Tomas Posted April 7, 2010 Share Posted April 7, 2010 So, I have gotten my hands on a preview version of the new Monkey Island 2 special edition. Oh wait, no I haven't. Around seven or so years ago I stumbled upon an obscure version of Monkey Island 2 made for the Russian home computer Elektronika BK-0011(M). I got the thing running on some emulator and intended to do some research on it but I never did. I came to think of it the other day and thought that there might be some interest in it and as far as I know it has not been mentioned around here before. I hope no one objects to me posting a link to the game, which you can get right here. It is possible to run the game with the help of the emulator Emulator 3000 which, among other systems, emulates the BK-0011(M). It is in English so getting the thing running should be no match. Obviously this is not an official port of the game but rather some sort of fan made thing. But a rather ambitious one at that. Potentially, it was made by some company and perhaps even sold. My Russian is a bit rusty so I don't know for sure. There appears to be some sort of copyright claim dated to the year 1995, so I assume that is when the game was made. The BK-0011(M) seems to be a rather limited home computer but the game is actually pretty impressive considering these limitations and it seems to be a rather ambitious remake. I don't know much about the actual limitations of the BK-0011(M) (as I said, I never came around to doing any research on this and I still haven't, I'm posting this hoping one of you will. ) but the game runs in 4 colors. These appear to be changeable but for the most part they are the classic CGA palette 1 colors (black, cyan, magenta, white). Here are some screenshots of it: Click! As you can see, it does not have any verbs like we're used to. Instead, you interact with objects and characters simply by clicking on them. There are no options for how to interact with them. The text below the action screen is the inventory list. I have also uploaded a video to YouTube showcasing the gameplay in case you're too lazy to actually run it. Note that while this video does not have sound, the emulator does emulate sound. (This BBCode requires its accompanying plugin to work properly.) The file structure seems to be similiar to that of the original SCUMM interpreter. There are 45 room files (or 44 depending on if 00.lfm is a index file as in SCUMM, or the first room) which hints that not all of the original game has been remade as Monkey Island 2 has more than 100 rooms. In addition, the rooms are not scrollable. The Woodtick town overview for example, is three screens wide and I would suspect that these three screens are in turn represented by three "rooms" so it would take up three room files. This is just speculation though, as I have not done any examination of the actual data files (yet). Mostly, because I have not yet found a convenient way of extracting the data files from the image file. The game does have some sound and music. The very first music cue (while the monkeys are dancing during the intro) has been remade to some sort of recognizable version but after that most of the scenes either have no music at all or some generic music. I have not played through the entire game so this just applies to the first few scenes but since there are only 11 sound files I guess there isn't too much audio going on. It would be interesting to know how this thing was done. Perhaps this is some sort of stripped-down version of SCUMM created by reverse-engineering the original game? Here is a list of the game data files. As I said, I still have not found a way to extract them to separate files from the image file. Maybe some kind RUssian-speaking person can help out in hunting down some tools for doing that. Most of the related sites (and the tools themselves) are in Russian. File Name Adress Size MONKEY\ monkey exe 744 72700 00 lfm 36000 16276 01 lfm 36000 20552 02 lfm 36000 31570 03 lfm 36000 22524 04 lfm 36000 23030 05 lfm 36000 52434 06 lfm 36000 21572 07 lfm 36000 31374 08 lfm 36000 21744 09 lfm 36000 43440 10 lfm 36000 35426 11 lfm 36000 22604 12 lfm 36000 26434 13 lfm 36000 30266 14 lfm 36000 33274 15 lfm 36000 22236 16 lfm 36000 26524 17 lfm 36000 25620 18 lfm 36000 31514 19 lfm 36000 13650 20 lfm 36000 40106 21 lfm 36000 20160 22 lfm 36000 14776 23 lfm 36000 26062 24 lfm 36000 43112 25 lfm 36000 7244 26 lfm 36000 46220 27 lfm 36000 32376 28 lfm 36000 47450 