Posted February 06, 2016
Well, I just finished the game and even though the game's designer says in this interesting article that they play-tested a whole ton, there are still some bugs that drove me crazy.
As you never know with this game if it's a bug or some compatibility problem, I thought we could make a list of "known bugs" that appear in any version of the game
Chapter 2: Lockout Bug
If you're unlucky then after a while in Chapter 2 (the town) you may not be able anymore to enter buildings as the walls / roofs will not fade away like they should. This means you're stuck and cannot move on at all.
This should be fixed in the GOG version as there was a patch made available shortly after the game's release. Press "v" in your game and see which version you have. If it says "1.01 FINAL" then you have the fixed version of the game.
If you need the patch, google it, it's still available on some forums. Your old savegames, however, won't work anymore.
Chapter 3: Morgans Office Door / Water control box
If you don't click on the door to Doc Morgans Office but first click on the water control box (either with an object or just with the looking glass cursor) the game freezes. The character's animations etc. will still play as if the game is idle, but your cursor is gone and the game basically "locks up" in a non-interactive mode (like when in a cutscene). There is no other way than to forcefully kill the application and load up the last save game.
Beware: If you quick safe in this state, you will not be able to click on the water control box anymore. The hotspot for interaction with it is gone and you're stuck. So, whatever you do, don't quick safe in this state.
As someone else here noticed this bug is depending on certain circumstances, one of which is that the door is still closed. So, follow YavorN's suggestion and open up that damn door first thing you do in the level, to avoid this problem.
Chapter 3: Record Player Freeze
Sometimes the hotspot for the record player vanishes. It is then not possible to change the records anymore - which is a huge problem if the guy is still dancing with his fish, preventing you to use the water control box.
So, when you take a record off the record player, Max picks the record up and puts it in his pockets (or wherever) but
a) either stays waiting there and locked up like in the water control box bug (see above)
b) or if you use another record with the player, Max puts it in the record player, but it is not played and the character / game seems to "wait" for something to trigger the next action. In this state however it is possible to enter the Menu.
I'm not sure what conditions have to be met here to trigger this bug. However, I found that changing records directly and not picking the current record up from player, then inserting a new one, reduces the chances of this bug immensely.
Chapter 5: Chalkboard Bug
Sometimes, if you arrange the letters on the bottom before clicking on all the remaining letters, the game won't "pull" the letters down, but remove the hotspot for this letter.
To avoid this, first click on ALL letters, then start to scramble them. If you encounter this bug you have to load an earlier savegame as there is no way to reverse this bug.
Chapter 5: Door Unlock Microphone Bug
In the same spot, if you unscrambled the message, it is possible that the game "forgets" that you found the clues. The dialog box then is empty, whereas it should display the words you unscrambled.
If you encounter this bug you have to load up a savegame and solve the puzzle again. I have no idea what triggers this bug.
Chapter 8: Angel Statue Bug
Sometimes Max will not reassemble the angel statue, even if you have all parts. Good news, though: Saving and loading the game on the spot fixes this problem.
General: Missing Movie/Cinematic Files
The game's "View Cinematics"-option says that there are 49 cinematics, however, the game only consists of 40. This leads to the problem that the following cinematics cannot be played (thanks to punknotyet for the list):
12. Scarecrow
15. Church Entrance (this one is present in Chapter 3 in the game, but cannot be played via the Menu option!)
19. Big top
25. Cellar Entrance to House
31. World History Part 2 (*)
32. World History Part 3 (*)
33. Gravin's Wife (*)
39. Body Bag
41. Wall of Sorrow
(Cinematics that are marked with '*' sign are actually presented in "30. World History Part 1"/Mov029.smk).
General: The "deadly save game" (as I call it)
Well, if you finished the game and watched the credits of the fine people making it, you still can save your game when you are dropped back into the menu.
This leads to a "deadly save game" which will just give you a blank, black screen when you load it. However, the menu is still accessible, so just a fun little bug ;-)
As you never know with this game if it's a bug or some compatibility problem, I thought we could make a list of "known bugs" that appear in any version of the game
Chapter 2: Lockout Bug
If you're unlucky then after a while in Chapter 2 (the town) you may not be able anymore to enter buildings as the walls / roofs will not fade away like they should. This means you're stuck and cannot move on at all.
This should be fixed in the GOG version as there was a patch made available shortly after the game's release. Press "v" in your game and see which version you have. If it says "1.01 FINAL" then you have the fixed version of the game.
If you need the patch, google it, it's still available on some forums. Your old savegames, however, won't work anymore.
Chapter 3: Morgans Office Door / Water control box
If you don't click on the door to Doc Morgans Office but first click on the water control box (either with an object or just with the looking glass cursor) the game freezes. The character's animations etc. will still play as if the game is idle, but your cursor is gone and the game basically "locks up" in a non-interactive mode (like when in a cutscene). There is no other way than to forcefully kill the application and load up the last save game.
Beware: If you quick safe in this state, you will not be able to click on the water control box anymore. The hotspot for interaction with it is gone and you're stuck. So, whatever you do, don't quick safe in this state.
As someone else here noticed this bug is depending on certain circumstances, one of which is that the door is still closed. So, follow YavorN's suggestion and open up that damn door first thing you do in the level, to avoid this problem.
Chapter 3: Record Player Freeze
Sometimes the hotspot for the record player vanishes. It is then not possible to change the records anymore - which is a huge problem if the guy is still dancing with his fish, preventing you to use the water control box.
So, when you take a record off the record player, Max picks the record up and puts it in his pockets (or wherever) but
a) either stays waiting there and locked up like in the water control box bug (see above)
b) or if you use another record with the player, Max puts it in the record player, but it is not played and the character / game seems to "wait" for something to trigger the next action. In this state however it is possible to enter the Menu.
I'm not sure what conditions have to be met here to trigger this bug. However, I found that changing records directly and not picking the current record up from player, then inserting a new one, reduces the chances of this bug immensely.
Chapter 5: Chalkboard Bug
Sometimes, if you arrange the letters on the bottom before clicking on all the remaining letters, the game won't "pull" the letters down, but remove the hotspot for this letter.
To avoid this, first click on ALL letters, then start to scramble them. If you encounter this bug you have to load an earlier savegame as there is no way to reverse this bug.
Chapter 5: Door Unlock Microphone Bug
In the same spot, if you unscrambled the message, it is possible that the game "forgets" that you found the clues. The dialog box then is empty, whereas it should display the words you unscrambled.
If you encounter this bug you have to load up a savegame and solve the puzzle again. I have no idea what triggers this bug.
Chapter 8: Angel Statue Bug
Sometimes Max will not reassemble the angel statue, even if you have all parts. Good news, though: Saving and loading the game on the spot fixes this problem.
General: Missing Movie/Cinematic Files
The game's "View Cinematics"-option says that there are 49 cinematics, however, the game only consists of 40. This leads to the problem that the following cinematics cannot be played (thanks to punknotyet for the list):
12. Scarecrow
15. Church Entrance (this one is present in Chapter 3 in the game, but cannot be played via the Menu option!)
19. Big top
25. Cellar Entrance to House
31. World History Part 2 (*)
32. World History Part 3 (*)
33. Gravin's Wife (*)
39. Body Bag
41. Wall of Sorrow
(Cinematics that are marked with '*' sign are actually presented in "30. World History Part 1"/Mov029.smk).
General: The "deadly save game" (as I call it)
Well, if you finished the game and watched the credits of the fine people making it, you still can save your game when you are dropped back into the menu.
This leads to a "deadly save game" which will just give you a blank, black screen when you load it. However, the menu is still accessible, so just a fun little bug ;-)
