Has anyone played "LucasMania"? The Loom thing

FamousAdventurer77 · Mon 04/12/2006 05:32:42

LucasMania was really awesome and I greatly enjoyed it.

Only dead end I found in the game was

Spoiler

Make sure you talk to Sophia in Zak's bedroom to get the orichalcum pearl before you use the ZakModule on her, or else you'll be stuck there.

[close]

The game was originally in French and translated to English but the commands are pretty explanatory though a couple lines here and there slipped-- French is my second language so I understood it all but even if you don't speak/read it you'll still be able to play all the way through it-- and might learn a few words too.

But thing I'm really wondering though, in the Loom scenes the backgrounds were all VGA and gorgeously rendered. Was a VGA version of Loom ever put out? If so...where can I find it??!??!

Because all the other backgrounds and characters (the Loom characters were in original EGA too) were directly ripped from the LucasArts originals, and said so in the credits-- didn't say thatany VGA re-rendering was done. So does anyone know if a VGA version of Loom was released and/or available for download somewhere? Cuz if so, I really really really want it.

Gilbert · Mon 04/12/2006 06:26:43

Yes, the VGA PC-CD version of Loom (which IMO was not as good as the original version) had 256 coloured backgrounds, don't know whether that game you mentioned used ripped backgrounds from the CD version though (I hadn't even heard of that game).

Rui 'Trovatore' Pires · Mon 04/12/2006 10:25:11

Ayuh, probably uses from that version - it's only to be wondered why the author didn't decide to use the VGA version of Zak too, but that's up to him.

I'm curious, Gilbot - why did you feel the VGA version wasn't as good? There were little enough differences - the VGA version had speech and a bit more character talking animations and did away with the close-ups that sometimes appeared in dialog (fair enough, I missed that too, but felt the speech and "new" animations kinda made up for it).

Gilbert · Mon 04/12/2006 11:25:02

I had written something about it in the old forum (the post might be gone by now), mostly personal, so some people may like it more (personally I like the PCE super CD version most, and in fact I had seen the original floppy version in action but never played it

).
Roughly speaking:
1. It used CDDA for audio, which provided clear and superb audio quality (in fact I liked the actings also). BUT:
(a) It used CDDA ONLY, that means, it didn't need a sound card to run (really, when I bought that I didn't have a sound card yet), in fact it didn't support ANY sound output device (not even PC speaker). The problem was, it had to load CDDA for each spell tone, for every "sound effect" (well there weren't many anyway), etc.
(b) Since CDDA wasted so much space, even with a game as short and as few dialogs as Loom, all the spaces were used up readily by those cutscene dialog sequences, there there're practically NO ingame BGM in this version except those playing in background in dialog cutscenes (unless you count the ending score and the music continuing to play for 1 loop after the introduction sequence). The Super CD version, on the other hand, didn't have speech, but contained fully orchestrated classic musical tracks as BGM (using the sound test function turned the game into a great classical cd).
(c) I think the creator later found out the enormous length of the recordings mid in dubbing progress, so, especially in later part of the game there're noticiably skipped and modified dialogues when compared with the original. Worst of all, in order to save space, you'll hear the speeches were all rushed to finished, people talked so fast that it's like something pointing a gun at them, and the characters moved fast like fast-forward action (funny...), some of the scenes were even cut short. If you never played the original version, it's quite hard to understand anything with this CD version.
(d) Because of the "no sound output" restriction everything were prerecorded in one session without any flexibility, one unfortunate victum was the destroy spell (forgotten the exact name), which was randomly generated in the original, was a fixed melody in the CD version, since it's played in the cutscene where the "priest" (forgotten the name also) was killed by Chaos.

Another instance was when Cob was killed by looking at Bobbin the "bonus" animation was forced to play in every difficult settings (probably due to synchronization with audio).
(e) Since memory wasn't utilized well (I think even with 640kb main memory they could do better), many of teh stuff were to be loaded on location, the most affected parts were cutscenes, where there're lots of noticiable cut-off of sound in the middle when say the background was changed. (this happened to the Super CD version also though)
2. The graphics, especially the 256-coloured backgrounds were superb, BUT:
(a) Like most Lucasfilm games that had both 16 and 256 colour versions, not all graphics were redrawn, more specifically, some of teh sprites weren't (mostly less frequently used ones like corpses, and ALL the action protraits on the lower left of the screen). I don't mind this though.
(b) They probably didn't want to do much work to convert everything, teh result was 90% of character portraits were gone (as you mentioned also). I had another theory though, that they removed the close-ups to reduce cut-offd in audio (see 1e above) in a cutscene. No matter what this is SAD.
(c) Though there're added scene with some "new animations", but in my opinion their qualities varied, some were okay, some were just horrible, they all had an Amiga graphics feel to it which was not a bad thing (it's DP afterall), but animated midgets just didn't make up for that.