29 lfm 36000 52334 30 lfm 36000 20666 31 lfm 36000 21230 32 lfm 36000 54254 33 lfm 36000 33210 34 lfm 36000 37362 35 lfm 36000 25330 36 lfm 36000 50464 37 lfm 36000 34614 38 lfm 36000 27424 39 lfm 36000 33052 40 lfm 36000 24320 41 lfm 36000 36510 42 lfm 36000 21750 43 lfm 36000 46410 44 lfm 36000 24714 00 ovl 1000 135412 01 ovl 1000 1442 02 ovl 1000 752 1 sgm 5052 5006 2 sgm 5052 5006 3 sgm 5052 5006 4 sgm 5052 5006 00 snd 20000 5472 01 snd 20000 4604 02 snd 20000 4452 03 snd 20000 4770 04 snd 20000 5712 05 snd 20000 3376 06 snd 20000 5022 07 snd 20000 3706 08 snd 20000 4350 09 snd 20000 5336 10 snd 20000 4574 Are there any Russians around here that have heard of this version before? Maybe someone who knows the language can translate some of the text from the credits screens I posted above. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elTee Posted April 7, 2010 Share Posted April 7, 2010 Great find, this is really interesting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benny Posted April 7, 2010 Share Posted April 7, 2010 Fascinating stuff! I look forward to a Russian-speaker giving more info on this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aububuh Posted April 7, 2010 Share Posted April 7, 2010 Guybrush looks good in pink. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomas Posted April 7, 2010 Author Share Posted April 7, 2010 If someone wants to try it out it might be worth mentioning that F2 works kind of like Esc normally does in SCUMM games. And I just figured out that the four sgm-files are probably savegames. These can be accessed by pressing F1, in case you want to check out some locations other than Scabb Island without actually playing the game. F9 appears to be the key to save a game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elTee Posted April 7, 2010 Share Posted April 7, 2010 Actually, I think there's a Russian artist at the company I work for - I'll find out tomorrow and see if she can help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheHutt Posted April 7, 2010 Share Posted April 7, 2010 Are there any Russians around here that have heard of this version before? Maybe someone who knows the language can translate some of the text from the credits screens I posted above. In fact, I used to program on BK-0010 (though it did not have CGA graphics or that nifty Norton Commander thingie - it was just black and white, and the games were loaded from tape). Maybe BK-0011 was better. Here is a translation of the texts: (Loading screen) SAMARA (First text screen) The town of Samara presents a game from Rostov-on-Don MONKEY ISLAND Authors: MBS & IMS Adaptation for CSIDOS: DepSoft Protection removal: DepSoft Start Music: DepSoft Start Animation: DepSoft (Second screen) Based on the Game "Monkey Island2" Copyright © 1991 by LucasArts Copyright © 1995 by IMS & MBS (First Title) Mikhail Borisenko (scrolling) MONKEY (Selection screen points) Exit - Information - Game (Information screen) instructions for playing (key mappings etc.) (Monkey Island 2 Intro). Guybrush: Hey you! Shoo! (Titles) Conception: M. Borisenko Design: D. Tyuryev Programming: M. Borisenko, D. Tyuryev Story Programming: M. Borisenko Graphics Output: D. Tyuryev Graphics Adaptation: D. Tyuryev Graphics Translation: M. Borisenko Written by: M. Borisenko Music Editing: A. Melnikov Music Arranged by: M. Borisenko (Game starts) An Island in the Caribbean Guybrush: ...And my boat was washed ashore. That's how I came to this island. Now I am going to find a treasure. Right pirate: Ha-ha-ha! Left pirate: Ha-ha-ha! Right pirate: What are you saying! There is no treasure on Shoe Island. Largo: Stop! Who are you? Guybrush: I am Jim Greenwood, a pirate! And who are you? Largo: I am Largo, and I am the ruler of this island! And now give me all your money! Guybrush: Why that? Largo: Well, I don't like your face, sucker! (Verbs) - Come again? - Move along, buddy. - You are a rude one, shorty! (Selected) Guybrush: You are a rude one, shorty! Largo: They don't argue with me around here. How is this, boy? Guybrush: Help! Police! Largo: Ha-ha-ha! There is no police on this island! I am here the police, the court and the law! (Verbs) - Let me go! It hurts! - Please! My new jacket! - Please put me down! (selected) Guybrush: Please put me down! Largo: Okay, this time I'll just take your money. And remember: Nobody comes to and nobody leaves from this island without my permit! Guybrush: Phew! Wow. How good I