Sierra Hi-Res adventures - availability on modern media

[almeath]

On the subject of support for Sierra/Online Systems Hi-Res adventures, does anyone know if it is possible to purchase legitimate/legal copies of the Apple II versions of Ulysses and the Golden Fleece and Cranston Manor on modern media? ... i.e. without having to locate very rare and expensive original Apple II diskette versions and figuring out how to use ADTPro to transfer the data.

I already own the ones that are credited to Roberta Williams which are available with the Kings Quest Collection (2nd release) and the Roberta Williams Anthology. Were the Apple II versions of Ulysses and Cranston Manor ever re-released in such a way?

[almeath]

Well I suppose that is a no.

They are definitely very old games but I was hoping to complete my Sierra collection, as they are the two that I cannot locate.

Trying to find functioning and uncorrupted 37 year old media is a challenge!

[Fred_PJ]

That is a very good question and I'm not surprised that no one has a positive answer to it because there isn't any.

This is an excellent example of why I respectfully disagree with the ScummVM developers decision to support only those very specific file formats, which is almost like only supporting their own personal copy.

Look, I understand the ScummVM developers point of view, that they're trying to avoid feeding piracy, and I'm the kind of person who buys old games/software from time to time (both physical and digital on GOG) and who is all about supporting the game's developers or current rightful copyright holders.
But when we're talking about two games that the developers/copyright holders haven't had any interest in selling since the original release at all, and the only available copies that you can get are second hand for hundreds of dollars on Ebay, of which zero goes to the copyright holders, you have to stop for a minute and question if it's really that unreasonable to support more file formats. Besides, it's not like you would be distributing those games, only supporting more file formats.
Not to mention the 50/50 chance of getting read errors with those ageing Apple II floppies after you buy them for those usual ridiculously high prices on Ebay (seriously, look it up). Or even if you already own the games the difficulty in figuring out how to transfer and convert the data to those very specific formats read by ScummVM.
I hope that someday the ScummVM developers will change their mind about this case and widen the supported file formats for these two games.

[sev]

This is an excellent example of why I respectfully disagree with the ScummVM developers decision to support only those very specific file formats, which is almost like only supporting their own personal copy.

We do not have that policy. We purchased the games, I dumped them with Kryoflux, and Walter implemented support of that format. This is the way we normally develop: e.g. from the original media.

Your patches with support of other disk file formats are welcome. Also, please note that we do not want to support the cracked pirated versions floating on the internets, so please, do not submit md5s for those.

Also, I would need information on how to dump to those formats or convert the current dumps we have.


Eugene

[almeath]

Perhaps GOG might consider releasing all the Hi-Res titles in a compilation package (once ScummVM supports them all).

These are certainly a niche market, but an important part of computer gaming history.

[puttesnutte]

The copyright owners (Activision?) probably doesn't even have copies of these games.

[dreammaster]

The copyright owners (Activision?) probably doesn't even have copies of these games.

Well, as long as they have the blessing and appropriate contracts from the rights holders, they can always source copies from the user base, maybe even ScummVM devs . I don't have specific references, but I'm pretty sure I recall a changelog for one of the games once mentioning that a user had provided one of the foreign language versions they added as a download option.

[waltervn]

Were the Apple II versions of Ulysses and Cranston Manor ever re-released in such a way?

No, at least not as far I know.

Perhaps GOG might consider releasing all the Hi-Res titles in a compilation package (once ScummVM supports them all).

We do support them all now, at least the Apple II versions. If we all vote for these games on the GOG community wishlist, maybe they'll start selling them one day. You can vote here: https://www.gog.com/wishlist/games/sier ... enture_set

By the way, I think the Dark Crystal game might be fully owned by the Jim Henson Company and this is the reason why it's missing from the King's Quest Collection. This might complicate things a little.

It's also interesting that Henson actually created a web-based remake of the game a few years ago: http://www.darkcrystal.com/play/index.php. So it seems they have not forgotten about this game. It might be a good idea to contact them some day to see what the situation is there and if they do in fact own the Apple II game. Perhaps they would be willing to make the Apple II version available in some form as well.

[almeath]

It's also interesting that Henson actually created a web-based remake of the game a few years ago: http://www.darkcrystal.com/play/index.php. So it seems they have not forgotten about this game. It might be a good idea to contact them some day to see what the situation is there and if they do in fact own the Apple II game. Perhaps they would be willing to make the Apple II version available in some form as well.

That is a very cool remake.. love the background music. Too bad they won't release it as a downloadable game. I would gladly pay for a copy.

[OmerMor]

The music is beautiful! It's the "Love Theme" track from the movie's soundtrack. You can listen to it here: https://youtu.be/nZnDcjHEwHg

You can also get it from the site itself: http://www.darkcrystal.com/play/theme.mp3