I think there're more but that's all I can remember at the moment.

Don't get me wrong, I love the VGA version of Loom, just felt it's not as good as the original version, it's still an enjoyable game. I had played it for at least 30+ times (at least 50+ times for the Super CD version).

(anyway look what you'd done? We now turned this thread offtopic!)

Rui 'Trovatore' Pires · Mon 04/12/2006 11:34:51

Wow. I stand enlightened.

I do remember the lack of BGM music, come to think of it. I thought it was a problem with my copy, though.

Radiant · Mon 04/12/2006 12:30:51

Quote from: Rui "Trovatore" Pires on Mon 04/12/2006 10:25:11
Ayuh, probably uses from that version - it's only to be wondered why the author didn't decide to use the VGA version of Zak too, but that's up to him.

There is a VGA version of Zak?

I've played the hi-res version but have never heard of a VGA version.

jetxl · Mon 04/12/2006 13:31:55

The Zak vga version? Present!

Rui 'Trovatore' Pires · Mon 04/12/2006 14:52:55

Well, I think this is the VGA version... specifically it says "FM-TOWNS" version, but I have no idea what that is.

Gilbert · Mon 04/12/2006 15:51:17

FM Towns was a Fijitsu computer, its graphics was not really VGA though.

Rui 'Trovatore' Pires · Mon 04/12/2006 15:52:25

Oh. Allright. Still looks damn pretty, though, and it comes with good music and sound effects.

Babar · Mon 04/12/2006 16:33:02

Can someone show me some backgrounds of the close-ups that were missed? Because I seem to remember close up conversations very clearly, although I have the VGA version. I also seem to remember the destroy spell being different each time I played. It was irreversible, but random. I could be wrong, as last time I played was a while back, but that is why I ask for someone to show me some BGs. Although I remember the corpses being a funky blue/green/white colour, I thought it was part of the style. However, I'm very sure that the lower right(?) corner action portraits were in 256 colour.

Not trying to confront, just curious.

FamousAdventurer77 · Mon 04/12/2006 21:08:55

The Zak game: It's not the official VGA version per se (not sanctioned by LucasArts), but it was put out by the wonderful folks at LucasFan as "The New Adventures of Zak McCracken" and done beautifully. (Same way Tierra Entertainment made the KQ remakes.) I think it can still be found on a couple different sites today.

I couldn't rip any screenshots from the LucasMania game but I had been wondering where those great VGA shots came from, they looked so close to the originals that I figured it was an either an expert rendering job, or done by LucasArts as it was.

So AHA, there IS indeed a VGA version. I must find it! Anyone know where I can download it, or should I start scouring the bottom of ebay?

I'm just surprised I missed it, being that I've been on the adventure game scene for 15 years and barely ever missed a thing.

Rui 'Trovatore' Pires · Mon 04/12/2006 22:57:43

"The New Adventures of Zak McKracken" isn't a remake, like MMDeluxe. It's a fan sequel. It's a very, very, very different game set it the Zak universe with the Zak characters and the Zak spirit using some more traditional "go-fetch-me-this-and-I'll-give-you-that" adventure game gameplay.

Download it? Well, you can scour the abandonware sites for the original version and get the aforementioned patch from Underdogs, but, as everyone on these forums will tell you - eBay is always the first -and often best- resort.

Gilbert · Tue 05/12/2006 02:02:58

Quote from: Babar on Mon 04/12/2006 16:33:02
Can someone show me some backgrounds of the close-ups that were missed? Because I seem to remember close up conversations very clearly, although I have the VGA version.

Practical everything, as far as I remember the ones left were the Bobbin close-up when he woke up in the introductory sequence, possibly a close-up of Chaos nearly the end (probably the dragon also, I couldn't remember well).

QuoteI also seem to remember the destroy spell being different each time I played. It was irreversible, but random.

No, because everything in the whole cutscene sound was recorded in a cdda, that included the spell tune, unless there's an alternate version that I didn't know of.

QuoteI could be wrong, as last time I played was a while back, but that is why I ask for someone to show me some BGs.

There're screenshots in Moby games for both versions for you to compare with.

QuoteAlthough I remember the corpses being a funky blue/green/white colour, I thought it was part of the style. However, I'm very sure that the lower right(?) corner action portraits were in 256 colour.

Well they're obviously just too lazy to redraw everything. About the action portraits, maybe I was wrong, since it's been a long time, but I'm sure they're not 100% converted, see this screenshot which was originally from SCUMMVM homepage.

I'd heard there's also a FM-Towns version, never seen it in action. Maybe you ahd played that?