A partner's conf is in the RAM cache, not CONF_DIR, and a commented-out template entry is not configuration

Plugin/unraid/include/config.php

@@ -643,6 +643,30 @@ function vv_read_conf_raw(string $filename): string {
     return file_exists($path) ? file_get_contents($path) : '';
 }
 
+
+// Read one HOST's conf, wherever that host's conf actually lives for this reader.
+//
+// Sparse checkout means a host only ever checks out its OWN host*.conf, so on HOST1 the file
+// Configurations/host2.conf does not exist and never will. vv_read_conf_raw() looks only in
+// CONF_DIR, so every caller that passed it a partner's slot silently got an empty string — and
+// an empty conf parses into empty arrays, which render as "none". The Watchdog tab showed the
+// partner's memory limits, required list, pause list, stop list and scan-ignore list as five
+// empty sections, and the Fallback tab reported the partner's tiers as unconfigured, on a mesh
+// where conf_sync had been delivering all of it into the RAM cache the whole time.
+//
+// Partner confs are pulled into VV_CONF_RAM_CACHE_DIR by System_Essentials/conf_sync.sh. Disk
+// first for this host, RAM cache for anyone else; the disk copy is never preferred for a
+// partner, because a stale Configurations/host2.conf left behind by an old install is exactly
+// the file that must not win. An absent cache returns empty, same as before.
+function vv_read_host_conf_raw(string $slot): string {
+    $slot = strtolower($slot);
+    if ($slot === vv_detect_host()) return vv_read_conf_raw($slot . '.conf');
+
+    $cached = rtrim(VV_CONF_RAM_CACHE_DIR, '/') . '/' . $slot . '.conf';
+    if (is_readable($cached)) return (string)@file_get_contents($cached);
+
+    return '';
+}
 function vv_write_conf_raw(string $filename, string $content): bool {
     $path = CONF_DIR . '/' . $filename;
     $tmp  = $path . '.vv.tmp';

Plugin/unraid/include/fallback.php

@@ -237,7 +237,7 @@ function vv_fb_all(): array {
     // Read all host conf raws upfront
     $raws = [];
     foreach (array_keys($hosts) as $slot) {
-        $raws[$slot] = vv_read_conf_raw($slot . '.conf');
+        $raws[$slot] = vv_read_host_conf_raw($slot);   // partner conf lives in the RAM cache, not CONF_DIR
     }
 
     // SSH key — from local host conf

Plugin/unraid/include/watchdog.php

@@ -138,7 +138,15 @@ function vv_wd_bash_assoc(string $raw, string $varname): array {
     // declare -A VARNAME=( ["key"]=val ["key2"]=val2 )
     if (!preg_match('/^\s*declare\s+-A\s+' . preg_quote($varname, '/') . '\s*=\s*\(\s*(.*?)\s*\)/ms', $raw, $m))
         return [];
-    preg_match_all('/\["([^"]+)"\]\s*=\s*"?([^"\s\)]*)"?/', $m[1], $pairs);
+    // Strip comments before matching, from # to end of line. Without this a commented-out
+    // template entry — `# ["Emby"]=18432`, which is how every host*.conf ships — parses as a
+    // live memory limit. It never showed on this host because this host's entries are real; it
+    // appeared the moment a PARTNER's conf became readable and its whole commented block was
+    // read as configuration. Cut per line, so a trailing comment on a real entry still keeps it:
+    // `["Emby"]=24576  # 24GB — raised 2026-07-11` must survive. vv_parse_bash_array(), which
+    // the list form delegates to, has always done this.
+    $body = preg_replace('/#.*$/m', '', $m[1]);
+    preg_match_all('/\["([^"]+)"\]\s*=\s*"?([^"\s\)]*)"?/', $body, $pairs);
     $out = [];
     foreach ($pairs[1] as $i => $k) $out[$k] = $pairs[2][$i];
     return $out;
@@ -560,7 +568,7 @@ function vv_wd_all(): array {
         // "No data" while HOST2's own page showed the same watchdogs reporting OK.
         $ts      = vv_pt_peer_lookup($tsPeers, $hostname);
         $ip      = $ts['ip'] ?? null;
-        $raw     = vv_read_conf_raw($slot . '.conf');
+        $raw     = vv_read_host_conf_raw($slot);   // partner conf lives in the RAM cache, not CONF_DIR
 
         $remoteApiKey = vv_wd_scalar($raw, strtoupper($slot) . '_UNRAID_API_KEY');