diff --git a/src/transform44/RESEARCH.md b/src/transform44/RESEARCH.md
index 01b3e1a..054237e 100644
--- a/src/transform44/RESEARCH.md
+++ b/src/transform44/RESEARCH.md
@@ -144,3 +144,89 @@ From `this->unknown_0x80` array. Contains:
 3. **Recursive for attachments**: Child objects (weapons, shoulders, etc.) recurse through this same function
 4. **Two animation blend sources**: Primary animation + blend target with crossfade weight at puVar20[0x43]
 5. **Billboard support**: Flags-based billboard types for UI/particle-facing bones
+
+## Inner Function Analysis (decompiled 2026-03-12)
+
+### findInterpolationIndices (0x713d50) — 334 bytes, 58 calls
+**Signature**: `__thiscall(ECX=SceneObject*, stack: searchValue, trackIndex, AnimationData*, outputIndices*)`
+**RET 0x10**
+
+Three-tier search strategy with temporal coherence:
+1. **Forward linear scan** (hot path): If `searchValue - lastTimestamp < 500`, scan forward from cached position. This is the common case during sequential animation playback — typically 0-4 iterations.
+2. **Backward linear scan**: If delta is negative (unsigned wrap > 0xFFFFFF0C), scan backward.
+3. **Binary search** (fallback): Standard bisection on timestamp array.
+
+Output: `outputIndices[0]` = lower keyframe index, `[1]` = upper keyframe index, `[2]` = interpolation factor (float stored as uint bits).
+
+The cached index at `outputIndices[0]` is reused across calls — exploits the fact that animation time advances monotonically between frames.
+
+**Optimization potential**: Limited — the linear scan hot path is already tight (1-4 iterations for most bones). SSE4-wide timestamp comparison might help for binary search fallback, but that path is rarely hit during normal playback.
+
+### interpolateAnimationKeyframes (0x713ea0) — 337 bytes, 2 calls
+**Signature**: `__fastcall(ECX=animObj, EDX=animState, stack: keyframeData*, outputBuffer*)`
+**RET 0x8**
+
+Calls findInterpolationIndices, then does 4-component lerp (vec4/quaternion). If crossfade is active (blend weight != 0 and timeIndex == -1), does a secondary findInterpolationIndices + lerp + blend.
+
+Keyframes are 16 bytes (4 floats). Interpolation: `result[i] = a[i] + (b[i] - a[i]) * t`.
+
+**Optimization**: The 4-component lerp is a textbook SSE target — one load, one sub, one mul, one add replaces 4 scalar x87 operations.
+
+### getInterpolatedFloat (0x71af20) — 199 bytes, 4 calls
+**Signature**: `__fastcall(ECX=animObj, EDX=animState, stack: keyframeData*, outputBuffer*)`
+**RET 0x8**
+
+Same pattern as interpolateAnimationKeyframes but for scalar (single float) tracks. Also supports crossfade blending.
+
+### getIndexOffset (0x71aff0) — 16 bytes, 12 calls
+Trivial: `return *(this+4) + param_1 * 2`. Returns pointer to short value in timestamp index array.
+
+### setShortValue (0x71b010) — 18 bytes, 12 calls
+Trivial: `*(short*)this = *(short*)param_1`. Copies a 16-bit value.
+
+### scaleMatrix3x3ByVector (0x7bdca0) — 82 bytes, 2 calls
+**Signature**: `__thiscall(ECX=matrix, stack: scaleVec3*)`
+Scales each row of the 3x3 rotation portion of a 4x4 matrix by the corresponding scale component:
+```
+row0 *= scale.x  (3 muls)
+row1 *= scale.y  (3 muls)
+row2 *= scale.z  (3 muls)
+```
+Uses x87 FPU. **SSE candidate**: 3 shuffled multiplies instead of 9 scalar.
+
+### ApplyTranslationMatrix (0x7bdc40) — 90 bytes, 5 calls
+**Signature**: `__thiscall(ECX=matrix, stack: translationVec3*)`
+Applies translation through the rotation matrix:
+```
+mat[3][0] += dot(mat[0], translation)
+mat[3][1] += dot(mat[1], translation)
+mat[3][2] += dot(mat[2], translation)
+```
+Uses x87 FPU. **SSE candidate**: 3 dot products → SSE dp_ps or manual mul+hadd.
