Mystery Case Files: Return to Ravenhearst

Mystery Case Files: Return to Ravenhearst is the fifth in the Mystery Case Files series. In this installment, the Master Detective (for lack of a better term) returns to Ravenhearst in an attempt to free the souls of Rose Somerset and her daughters from creepy, underground holding chambers.

This is the first entry of the series to use a point-and-click adventure format, rather than being focused only on finding hidden objects. It's also the first one to use live actors greenscreened onto painted backgrounds, a technique the series would use until Mystery Case Files: Fate's Carnival.

Sub-Page#

Prerelease Info

Debug Mode#

This needs some investigation. Discuss ideas and findings on the talk page. Specifically: See if this does anything else.

The file dis.dat contains a variable called debug which is set to 0 by default. Changing it to 1 activates a debug mode, adding a number to the top-left corner of the title screen (which can be edited), along with a build date at the lower-right corner.
It also enables the usage of two cheats for hidden object scenes, activated by creating a profile using one of the names below:

• speed: Requires only 1 item to be found in a scene to complete it (and receive the reward item). It's rather buggy: you're still able to collect items in the short period after closing the reward window, and the sparkles from any objects found during that time will never disappear.
• allitems: Has the opposite effect of speed: you must find every single object that can be found in a scene for it to be completed. This cheat also has a few bugs, such as adding all of the items back to the search list upon reentry of a scene, and occasionally breaking the hint function by pointing out items that have already been collected.

Both cheats also give infinite hints in hidden object scenes. Getting hints on inventory items and skipping puzzles will deplete the hint as usual.

Unused Graphics#

This is an earlier, probably unfinished (judging from the poorly-overlapped text) version of the Case Report icon. The final Case Report is more ornate, but it retains the purple bookmark.

The (paused) countdown timer from Mystery Case Files: Madame Fate. Return to Ravenhearst doesn't have a time limit as with the previous games, so this graphic wouldn't have been necessary.

Unused Sounds#

correctUse#

A (rather unfitting) short chime. This might have been a generic sound for using an inventory object in the correct location; the game usually has specific sounds for every correct usage of an object.

item_pick_up#

A swooshing sound. It's unused in favor of reusing the sound for collecting the reward at the end of a hidden-object puzzle.

References#