Journey Now Into an Age of Chivalry in an Alternate Reality

[dreammaster]

A stalwart party exploring the unknown, seeking the fabled Inner Sanctum. But all is not what it seems in the world of Varn…

The ScummVM Team is pleased to announce full support for the PC version of the first game of the Might and Magic series: Might and Magic Book One: The Secret of the Inner Sanctum. Two modes are supported:

* The original look and feel of the game (sound, which in the original consisted of merely the occasional beep, is not supported)
* A ScummVM-exclusive enhanced mode, which uses the interface of the later Xeen games, including niceties such as better character screens, automapping, and sound effects. It also integrates the impressive Might and Magic 1 Graphics Overhaul Mod, which provides better in-game map and monster graphics. The `xeen.cc` file is required from *Might and Magic: IV* or *Might and Magic: World of Xeen*.

Both modes allow saving your game anywhere outside of combat via the ScummVM Global Main Menu (unlike the original game that only saved a single roster when checking into an inn). So make sure you save regularly, just in case you encounter problems.

Help us test both game modes by grabbing a [daily build](/downloads/#daily) and adding mm.dat to the same folder as your game files. Read through our testing guidelines, and please take some screenshots along the way.

Now, go forth, and discover the true secrets of the game that started the long running epic fantasy series!

[Uka]

Thanks for the news!

The original game (I have it from GOG) adds and launches fine, but there is no sound nor music...

And I do not understand how to add the "Enhanced" version? When I copy the mod (downloaded from the link in the news) to the original game - it is not recognized by ScummVM:

The game in 'EN_MOD\' seems to be an unknown game variant.
Please report the following data to the ScummVM team at https://bugs.scummvm.org/ along with the name of the game you tried to add and its version, language, etc.:
Matched game IDs for the mm engine: mm1_enh
{"wallpix.dta", 0, "64af4dad1f86aedf307e8184a9f12ba9", 164220},

The news also says that xeen.cc is needed, but when I add it to the MM1+MOD folder, ScummVM recognizes and launches "Might and Magic IV: Clouds of Xeen", not "Might and Magic Book One"!

[dreammaster]

Thanks for the news!

The original game (I have it from GOG) adds and launches fine, but there is no sound nor music...

That's unfortunately the one limitation of the original mode.. it doesn't implement sound. Support is based on a disassembly of the original, and it's sound code was hard for me to understand. Plus since the original had so little sound anyway, I left it as a "nice to have" for anyone interested in the future to try experimenting with the ScummVM sound code to try and replicate the beeps.

And I do not understand how to add the "Enhanced" version? When I copy the mod (downloaded from the link in the news) to the original game - it is not recognized by ScummVM:

The mm.dat file isn't a mod, it's needed engine data for the engine to run at all. So that you've been able to run even the original mode means you copied it correctly. When you first detect on the folder with Might and Magic 1 in it, you should be prompted for whether to add a detection for M&M1 or M&M1 Enhanced, whether or not you've copied xeen.cc. Then when you run the enhanced mode detection entry, it will prompt you if you haven't copied xeen.cc into the game folder.

[Uka]

The mm.dat file isn't a mod, it's needed engine data for the engine to run at all. So that you've been able to run even the original mode means you copied it correctly. When you first detect on the folder with Might and Magic 1 in it, you should be prompted for whether to add a detection for M&M1 or M&M1 Enhanced, whether or not you've copied xeen.cc. Then when you run the enhanced mode detection entry, it will prompt you if you haven't copied xeen.cc into the game folder.

Why mm.dat? I mean the mod from this link: https://www.dungeoncrawlers.org/post/mi ... rhaul-mod/
I have the GOG version of the game - I copy that mod files (and mm.dat) there and then try add it to ScummVM, but it says that it is some unknown version!

[dreammaster]

Why mm.dat? I mean the mod from this link: https://www.dungeoncrawlers.org/post/mi ... rhaul-mod/
I have the GOG version of the game - I copy that mod files (and mm.dat) there and then try add it to ScummVM, but it says that it is some unknown version!

Ah. I think I understand what's happening now. You don't need to copy the Graphics Overhaul mod over. That's already contained in the mm.dat and automatically enabled as part of enhanced mode. Game detection is based on the presence of the original game's wallpix.dta. Since you replaced them, ScummVM can't properly detect the game anymore.