have a secret pocket. But this rascal took 1000 pieces of gold from me! (Inventory) money - sign Guybrush: I think I can take the shovel. (Inventory) money - shovel (going to carpenter) (to carpenter) Guybrush: Excuse me... Carpenter: Hm-hm! Yes? (Verbs) - I am Jim Greenwood, a pirate. And you? - How are you? - What a job you have! - You look tired. I'll come back later. (selected) Guybrush: You look tired. I'll come back later. Carpetner: I never get tired. (exiting, going to bartender) (going into kitchen) (selecting "sharp kitchen knife") Guybrush: The knife will come in handy. (exiting kitchen) (exiting bar, selecting Wally's place) Wally: Hi! (exiting) (exiting Wally's) (exiting Woodtick) (exiting bridge) Map of Scabb Island. Title: "Shoe Island". (selecting "Swamp") Sign: "House of Mojo" (selecting "coffin on water") (Voodoo Lady's house) (highlighting "potion") Guybrush: Before taking it, ask yourself: do you really need it? (highlighting "Sorcery books") Guybrush: I won't take them. They are too heavy and too dusty. (going to Voodoo Lady) Voodoo Lady: Come in, my child. I know who you are and why you have come! Guybrush: I don't really know myself why I have come... Voodoo Lady: I do though! Guybrush: I don't. End of film Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elTee Posted April 7, 2010 Share Posted April 7, 2010 Incredible work! This is quite wonderful, I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomas Posted April 8, 2010 Author Share Posted April 8, 2010 Thanks for the translation, TheHutt! Really interesting! I used the F2 key to skip parts of the intro so that's not the complete one in the clip, just to clarify that. So it seems that the thing was created mainly by two people; Dmitry Tjurev and Michael Borisenko. Dmitry seems to also have written a BK-0010 emulator as well as a version of the game Reversi (AKA Othello) called Reversy, both for MS-DOS and written in Assembly language. It would be interesting to know if this thing is at all based on SCUMM or if they just ripped the graphics and created the thing from scratch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheHutt Posted April 8, 2010 Share Posted April 8, 2010 The programmers Tyuryev and Borisenko from Rostov-na-Donu created HC-DOS, an operating system for BK-0011M. This version of Monkey Island was supplied with this OS, according to Wikipedia. Also, Borisenko is the creator of the first Russian MMORPG, "Sfera" (Sphere). BTW, the download link you specified doesn't seem to work anymore - could you share the archive someplace else? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomas Posted April 8, 2010 Author Share Posted April 8, 2010 Oh, forgot to check the link, here is a working one: ftp://ftp.komkon.org/pub/EMUL8/BK0010/Disks/MonkeyIsland.zip. I also fixed the link in the original post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MusicallyInspired Posted April 8, 2010 Share Posted April 8, 2010 How fascinating! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phedon Posted December 2, 2010 Share Posted December 2, 2010 I'm just wondering how to load this ".img"-file into the emulator if always says:"Ôîðìàò ôàéëà íå îïðåäåëåí" what is "File format undefined" in english.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Borisenko Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 Are there any Russians around here that have heard of this version before? Maybe someone who knows the language can translate some of the text from the credits screens I posted above. Impressive, thank you. I knew there were a few BK0011M emulators around, but couldn't even imagine they're known outside Russia. I found this forum accidentally and this thread leaped out at me to my biggest surprise, so I decided to register and comment on your questions. Memory limitations on BK0011M were not severe for that time, you could access 128K of paged memory. But there were only 2 bits per pixel + palettes of 16 colours. CPU = 500Khz (0.5Mhz), archtecture pretty close to PDP11 processos (16bit). You could store data on tape or 5" drive, some people managed to use HDD. Virtual machine for this game was inspired by SCRUMM, but in fact we didn't reversed original MI2 to that extent, our VM was our own as well as the rest of the game engine. The graphix was obviously captured from PC using special screenshot taker... The storyline resembled original MI2, however it was shorter. I also made a couple other quests for BK0011M based on own original storylines, but MI2 was the last and best one. Despite 'Samara' caption, the game was made in Rostov-on-Don by myself and my friend Dmitry Tjurev (Tyuryev in alt trasliteration) and was running under our own OS. In Samara it was adapted to another OS (yes there were multiple OSes for BK0011, every single homebrew developer made their own OS) After this MI2 remake which was obviously not-for-profit, we started professional career in gamedev making PC quests and eventually MMORPG. I left Russia in 2006, Dmitry is still doing MMOs in Rostov. