neversummer Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 Is there any noticeable differences when playing a LucasArts Steam release vs. playing it on ScummVM ? Just wondering if there's any point in buying the digital downloads, (MI:SE excluded of course). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LordTrilobite Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 Even if the Steam versions are inferior, then it's legal to play copies on ScummVM. The Fate of Atlantis CD version I've been playing actually belongs to my brother, it's about time I got the game myself. And the prices are so low, you HAVE to buy them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DPB Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 Here's what I thought about FOA in an earlier post: "It uses MIDI. I don't have the original game but the Steam version sounds noticeably worse than the FOA demo playing in ScummVM with MIDI. The instruments sound like there isn't enough reverb, they're a bit flat, and I'm not using the default Microsoft Wavetable Synthesis either (I have a Yamaha XG Soft Synth). I don't know which rendition is more faithful to the original but I prefer ScummVM, it's a shame you can't run the Steam version in it." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zak McKracken Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 My main problem with Steam is you can't just download the game as a separate entity I don't mind using Steam as an emulator similar to ScummVM but it bothers me I can't just download the game and play it by itself. I don't believe it would be to hard for LucasArts to do either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DPB Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 On further testing FOA does sound the same in ScummVM and Steam just as long as you're using the default windows MIDI, which is pretty awful compared to the MT-32 soundtrack here. They'd have been better off going with Adlib emulation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
purple_tentacle_ Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 I like scummVM... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThunderPeel2001 Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 Steam is better than ScummVM, especially for Last Crusade and FOA, but probably for The Dig and Loom, too. Just go and look at all the missing features and bugs at ScummVM's SourceForce site... Sure the games are "90%" compatible with ScummVM, but with Steam it's 100%, the real deal. ScummVM's poor emulation of the Indy IQ points (present in both games) was enough to stop me playing through them again, for example, but I've also encountered all kinds of weird stuff trying to play Last Crusade. Yes, the dudes at ScummVM deserve medals their outstanding work, definitely, but it's nice being able to play the games again without any issues or missing features. So despite inferior sound quality, my vote is for Steam. (I really don't like the MT-32 sound track, either...) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
purple_tentacle_ Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 Steam is better than ScummVM, especially for Last Crusade and FOA, but probably for The Dig and Loom, too. Just go and look at all the missing features and bugs at ScummVM's SourceForce site... Sure the games are "90%" compatible with ScummVM, but with Steam it's 100%, the real deal. ScummVM's poor emulation of the Indy IQ points (present in both games) was enough to stop me playing through them again, for example, but I've also encountered all kinds of weird stuff trying to play Last Crusade. Yes, the dudes at ScummVM deserve medals their outstanding work, definitely, but it's nice being able to play the games again without any issues or missing features. So despite inferior sound quality, my vote is for Steam. (I really don't like the MT-32 sound track, either...) I dont know what steam is but I still like ScummVM the most. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DPB Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 Ah, I wasn't aware that there were significant bugs running FOA in ScummVM. I'll be sticking to the Steam version then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huz Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 For what it's worth, I played Fate of Atlantis through using ScummVM a couple of years ago and I don't remember any significant bugs. I didn't pay much attention to the IQ points part, though. Things must have got even better since then! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SyntheticGerbil Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 Some games have been less buggy than others. I played through a few or ran a few on ScummVM 2-3 years ago, but the only noticeable type of bugs I came across had to do with character scaling or Day of the Tentacle and Full Throttle had obnoxious pauses between characters talking. It could all be fixed by now, I have no idea. None of the compatibility ratings goes past 100% on the listed games that ScummVM supports. I think that's mostly just to cover their ass, whether the games are faitfully emulated or not. ScummVM has done wonders for the Goblins series, which were all difficult to run correctly in the first place back in the early 90s. They even fixed the release bug on Goblins 3 CD version were the game would continuously freeze every 10 seconds or so if you had the background CD audio on. DOSBox couldn't even fix that bug. Now 15 years later I can play Goblins 3 on CD correctly as I would have loved to play back then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LordTrilobite Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 I discovered a bug in Fate of Atlantis on ScummVM just today, in the Labyrinth, on fist path there's a place where Sophia doesn't want to come back in to the Labyrinth if you go back, then suddenly she teleported to me when I entered through a specific doorway. Rather odd. Curse of Monkey Island was seriously bugged on ScummVM, graphically. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SyntheticGerbil Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 Curse of Monkey Island was seriously bugged on ScummVM, graphically. Really? I played through that myself on ScummVM a few years back and I had no problems I can remember. It seemed to be the same game I played through on Windows 95 or 98 systems. I think they fixed that awful bug where you can turn your screen black in the carnival though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LordTrilobite Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 Yes, I have Windows XP, though the ScummVM version I used at the time was an older version, dunno which one. The sprites left trails a lot, aspecially the subtext. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThunderPeel2001 Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 I was going to say that Curse was one of the least buggy... Maybe you just had a old version of ScummVM? It's weird bugs, like the one you mention in FOA, that are probably so rare and minor that they obviously won't take priority... but I'd rather not have them (Assuming it was a bug in ScummVM and not the original game..! Never can tell when using ScummVM) Of course ScummVM is AWESOME, don't get me wrong. I'm just glad that we have the official versions, with all the menus and everything, running again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LordTrilobite Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 Mind you that that bug in FOA was the ONLY bug I found, and I played it three times on ScummVM so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirben Posted July 15, 2009 Share Posted July 15, 2009 It would really help if you could report any issues you find in ScummVM (recent version), on the bug tracker so they could be fixed in the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neversummer Posted July 15, 2009 Author Share Posted July 15, 2009 Do the Steam versions offer different pixel filters and resolutions? Can someone post a screen shot of one of the games running on a 1920X1200 monitor, (I'd imagine it looks best running in windowed mode)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DPB Posted July 15, 2009 Share Posted July 15, 2009 They run at 640x480 and use the exact same filter as AdvMAME2x, but you can switch it off if you wish by pressing alt+s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThunderPeel2001 Posted July 15, 2009 Share Posted July 15, 2009 It would really help if you could report any issues you find in ScummVM (recent version), on the bug tracker so they could be fixed in the future. Done it many times. Usually they're so obscure that nobody can be bothered to track down exactly what caused them (including me). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MusicallyInspired Posted July 15, 2009 Share Posted July 15, 2009 I've not run into any problems or bugs in any Scumm games (including CMI, which my wife and I are playing through right now on the Wii). They might as well be 100% compatible from what I can see. I also don't care about the IQ points, though. But everything else is absolutely perfect. So does Steam FOA use a General MIDI soundtrack then? Is there any way to make it play with the MT-32 instrument mapping? I'm wondering if it'd be possible to hook my MT-32 up and have it work with the Steam version. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DPB Posted July 15, 2009 Share Posted July 15, 2009 By the sounds of it, unfortunately not: "Indy4 plays the music through Windows MIDI mapper, probably the MT-32 soundtrack remapped to General MIDI which sounds odd on my real MT-32 but fine on GM compliant devices." http://www.vogons.zetafleet.com/viewtopic.php?t=22176 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MusicallyInspired Posted July 15, 2009 Share Posted July 15, 2009 Well that sucks. I guess I shouldn't have expected otherwise, but the MT-32 will always be the definitive choice for music on these older games for me because that's what they were composed for. Ah well, I've still got my trusty 486 DX2 66 (as well as ScummVM)! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DPB Posted July 15, 2009 Share Posted July 15, 2009 I wish they'd done what they did with the XP-compatible re-release of Sam & Max - recorded the music from a real MIDI module (in that case a SC-55), in this case an MT-32. Windows MIDI is dreadful, and it doesn't sound much better with a Yamaha XG. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
s-island Posted July 15, 2009 Share Posted July 15, 2009 Both FOA and SnM used iMUSE. Making the soundtrack use digital recordings would take a lot of work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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