+
+### rotateMatrixByQuaternion (0x7bddb0) — 333 bytes, 1 call
+**Signature**: `__thiscall(ECX=matrix, stack: quaternion*)`
+Converts quaternion to 3x3 rotation matrix, then calls `multiplyMatrix4x4_SSE_Optimized` (game already has SSE matrix multiply!). The quaternion→matrix conversion uses x87 but the final multiply is SSE.
+
+### calculateScaledInverseMatrix (0x7bd820) — 347 bytes, 1 call
+Used for billboarding. Transposes the 3x3 rotation, scales by 1/scale², applies inverse translation.
+
+## Optimization Strategy
+
+### What we know
+- The game already uses SSE for matrix multiplication (multiplyMatrix4x4_SSE_Optimized)
+- All other math (scale, translate, interpolate) uses x87 FPU
+- findInterpolationIndices has good temporal coherence — hot path is already fast
+- The 58 findInterpolationIndices calls are spread across translation, rotation, scale tracks for each bone
+
+### Priority targets (by impact)
+1. **Profile first** — need real data on call frequency, early-exit ratio, cycles per call, bone counts
+2. **LOD-based culling** — skip entire transformMatrix4x4 for distant/tiny models (biggest potential win)
+3. **SSE interpolateAnimationKeyframes** — replace 4-component lerp with SSE (called per bone for rotation)
+4. **SSE scaleMatrix3x3ByVector / ApplyTranslationMatrix** — replace x87 with SSE
+5. **Batch findInterpolationIndices** — process multiple tracks per bone in one call to amortize function overhead
+
+### Implementation plan
+- Phase 1: Profiling hook on transformMatrix4x4 (DONE — in transform44.zig)
+- Phase 2: Analyze profiling data, identify hottest path
+- Phase 3: Implement targeted SSE replacements or LOD culling
diff --git a/src/transform44/transform44.zig b/src/transform44/transform44.zig
index 9882dc4..2c46d83 100644
--- a/src/transform44/transform44.zig
+++ b/src/transform44/transform44.zig
@@ -1,7 +1,21 @@
-//! transform44 — hook for transformMatrix4x4 (0x714260)
+//! transform44 — profiling & optimization of transformMatrix4x4 (0x714260)
 //!
-//! transformMatrix4x4 is the main per-frame bone transform engine for M2 models.
-//! 17703 bytes, processes bone entries (0x118 bytes each, array at model+0x90).
+//! transformMatrix4x4 is the main per-frame bone transform engine for ALL visible
+//! M2 models. 17703 bytes. Called from renderFrame, renderSceneNode,
+//! updateAnimationTransform. Recursive for attached child objects (weapons, etc).
+//!
+//! Phase 1: Profiling instrumentation — measures call frequency, early-exit rate,
+//! cycle cost, and bone counts to identify optimization targets.
+//!
+//! Key inner functions (call counts within transformMatrix4x4):
+//!   findInterpolationIndices (0x713d50) — 58 calls, binary/linear keyframe search
+//!   interpolateAnimationKeyframes (0x713ea0) — 2 calls, vec4 keyframe lerp
+//!   getInterpolatedFloat (0x71af20) — 4 calls, scalar keyframe lerp
+//!   getIndexOffset (0x71aff0) — 12 calls, trivial (ptr + idx*2)
+//!   setShortValue (0x71b010) — 12 calls, trivial (write u16)
+//!   scaleMatrix3x3ByVector (0x7bdca0) — 2 calls, x87 FPU (SSE candidate)
+//!   ApplyTranslationMatrix (0x7bdc40) — 5 calls, x87 FPU (SSE candidate)
+//!   rotateMatrixByQuaternion (0x7bddb0) — 1 call, builds rot matrix then SSE multiply
 
 const std = @import("std");
 const hook = @import("zhook");
@@ -18,6 +32,108 @@ pub fn isActive() bool {
     return g_is_hook_owner;
 }
 
+// =============================================================================
+// Profiling state
+// =============================================================================
+
+const DUMP_INTERVAL: u32 = 500;
+
+var prof = ProfState{};
+
+const ProfState = struct {
+    calls: u32 = 0,
+    early_exits: u32 = 0,
+    cycles: u64 = 0,
+    total_bones: u64 = 0,
+    max_bones: u32 = 0,
+    max_depth: u32 = 0,
+    depth: u32 = 0,
+};
+
+inline fn rdtsc() u64 {
+    var lo: u32 = undefined;
+    var hi: u32 = undefined;
+    asm volatile ("rdtsc"
+        : [lo] "={eax}" (lo),
+          [hi] "={edx}" (hi),
+    );
+    return @as(u64, hi) << 32 | lo;
+}
+
+// =============================================================================
+// Hook: transformMatrix4x4 (0x714260)
+// __thiscall(ECX=SceneObject*, stack: Matrix4x4*, Matrix4x4*, Matrix4x4*, Matrix4x4*)
+// RET 0x10 (4 stack params × 4 bytes)
+//
+// Mapped to fastcall: ECX=this, EDX=unused, stack: mat1, mat2, mat3, mat4
+// Stack cleanup is identical (4 stack params = RET 0x10 in both conventions).