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melancholick Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 Just one question, Mr. Borisenko, if you would be so kind... ... why "Shoe Island?" That's one of the best bits of gold in this translation, but I am curious as to why it was a preferable choice to any of the Russian words for "wound," or the like. Though Google implies that the literal translation of "scab" is three words long, so that might just be a self-explanatory bit of curiosity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Borisenko Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 Hello, the story was based on the original MI2 but we didn't literally follow it translating it like a poem not prose to convey the spirit That's an interesting question though if it was possible to rewrite and run SCRUMM VM on that computer, more theoretical rather than practical because 'home comuter BK0011M' died in 1995, manufacturing was stopped and I think there are barely any fans with working stations left these days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThunderPeel2001 Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 Jim Greenwood? Hahaha! That's the stupidest name I ever heard! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThunderPeel2001 Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 What kind of crazy computer system can only handle four on screen colours, but has enough memory and CPU power for complex animations? Bizarre! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Borisenko Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 What kind of crazy computer system can only handle four on screen colours, but has enough memory and CPU power for complex animations? Bizarre! IBM PC XT with CGA? On that BK0011M system, btw, the screen resolution was 256x256. I'd say the system was somewhere between ZX Spectrum and PC XT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melancholick Posted February 16, 2011 Share Posted February 16, 2011 Hello, the story was based on the original MI2 but we didn't literally follow it translating it like a poem not prose to convey the spirit Ha! Fair deuce. Thank you, good sir. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobMegone Posted February 16, 2011 Share Posted February 16, 2011 That's an interesting question though if it was possible to rewrite and run SCRUMM VM on that computer Do you still have the source code? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Borisenko Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 unfortunately no, and my old computer vanished during my relocations... it was pure asm anyway, except for the script for VM. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobMegone Posted August 31, 2012 Share Posted August 31, 2012 So, this game popped into my head again today and I decided to take a look at extracting the contents from the image file. I've not really got any plans to dig any further but if anybody else does then I've chucked the extracted datafiles up here: http://gracesdisposal.bpweb.net/Games/MI2%20BK-0011.zip I'd love to see those backgrounds When extracting I discovered there were more files than those listed above(a few more exe's), my complete file list is as follows: 00.lfm 01.lfm 02.lfm 03.lfm 04.lfm 05.lfm 06.lfm 07.lfm 08.lfm 09.lfm 10.lfm 11.lfm 12.lfm 13.lfm 14.lfm 15.lfm 16.lfm 17.lfm 18.lfm 19.lfm 20.lfm 21.lfm 22.lfm 23.lfm 24.lfm 25.lfm 26.lfm 27.lfm 28.lfm 29.lfm 30.lfm 31.lfm 32.lfm 33.lfm 34.lfm 35.lfm 36.lfm 37.lfm 38.lfm 39.lfm 40.lfm 41.lfm 42.lfm 43.lfm 44.lfm 1.sgm 2.sgm 3.sgm 4.sgm 00.ovl 01.ovl 02.ovl 00.snd 01.snd 02.snd 03.snd 04.snd 05.snd 06.snd 07.snd 08.snd 09.snd 10.snd monkey.exe print.exe graber5.exe csiview.exe csiedit.exe CSIDOS3.EXE cds2.exe bu.exe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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