Lucasarts adventures on Steam!

General chat related to ScummVM, adventure gaming, and so on.

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marzipan
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Post by marzipan »

Okay, having just decided to give this a test run somewhat by obtaining Last Crusade off Steam, I have something to ask...


Did LucasArts *really* opt to emulate the PC Speaker music in their new port, rather than the Adlib soundtrack? :|


EDIT: The version info (Ctrl+V) reports the same information as found in the original DOS VGA version. Are we sure this is even an updated version?
Tinhead Ned
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Post by Tinhead Ned »

It's reasonably easy to extract the necessary file from the exe with a hex editor, at least with The Last Crusade. Then you can play it with ScummVM. Am I allowed to say that?
marzipan
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Post by marzipan »

Flo wrote:LOOM data files:

Code: Select all

08.07.2009  19:51             2,613 901.LFL
08.07.2009  19:51             4,193 902.LFL
08.07.2009  19:51             2,019 903.LFL
08.07.2009  19:51             4,388 904.LFL
08.07.2009  20:27       289,808,802 CDDA.SOU
08.07.2009  19:51         4,059,462 DISK01.LEC
The big audio file less than 300mb? Surely some compression must've been applied during the conversion there - the audio in its CDDA form was over 500mb+. You don't think they would've reduced the frequency or sample rate, would they?
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MusicallyInspired
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Post by MusicallyInspired »

They may have. They did for the Half-Life 1 soundtrack.
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Longcat
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Post by Longcat »

Tinhead Ned wrote:It's reasonably easy to extract the necessary file from the exe with a hex editor, at least with The Last Crusade. Then you can play it with ScummVM. Am I allowed to say that?
I guess, but why would you continue on this subject when the devs from ScummVM have asked you guys to drop it until we have the official word from Lucasarts? And yes, we already know it's easy to do.

Either code it yourself or drop it. But leave ScummVM out of it for the time being.
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Praetorian
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Post by Praetorian »

marzipan wrote: Shame they couldn't include FM-Towns Loom in the mix. PC-CD Loom just seems rather, well, hollow to me. Probably because literally all the audio is mixed in together and cranked out at setpoints amongst what is otherwise deathly silence. Having a background soundtrack would've worked pretty well.
I'd also prefer some FM-Towns-to-PC version of Loom, which at least would be faithful to the original plot and gameplay experience. I will never for the life of me understand why they thought they should make "corrections", remove stuff and add silly animations in the CD-rom Talkie version. Also, no audio drama ?
marzipan
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Post by marzipan »

Jonatan wrote:
Tinhead Ned wrote:It's reasonably easy to extract the necessary file from the exe with a hex editor, at least with The Last Crusade. Then you can play it with ScummVM. Am I allowed to say that?
I guess, but why would you continue on this subject when the devs from ScummVM have asked you guys to drop it until we have the official word from Lucasarts? And yes, we already know it's easy to do.

Either code it yourself or drop it. But leave ScummVM out of it for the time being.
Is it safe to assume basically "never talk about it again, ever"? I mean since when did LucasArts ever even acknowledge ScummVM outside of speaking "legal threat" jumbo at them eons ago or meekly giving a quick reference to it on a Twitter profile (maintained no doubt by someone who only really acts as a spokesperson and isn't really involved in all the legal business side of things) only so as to answer a question or two regarding what interpreter the Steam games used?

If they do decide to talk to you guys in the end, then fine, that's great. Hopefully it won't take too long for them to do something since they'll no doubt hear feedback along the lines of "why can't I play Loom on my iPhone?" or "I was hoping to play FOA on my DS while on a holiday trip out, why make it Windows only?" over time. Good on them at least for not overcharging for the adventure titles (£3 a pop doesn't sound bad at all).
marzipan
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Post by marzipan »

