ZVISION: ZGI: Save game can get stuck in a death loop

[jamie-marchant]

I entered the dragon and saved just before the death timer hit, now I can't escape. The timer should in my mind reset when you load your game. The only other "soft lock" death I can think of is 'Mars' and that's very obvious, so I don't think this type of "soft lock" death was intended.

[jamie-marchant]

I think I've attached the savegame, if not let me know and I'll attach the correct one.

[macca8]

Loaded your save and it works for me. What you've attached is a copy of your autosave file, but it starts with the rope down the dragon's throat, so I assume it's starting in the correct spot.

It's not a bug, because you can escape. You just haven't tried all available options yet. I haven't played this for a few years, so I couldn't remember the solution, but I didn't encounter any timing issues during testing. Died a few times from making the wrong decision, but overall, only took about 15 minutes to escape and return to Hades.

I could give you the solution, but I don't want to spoil your game. Instead, I'll give you a couple of hints:

• you need to use one of your inventory items, and add something new,
• think about what's keeping the dragon's mouth open.

It's your report, so I'll leave it to you to close it after you escape.

[jamie-marchant]

Try file#1, you will see it's a white screen with the dragon breathing. The auto-save is only available though the SCUMMVM interface and not the game menu(I'll report that sepretly)

[macca8]

You're right. Your second save doesn't go anywhere... just an endless loop.
I created a similar save that displayed a white thumbnail, but unlike yours, it at least displayed the game screen when loaded, and continued on to display the death screen, as expected.

The thing is, since the game state was already committed to the outcome, saving should have been disabled... and I can't help with that.

[jamie-marchant]

Thankfully I was able to escape, thanks to the autosave.