PRIVATE: Casebook inaccesible

[TrivialBalderdash]

The casebook on the menu/radio/phone/map screen does not allow for reviewing choices made during the game. Locations are shown, and inventory can be accessed using the tab at the top, but none of the pages in between can be viewed. In the corner location to turn the page, only a down arrow is displayed, which returns to the main screen. (See attachment)

This is not required to complete the game, and almost feels like a bonus feature. Though someone might want to review their case history as they are trying to solve the case.

[TrivialBalderdash]

Additionally, the list of locations links to the pages, as shown in the second attachment.

[neuromancer]

You are right, this was never implemented and it is optional. Still, it's clear it is useful to review the case information during the game. I decided to prioritize the rest of the gameplay, since this feature is hardcoded in the binary and I had to understand how to how each decision is recorded (I suspect this is also hardcoded) and allow to replay each video.

[neuromancer]

Can you try that patch? (You will need to restart your game, old saves won't be useful)

[TrivialBalderdash]

Ok, I gave this a try.

The inventory list in the casebook is blank. I can still collect inventory and it still is viewable in the cabinet in Marlowe's office. I played through part of the game, collecting more items, saving the game, reloading, then restarting ScummVM and reloading. In all cases the Inventory page of the casebook was blank.

---

Disclaimer: This is the first time I've attempted to compile ScummVM and also to apply a patch. My confidence in my ability to do this correctly is low.

I decided to use Linux (Debian). I cloned the repository -

git clone git://github.com/scummvm/scummvm.git

I downloaded the diff file to the directory just created and ran:

patch -p1 < nodups.diff

This did appear to update the funcs.cpp file.
Then:

./configure
make clean
make -j2

It seemed to complete correctly, since I could start ScummVM and run the game.

[neuromancer]

Yes, I can confirm this. Your procedure is correct, I will send you another (better) patch soon.

[neuromancer]

I identified the issue. It's failing to render some masks on master, so I will commit there a fix soon.

[neuromancer]

I think this is fixed. To re-test from your scummvm cloned repository:

git checkout .
git pull
make -j2

Please let me know if the duplicated entries are gone (you will need to start a new game).

[TrivialBalderdash]

Success! This seems to have resolved the duplicate inventory entries. I tried several combinations of saves, reloads, and restarts, and everything was displaying correctly.

And thank you for the git instructions! I appreciate the coaching as I'm learning how this works.

[neuromancer]

Great, thanks for the testing. Please keep this issue open since the casebook is still not fully implemented.

[neuromancer]

We have recently implemented the casebook, are you still around to test it TrivialBalderdash ?

[TrivialBalderdash]

I've downloaded ScummVM master daily build - "2.10.0git14189-g4c5af9f99f2 (April 5 2025 4:49:17)" and I am testing on Windows 11. I want to play through the game a few times with different choices and inventory options to see if items are listed correctly. Right now, the inventory list in the casebook doesn't match what's in the cabinet in Marlowe's office. I'll check this against the original executable to see if this is expected behavior.

Thanks for adding this! It's a great addition to the game.

[TrivialBalderdash]

Can you confirm that old saves no longer work? When trying to load saves from 2021, ScummVM froze and had to be force-quit, but I was copying the save files from Mac (2021) to Windows (2025). It's a good thing this game is fast to replay for testing, with the ability skip all of the dialog and cut scenes.

[TrivialBalderdash]

I found a few items to bring up.
1) Inventory items are added to the inventory screen in the case book even if they aren't acquired. In the game, when Marlowe looks at an item, the game usually asks "Should I take it, or leave it for the police?" If you decide not to take the item, it still shows up in the inventory list. It does not show in your inventory (cabinet in office). The original executable doesn't add the item to the inventory list unless Marlowe decides to take the item.
2) In the original version of the game, the locations on the "Places I've Been" page of the Casebook are shown in the order visited. This convention isn't followed in ScummVM.
3) The font is not aligned the same way on the "Places I've Been" page of the Casebook. This causes "Delores Gonzales' Apartment" to run off the right side of the page (see screenshot). In the original version, the text is further left, the first line is higher on the page, and the lines are spaced out more. The screenshot shows both versions overlaid, with the original faded.
4) Not necessarily part of the casebook, but the grey folder on the same screen shows a dossier on the people Marlowe has met or knows. The game starts with some files on detectives and law enforcement officers and adds pages as new people are met. There is a bug in ScummVM where some pages are repeated (Steelgrave, for one). Note: In one case, a person is met who is using an alias. When you learn more about that character, they get a second page with their real identity - this is expected behavior.
5) When flipping pages in the dossier, there should be the audio of papers shuffling (a few different sound effects are used). These sounds are not present in ScummVM.
6) On the dossier pages, in the original version of the game, the lower left arrow (to go back) isn't present on the 1st page. The upper right arrow (to go forward) isn't present on the last page. Both arrows are present on all pages. (see screenshot) (ok, this is incredibly trivial and I only mention it since I had other items for the dossier pages...)

[neuromancer]

Thanks a lot for the extremely detailed bug report! I can confirm old savegames are not going to work, specially if they are from several years ago (and original save games are not supported, it is too much work in most of cases).

I create three separated issues for these comments, since they need to be addressed separately, please feel free to join the conversation if you want to get updates:

• https://bugs.scummvm.org/ticket/15852
• https://bugs.scummvm.org/ticket/15853
• https://bugs.scummvm.org/ticket/15854

The new code recently added by Ellen, a GSoC candidate, allows to review previous decisions/videos. If that part works fine, I will close this issue, since the casebook will be full implemented.

[TrivialBalderdash]

For completeness, I should have also commented on all the things that did work well.
All the correct videos showed up, aligned with the choices I made in the game. The navigation between pages and back to the diary after the video worked perfectly. I only did a little testing with the "Alternate Plot", but that seemed to work correctly also. I tried reloading and restarting to see if old decisions/videos stayed in the diary, but they were updated as expected. Overall, a great update to this part of the game!

I had previously mentioned that the pages in the casebook were not in the order visited. I will add that the order of the pages to review videos is in the same order as what's listed on the "Places I've Been" page. (Both are out of order but match each other.) When the list is fixed, hopefully the pages also adjust to follow the correct order.

I noticed two additional things when testing this morning.

On my first visit to Delores Gonzales' Apartment, there was no one home. I was able to look around, but there was nothing to save in the Casebook (correct behavior). The casebook did list the apartment under "Places I've Been" (also correct behavior), but clicking on the location didn't go anywhere. Also, scrolling page by page, left and right at the bottom of the page, took me past where the page for that location would have been. In the original game, there's a blank page for her apartment, with the tab shown on the left. In ScummVM, it doesn't exist.

Second, the clickable area for the "Places I've Been" items is different than the original. On the original, as you move down the page, the cursor is always over a link. In ScummVM, it's alternates between a clickable link and the arrow cursor. It's as if the orginal uses a box for the clickable area and ScummVM uses the text only. The behavior in ScummVM makes it harder to click on a link, since you need to be precisely over the text. I'll try to illustrate what I think is happening in the attached screenshot.

[neuromancer]

Thanks a lot for your comments! The clicking behavior looks like the most important item to be fixed. I will keep this issue open until that one is fixed.