+// =============================================================================
+
+const TRANSFORM_ADDR: u32 = 0x714260;
+
+const TransformFn = fn (u32, u32, u32, u32, u32, u32) callconv(hook.cc.fastcall) void;
+
+var transform_hook: hook.Detour(TransformFn) = .{};
+
+fn transformDetour(this: u32, edx: u32, mat1: u32, mat2: u32, mat3: u32, mat4: u32) callconv(hook.cc.fastcall) void {
+    asm volatile ("" ::: .{ .esi = true, .edi = true, .ebx = true });
+
+    const start = rdtsc();
+
+    // Check sync gate — predict whether original will early-exit.
+    // Original code: if (this+0x10 == NULL || this+0x40 == *(*(this+0x30)+0x10)) return;
+    const model_data = hook.readMem(u32, this + 0x10);
+    var is_early = false;
+    var bone_count: u32 = 0;
+    if (model_data == 0) {
+        is_early = true;
+    } else {
+        const anim_ctx = hook.readMem(u32, this + 0x30);
+        if (anim_ctx != 0) {
+            const sync_val = hook.readMem(u32, this + 0x40);
+            const anim_sync = hook.readMem(u32, anim_ctx + 0x10);
+            if (sync_val == anim_sync) is_early = true;
+        }
+        // Read bone count from model header at this+0x2C -> +0x34
+        const model_hdr = hook.readMem(u32, this + 0x2C);
+        if (model_hdr != 0) {
+            bone_count = hook.readMem(u32, model_hdr + 0x34);
+        }
+    }
+
+    prof.depth += 1;
+    if (prof.depth > prof.max_depth) prof.max_depth = prof.depth;
+
+    transform_hook.callOriginal(.{ this, edx, mat1, mat2, mat3, mat4 });
+
+    prof.depth -= 1;
+    const elapsed = rdtsc() - start;
+    prof.cycles +|= elapsed;
+    prof.calls += 1;
+    if (is_early) prof.early_exits += 1;
+    prof.total_bones +|= bone_count;
+    if (bone_count > prof.max_bones) prof.max_bones = bone_count;
+
+    // Dump stats periodically (only at depth 0 to avoid spam during recursion)
+    if (prof.depth == 0 and prof.calls >= DUMP_INTERVAL) {
+        dumpStats();
+    }
+}
+
+fn dumpStats() void {
+    const real = prof.calls - prof.early_exits;
+    const avg_all = if (prof.calls > 0) prof.cycles / prof.calls else 0;
+    const avg_real = if (real > 0) prof.cycles / real else 0;
+    const avg_bones = if (real > 0) prof.total_bones / real else 0;
+    log.fmt("[prof] {d} calls ({d} work, {d} skip), {d}/{d} cyc avg/work, bones avg={d} max={d}, depth={d}\n", .{
+        prof.calls,     real,           prof.early_exits,
+        avg_all,        avg_real,       avg_bones,
+        prof.max_bones, prof.max_depth,
+    });
+    // Reset but preserve depth (we're always at depth 0 here)
+    prof = ProfState{};
+}
+
 // =============================================================================
 // Install / remove
 // =============================================================================
@@ -29,11 +145,13 @@ pub fn installHooks() void {
     if (!g_is_hook_owner) return;
 
     log = logging.Logger.open(module_name, .both);
-    log.print("transform44 module loaded\n");
+    _ = transform_hook.attach(TRANSFORM_ADDR, &transformDetour);
+    log.print("transform44: profiling hook installed at 0x714260\n");
 }
 
 pub fn removeHooks() void {
     if (g_is_hook_owner) {
+        transform_hook.detach();
         log.close();
         mod_mutex.release(&g_mutex);
     }