[Scummvm-tracker] [ScummVM :: Bugs] #12348: PRIVATE: Game timer runs too fast before police arrive

[ScummVM :: Bugs]

#12348: PRIVATE: Game timer runs too fast before police arrive
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Reporter:  hamakei  |       Owner:  neuromancer
    Type:  defect   |      Status:  new
Priority:  normal   |   Component:  Engine: Private
 Version:           |  Resolution:
Keywords:           |        Game:  Private Eye
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Comment (by TrivialBalderdash):

 I thought I'd add some notes from additional testing on original hardware.
 It confirms your "escaping" comment from your previous post.

 Testing:
 1) Enter a location where the police will eventually show up and
 immediately save.  I believe at this point, the number of clicks that will
 trigger the siren and police are already set.
 2) Navigate around the room, counting the clicks until the siren is heard
 and the police arrive.
 3) In every case, it was consistent.  In my first test, it was siren in 10
 clicks and police in 15, every time I reloaded and tried again.  The next
 time at a different location it was 9 and 17. (I would expect it to change
 between locations or different visits to the same location.)

 Now this is where it gets interesting...

 4) Reload the save game and click 1 less than the number for the siren (9,
 in this case).  Go to the menu and save the game.  Return to the game.
 5) I would have expected that I would have 6 more clicks before the police
 arrive, but it was only 3.  Reloading the most recent save, and there's
 always 3 clicks until the police, and no siren is heard.

 Here's what I think is going on - **the action of going to the desktop and
 back into the game counts as 3 clicks.**  Even if you navigate the files,
 radio, phone, save screen, or other items on the desktop, it always adds
 three clicks.

 To clarify my previous post:
 ''1) Before the sirens are heard, going to the desktop and clicking
 through items there does not add to the counter and trigger the
 siren/police.''
 This point meant that clicking through items on the desktop wasn't going
 to keep adding clicks until the siren or police were triggered.  This
 would be in addition to the three clicks from going to the desktop and
 back into the game.

 In the second example, the siren was heard after 9 clicks and the police
 arrived after 17 clicks.  In this case, I went to the desktop and back
 into the game 3 times, with no other interaction with the game, and the
 siren started playing.  Two more trips to the desktop and back puts the
 click count at 15.  Two more clicks within in the game and police arrive.

 This also explains why there was no siren in the first example (10 & 15).
 I saved the game at 9 clicks, and when I returned to the game, the count
 was at 12 clicks.  The siren will only trigger at 10 clicks, so it was
 skipped.  This also explains why there were only three more clicks
 (instead of 6) to get the police to show up.

 Lastly, this can be exploited.  The same way you can skip the siren, you
 can also skip the police showing up.  If we know they arrive at 15 clicks,
 we can get the count up to 13, then exit to the desktop and return,
 jumping the total to 16.  ''(If we get the count to 14, the act of
 clicking on the outside of the frame to go to the desktop will actually
 trigger the police cutscene instead.  The siren may have actually
 triggered when going to the desktop on the 10th click, but any in-game
 sound is cut off when going to the desktop.)''  I was able to do this
 repeated to skip the police showing up, and then you get unlimited time to
 explore the location you're in.

 Seems like this is a bug in the original game to me.

 Hopefully this information was helpful.
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Ticket URL: <https://bugs.scummvm.org/ticket/12348#comment:10>
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