Torbjörn Andersson Posted February 12 Share Posted February 12 (edited) 4 hours ago, Scummbuddy said: You're all trying to get me to unseal my Loom box aren't you. Perish the thought! (Though owning Loom and not being able to play it sounds pretty awful to me. 😁) A fellow ScummVM developer has promised to check for me once he gets his. I'm still hoping the first guy was mistaken. Though the version I'm really hoping they included is the 16 color Macintosh one. I'm not saying it's the best one, but there's been quite a bit of progress on it (and, more noticeably, the Mac version of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade) in ScummVM lately, and it would be nice if more people were table to test. Or even help fixing the known bugs. (Hey, I can dream!) Edited February 12 by Torbjörn Andersson The pictures were too close to each other Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scummbuddy Posted February 12 Share Posted February 12 Okay, I have opened my box and retrieved the USB Drive and the game-disc CD. Both media have seemingly the same "Loom.exe" file of 273 MB, which does an auto-install of seemingly just one Loom game folder. I see: Loom --Loom ----901.LFL ----902.LFL ----903.LFL ----904.LFL ----CDDA.SOU ----DISK01.LEC --Loom.exe --testapp.exe (which so far seems to just run Loom) --unins000.dat --unins000.exe And after having the game open, I couldn't not recall what button combination may tell what version the game/scumm may be. It also wasn't in the manual. And finally, my google-fu has failed me. I cannot see how to find the version number (unless perhaps I download DREAMM?) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndywinXp Posted February 12 Share Posted February 12 Oh. It's the Steam version 😕 oh well 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Udvarnoky Posted February 12 Author Share Posted February 12 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laserschwert Posted February 12 Share Posted February 12 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torbjörn Andersson Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 Well, that's really disappointing then. If I had bought it, it would have been solely on the promise of the EGA version. It's nice that they did include the audio drama of course, but that should really have been in the GOG/Steam versions as well because it's mentioned in the manual. Out of curiosity, what did they mean by "original soundtrack"? I assumed it was either the audio tracks from the FM Towns or TurboGrafx-16 versions (I think the only difference is that FM Towns has two versions of each track?), or the music from the audio drama. (I bought a copy of the Seiji Ozawa recording of the Swan Lake ballet. I hear that's what they used for tempo reference for Loom, so to me that is the original soundtrack.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lagomorph01 Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 18 hours ago, Scummbuddy said: I wrote a whole bunch below but then found this direct link, which I suggest you use now and get a quick update. LRG and Purple Dot - Update/Shipping Lookup If you don't get the shipping info that you expect, I'd say reach out with the link I wrote further down. ------ I suggest you reach out to the "Purple Dot" group, as mentioned on their new shipping initiative FAQ. LimitedRunGames and Purple Dot shipping From the FAQ: "You are even free to reach out to them directly for an independent update on your pre-order." --- Good luck!! Thanks for the information! I've send them a message about my pre-order. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Udvarnoky Posted February 13 Author Share Posted February 13 Mojo opines on the scandal with typical nuance and level-headedness. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amyristom Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 Hi there, as one of the guys who actually bought the LimitedRun Loom release, I would like to tell you exactly what is in this package and what not: - USB Stick: There's a "loom.exe" and a ReadMe file on it. The "loom.exe" will install the VGA CD-talkie version of Loom like it is available on Steam or GOG. And only this version. No EGA, FM Towns, AMIGA, Mac, whatever different version on there. - CD-ROM Disc: Exactly the same content as the USB stick. No EGA, FM Towns, AMIGA, Mac, whatever version on it. Only the known CD-talkie release. - Soundtrack Audio-CD: The known soundtrack (probably performed by an Roland MT-32 soundcard) and an alternate version of the soundtrack (sounds like being performed on a lower quality MIDI wavetable soundcard, the quality is also less good than the MT-32 soundtrack). Last song is a short version of the Indiana Jones theme (yes, for whatever reasons). On the jewel case, there is a data track mentioned but there is none on the CD (maybe the label package was simply copied from the original LucasArts CD release where track 1 was the data track. - Audio-drama Audio-CD: On track 1 there is the japanese version of the audio drama, on track2 the English original version. On the following tracks there is the soundtrack of the audio-drama with no speech. There are no other language versions of the audio drama (no German version for example, which does exist). - The original manual - The original Book of Patterns on a more sturdy paper than the original release. - The original red copy protection "glass" (which is btw never needed because this Loom release does not have the old copy protection) - Loom logo patch - A two sided poster So all in all this release is not worth mentioned to be a "collector's edition". It is missing a lot and is looks a bit like being "copied together what is available on the Internet already". It only has the (worse) Steam/GOG VGA talkie release and misses the sough-after original EGA release (not to mention the rare VGA FM-towns floppy version or the releases for other platforms), and it misses all versions of the audio drama. All in all it's not a release worth buying if you still have the original package from 1990. