Regarding Maya and that damned loan, a rather significant bit on info came to light at the end of episode 8: Patrick works at a used car dealership.
While it may be undeserved for many in the profession, used car salesmen have a bad reputation for being dishonest and tricky (not to be confused with Peachy and Tricky - that would be Maya & Josy). DPC pretty much plays on stereo types throughout the game, and this could just be a further shortcut to exposing Patrick's character.
We already know he's a controlling, religious type, with somewhat antiquated views on sexuality, but now we could also assume he's a dishonest sleazebag (if we didn't already get that vibe based on him blackmailing his own daughter in the first place).
Also, as a car salesman, he may have actually financed his kids through his own channels, rather than through typical student loan path, which explains how he may have managed more flexibility with the cash and possibly do some dodgy-dealings on the co-signer part of the loan, etc.
Of course a personal loan would come with higher interest rates and repayments would start sooner, but that's the price a blackmailer has to pay if he wants to fuck with his daughter's life.
Sure it's a reach, but it's something, and there really hasn't been enough discussion about Patrick's line of work.
Oh, and here's a nice coincidence:
Just like the trusting Maya was duped by her used car salesman dad.
And now she has trust issues.
Not sure if someone has already said this to you, but since you've mentioned you've got an old laptop, are you running the 32-bit or the 64-bit version of the executable?
Since episode 8 came out, the game has switched over to the 64-bit engine. The filename is:
BeingADIK.exe
But you can still run the 32-bit version. The filename is:
BeingADIK-32.exe
Both are in the main folder of the game, so you don't need to do anything to get it.
So give both a go and see if it makes any difference.
From what I understand, if you're gonna get COVID, Omicron is the strain to get. Wishing a speedy recovery to DPC, because we care for his health of course, nothing to do with wanting The Interlude.
Maybe it's just me, but I feel a little uncomfortable discussing proper fucking "babies".