it was given.
+        if split_by_transitions and conditioning_owner == "CONDITIONING-owned":
+            _log.note_on_change(
+                "studio:split_vs_wired", "FunPackStudio",
+                "the positive CONDITIONING is wired, so the scene split is SKIPPED — "
+                "splitting means re-encoding each scene from text, and this node cannot "
+                "reproduce a reference it never received. Every scene uses the wired "
+                "conditioning. Disconnect it to let Studio split and encode per scene.")
+            status = status + ("\nTransition split: skipped — the wired positive "
+                               "CONDITIONING owns the prompt") + enhancement_status
+        elif split_by_transitions:
             try:
                 scene_texts = split_scene_texts
                 if scene_texts:
diff --git a/tests/test_reference_conditioning_ownership.py b/tests/test_reference_conditioning_ownership.py
index b9dfc7e6..367bac27 100644
--- a/tests/test_reference_conditioning_ownership.py
+++ b/tests/test_reference_conditioning_ownership.py
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ so the vision block precedes the prompt and every prompt row is a hidden state t
 already read the picture. Studio cannot reproduce that: nothing in the editor pipeline wires
 `h3_references` or `source_image`, so its encode never sees an image at all.
 """
+import inspect
 import sys
 import types
 
@@ -83,3 +84,34 @@ def test_an_invalid_wired_conditioning_falls_back_to_clip(studio, monkeypatch, c
     assert owner == "CLIP-owned"
     assert torch.equal(cond, torch.ones(1, 4, 8))
     assert "invalid" in capsys.readouterr().out
+
+
+# --- the scene split cannot rebuild what it did not encode -----------------
+
+def test_the_split_is_skipped_when_the_conditioning_is_wired(monkeypatch, capsys):
+    """The split re-encodes every scene from text and its entries replace the output
+    WHOLESALE. It re-establishes H3's visual conditioning from source_image /
+    h3_references — neither of which the editor pipeline ever sets — so a wired reference
+    conditioning was replaced by text-only encodes and the character became someone else.
+
+    With CLIP disconnected the split returns None and the wired conditioning survived, which
+    is exactly why disconnecting CLIP 'fixed' it.
+    """
+    import conditioning
+    node = conditioning.FunPackVideoRefinerV2()
+    called = []
+    monkeypatch.setattr(node, "_v2_transition_scene_conditionings",
+                        lambda *a, **k: called.append(a) or None, raising=False)
+
+    src = inspect.getsource(conditioning.FunPackVideoRefinerV2.refine_v2)
+    # The guard is on ownership, not on CLIP being absent.
+    assert 'split_by_transitions and conditioning_owner == "CONDITIONING-owned"' in src
+    assert "elif split_by_transitions:" in src
+
+
+def test_the_skip_is_reported_not_silent():
+    """A silently unsplit multi-scene run looks like the scene texts were ignored."""
+    import conditioning
+    src = inspect.getsource(conditioning.FunPackVideoRefinerV2.refine_v2)
+    assert "the scene split is SKIPPED" in src
+    assert "Disconnect it to let Studio split and encode per scene." in src