Tales of Monkey island...on scummvm?

kuabba82 · Post by **kuabba82** » Tue Dec 29, 2009 10:04 am

Hi everyone.
I've a great trouble about Tales of Monkey Island because even if my Pc has all hardware requirements to play this game, when I try to start a game I get always a blue screen!

So, I ask myself, it will be technically possible to play this game with scummvm on PSP or on PS2 console?

Thanks to all.

Graxer · Post by **Graxer** » Tue Dec 29, 2009 10:14 am

It may be technically possible on the PS2, but that is less powerful than the Wii which I gather it already doesn't play that well on. I assume the PSP is less powerful, and if so it probably wont be able to play it.

Besides, Tales of Monkey Island is a new game, and I highly doubt that Telltale Games will be willing to allow porting, or release the source code for a very long time. (Probably about 10 years)They also still use that engine for all their games, so that could extend the wait even more.

Finally, if and when this does happen it will most likely happen in Residual, not ScummVM as Tales of Monkey Island is 3D. http://residual.sourceforge.net/

Have you tried asking for help with running it on your PC at the Telltale Games forums? They are very helpful there! http://www.telltalegames.com/forums/for ... y.php?f=25

kuabba82 · Post by **kuabba82** » Tue Dec 29, 2009 10:29 am

Thanks for your reply.
Luckily before buying the game I've tried it with a legal copy from my friend and so I haven't lost money...
What about the porting of this game on PSP or PS2 or PS3?
Do you know something about that?

Graxer · Post by **Graxer** » Tue Dec 29, 2009 10:40 am

kuabba82 wrote:Thanks for your reply.
Luckily before buying the game I've tried it with a legal copy from my friend and so I haven't lost money...
What about the porting of this game on PSP or PS2 or PS3?
Do you know something about that?

As far as I understand, using ScummVM is the same as porting the game. This means my last comments regarding the PSP and PS2's capabilities probably still stand.

It would definately be technically possible on the PS3. However, as I said before, Telltale games would probably be very unhappy about people trying to port their engine at the moment. Also, how is the PS3 homebrew scene coming along? It would probably need to be run as homebrew, and I wasn't aware that the PS3 homebrew scene was that advanced yet. I have lost touch with the homebrew scene recently due to University, and dont have a PS3.

Telltale Games on the other hand could port to the PS3 themselves, and it may happen on PSN. After all, it is on WiiWare, and Sam & Max (Another Telltale game) is on XBLA.

Potentially Telltale Games could remake (very unlikely port) it for the PSP as well, however this would probably mean they would have to alter the characters' 3D models to have much less polygons, downscale the textures etc. It wouldn't be a straight port and so probably couldn't be done by anyone but Telltale due to the fact that all their resources would be needed. Otherwise it would be a massive project.

fingolfin · Post by **fingolfin** » Tue Dec 29, 2009 1:37 pm

Let's not loose ourselves in technical stuff, here is the simple plain and short answer:

No, playing "Tales of Monkey Island" will *NEVER* be possible with ScummVM. Also, neither ScummVM or Residual will allow you playing it on PSP, PS2 or any other similar hardware in the foreseeable future -- if you are still interested then, I suggest coming back in about 2-3 years and asking again.

Of course Telltale might make such a port of the game, but nobody here would know, we can only speculate; best to ask them or on their support forum if you want to find out if they have such plans.

Red_Breast · Post by **Red_Breast** » Tue Dec 29, 2009 8:12 pm

I would think your best bet is like Graxer said and go to the Telltale forums.
If I had the required hardware and software (Windows) then I'd start by dis-connecting from the network and turning off as much as possible in the system tray. Make sure you have the latest drivers for your graphics card - and I don't think on-board graphics will do.
If you go to the forums make sure you have a list of the hardware your PC uses. If you don't then somebody will probably ask so do it first.
You might genuinely have some un-tested combination which is causing the game to be un-playable.
If you don't ask you'll never know.

