Book/spirit box are super unreliable.

[Blue]

These two evidence never work properly and either take a year and a half, or just straight up never work and end up screwing us over because we thought "it never did it, so it must be [x]".

Mic works and is recognised in-game through ghost reactions to angering them with their name, and with the EMF/motion sensor we can prove the ghost is in the area, yet the book and box are pure RNG on whether they decide to work or not.

It makes the game super inconsistent and can create extremely stale gameplay of just cycling through hunts or standing there just waiting.

The temperature, EMF, DOTS, spirit orbs, and other equipment work fine and with a little effort you can get them to reliably and consistently work, but the box and book are never reliable. The game needs some sort of failsafe for if the evidence isn't gained within a certain time frame with them set up on the map in the vicinity.

[Maya-Neko]

To use it properly there are a few things you need to understand:

For the book, it needs to be an interaction, so it can help to throw other stuff out to make it more likely, that the ghost picks the book over something else. And obviously you've to make sure to keep it close to the ghost, especially on higher difficulties, where it might change rooms. I've never had any problems with it being used. It sometimes can take a littlebit of time, so it's a good idea to bring it in early, but it will eventually do so.

For the spirit box you need to be within a specific radius, so make sure to run around a bit and if you see an event, run to the location where it disappeared. The lower tier you're using, the more questions you should ask per try, since there's just a littlebit of RNG in it. Also keep in mind that the lights need to be off and for higher difficulties make sure, that you're alone in the room. Generally i would say, that spirit box is one of the easiest evidences (next to Orbs) to get, since you can just spam it without the need of the ghost doing something for itself other than being nearby.

And generally, it is impossible to fully rule out something except for UV, as there's always a slight chance that you're just unlucky with RNG. You can obviously do so and concentrate on the remaining ghosts, but be open minded about it and still check it from time to time to verify, if you've made a mistake or not.

[Shaken_Widow]

they both actually work more reliable than the old versions idk how you can say otherwise lol.

before the inventory update that added all the tiers the book and spirit box would usually wait until after the ghost killed someone to actually have an interaction.

now all you need to do for the spirit box is do what it says on the board by either being alone or in a group, and have the lights off in the ghost room while moving around and asking basic questions and you will eventually hear a response.

for the book it's the same concept, whether it responds to people alone or in a group, then simply ask it to draw you a picture or to write you a story and poof, the book floats and it starts writing.

[Emurinus]

If it also helps, keep the light on in the room for ghost writing. IIRC, the lights stop the ghost from doing EMF 3 activities (item throws) in the same room, but writing is an EMF 2 interaction like door/window touches. Unless you have a Shade, it should help with ghost writing cause the ghost has "less" to interact with.

[o RawRaSauRus o]

I’m stuck in the tutorial part with the box asking where are you I keep running to where the cups are moving and asking where are you but nothing happens

[erikoshandi7]

Originally posted by o RawRaSauRus o:

I’m stuck in the tutorial part with the box asking where are you I keep running to where the cups are moving and asking where are you but nothing happens

use text and spam click it , it worked

[steventirey]

Originally posted by o RawRaSauRus o:

I’m stuck in the tutorial part with the box asking where are you I keep running to where the cups are moving and asking where are you but nothing happens

Have you made sure to turn off all of the lights in the entire room?

[Aralous]

The spirit box is crazy unreliable, but I think it depends on each specific person. I couldn't complete the spirit box portion of the tutorial. I tried for like 5 minutes, in a room where spirit box is guaranteed.

[Maya-Neko]

Originally posted by Shaken_Widow:

before the inventory update that added all the tiers the book and spirit box would usually wait until after the ghost killed someone to actually have an interaction.

I don't know where you're pulling that one out, but that's simply not true. The system of how those both work didn't change at all beyond ranges and some changes regarding RNG rolls for different tiers and the spirit box now only working in a radius instead of the current room.

Originally posted by Shaken_Widow:

for the book it's the same concept, whether it responds to people alone or in a group, then simply ask it to draw you a picture or to write you a story and poof, the book floats and it starts writing.

It doesn't matter, where people are in relation to the book. Also there's no need to ask the ghost specifically to write in the book, as it will do so eventually on its own.

You can use recognized phrases to raise the general activity by a tiny bit, but you can say anything (the wiki has a complete list of it), so it doesn't need to be about the book specifically. Obviously you can roleplay about it as much as you want, but don't tell others, that it's a necessity

Originally posted by Emurinus:

If it also helps, keep the light on in the room for ghost writing. IIRC, the lights stop the ghost from doing EMF 3 activities (item throws) in the same room, but writing is an EMF 2 interaction like door/window touches. Unless you have a Shade, it should help with ghost writing cause the ghost has "less" to interact with.

