Alright, back up and awake and...oh. Sorry to do this to you again, but it looks like you just sent me the starter save files. I need one AT the center path, right after talking to Riviera the first time, where you can immediately walk over, find a client that nods, and reproduce the error.
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One more time. Doing it again this morning, it started after I got caught by a thug. Was able to knock out one client, but the rest would vanish after I spoke with them.
I think your system might have a ghost. I got the files, but that save file refuses to load at all. I know those two are the files I need, and that it works: everyone's using the starter save, and I just bugtested another issue via a save sent in the same way. I have no idea why yours isn't showing in-game.
I did double-check, and a quick run on my end confirms I can still grab clients after being caught. And again, I'm baffled no one else has reported this: people should be screaming bloody murder if it's widely occurring, as it completely breaks the "clean" way to finish the route. The best I can think is you have some kind of weird file corruption going on, that might explain the save issues as well. I hate to say this, but would you mind starting fresh? New copy of the game, straight from the starter save, and ideally on a different hard drive? Make sure the folder isn't buried too deep either, RMGMaker seems to freak out sometimes if the directory structure is too long for some reason. Alternatively, I suppose you could try re-saving to a new slot and re-sending again. But if you'd rather not I understand; it comes down to how much time you're willing to extend. As long as you're willing to keep trying things though, I'm willing to keep digging into it.