Nikioko · Post by **Nikioko** » Thu Dec 31, 2009 12:53 am

Graxer wrote:
Finally, if and when this does happen it will most likely happen in Residual, not ScummVM as Tales of Monkey Island is 3D. http://residual.sourceforge.net/

Well, I know that 3D adventures are out of scpe of ScummVM, but why does there have to be an extra project rather than widening ScummVM's scope and integrating those games? I would rather appreciate a support of Discworld Noir, which currently runs under Windows XP after applying a NoCD crack only, due to the poor copy protection.

fingolfin · Post by **fingolfin** » Thu Dec 31, 2009 1:33 pm

Because 3D games require a very different architecture, and also won't work on many of the devices ScummVM supports. There is little, if anything, to be gained by adding 3D support to ScummVM, instead of starting a new project. It'll just make ScummVM fatter and slower and less portable.

Also, adding support for new games is extremely *HARD* and difficult. Even if Residual was "merged" into ScummVM (causing ScummVm to become worse, see above), that would not at all do anything to make Discworld Noir supported -- nor would it improve the support for Grim Fandango (the only game supported a bit by Residual at this time).

Nikioko · Post by **Nikioko** » Tue Jan 05, 2010 10:12 am

Well, in fact, Grim Fandango and Discworld Noir are no real 3D games. they use prerendered backgrounds and characters. Adventure games with a real 3D environment and camera tracking like ToMI or Treasure Island just came recently. And even most games with real 3D characters like The Book of Unwritten Tales still use prerendered backgrounds.
But the arguments seem reasonable.

md5 · Post by **md5** » Tue Jan 05, 2010 10:35 am

Nikioko wrote:Well, in fact, Grim Fandango and Discworld Noir are no real 3D games. they use prerendered backgrounds and characters.(...)

The backgrounds are prerendered, the characters are rendered on the fly

bobdevis · Post by **bobdevis** » Tue Jan 05, 2010 10:45 am

Well, in fact, Grim Fandango and Discworld Noir are no real 3D games.

Grim, Noir and MI4 use pre-rendered backgrounds but most definitely real 3D characters and items.

That is a whole level up from 2D images and video that ScummVM has support for.
It is very sane to want to keep the 3D code away from the "pixely old stuff" to avoid breaking anything while adding powerful new features.

Nikioko · Post by **Nikioko** » Tue Jan 05, 2010 2:23 pm

Well, ok. That is an issue then.
Back to topic: I wonder why someone wants support for a recent game that runs perfectly on current systems. I could ask for support of The Whispered World in ScummVM (which would be in scope) but that is completely unnecassary at this point.

But what's up with FMV games like Gabriel Knight or Phantamagoria? Are those in scope?

md5 · Post by **md5** » Tue Jan 05, 2010 3:03 pm

Nikioko wrote:But what's up with FMV games like Gabriel Knight or Phantamagoria? Are those in scope?

Yes, they are Sierra SCI games, and there's active development on them, though it'll take awhile till they're supported

bobdevis · Post by **bobdevis** » Tue Jan 05, 2010 4:34 pm

Nikioko wrote:I wonder why someone wants support for a recent game that runs perfectly on current systems.

Because not everybody likes/can run/has/wants the right version of Windows.

-There is a lot of stuff that runs fine on XP but breaks on Vista/7 64 bit. (And Vista/7 stuff will eventually break on a future Windows too)
-If you are on OSX or Linux then getting Windows stuff running is a bother at best and a complete nightmare at worst.
-If you have one of those hip new ARM netbooks then any Windows stuff is out of the question.

No matter what platform you run there are alternatives for work and general purpose programs. Games are unique however and them being chained to a particular Windows version stinks.

The Spoony Hou · Post by **The Spoony Hou** » Wed Jan 06, 2010 7:58 am

md5 wrote:The backgrounds are prerendered, the characters are rendered on the fly

Sorry to be annoying, but would Blade Runner be possible on ScummVM? I know the characters are in 3D, but they are voxelated (is that even a real word?).