Reporting issues with AGS games supposed to be "completeable"?

[Peter Piers]

I'm not very technical, so before I try to see about adding stuff to the bug tracker, I'd like to make sure it's ok.

There are a few AGS games that theoretically should work but are showing fatal bugs in the current version, 2.9.1.
Apprentice Deluxe is supposed to be "good" but in fact after getting the saddle the PC gets stuck in a non-walkable zone (either that or walkables are turned off), so it's impossible to continue (I can provide save game).
"A Second Face" errors during the intro with a "RemoveOverlay: invalid overlay ID" error, but it's also listed as "good". In addition, "Second Face" in the Android port doesn't even show the credits and title during the intro; the Windows version does.
"1213" works great in the Windows version, but in the Android, the keyboard's inability to hold LEFT-SHIT + ARROW KEYS make it impossible to run, so it's an Android specific thing (probably not worth reporting this).
"Abduction" shows as "Untested"; I can confirm it's completeable (or it would be if it weren't buggy) on Windows ScummVM, but on Android there's a scene where it requires a keypress and doesn't recognise the keypresses we enter, so it's not completeable.
"Audio Quest" is also "Untested" and I'm here to report it doesn't play the external mp3 files it's supposed to, so it's not playable (it's an audio game).
Similarly untested "Barn Runner 0", which I can say errors with "Unable to resolve imports in room script" at loading.

Should I add bug tracker entries for each individual game issue that I find on AGS games that is either "not a known issue" or "contradicts the information on https://wiki.scummvm.org/index.php?title=AGS/Games ? Honestly, looking at the tracker and opening up entries, it may be a bit more technical than I can understand, plus I don't want to add redundant information or duplicate efforts.

[tag2015]

Hi, thanks for your testing.
it's fine to report these issues on the forum, so we can update the wiki.
Sometimes tickets are opened for freeware games, but In general the bugtracker should be used to report bugs in officially supported games (those listed on the compatibility table), or commercial games.

As you can see there are thousands of AGS games and they span two decades, so unfortunately testing them all is impossible and regressions happen (the AGS engine is frequently updated and new features may break old games).

Anyway, could you try a daily build of the latest master and see if the issues still happen? I briefly tested "A Second Face" and the intro plays normally here.

[Peter Piers]

Hi!

Sorry about that, there are so many warnings about how daily builds break stuff that I didn't want to mess with that... But now that there's a new version, I tried these again.

Some work now (Second Face, After a Shadow), others still don't ("A Xmas Tale" very bizarrely has a timer that goes straight to 0 after any action you take - only in ScummVM - and it's listed as Untested, so now I guess it can be listed as Broken or something), but the big one so far is "Apprentice (Deluxe)", which is a pretty excellent game that is listed as "Good" compatibility. I can report that it still causes an unavoidable error that makes it impossible to complete, sadly.

To see this error in action (somewhat spoilery):

- Go downstairs
- USE master's door;
- Hide on the right side of the screen, when you're in shadow;
- When the master comes out, go upstairs;
- USE the chute;
- TAKE the broom;
- Go outside;
- Enter barn;
- TAKE stool;
- USE stool on saddle;
- USE broom on saddle.

Pib will now not move from that spot, making the game unwinnable. This does not occur when I play this game in Windows using the native AGS interpreter it comes with.

This is a savegame of just before the bug. Use broom on saddle to make it happen.

And this is a savegame of the bug in action. Pib will not move anywhere. If you TAKE BUCKET, he'll do that without moving there; it is as though he was moved outside of a walkable area.

I hope this is useful.

Opening entries on the bug tracker proved to be a bit too technical for me (I'm just a player)...

[GateKeeper]

Opening entries on the bug tracker proved to be a bit too technical for me (I'm just a player)...

Yes, it is a bit technical and not an intuitive process.
But you can manage it for sure, I managed to do it too several times, and I'm not a ScummVM developer or anything. (Although I have been involved with technical stuff elsewhere, which sure helps.)

Basically after you have your account set up, create a new ticket, and choose a component from the menu that the report is related to (someone will fix it for you if you don't know, but it's more convenient if you do it yourself). In this case it would probably be AGS engine.

Then come up with a one-line description that tells as much as possible of the problem without being too wordy, and (this is not documented anywhere, I think) put the engine acronym in the beginning. For example, in your case it could be something like:
AGS: Game becomes unwinnable in Apprentice (Deluxe)

Then describe the steps to reproduce the problem like you did in your message. Write which ScummVM version you are using, which OS you are using, and you may add which hardware you are using, although the last one is usually unnecessary information in the PC world (handhelds and consoles are a different story).
If the game is freeware or obscure, put a link where the developers can track down the game if they need it.
If you have a savegame file, attach it to the report. IIRC, you must first submit the report, and then create an addition to it, so you can't do it with a single submission.

And that's basically all there is to it.
Somewhere there is a checkbox that allows you to receive email notifications about changes or updates to your ticket.


I think someone could create a step-by-step YouTube video about that. It would make the process easier for newbies, and probably raise the quality of bug reports in the long run.