diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 7cddb47..2bdf8b2 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -203,3 +203,19 @@ stays. No dependency on the shell is introduced.
 `wayfire/exit` schedules shutdown of this compositor after its response, with
 core/exit's inhibited-output guard. Config monitoring follows atomically
 replaced symlink targets again.
+
+## 0.11.0-r79 (Hedron Sprint 3 follow-up)
+
+Closing an overlay no longer starts a snapshot render pass after auxiliary
+buffer allocation fails. The animate plugin tears down the closing animation
+and transformer, including when close interrupts an opening animation. Failed
+snapshots generate no draw instances; a missing texture is skipped safely.
+The public take_snapshot signature and compositor/plugin ABI are unchanged.
+
+A test-only allocator shim reproduces the old fatal assertion on installed r77.
+The new build survives four forced snapshot failures and then reopens/closes the
+menu normally. See ../../logs/s4/snapshot-final.log and ../../tools/snapshot-close-probe.py.
+The valid wlroots software mode (WLR_RENDERER_FORCE_SOFTWARE=1 with udmabuf access)
+still has a separate first-frame crash on this host; full software/VM acceptance
+remains pending. Do not use MESA_LOADER_DRIVER_OVERRIDE=kms_swrast on a DRM render
+node as an acceptance setup: it cannot allocate the required dumb buffers here.
diff --git a/plugins/animate/animate.cpp b/plugins/animate/animate.cpp
index a5b38fa..6da9aa7 100644
--- a/plugins/animate/animate.cpp
+++ b/plugins/animate/animate.cpp
@@ -424,12 +424,27 @@ class wayfire_animation : public wf::plugin_interface_t, private wf::per_output_
         auto& effect = effects_registry->effects[animation_name];
         if (view->has_data(cdata_name))
         {
-            view->get_data<animation_hook>(cdata_name)->set_animation_type(type);
+            auto hook = view->get_data<animation_hook>(cdata_name);
+            hook->set_animation_type(type);
+            if ((type == wf::animate::ANIMATION_TYPE_UNMAP) &&
+                !hook->unmapped_contents->has_snapshot())
+            {
+                view->erase_data(cdata_name);
+            }
+
             return;
         }
 
         auto hook = std::make_unique<animation_hook>(view, effect.generator(),
             duration, type, cdata_name, animation_name);
+        if ((type == wf::animate::ANIMATION_TYPE_UNMAP) &&
+            !hook->unmapped_contents->has_snapshot())
+        {
+            // Tear down the transformer and render hook together. Keeping an
+            // animation with empty contents would require another aux buffer.
+            return;
+        }
+
         used_hook_names.insert(cdata_name);
         view->store_data(std::move(hook), cdata_name);
     }
diff --git a/plugins/animate/unmapped-view-node.hpp b/plugins/animate/unmapped-view-node.hpp
index 3ae9968..8330648 100644
--- a/plugins/animate/unmapped-view-node.hpp
+++ b/plugins/animate/unmapped-view-node.hpp
@@ -21,8 +21,18 @@ class unmapped_view_snapshot_node : public wf::scene::node_t
         _view = view->weak_from_this();
     }
 
+    bool has_snapshot() const
+    {
+        return snapshot.get_buffer() != nullptr;
+    }
+
     wf::geometry_t get_bounding_box() override
     {
+        if (!snapshot.get_buffer())
+        {
+            return {0, 0, 0, 0};
+        }
+
         if (auto view = _view.lock())
         {
             auto current_bbox = view->get_surface_root_node()->get_bounding_box();
@@ -35,6 +45,11 @@ class unmapped_view_snapshot_node : public wf::scene::node_t
     void gen_render_instances(std::vector<scene::render_instance_uptr>& instances,
         scene::damage_callback push_damage, wf::output_t *shown_on) override
     {
+        if (!snapshot.get_buffer())
+        {
+            return;
+        }
+
         instances.push_back(std::make_unique<rinstance_t>(this, push_damage, shown_on));
     }
 
@@ -50,6 +65,11 @@ class unmapped_view_snapshot_node : public wf::scene::node_t
         using simple_render_instance_t::simple_render_instance_t;
         void render(const wf::scene::render_instruction_t& data)
         {
+            if (!self->snapshot.get_texture())
+            {
+                return;
+            }
+
             auto texture = wf::texture_t::from_aux(self->snapshot);
             data.pass->add_texture(texture, data.target, self->get_bounding_box(), data.damage);
         }
diff --git a/src/api/wayfire/view.hpp b/src/api/wayfire/view.hpp
index b70f6c5..a813ad1 100644
--- a/src/api/wayfire/view.hpp
+++ b/src/api/wayfire/view.hpp
@@ -179,6 +179,7 @@ class view_interface_t : public wf::signal::provider_t, public wf::object_base_t
 
     /**
      * A snapshot of the view is a copy of the view's contents into a framebuffer.
+     * If allocation fails, the buffer is empty and no render pass is started.
      */
     virtual void take_snapshot(wf::auxilliary_buffer_t& buffer);
 
diff --git a/src/view/view.cpp b/src/view/view.cpp
index daa50db..41c7e5a 100644
--- a/src/view/view.cpp
+++ b/src/view/view.cpp
@@ -96,8 +96,14 @@ void wf::view_interface_t::take_snapshot(wf::auxilliary_buffer_t& buffer)
     auto root_node = get_surface_root_node();
     const wf::geometry_t bbox = root_node->get_bounding_box();
     float scale = get_output()->handle->scale;
-    buffer.allocate(wf::dimensions(bbox), scale,
-        wf::buffer_allocation_hints_t{.hdr_linear = get_output() && get_output()->is_hdr()});
+    if (buffer.allocate(wf::dimensions(bbox), scale,
+        wf::buffer_allocation_hints_t{.hdr_linear = get_output() && get_output()->is_hdr()}) ==
+        wf::buffer_reallocation_result_t::FAILED)
+    {
+        // A closing view may disappear without an animation if memory or the
+        // allocator is unavailable. A render pass requires a valid buffer.
+        return;
+    }
 
     wf::render_target_t target{buffer};
     target.geometry = bbox;