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torbjörn Andersson Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 7 hours ago, amyristom said: - Soundtrack Audio-CD: The known soundtrack (probably performed by an Roland MT-32 soundcard) and an alternate version of the soundtrack (sounds like being performed on a lower quality MIDI wavetable soundcard, the quality is also less good than the MT-32 soundtrack). Last song is a short version of the Indiana Jones theme (yes, for whatever reasons). On the jewel case, there is a data track mentioned but there is none on the CD (maybe the label package was simply copied from the original LucasArts CD release where track 1 was the data track. - Audio-drama Audio-CD: On track 1 there is the japanese version of the audio drama, on track2 the English original version. On the following tracks there is the soundtrack of the audio-drama with no speech. There are no other language versions of the audio drama (no German version for example, which does exist). Sounds like they got all of this from the FM Towns version. It came on two CDs: One with the game and one with the audio drama. The audio drama disc has six tracks: The audio drama in Japanese and English, and four tracks with music from it. Other than the Japanese drama, the contents is the same as my English audio drama CD, though they seem to have cranked up the volume a little on the FM Towns disc. The game disc has one data track (with the English and Japanese versions of the game), and eighteen audio tracks. The first eight are the melodies from the Swan Lake ballet (the overture isn't used in the game though, as far as I remember?). Then another eight with a different version of the same eight. As you say, they don't sound as good. The way the game uses them seems to be that it first plays one, and then loops the other one. Unlike the EGA version, the music rarely stops. The last two tracks are the Indiana Jones theme and the Zak McKracken theme. They are used for an "upcoming attractions" non-interactive demo included on the disc. (The TurboGrafx-16 version also used audio tracks for the music, but only has one version of each melody.) So I guess the only thing they didn't include from the FM Towns version was the actual game, and the Zak McKracken theme? 🤦♂️ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amyristom Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 "Sounds like they got all of this from the FM Towns version. ... So I guess the only thing they didn't include from the FM Towns version was the actual game, and the Zak McKracken theme? " Exactly what you've said. They've split the content of the FM Towns game CD (dropped the FM Towns game itself and moved the audio tracks to a separate audio CD) and deleted the Zak McKracken theme audio track. And they included the Japanese version of the audio drama audio CD (Japanese version with the English version and the mentioned soundtrack audio tracks of the audio drama), and missed all the other international versions of the audio drama. So all in all the collectors edition is an incomplete mash up of the Japanese FM towns release without the FM towns game version itself mashed together with the current Steam/GOG release of the game itself. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leukippe Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 I've been compelled to register here to corroborate everything said above; I received my copy of Loom today, and am astonished at the lack of coherence or care in terms of its digital content, particularly after the promises that it would (at the very least) include the EGA release of the game. Shipping with nothing but the VGA version, not to mention the weird half-arsed soundtrack situation, is utterly shameful for the cost, and given the lack of availability of the non-VGA release and accoutrements generally is what made this release so theoretically worthwhile. It really does show up Limited Run Games as a company that cares about packaging up nostalgia for profit, rather than actually caring about what they release. Like the anti-Digital Eclipse. To say I'm disappointed is an understatement. 