There's nothing that prevents any ghost from throwing stuff except for the shade, which will not do any interactions/throws at all when a player is in the same room.

Now the activity raises, the lower the average sanity is, so keeping lights off can help loosing sanity faster and get a littebit more activity, but it is definitely not necessary to get throws and especially people who're not that good in surviving hunts usually benefit more from keeping the lights on.

[Emurinus]

Originally posted by Maya-Neko:

Originally posted by Shaken_Widow:

before the inventory update that added all the tiers the book and spirit box would usually wait until after the ghost killed someone to actually have an interaction.

I don't know where you're pulling that one out, but that's simply not true. The system of how those both work didn't change at all beyond ranges and some changes regarding RNG rolls for different tiers and the spirit box now only working in a radius instead of the current room.

Originally posted by Shaken_Widow:

for the book it's the same concept, whether it responds to people alone or in a group, then simply ask it to draw you a picture or to write you a story and poof, the book floats and it starts writing.

It doesn't matter, where people are in relation to the book. Also there's no need to ask the ghost specifically to write in the book, as it will do so eventually on its own.

You can use recognized phrases to raise the general activity by a tiny bit, but you can say anything (the wiki has a complete list of it), so it doesn't need to be about the book specifically. Obviously you can roleplay about it as much as you want, but don't tell others, that it's a necessity

Originally posted by Emurinus:

If it also helps, keep the light on in the room for ghost writing. IIRC, the lights stop the ghost from doing EMF 3 activities (item throws) in the same room, but writing is an EMF 2 interaction like door/window touches. Unless you have a Shade, it should help with ghost writing cause the ghost has "less" to interact with.

There's nothing that prevents any ghost from throwing stuff except for the shade, which will not do any interactions/throws at all when a player is in the same room.

Now the activity raises, the lower the average sanity is, so keeping lights off can help loosing sanity faster and get a littebit more activity, but it is definitely not necessary to get throws and especially people who're not that good in surviving hunts usually benefit more from keeping the lights on.

Last I checked, the lights do actually stop EMF 3 interactions from occurring. Granted though, I haven't tried recently, but I remember doing this with a basement ghost on Willow so I'll have to retest this.

Edit: Began trying it on Willow again. Custom with Professional preset.

Changes:
>High Activity
>Low Events/ Roaming
>0 sanity / Friendly Ghost
>No changing rooms
>Breaker starts on
>Infinite Sprint

While I was only looking for writing ghosts specifically, I noticed that most ghosts pretty much cease EMF 3 activities as long as the lights are on, though I had multiple rooms on in case they wandered. So far, the only exception I've seen across 10 trial games is the Poltergeist, which makes sense. I still plan to test more, just in case these ghosts were abnormally passive.

[Jimmy Hunter]

Originally posted by Emurinus:

Last I checked, the lights do actually stop EMF 3 interactions from occurring. Granted though, I havent tried recently, but I remember doing this with a basement ghost on Willow so I'll hve to retest this.

For what it's worth, last night on Point Hope I was seeing EMF 3 against a Mimic that had it's Ghost Room in the Kitchen. Bastard was first being a Jinn and kept turning the light on, then later became a Mare and kept flicking it off. Mimic had a serious case of identity crisis on what it wanted out of it's unlife.

Then again, I also had a Myling close and toss the book on Edgefield. Last I knew, Ghosts with Ghost Writing couldn't close and throw the book like that.

[Maya-Neko]

Originally posted by Emurinus:

Last I checked, the lights do actually stop EMF 3 interactions from occurring. Granted though, I haven't tried recently, but I remember doing this with a basement ghost on Willow so I'll have to retest this.

You're right on that one. Never noticed it myself for some reason even after 300 hours. I guess i'm never done learning^^

It's also somewhat hidden on the interactions-page of the wiki, so i didn't found it the first time.

[Super Moogle]

Originally posted by Maya-Neko:

Originally posted by Emurinus:

Last I checked, the lights do actually stop EMF 3 interactions from occurring. Granted though, I haven't tried recently, but I remember doing this with a basement ghost on Willow so I'll have to retest this.

You're right on that one. Never noticed it myself for some reason even after 300 hours. I guess i'm never done learning^^

It's also somewhat hidden on the interactions-page of the wiki, so i didn't found it the first time.

I never noticed that either, probably because the ghost would wander to a neighboring room that had the lights off but was still within range of throwable objects inside the favorite room and so an object gets thrown in the ghost room when the light is on.

[D. Flame]

I don't mind the ghost writing since you can place it then walk away. I loath the spirit box though. It's already awkward to talk to the game. I wish it would at least be more reliable.