Hmm.. whilst it would be a good idea to add detection for when the overhaul pack is present, the trouble is that unlike the original game, all the game logic is within ScummVM. Only the graphics files are needed. If we allowed directly running using the graphics pack, that would obviate the need for the game files in the first place, and allow playing the game within owning it. As such, we'll have to have a policy that whilst we do make use of the overhaul pack automatically for enhanced mode, we won't support playing it directly if users manually copy it.

[Uka]

Ah. I think I understand what's happening now. You don't need to copy the Graphics Overhaul mod over. That's already contained in the mm.dat and automatically enabled as part of enhanced mode.

Ah, OK. I did not understand that

However, now I have another problem: ScummVM does not want to run any version It just goes into black screen and then exits.

The LOG does not say anything useful... And Windows shows AppHangB1 in scummvm.exe.
All other games work fine in ScummVM.

[dreammaster]

Two options:
1) Try moving any mm1 related save files out of your ScummVM savegame folder. I've had reports from Reddit of users that had a crash when loading an old roster. Maybe your problem is related. I plan to do some experimentation this weekend. If it does indeed fix the problem, I'd be interested if you could create a bug report on the bug tracker and attach the save files to it for further investigation.

or

2) Maybe try uninstalling, making sure the directory is gone, and then reinstalling Might and Magic 1 again. Then download mm.dat from the linked page from the announcement (make sure you didn't just save link - you have to go the linked page and choose to download mm.dat), and copying in the xeen.cc file again. See if it makes any difference

[Uka]

1) Try moving any mm1 related save files out of your ScummVM savegame folder.

Indeed! Cleaning ScummVM "SAVED GAMES" folder does the trick - the game could then be run again.
But just once - until more saved games are created by ScummVM...
I have no idea yet how to make a bug report Besides writing about it here.

the trouble is that unlike the original game, all the game logic is within ScummVM. Only the graphics files are needed.

I wonder if it is possible to add support for other languages considering all that?
There is a Russian fan-made translation - but it is unsurprisingly in English in ScummVM with only some Russian graphics then.

[dreammaster]

Indeed! Cleaning ScummVM "SAVED GAMES" folder does the trick - the game could then be run again.
But just once - until more saved games are created by ScummVM...
I have no idea yet how to make a bug report Besides writing about it here.

It's not that hard. Just register a free account on Github, then go to bugs.scummvm.org, and choose to create a ticket. You'll have options to upload files to the ticket as you create it.

I wonder if it is possible to add support for other languages considering all that?
There is a Russian fan-made translation - but it is unsurprisingly in English in ScummVM with only some Russian graphics then.

Theoretically yes. When I wrote the engine, I put all of the text strings it uses into file in the mm.dat called strings.en.yml. In theory someone could create a strings.ru.yml, and add some code to the engine to use it instead. Of course, there'd be numerous resulting formatting issues due to the differing lengths of strings. Not to mention issues with having a foreign character set. I'm not personally interested in trying to add such support (not to mention I don't know any foreign languages), but someone might want to try in the future.

[Uka]

It's not that hard. Just register a free account on Github, then go to bugs.scummvm.org, and choose to create a ticket. You'll have options to upload files to the ticket as you create it.

OK, I have tried to do that. Attached three examples of [broken] "Saved Games" as well.

Theoretically yes. When I wrote the engine, I put all of the text strings it uses into file in the mm.dat called strings.en.yml. In theory someone could create a strings.ru.yml, and add some code to the engine to use it instead. Of course, there'd be numerous resulting formatting issues due to the differing lengths of strings. Not to mention issues with having a foreign character set. I'm not personally interested in trying to add such support (not to mention I don't know any foreign languages), but someone might want to try in the future.

Sounds like not an easy task. I told the Russian translator team about that, in case anyone would be interested.

[dreammaster]

Thanks to the bug report, PushmePullyou beat me to figuring out the cause of the startup crash. I've merged in his PR, so the next daily build should no longer have the issue.

[Uka]

I am curious how the battles work in the ScummVM enhanced mode?
Currently trying to play - and it seems something is wrong.

Here is what I mean: when I encounter some enemies and engage in battle, I see there, say, 4 or 5 goblins or battle rats etc. During the first round one of the enemies die - that is not very difficult. But! After that no enemy is killed. I can make damage of 10+ HP per round to them, but nobody is even wounded.
Is it just me being unlucky or is it a bug? I tried it several times, and stayed until round 40 - no luck. And I do not remember such things from the original PC version - enemies are still strong there, but they are getting killed in 4 or 5 rounds usually.