Hi,
I've been using ScummVM for quite a while now to play a lot of the old Humongous Entertainment games on my PC, as I found it a lot better than playing them the original way. But after a short period, I began to notice a major problem on a couple of games. The first game I noticed the problem on was Pajama Sam 1. Now for those who have played this game many times, you probably know that Pajama Sam loses three items and each of those items can be in two different locations. The flashlight is either in the shack or the mines. The lunchbox is either underwater or by the well, and the mask is either on the carrot or underneath the dancing furniture. As I kept playing through this game, I noticed that the flashlight and the mask are ALWAYS in the same location every time. The flashlight is never in the mines and the mask is never underneath the dancing furniture. To make sure this wasn't just unlucky probabilities, I continuously restarted the game over and over again a large number of times and quickly hurried through to where the items were, just to ensure that the items were actually always in the same place. And they definitely are. This same problem also occurs in Putt-Putt Travels Through Time. Some of the items are always in the same place as well. This problem might also be present in a number of other HE titles, but I haven't really had a thorough check of any others. I am actually surprised that nobody else has noticed this, let alone it being fixed. Can anyone else confirm this problem? Thanks.
Problem with some Humongous Entertainment games
Moderator: ScummVM Team
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Static Juice
- Posts: 3
- Joined: Sun Jul 10, 2011 3:52 am
This isn't a bug, and occurs in the original games too.
The game scripts actually limit the item locations, until the game has been completed.
For Pajama Sam 1, the flashlight changes location after the game has been completed 1 time, and the mask changes location after the game has been completed 3 times.
The game scripts actually limit the item locations, until the game has been completed.
For Pajama Sam 1, the flashlight changes location after the game has been completed 1 time, and the mask changes location after the game has been completed 3 times.
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eriktorbjorn
- ScummVM Developer
- Posts: 3561
- Joined: Mon Oct 31, 2005 7:39 am
I'm not sure I understand the Pajama Sam 1 startup script correctly, but there appear to be eight different variations of the game: 3 items, each hidden in one of two location.
However, it doesn't just pick one variation at random. Even disregarding the ways to force a particular variation (perhaps for demo or debug purposes), it also looks at "LastGameWon" and "LastGame" in your ScummVM configuration file. The purpose seems to be to pick a variation that is not the same as the most recent you won, and to not pick any of the later variations until you've won at least one of the earlier ones.
The flashlight is "in dark" (I guess that's the mines) in variations 3, 4, 7 and 8. The mask is in the living room in variations 5. 6. 7 and 8. If I understand it correctly, these are all variations that will never be picked the first time you play the game.
Other games may behave differently. The other two Pajama Sam games allow me to select the variation myself, apparently.
However, it doesn't just pick one variation at random. Even disregarding the ways to force a particular variation (perhaps for demo or debug purposes), it also looks at "LastGameWon" and "LastGame" in your ScummVM configuration file. The purpose seems to be to pick a variation that is not the same as the most recent you won, and to not pick any of the later variations until you've won at least one of the earlier ones.
The flashlight is "in dark" (I guess that's the mines) in variations 3, 4, 7 and 8. The mask is in the living room in variations 5. 6. 7 and 8. If I understand it correctly, these are all variations that will never be picked the first time you play the game.
Other games may behave differently. The other two Pajama Sam games allow me to select the variation myself, apparently.
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Static Juice
- Posts: 3
- Joined: Sun Jul 10, 2011 3:52 am
