In the following I'll be assuming that you're playing the vanilla game and not the restored content version -- in the restored content version certain mechanics related to Dino and the mainframe are changed.

Dino will be at his lab only during Act 1. You can visit and talk to him as many times as you want during that Act, provided you have some new clues for him to test and report back, otherwise he won't have useful info for McCoy. There are no rules really. In the vanilla game, Dino does not need McCoy to upload clues to the mainframe for him to examine them, even though the game's manual states that this is required.

I suppose a best practice would be a) whenever you have a feeling you may be stuck in the game or b) the game itself hints heavily you should check back with the mainframe.

It is actually possible to complete the game without ever visiting the Police HQ, although such playthrough is quite more demanding and challenging; eg. it requires to gather most clues available at scenes and if you miss something in an Act, a restore might be needed.

That answers my questions perfectly, thanks. You are correct. I am on the vanilla game. I gather from previous threads that you are the author of the restored content mod. I read some of the threads on the restored content version but it seemed to be on hold for the last few years. Is that still true? Would you advise vanilla or restored for a first time playthrough?Thank you for your contributions to the game. I just installed the subtitles and it has made a huge difference.

Definitely go for vanilla for a first playthrough, and maybe subsequent ones to explore the other game paths/endings.

I'm one of the four main developers that worked on the ScummVM engine implementation for Blade Runner, which the GOG release uses. The restored content mod and the transcript/subtitles support are kind of my pet projects :) But I also do maintainance work on the engine, so any bugs or glitches you notice, you can report here or on the ScummVM bug tracker and I (or another developer) will check into them ASAP.

Restored content is still work in progress. Work on it does get on hold for a while, and then resumed, and so on. I still intend to finish it. It's just that other ScummVM tasks and real life priorities get in the way, and the last couple of years were quite rough. There's some quite interesting stuff pending to be restored though.

Playing in restored content mode is more appreciated after a player is familiar with the main game. Like I've mentioned, certain mechanics are changed -- eg. Dino and the mainframe now conform to what the game's manual states (McCoy has to upload clues for Dino to work on them).

Each new released version of ScummVM includes some updates in restored content as well as bug fixes, optimizations, QoL improvements etc on the Blade Runner engine, even if not explicitly mentioned in the changelog. Hopefully when work is complete and tested, GOG will integrate the (at the time) latest ScummVM version with the game.

Well thank you for your time. ScummVM has given me many hours of joy and I really appreciate your work.