Praetorian wrote:
marzipan wrote: Shame they couldn't include FM-Towns Loom in the mix. PC-CD Loom just seems rather, well, hollow to me. Probably because literally all the audio is mixed in together and cranked out at setpoints amongst what is otherwise deathly silence. Having a background soundtrack would've worked pretty well.
I'd also prefer some FM-Towns-to-PC version of Loom, which at least would be faithful to the original plot and gameplay experience. I will never for the life of me understand why they thought they should make "corrections", remove stuff and add silly animations in the CD-rom Talkie version. Also, no audio drama ?
On a similar note, SteamReview.org has a page on Loom which talks mainly about the comparisons between the PC-CD and FM-Towns versions and even allows you to grab the latter from their site - the catch being that you need to enter a specific number code obtained from a specific Steam script file which you can only get after purchasing, downloading and installing Loom off Steam, before they'll allow you to grab the archive.
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Longcat
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Post by Longcat »

marzipan wrote:
Jonatan wrote:
Tinhead Ned wrote:It's reasonably easy to extract the necessary file from the exe with a hex editor, at least with The Last Crusade. Then you can play it with ScummVM. Am I allowed to say that?
I guess, but why would you continue on this subject when the devs from ScummVM have asked you guys to drop it until we have the official word from Lucasarts? And yes, we already know it's easy to do.

Either code it yourself or drop it. But leave ScummVM out of it for the time being.
Is it safe to assume basically "never talk about it again, ever"? I mean since when did LucasArts ever even acknowledge ScummVM outside of speaking "legal threat" jumbo at them eons ago or meekly giving a quick reference to it on a Twitter profile (maintained no doubt by someone who only really acts as a spokesperson and isn't really involved in all the legal business side of things) only so as to answer a question or two regarding what interpreter the Steam games used?

If they do decide to talk to you guys in the end, then fine, that's great. Hopefully it won't take too long for them to do something since they'll no doubt hear feedback along the lines of "why can't I play Loom on my iPhone?" or "I was hoping to play FOA on my DS while on a holiday trip out, why make it Windows only?" over time. Good on them at least for not overcharging for the adventure titles (£3 a pop doesn't sound bad at all).
Well, there are for example strong evidence suggesting LucasArts are going to release at least monkey island se for iphone, so it may well be that they would frown upon ScummVM for invading the multiplatform market. Then again,they might finally give ScummVM the praise it deserves. You never know. But until we do know, we should refrain from discussing ways to circumvent steams distributionmethod.
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LogicDeLuxe
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Post by LogicDeLuxe »

Jonatan wrote:Well, there are for example strong evidence suggesting LucasArts are going to release at least monkey island se for iphone
Never heard of an iphone (or any handheld) with HDTV resolution. :shock:
circumvent steams distributionmethod
Not exactly. This is about what comes AFTER Steam's distribution method, ie. right off your harddisk.
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eriktorbjorn
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Post by eriktorbjorn »

marzipan wrote:has a page on Loom which talks mainly about the comparisons between the PC-CD and FM-Towns versions and even allows you to grab the latter from their site - the catch being that you need to enter a specific number code obtained from a specific Steam script file which you can only get after purchasing, downloading and installing Loom off Steam, before they'll allow you to grab the archive.
I saw that, but I thought it was a fan site, not an official Steam site. (In which case they might not have the right to distribute that version, but I don't know...)
Tinhead Ned
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Post by Tinhead Ned »

I was thinking, do you suppose that these games being readily available on Steam will mean that original copies sold in places like ebay will go up or down in price?
Reckless
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Post by Reckless »

Tinhead Ned wrote:I was thinking, do you suppose that these games being readily available on Steam will mean that original copies sold in places like ebay will go up or down in price?
The prices will likely fall but I suspect it's mostly collectors who push prices up and this type of market doesn't consider a digital download something to collect.
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Praetorian
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Post by Praetorian »

eriktorbjorn wrote: I saw that, but I thought it was a fan site, not an official Steam site. (In which case they might not have the right to distribute that version, but I don't know...)
Yes, that is an interesting but also a somewhat suspicious offer.

Is that site officially affiliated with Steam, do they have the rights to distribute the FM-towns version to people who purchased LOOM Talkie via Steam, and finally is it safe for someone to copy-paste the mentioned "code" into their form?
Vegan
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Post by Vegan »

I'm pretty much expecting that guy to get a legal notice any day now.
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