Loom

Loom
First release	1990
Also known as
Developed by	Lucasfilm Games
Published by	Lucasfilm Games, Disney
Distributed by	(unknown)
Platforms	Amiga, Amiga CDTV, Atari ST, DOS FM Towns, Macintosh, PC-Engine/Turbografx CD
Resolution	320x200, 16 colors (original) or 256 colors (later versions)
Engine	SCUMM
Support	Since ScummVM 0.2.0
Available for Purchase	Yes

Loom was the fourth game to use the SCUMM scripting language. The game follows Bobbin Threadbare as he learns how to use his magical powers through his distaff and as he eventually saves the world from the Lord of Chaos, who was unraveling the Loom (the source of power for the members of the weaver's guild).

Game Variants

The DOS CD version of this was a "talkie version" presented in 256 colors, however unlike most talkie games the speech came from CDDA tracks on the CD. Due to limitations in lip-syncing at the time, the DOS CD version did not include the scenes where the characters were presented in close-up shots. The FM Towns CD version was also presented in 256 colors, however it was not a talkie. As a result, the close-up shots were present in the FM Towns versions.

The DOS floppy EGA version contained only 16 colors.

Installation

Required data files

For more information on how ScummVM uses game data files, see the user documentation.

Amiga, Atari ST, FM Towns, PC EGA, PC Demo

• *.LFL

PC CD

• DISK01.LEC
• *.LFL
• Steam, Amazon, LimitedRunGames and GOG.com versions also have a CDDA.SOU file that is needed for speech.

If all you see a single Loom.exe file that's undetected by ScummVM, you may need to run InnoExtract on it in order the extract the required data files. This is required for the LimitedRunGames release, for instance.

Note 1: For the Steam version in particular:

• on Windows, you will need to point ScummVM to the game's installation folder (labeled 'LOOM') which contains a Loom.exe file and a subfolder (also labeled 'LOOM'). That subfolder contains the data files listed above for PC CD. However, if you point ScummVM directly to this subfolder, it will not detect the game successfully.
• on macOS, you will need to point ScummVM at the application bundle called 'LOOM' inside the games installation folder. Typically this will be something like /Users/username/Library/Application Support/Steam/steamapps/common/LOOM/LOOM.app. Notably you should NOT select the "Contents" subfolder, which will detect, but fail to run properly.

Note 2: If the audio is a bit off when using a ripped CD audio track, with speech being cut off at the beginning or end of lines, you probably have to cut or insert some silence at the beginning of it. Judging by the CDDA.SOU file shipped with the Steam and GOG versions, the first spoken line should start about 0.51 seconds into the track. As of ScummVM 2.6.0, there is a "Playback Adjust" slider in the game options that allows you to adjust this without editing the audio file. (-0.34 seconds is a good value for me, but your mileage may vary.)

Macintosh

• Loom™
• *.LFL

Note: The ™ can be omitted from the file name

TurboGrafx/PC Engine

• *.LFL
• pce.cdbios (Japanese version only)
• How to dump the CD

Audio tracks

For more information about how to use the FM Towns and PC CD audio tracks with ScummVM, see the user documentation.

As of ScummVM 2.6.0, it's also possible to replace the music in the floppy versions, using the same audio formats and naming conventions as for CD audio tracks. These can be taken from any recording of Tchaikovsky's ''Swan Lake'', though depending on which one you use you may have to do some editing to get to the relevant parts. George "The Fat Man" Sanger used the Seiji Ozawa recording, with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, as tempo reference, so that one will be used as one of the examples here along with its track names. Track times, where given, are approximations based on the Ozawa recording.

The floppy versions of Loom are the EGA DOS (including the demos), Macintosh 16 color, Amiga, and Atari ST versions. The instructions below only apply to them. The TurboGrafx/PC Engine and FM Towns versions already use audio tracks for their music, but replacing them may not work as well as you'd expect since at least the FM Towns version hard-codes the length of (and, in at least one case, position inside) the tracks. The VGA version has all its sound and music stuffed into one long audio track, and expects everything to be exactly where it is.

