SCUMM: Loom (EGA - Original bug): Bobbin (as Bobbin) can enter the Forge gate before it's closed and glitches with the background

[antoniou79]

This is on Windows 10 x64, latest build for 2.8git from master HEAD.

When Bobbin arrives at the Forge, as himself (ie. not disguised as/reflecting Rusty) he is denied entrance by one of two guards. One guard is patroling along the castle walls and another is at the entrance for the case that Bobbin OPENs the gate casting a spell and then enters before he's caught by the first guard.

The patroling guard, as far as I can tell, is not *really* patroling. He appears once when Bobbin visits that screen and he will follow his path to the tower (close the game if open) and return back.

So, in general the game times it so that Bobbin will not be able to enter the gate before the first guard catches him, even if Bobbin opens the gate after the patroling guard leaves, then Bobbin leaves the screen, re-enters and goes as fast as possible in the castle (he'll get caught from the patroling guard before he reaches the gates).

There seems to be a fringe use case, which is reproduced by these steps:

1. (As Bobbin) wait for the patrol guard to leave
2. Walk up to the gate and cast open
3. Save the game
4. Re-load the game. At this point the patroling guard AI seems to be "reset" and he appears again patroling. But Bobbin is too close to the gate to get caught.
5. Click on a specific area of the screen (it's a couple of them I could spot -- I am attaching screenshots), and Bobbin will move inside the entrance but not enough to trigger the second guard.

This will result to:

• The patroling guard acting as if he caught Bobbin and closing the gate.
• Bobbin remains within the entrance (past the gate) and may glitch with the side wall of the gate.
• Bobbin cannot move further in the castle, so clicking on a valid spot will make him clip through the wall and gate and walk on the bridge.

I am unsure if this is an original engine issue (I have not tested with the original as of yet). It seems that the main culprit is the fact that the patrol guard's AI is reset after a reload (combined with the rogue(?) areas that won't trigger the second guard, but if the patrol guard was not reset in the first place, the gate could not have been closed with Bobbin inside).

[antoniou79]

As an extra note, it seems that if I save a game with Bobbin positioned within the entrance (with gates opened or closed), then upon resuming that game Bobbin's position is changed to be outside the gate. So there are some safe-guards against this, but do not catch the fringe case mentioned above.

[athrxx]

I can reproduce it with the screenshots. Would be interesting to know if it is an original/script bug. I kind of suspect that...

[AndywinXp]

Hey everyone, I just tested this on DREAMM via debug commands: this glitch does happen in the original as well.