I seem to be having a problem with getting the TRAP machine to tell me to bait it for the baby antwerp. It gives me a question line of "is it alive - does it have legs - does it bounce" instead of the lines I have seen in various walkthroughs. It identifies the baby antwerp, but when I try to bait it, the machine tells me it has not been programmed yet to accept bait.

I tried googling, but I have no idea what causes this. Is meeting dr. Cranium essential to the game? If it's not, I would likely just skip over doing the whole thing, but if it is, then I have a problem.

Have you been 'antwerped' yet? You might need to release the things before you can set the trap for them.

Meeting Dr Cranium is essential to the game, yes. You'll need a certain item from him later on. Even if you didn't need to see him, you would miss out on a very funny character with hilarious dialogue, if you were to skip him. :) Not to mention that he's the only source of health potions and antidotes in the game.

You have doors to your right and your left in the hallway. Open them. I don't remember which one is it, but behind one of them you'll find a lot of baby antwerps (... and you will, indeed, be "antwerped" :D). Once the antwerps are loose, you'll be able to bait the trap.

I opened the door to get antwerped before I posted here. I tried it again after reloading today, and it still gives me the same answer and does not let me bait it. Is there some sort of intelligence requirement or something that I am missing? Because the question tree to identify the animal is different from what I've seen from a let's play video. The TRAP doesn't actually tell me anything about avocados, it just says that I am obviously trying to catch a baby antwerp.

I don't think there's an Intelligence requirement. There might be some sort of dialogue requirement (most likely with Igor), but otherwise it would be a matter of fully exploring the room you're in -check all the doors, try to get an antwerp by clicking on it, and so on.

It's also possible that you need to bait it in a specific way (item on object, use object directly, etc) and it won't accept the alternative. I don't think the question chain matters.

There is no Intelligence check, as far as I'm aware. Also, there are several question chains for the same animal in the TRAP, if I remember correctly, so the fact that you didn't get the same one as the LPer is not a problem in itself.

Here are a couple of things that you might check:
- When the TRAP told you that you're trying to catch a baby antwerp, did you reply "Yes"? (A stupid question to ask, I know, but sometimes it can be a tiny detail like that. If the TRAP didn't mention avocado for you, that probably means you haven't finished the question chain)
- When you try to bait the trap, do you simply drag the sandwich from your inventory, or do you click on the inventory icon on the TRAP first? (More unlikely solution, since the machine says it hasn't been programmed yet)

Try to do the question chain again, and keep answering YES/NO until it mentions avocado. I think that might be the problem. Ironically enough, you can get stuck like this sometimes in point-n-click games when you actually know what to do. Happens to me from time to time as well, when I play from memory instead of playing "properly" and finding out all information/clues as the game intended. ^^

Okay, you're welcome to laugh at me.

The question that tripped me up was "you have got to be kidding". And like a numbskull I kept answering yes, so of course it did not give me the prompt. But now I got the prompt, and I baited the antwerp.

Thank you anyways, I think I would have given up otherwise and not realized what the problem was.

Great, I'm glad that you've been able to solve the problem! :) Do not give up on Quest for Glory 4, it's a marvellous game through and through. If you have any other questions or if you run into another wall, don't hesitate to ask. :) Cheers!

I hit the Domovoi bug, where he's not appearing, so I had to give up anyways. :(

Aw, rats. >___< I've never encountered this bug myself, but I've heard about it. I don't think there's a work-around, unfortunately.
That's the curse of Quest for Glory 4: it's a brilliant game, but completely crippled by bugs. Nowadays most of the bugs have been fixed (mainly through fan patches). But back in the day the game was almost unplayable at times, and it's really a shame.
I understand that you wouldn't want to start over right away, but don't dismiss the game. :) Give it another chance when you feel like playing it again. And remember: rent a room at the inn right away, stay up until midnight in your room, and go meet the domovoi as soon as you can :) I think you'll be safe from the bug once you meet him for the first time.

On the Domovoi bug- I'm pretty certain its related to when Igor goes missing, around day 3 or 4. If you haven't met the domovoi by then, then he never shows up.

I'm having a TRAP machine problem.

It's not giving me the right question line (I'm playing a wizard).

It starts off with "Is it alive?"

Next questions as "Is it fast?" "Is it vicious?" "Is it silly?"

And not letting me see if it'll bounce

Is it fast? No.

Is it vicious? No.

Is it silly? Yes.

The TRAP asks different questions depending on which class you are, and those are the correct questions if you're a Wizard.