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SCUMM/Game Enhancements

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Revision as of 07:19, 30 July 2022 by Eriktorbjorn (talk | contribs) (I still wasn't happy with the MI2 Mac music description. Maybe this time.)

Introduction

ScummVM adds a number of little enhancements/workarounds to several SCUMM games, sometimes based on the behavior in other versions of the same game. Since some have expressed the desire to restore the original behavior, some games now have a Enable game-specific enhancements setting.

Note that disabling this option will still not necessarily make the game behave exactly like the original. Sometimes ScummVM's implementation of a feature always differed slightly from the original, sometimes workarounds are for game-breaking bugs, some workarounds are already optional, and some just aren't covered by the setting yet. That said, here is a list of the enhancements that it currently covers, indicating both when the enhancement was first added and when it was made optional.

Maniac Mansion

Added Optional Version Description
1.3.0 - All Fix a script oversight if the door bell rings while Ted captures the player entering his room, which would cause some strange, unexpected behavior.
2.0.0 - All Prevent Purple Tentacle from appearing again and staying in the lab, even though its has been chased out. This could be triggered when the player enters the lab within 45 minutes of first entering the mansion.
2.0.0 - All Force the power back on, if entering the lab while Dr. Fred has the power turned off to repair the Zom-B-Matic. Otherwise, the power could never return, bringing to an unintended dead-end.
2.6.0 2.6.0 NES Fix Wendy's music not being properly stopped. Her music could suddenly resume even though her CD player was turned off.
2.6.0 2.6.0 V1, V2 Fix a sudden and complete freeze of the cutscene where Purple Tentacle is bullying Sandy in the lab (French version only).
2.6.0 2.6.0 V1, V2 Make it possible to click on the sentence line to execute a command, like the manual says.

Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders

Added Optional Version Description
0.10.0 - All While going outside with an incomplete space suit on Mars, ignore a character turn animation which made it very difficult to quickly return to safety.
2.6.0 2.6.0 FM Towns Fix animation glitch that causes the bird in Lima to disappear once you're done using the blue crystal on it.

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

"Macintosh" refers to the old 16-color version. "VGA" also includes the later Macintosh port, but not the FM Towns version.

Added Optional Version Description
1.4.0 - All Properly allocate IQ points for some puzzles where some original versions would get some conditions wrong.
1.8.0 - FM Towns Add missing music in Venice. The original had no CD audio music for this scene, but it had a Euphony track which wasn't properly enabled.
2.5.0 2.6.0 Macintosh All text is drawn using the font's defined character spacing. The original would sometimes add an extra pixel.
2.5.0 2.6.0 Macintosh Palette effects are emulated in black-and-white mode, and not just in color mode. This is visible in several scenes, perhaps most noticeably the lightning around Castle Brunwald.
2.6.0 2.6.0 VGA Fix some unusual cyan and magenta horizontal lines when Indy meets Elsa in Berlin. (This was already fixed in the FM Towns version, and ScummVM uses a similar fix.)
2.6.0 2.6.0 FM Towns Fix the color of the Nazis' uniforms while exploring the corridors of Castle Brunwald. They're green in the rest of the game, but the FM Towns version still had the EGA grey palette override in this part of the game. (The VGA version fixed this.)
2.6.0 2.6.0 FM Towns Fix Indy's subtitle color when he talks to his father before escaping from the zeppelin with the biplane.
2.6.0 2.6.0 FM Towns Clear some verb leftovers at the bottom of the screen in the same zeppelin cutscene.
2.6.0 2.6.0 All Restore the missing first frame of animation when Indy makes a wise or poor choice for the Grail.

Loom

"Macintosh" refers to the old 16-color version. "VGA talkie" also includes the later Macintosh port, but not the FM Towns version.