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laserschwert Posted February 16 Share Posted February 16 (edited) So, here are my restorations I've originally made for the inclusion in the LOOM LRG release: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1lW-KGbfLVHoctL9LS_Tvr6PGvryTEqKv?usp=sharing Granted, it was never guaranteed that these could be included, and I worked on these purely out of passion for it, thinking that IF these could be included, they should at least have the highest possible quality (that I could achieve). I've worked on these over the course of a few weeks, finishing up a few remaining ones in the last couple of days, and I'm pretty sure these represent the best preservations of these documents available. These are sourced mostly from brand-new 600dpi scans provided by several collectors (which I will credit once I've figured out who wants to get a mention and who prefers to stay anonymous), with meticulous manual clean-up done to remove dirt and damage, straightening the scans, while re-coloring some of the documents (like the color-coded hint books) and re-building some of the others (especially the Book of Patterns). The Books of Patterns (in German, French, Spanish, Hebrew and Japanese) are, for the most part, provided as 600dpi black & white version, suitable for printing, and 300dpi versions that included the original paper color/texture. The hint books (in English, Spanish and Japanese, at 600dpi) are available as both decoded versions (with the red overlay removed) as well as the original red-coded versions (except for the French hint book, which came as a simple B&W print out without any color-coding). The manuals (in English, German, French, Spanish, Hebrew and Japanese) are provided as 600dpi black & white PDFs, with some of them including the game's reference cards (sometimes for multiple systems). And yeah, that's it. Aside from the different game versions and the audio drama in all four languages, these were the files I was hoping could be included on the LRG release's USB drive. Sadly, it didn't turn out that way. Edited February 17 by Laserschwert 5 3 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torbjörn Andersson Posted February 16 Share Posted February 16 6 hours ago, Laserschwert said: And yeah, that's it. Aside from the different game versions and the audio drama in all four languages, these were the files I was hoping could be included on the LRG release's USB drive. Sadly, it didn't turn out that way. Now I'm more worried than ever that they're going to enshrine that horribly cracked version of Maniac Mansion that's sold on GOG and Steam as a "Collector's Edition". The one where you can guess your way past every keypad puzzle, because they will accept any code as long as it's either correct or the last digit is wrong. It's easy enough to fix, and in fact ScummVM 2.5.0 will repair the crack automatically. (I believe the next version of DREAMM will do so as well.) But GOG includes an older version of ScummVM, so that's only somewhat helpful... (Hey, Lucasfilm! You wouldn't steal a car, would you?!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndywinXp Posted February 16 Share Posted February 16 19 hours ago, Laserschwert said: So, here are my restorations I've originally made for the inclusion in the LOOM LRG release: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1lW-KGbfLVHoctL9LS_Tvr6PGvryTEqKv?usp=sharing Granted, it was never guaranteed that these could be included, and I worked on these purely out of passion for it, thinking that IF these could be included, they should at least have the highest possible quality (that I could achieve). I've worked on these over the course of a few weeks, finishing up a few remaining ones in the last couple of days, and I'm pretty sure these represent the best preservations of these documents available. These are sourced mostly from brand-new 600dpi scans provided by several collectors (which I will credit once I've figured out who wants to get a mention and who prefers to stay anonymous), with meticulous manual clean-up done to remove dirt and damage, straightening the scans, while re-coloring some of the documents (like the color-coded hint books) and re-building some of the others (especially the Book of Patterns). The Books of Patterns (in English, German, French, Spanish, Hebrew and Japanese) are, for the most part, provided as 600dpi black & white version, suitable for printing, with 300dpi versions that included the original paper color/texture. The hint books (in English, Spanish and Japanese, at 600dpi) are available as both decoded versions (with the red overlay removed) as well as the original red-coded versions (except for the French hint book, which came as a simple B&W print out without any color-coding). The manuals (in English, German, French, Spanish, Hebrew and Japanese) are provided as 600dpi black & white PDFs, with some of them including the game's reference cards (sometimes for multiple systems). And yeah, that's it. Aside from the different game versions and the audio drama in all four languages, these were the files I was hoping could be included on the LRG release's USB drive. Sadly, it didn't turn out that way. This is an incredible preservation effort, kudos! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Veda Posted February 16 Share Posted February 16 22 hours ago, Laserschwert said: So, here are my restorations I've originally made for the inclusion in the LOOM LRG release: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1lW-KGbfLVHoctL9LS_Tvr6PGvryTEqKv?usp=sharing Granted, it was never guaranteed that these could be included, and I worked on these purely out of passion for it, thinking that IF these could be included, they should at least have the highest possible quality (that I could achieve). I've worked on these over the course of a few weeks, finishing up a few remaining ones in the last couple of days, and I'm pretty sure these represent the best preservations of these documents available. These are sourced mostly from brand-new 600dpi scans provided by several collectors (which I will credit once I've figured out who wants to get a mention and who prefers to stay anonymous), with meticulous manual clean-up done to remove dirt and damage, straightening the scans, while re-coloring some of the documents (like the color-coded hint books) and re-building some of the others (especially the Book of Patterns). The Books of Patterns (in English, German, French, Spanish, Hebrew and Japanese) are, for the most part, provided as 600dpi black & white version, suitable for printing, with 300dpi versions that included the original paper color/texture. The hint books (in English, Spanish and Japanese, at 600dpi) are available as both decoded versions (with the red overlay removed) as well as the original red-coded versions (except for the French hint book, which came as a simple B&W print out without any color-coding). The manuals (in English, German, French, Spanish, Hebrew and Japanese) are provided as 600dpi black & white PDFs, with some of them including the game's reference cards (sometimes for multiple systems). And yeah, that's it. Aside from the different game versions and the audio drama in all four languages, these were the files I was hoping could be included on the LRG release's USB drive. Sadly, it didn't turn out that way. Fantastic work! One question though: maybe I'm missing something but I don't seen the Book of Patterns in English... Also, one of the German Book of Patterns seems to have the English cover... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laserschwert Posted February 16 Share Posted February 16 You're right, I didn't include the English Book of Patterns since it was already planned to be included in the LRG release in printed form. I guess it would make sense for me to add it eventually. And yes, the German BoP did in fact ship with an English cover. I've translated it to German for the black-and-white version of the book, since I made those covers myself anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torbjörn Andersson Posted February 17 Share Posted February 17 On 2/16/2024 at 1:10 AM, Laserschwert said: So, here are my restorations I've originally made for the inclusion in the LOOM LRG release: Some time ago, I was creating replacement copy protection tables for some LucasArts games. Some because I couldn't be bothered to fetch the manual every time I needed them, some because the second-hand copies I bought of the games didn't include the manuals at all. These cleaned up scans would have been really useful then! 😁 Though since I took the somewhat unorthodox path of using HTML and hand-crafted SVG images (something I had never done before), and then ran them through a PDF printer, I'm pretty happy with how they turned out. If anyone else finds them useful, they and the source code I used is on GitHub: https://github.com/eriktorbjorn/lucasarts-protection-sheets/ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laserschwert Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 Here's a suggestion regarding the (missing) contents of the USB drive: contact LRG support about that. Can't say more than that, I guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torbjörn Andersson Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 (edited) 3 hours ago, Laserschwert said: Here's a suggestion regarding the (missing) contents of the USB drive: contact LRG support about that. Can't say more than that, I guess. If I had bought it, I would have been right there with a receipt in one hand and a burning pitchfork in the other. Edited March 3 by Torbjörn Andersson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amyristom Posted March 5 Share Posted March 5 On 3/3/2024 at 4:40 PM, Laserschwert said: Here's a suggestion regarding the (missing) contents of the USB drive: contact LRG support about that. Can't say more than that, I guess. And then what? LRG never publicly mentioned that there will be the EGA version (or any additional content besides the VGA release) on the USB stick. They only mentioned tha there will be "the game content" on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commander Grog Posted March 5 Share Posted March 5 Hi, everyone! Have been reading here for quite a while. Just registered to say: "but they did". It's a shame the USB-stick doesn't contain what was promised. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laserschwert Posted March 5 Share Posted March 5 Just contact damn support! Do I need to get any clearer than that? *wink wink* 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commander Grog Posted March 5 Share Posted March 5 And I already did and am waiting for a reply. But thank you for the nudge either way. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndywinXp Posted March 6 Share Posted March 6 nullJust so you folks know... 😛 I'm already filing an additional support request, other than the one for LOOM which I already filed. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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