ANDROID: AGS: Nintendo Switch version of My Big Sister has glitchy gamepad touch controls

[Teashrock]

ScummVM version: 2.9.0git10383-g09ab1ddfb70 (built Nov 1 2024 04:02:41)
Built with: Clang 12.0.9
OS: Android 14
CPU Arch: aarch64
Game name: My Big Sister
Game version: Nintendo Switch

The problem itself:
I was going to play the NS version of "My Big Sister" on my Android tablet. But when I tried to map gamepad controls, I stuck upon some strange behaviour: the right and middle button sets aren't working in some cases, while the left button set does work in these very cases.

The example is: I've mapped "confirm" action to "Joy A" button, then tried to confirm "New Game" button in the main menu. But it didn't budge, nothing happened. I tried mapping Joy B, Joy X, Joy Y, left and right sticks, nothing worked. But! Then I tried something strange: mapping "confirm" action to "D-Pad Down" button. And it worked! For some reason, it matters for the game what set of buttons I map to an action, when it shouldn't matter in reality.

No screenshots would capture this bug in details, so here's the demonstration video: ​https://files.catbox.moe/l0ssh6.mp4

[antoniou79]

Hello,

A few questions:

• Is this the remastered version of the game? I think ScummVM would have identified it as such, so my guess is that it's the original.
• Did you previously test this game with ScummVM 2.8.1.1 and not have this issue?
• Do you know if the game has its own hotkeys set? I mean is there a manual or a help documentation about the game controls when using a controller? Maybe there's some conflict there.
• (This is a longshot) Some of the actions may already have these buttons assigned to them (I can see "Joy B" being assigned to Right Click, "Joy Y" to middle click, "Joy X" being assigned to Skip line). I am not sure how ScummVM handles a button being assigned to multiple actions, but did you try manually clearing these conflicts to see if anything changed?

I bought the game on Steam by the way. Since it was on sale, I figured it would be a good opportunity to debug this issue. The version I got is the original version, not the remastered one.

However, I may not be able to actually test this thoroughly soon due to real life work load.

I did quickly check out the game as installed by Steam, launched by Steam (and ScummVM) and I did notice that navigation with the arrow keys is not very responsive (at least on the early menu of "New Game" "Continue" and "Quit", and sometimes ignores a key press). I did not ignore the "confirmation" key presses (I have yet to test with a physical controller though or the touch controller on Android)

I don't own a Switch, so I have to assume/hope that the versions are not that much different.

[Teashrock]

Replying to antoniou79:

• Is this the remastered version of the game? I think ScummVM would have identified it as such, so my guess is that it's the original.

It is the original version, not the remastered one.

• Did you previously test this game with ScummVM 2.8.1.1 and not have this issue?

No, the issue is present in 2.8.1.1 as well.

• Do you know if the game has its own hotkeys set? I mean is there a manual or a help documentation about the game controls when using a controller? Maybe there's some conflict there.
• (This is a longshot) Some of the actions may already have these buttons assigned to them (I can see "Joy B" being assigned to Right Click, "Joy Y" to middle click, "Joy X" being assigned to Skip line). I am not sure how ScummVM handles a button being assigned to multiple actions, but did you try manually clearing these conflicts to see if anything changed?

I tried clearing and reassigning everything in keymaps, the bug persists. Also, just for the notice: I tried to run this very instance of the game on my Windows PC, on ScummVM. The controls there, from physical keyboard, seemed to work normally, I didn't have to remap anything.

[antoniou79]

Well, I have some encouraging findings so far:

• The data files from the Steam version behave similarly to the Switch version on the Android ScummVM in that the game will ignore the touch-gamepad's A, B, Y and X buttons when mapped to the "confirm" action in that screen (when you have to select between start new game, continue or quit). It does seem that in the earlier screens (with the logos, language selection, disclaimer text screens) the buttons do work as confirm / proceed. And they also seem to work in the early game (after starting a new game). So the issue seems to be very specific and contained to that menu screen (please correct me if you've found it to be otherwise).
• Testing with a physical controller connected to my Android phone (an Xbox 360 controller) I did not get this issue (I mapped the A,B,X,Y buttons to "confirm" action and they worked right away) in that screen where the issue would appear.

So the encouraging part is that the issue is reproducible, seemingly contained in one (or few) game screens, and it's specific to the touch gamepad mode (does not apply to a physical gamepad). Thus, there's enough here to debug the issue, I feel.

[Teashrock]

Replying to antoniou79:

Well, I have some encouraging findings so far:

• The data files from the Steam version behave similarly to the Switch version on the Android ScummVM in that the game will ignore the touch-gamepad's A, B, Y and X buttons when mapped to the "confirm" action in that screen (when you have to select between start new game, continue or quit). It does seem that in the earlier screens (with the logos, language selection, disclaimer text screens) the buttons do work as confirm / proceed. And they also seem to work in the early game (after starting a new game). So the issue seems to be very specific and contained to that menu screen (please correct me if you've found it to be otherwise).

If that's needed, I can make further tests beyond the new game screen.

• Testing with a physical controller connected to my Android phone (an Xbox 360 controller) I did not get this issue (I mapped the A,B,X,Y buttons to "confirm" action and they worked right away) in that screen where the issue would appear.

So the encouraging part is that the issue is reproducible, seemingly contained in one (or few) game screens, and it's specific to the touch gamepad mode (does not apply to a physical gamepad). Thus, there's enough here to debug the issue, I feel.

For some reason, I had a feeling this is a specific issue of emulated touch-screen gamepad. Should I do anything else from my side?