Added Optional Version Description
0.5.0 2.6.0 All except VGA talkie Restore a missing line from the shepherds when trying to use the stealth draft on them. Optional, unless when interacting with the second shepherd which has a buggy status in some versions.
0.6.0 - VGA talkie Fix a script error causing the lens workers' conversation to become very out of sync.
0.8.0 2.6.0 VGA talkie Chaos no longer introduces herself as "Choas".
2.5.0 2.6.0 Macintosh Palette effects are emulated in black-and-white mode, and not just in color mode. This is visible in the scene where the dragon finds Rusty asleep.
2.6.0 2.6.0 EGA, Amiga, Atari ST Don't allow Bobbin to simply walk through the locked cell door when clicking just below it. This was fixed in later versions of the game, though not always in the same way. ScummVM imitates the behavior of the VGA talkie version.
2.6.0 2.6.0 EGA, Macintosh, Amiga, Atari ST If you use the Reflection draft on Rusty before examining him for the first time, show a close-up on him wearing Bobbin's cloak. This bug was fixed in later versions
2.6.0 2.6.0 All except VGA talkie Trying to leave the plateau before encountering Rusty's ghost no longer causes the ghost to teleport.
2.6.0 2.6.0 VGA talkie Fix the timing when Bishop Mandible uses the distaff so that it lights up four times, just like in other versions.
2.6.0 2.6.0 VGA talkie Correct the subtitle color (from white to green) on one line in the scene where you first overhear Bishop Mandible.
2.6.0 2.6.0 VGA talkie After you exit the caves you can go back by clicking on the cave opening, just like in the other versions. (It was still possible to go back, but you had to click on a thin sliver below the cave opening.)
2.6.0 2.6.0 All except VGA talkie The fire animation runs at the same speed throughout. Originally it sped up along with the rest of the game while the messenger nymph was flying. Strangely, this bug does not happen in the EGA demos, and in the VGA talkie the fire isn't animated at all.

The Secret of Monkey Island

"Enhanced" refers to the 256-color version with icons for inventory. Most obviously the VGA CD version, but sometimes also the Macintosh, SEGA and FM Towns versions.

Added Optional Version Description
2.5.0 2.6.0 Enhanced Add the animated cigar smoke present in earlier versions to the captain Smirk close-up. In the VGA floppy version (I don't have the EGA version) the smoke was apparently only shown when playing the game from hard disk, not when playing it from the floppes. For whatever reason, the CD version only kept the latter behavior.
2.5.0 2.6.0 Enhanced Only change the description of the Mêlée Island clock tower between visits to the room, like in earlier versions. Not every time the clock is examined.
2.5.0 2.6.0 Enhanced Restore a few lines of Lemonhead dialog to the scene where he examines the small idol. These lines were present in earlier versions. This affects the English, German, Italian, and Spanish versions. The game is also available in French, but no version has been located with the old lines intact.
2.6.0 2.6.0 EGA, VGA Fix incorrect character on the copy protection screen of the French floppy versions.
2.6.0 2.6.0 Enhanced Don't stop the background sound when showing the close-up of captain Smirk. This imitates the behavior of the Special Edition.

Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge

Added Optional Version Description
0.10.0 - All Disallow pulling the rope on Dinky Island, if it's already in the player's inventory. This is what some later versions of the game did to prevent some glitches and bugs with this object.
2.0.0 - All Fix several soundtracks playing at once if the player is moving faster than the scripts expect, in Scabb and Booty Island.
2.1.0 2.6.0 FM Towns Restore part of the Elaine map piece puzzle that was skipped in this version, and this version alone.
2.5.0 2.6.0 Macintosh When there is no Mac-specific music (most notably towards the end of the game), play the Roland MT-32 music instead. The Macintosh instruments are a sufficient subset for this to work well. (2.5.0 is where this behavior was formalized. It worked before that, but only with certain audio drivers.)
2.5.0 2.6.0 All Guybrush will speak when getting the map from Rapp Scallion. The game always printed the text, but since there is no delay between the messages you would only see the last one. The setting introduces a delay between them.
2.6.0 2.6.0 Amiga Fix Guybrush being drawn with the wrong colors when using the stick on the dog outside the Governor's mansion.
2.6.0 2.6.0 All Fix Captain Dread's head animation when Guybrush tries giving him an object and then immediately talks to him.
2.7.0 2.7.0 All Restore a missing reaction from Captain Dread when Guybrush has the four map pieces: Dread is actually meant to bring Guybrush back to Scabb Island, but an original script oversight prevented this from happening. This content restoration was already part of the Ultimate Talkie Edition, but ScummVM also fixes a dead-end in Regular Mode if you haven't picked up the model lighthouse lens before this.

Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis

Added Optional Version Description
0.7.0 - All Fix the wall sprite being drawn over Indy when he stands at a specific place at the center of Atlantis.
2.1.0 - Talkie Fix a distorted speech sample when Indy gets caught in the submarine. This enhancement is always enabled, since the original produces some aggressive noise. (The FM Towns and some Macintosh talkie releases work around this by reusing a different line, instead.).
2.5.0 2.6.0 All When skipping the intro, the window in Indy's office will be broken and Mr. Smith's coat will be on the desk, as if you had watched the whole thing.
2.6.0 2.6.0 Talkie When Kerner uses the phone booth in New York, one of his printed lines may be quite different from what he's saying. The Macintosh 1994 talkie release fixed this, so this fix is reused when applicable. English version only.

Day of the Tentacle

Added Optional Version Description
1.0.0 2.6.0 Talkie Fix occasional bug where Bernard would use Laverne's voice when interacting with the chewing gum on the floor.
2.6.0 2.6.0 All Fix some small graphical glitches with Bernard's Chron-O-John during the intro. The lid was slightly misaligned, and sometimes drawn mirrored.
2.6.0 2.6.0 All Restore a missing line from Dr. Fred when he receives a new diamond but Hoagie and/or Laverne haven't powered their units yet.

Sam & Max Hit the Road

Added Optional Version Description
0.3.0 - All In the original, the "film noir" mode sometimes still draw things in color. ScummVM implements this differently, keeping everything always in black and white.
0.5.0 2.6.0 All Adjust the position of the green goop inside the tank in the Hall of Oddities. It was off by one pixel, allowing a few pixels of objects behind to be seen without having their color changed.
0.7.0 2.6.0 All The "Loading Sounds...Please Wait" screen when starting the game is skipped.
0.7.0 - All At Dino Bungee National Memorial, pushing the button while the Wally and Rex dinosaurs were speaking restarted their speech instead of stopping it.
0.8.0 - All Fix an original animation glitch when Max grabs the fishing line at World of Fish, when both subtitles and voice are enabled.
2.6.0 - All Restore the missing animation where Bumpus threatens Sam with his taser near the end of the game, in the German releases.
2.6.0 2.6.0 All Fix some intro animation speed issues in the German and Italian talkie versions, and adjust the timing of some intro subtitles to sync up better with the voices for all known versions.
2.6.0 2.6.0 All When Bruno leaves Bumpusville, make sure he is properly erased from the screen. In the original, his heel gets stuck in the door.
2.7.0 2.7.0 All Fix two lines said by Sam but being misattributed to Max, while both characters wear the bigfoot costume and talk to Evelyn Morrison. Only the English release appears to have fixed this.

Full Throttle

Added Optional Version Description
2.6.0 - All Fix the music temporarily stopping when going in and out of the bar a couple of times, at the beginning of the game. The 2017 remaster has a similar fix.

The Dig

Added Optional Version Description
0.11.0 - All Restore some missing subtitles in some conversations between Low and Brink.
1.5.0 - All Fix the sound of trickling water in the spider lair not being properly stopped.

The Curse of Monkey Island

Added Optional Version Description
0.9.0 - All Fix a brief game hang when you meet Murray for the first time at the beginning of the game. (This could even cause the game to completely lock up on some platforms.)
2.5.0 - All In the Plunder Town theater, fix the music not being changed as it should when moving from backstage to the stage, after greasing the cannonballs.
2.6.0 2.6.0 All Fix the music indefinitely playing if the ESC key is pressed early, when Guybrush gets on the Sea Cucumber for the first time.