MYST3: Gameplay duration issue with Myst III saves

[dgasaway]

When saving over an existing save using the ScummVM menu (rather than the in-game menu), it often says "Existing save has longer gameplay duration than the current state. Are you sure you want to overwrite it?" For example, load a save, wait a few seconds, then save over that save again. The playtime in the tooltip on hovering on a save looks okay, however.

ScummVM 2.5.1, Gentoo Linux, 4xCD release w/ patches.

[macca8]

This message is actually a general feature added to ScummVM by orgads, and applies to all games, not just Myst III. And yes, it can be really annoying if it keeps popping up.

The theory is that it protects the user from inadvertently overwriting a save created later in a game, after having returned to an earlier game state. This is fine for games with a simple pathway for completing the game.

Unfortunately, for games like Myst III (Riven is another example), which offer multiple pathways completable in no set order, each of which can take considerable time, if you load an earlier game state to explore another age, you're more likely to encounter this message if you subsequently try to update your previous save.

As annoying as it can be, it's intentional, so just be tolerant, and don't expect it to be removed any time soon.

[dgasaway]

I think you misunderstand. The specific example I gave was "For example, load a save, wait a few seconds, then save over that save again." The new save should definitely be later in gameplay time, so I shouldn't get this message. I did a full playthrough in Riven right before I started this Myst III playthough, and didn't experience the problem I'm describing in that game.

[macca8]

Apologies. I did indeed respond to the message (which is still relevant regarding its expected use) instead of your specific example.

I'm able to reproduce this issue with Myst III on macOS, though it seems to apply to overwriting any existing Myst III save game, including those with significantly shorter playtimes. For example, loading my Autosave file (with 17 hrs playtime), then attempting to overwrite an earlier save game from a different age (5 hrs playtime), generates this message. Clearly this is wrong, and the exact opposite of the message.

Having said that, the save it produces updates with the correct metadata (as you've noted). If, instead of overwriting an existing save, I create a new save game, no message appears, and the save is still created with the correct metadata.

This behaviour suggests that, for some reason, the playtime is reset to 0 when the current state is loaded (thus always earlier than any existing save game), but not updated to the correct value until after a save is performed. Why, I have no idea?

However, as you've noted, this only applies to using the ScummVM save menu, and not the game's own in-game menu, which is actually the engine's targeted menu and offers greater flexibilty than the ScummVM menu when managing saves.

An obvious point of difference between Myst III and most other games is that Myst III uses a common name for its save game's filename and savename, and indeed when the ScummVM menu is viewed in list mode, the savename is listed as the filename complete with extension. Pure speculation, but I'm wondering if this is somehow interfering with registering the correct playtime when the current state is being loaded?

[macca8]

Good news! Commit ​ea393421 has removed this annoying message from ScummVM, which resolves this issue.