Since Benoit Sokal's Paradise isn't on GOG, it has no forum. So, I posted this in the General forum.

After some work, I was able to get Paradise running on my Windows 10 PC. I've solved the puzzles up to where the Prince's Favorite enters the steam bath. So far so good. But when I try to go upstairs and hide in the basket, the game lets me walk up the stairs, but when it reaches the top, it immediately places me back at the bottom of the stairs. In other words, I can't get to the top of the stairs and climb into the basket outside the Favorite's room. I've checked every walkthrough I can find, and they're all the same. At this point in the game, I should be able to go upstairs and hide in the basket to see the combination to enter the Favorite's room, but I can't.

What could I be missing? Or is this a bug when run on Windows 10?

Here are links to my saved game files:
LUA file - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1y8d5SmkSwtObJgVxkbL8h7p3g-o3zJHm/view?usp=sharing
TGA file - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KT01WaAl8TlQS5JMnIby4KDaEGW9yS7n/view?usp=sharing

Thanks,
Craig

Hello craig_s_russell!

May I ask you, which version you are playing of the game "Paradise", and whether or not you have installed a patch?

I do remember, the North American retail release got rushed out a lot and was full of technical issues. The later German retail release was pushed back for quite some time to iron out most of the errors.

According to adventure games review sites, the American release got an almost 12 MB patch (version 1.1.1) later on.

Furthermore, I think the game was very strict in its puzzle solutions and required certain sequences to be adhered to.
Can it be, that you are missing an action or pickup somewhere?

Unfortunately, I can not give it a try myself now, because my european retail copy does not work on modern WIndows machines due to its draconian copy protection method.

Kind regards,
foxgog

Thanks for the response foxgog. I determined the cause of my problem. I'd installed a No-CD version of Startup.exe. When I reinstalled v1.0 from my original CD's, the game worked fine. I can get up the stairs and into the basket with no problem. FYI, I tried v1.1.1 patch but my antivirus flagged it as malicious software. So, to be safe, I opted to not install it.

Thank you again for your help!!

It is a location bug, unrelated to your progress. There are two possible workarounds.

Solution 1. As soon as you enter upstairs location, open either game menu or inventory. When you close it, character will remain upstairs.

Solution 2. Edit a save-game file:

1. Save your game downstairs and quit to desktop.
2. Find and edit "*.lua" save file in " ( documents ) / Paradise / ( game_profile ) " directory by its timestamp. Paradise save-games are plain-text files, so it won't be a problem.
3. Set value "2" to "CurrentStartingPoint" key.
4. Set value "a01s02c18" to "CurrentManagerName" key.
5. Save and close file.
6. Load this save in the game.

You should be in location with the basket now.

***

There are bugs in Paradise, for which editing a save file is the only known solution. In general, when you need to load save-game in particular location:

CurrentManagerName - id of the location.

You can copy it from another save file.

If you don't have saves in that location, you can determine it by file-names in one of subdirectories of the " ( game root directory ) / COLLISION ". The first part "aNNsNN" of neighbouring locations is likely to be the same. When it is not the case, try locations with the same "a", but different "s" numbers.

CurrentStartingPoint - number of the location exit.

Each location has at least exit "1".

If you want to backup your game profile directory, don't forget to backup " ( documents ) / Paradise / config.lua " file as well. It contains the list of save-games for all available game profiles.

***

Bug 1. Your character is unable to move in the mine overseer's courtyard, when wounded miner is spawned.

It is not a problem at first, because you can return to overseer's office. But then you need to go to the mines, so you are stuck here.

Solution

1. Exit overseer's office to the balcony instead of the courtyard.
2. Save game on the balcony and quit to desktop.
3. Edit the save file, set value "2" to "CurrentStartingPoint" key.
4. Load this save in the game.

You should be on the ground instead of the balcony now, and can proceed further to the mines.

***

Bug 2. Your character is unable to move in the central intersection of the mines, when elephant is standing in the middle.

You can still interact with the hotspots ( excluding location exists )

Solution

1. Proceed with current puzzle ( start with elevator ceiling )
2. When you actually need to exit the location ( towards the elevator ) save game and quit to desktop.
3. Edit the save file, set value "a03s10c01" to "CurrentManagerName" key.
4. Load this save in the game.

You should be in the elevator location now.

Complete the puzzle, and the elephant will move from the middle of the intersection. You can go through the location and use any exits again.

Bug 1. Your character is unable to move in the mine overseer's courtyard, when wounded miner is spawned.

It is not a problem at first, because you can return to overseer's office. But then you need to go to the mines, so you are stuck here.

Solution

1. Exit overseer's office to the balcony instead of the courtyard.
2. Save game on the balcony and quit to desktop.
3. Edit the save file, set value "2" to "CurrentStartingPoint" key.
4. Load this save in the game.

You should be on the ground instead of the balcony now, and can proceed further to the mines.

***

Thank you AlexTerranova!. That worked!
I was afraid I would be stuck here. Found a save file from someone else at that point but my game did not recognize the save at all, or crashed when loading it.
How serendipitous to have been playing this game at the same time at the above post and didn't have to wait years for a solution.