Audio tracks used by the Loom floppy versions

Track	Purpose	FM Towns	TurboGrafx PC Engine	Ozawa		Track Name	Comment
				Disc	Track
1	Overture	1 or 9	14	1	17	Act II: No. 10 Scène: Moderato	It's also possible to use Act II: No. 14 Scène: Moderato, since they're pretty much identical.
2	Intro	2 or 10	15	1	5	Act I: No. 4 Pas de trois, I Intrada: Allegro
3	Clerics	3 or 11	16	1	6	Act I: No. 4 Pas de trois, II Andante sostenuto
4	Blacksmiths	4 or 12	17	1	8	Act I: No. 4 Pas de trois, IV Moderato
5	Shepherds / Caves	5 or 13	18	1	14	Act I: No. 6 Pas d'action: Andantino quasi moderato - Allegro	0:00 - 2:25. This is the Andantino quasi moderato part.
6	Dragon (abduction)	5 or 13	18	1	14	Act I: No. 6 Pas d'action: Andantino quasi moderato - Allegro	2:25 - 2:50. This is the Allegro part. No. 7 Sujet, which is part of the same track, isn't used in the game at all.
7	Glassmakers	6 or 14	19	1	23	Act II: No. 13 Danse des cyganes, IV Allegro moderato
8	Weavers (Elders and End Credits)	7 or 15	20	2	20	Act IV: No. 26 Danse des petits cygnes: Moderato
9	Final Confrontation	8 or 16	21	2	22	Act IV: No. 28 Scène finale: Andante - Allegro agitato breve. Moderato e maestoso - Moderato	1:01 and onward. At least to 2:50 to match the floppy version (this is the Allegro agitato breve part), or all of the rest of the track to match FM Towns. The game is unlikely to play all of it either way.
10	Lightning Strikes	1 or 9	9	1	17	Act II: No. 10 Scène: Moderato	1:48 - 1:58, but that may be an awkward spot to end the track. With the Ozawa recording, the cutscene syncs up quite nicely if you include the rest of the track as well.
11	Tearing the Pattern	8 or 16	11	2	22	Act IV: No. 28 Scène finale: Andante - Allegro agitato breve. Moderato e maestoso - Moderato	2:42 - 2:50, which is the very end of the Allegro agitato breve part. If you want to include more music, remember that the track is used twice in the game.

If you want to be able to switch between original and recorded music, you can put the recorded music in a separate folder and set the game's Extra path to point to it. That way you can use the same game entry (and therefore the same savegames) for both, allowing you to compare them to make sure you got the correct music.

The Overture is only used by the EGA version, when using MIDI (preferably Roland MT-32) sound. It should be timed so that music reaches a crescendo as the screen changes to eventually show the Lucasfilm and Loom logotypes, and has been timed to work well with the Ozawa version, which is apparently a relatively fast one. If you're using a different recording, you can adjust the timing by using the slider in the Engine tab of the game's settings. This should hopefully cover any sensible version of the music.

Tracks 10 and 11 are short musical stings that can be a bit tricky to extract cleanly. If you don't want to go to the trouble, don't worry about it. The game will play the original music if an audio track is missing. Or you may want to include more music than the original did, as already suggested.

Default controls

To change these controls, use the Keymaps tab in the global or game-specific settings. For more information, see the user documentation

Hotkey	Description
Ctrl + 0-9	Loads saved game
Alt + 0-9	Saves game
Crtl + Alt + d	Starts the debugger
Crtl + f	Toggles fast mode on/off
Crtl + g	Toggles really REALLY fast mode on/off
Crtl + t	Switches between 'Speech only', 'Speech and Subtitles' and 'Subtitles only'
Tilde ~	Shows/hides the debugging console
[ and ]	Changes music volume down/up
- and +	Changes text speed slower/faster
F5	Displays the save/load window
Alt + F5	Displays the original save/load window, if the game has one.
Space	Pauses
Period .	Skips current line of text in some games
Enter	Simulates left mouse button click
Tab	Simulates right mouse button click

TurboGrafx/PC Engine non-bugs

While the support for this version isn't quite perfect, there are a number of things that may look like bugs but which actually aren't. The following have been verified by running the original game in an emulator. Most of them are music-related, and in those cases the names used to refer to them come from the printed manual and built-in Sound Test:

• The letters under the distaff are sometimes drawn with what looks like an incorrect font.
• Shepherds' Theme 2, which is used when the dragon carries you away, is identical to the Hetchel Vs Chaos Theme. Other versions play an up-tempo version of the Shepherds music instead.
• When exploring the dragon caves, the game will play the unused Overture music instead of Shepherds' Theme 1.
• The Blacksmiths' Theme begins playing while you're still on the plateau outside their guild.
• The game plays Cygna's Theme at and near the Shore of Wonder.
• The game plays Shepherds' Theme 1 and Glassmakers' Theme when you revisit their respective guilds near the end.

In general, the game is much more inclined to play music again after it ends or has been interrupted than the floppy versions are.

Resources

• Game-specific enhancements

External links

• Wikipedia article on Loom
• MobyGames entry for Loom
• Screenshots