SCUMM/Game Enhancements

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Revision as of 11:06, 16 October 2022 by Dwatteau (talk | contribs) (Add some proposals of mine regarding the enhancement types)
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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 Type Description
1.3.0 - All Bugfix 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 Bugfix 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 Bugfix [Blocker] 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 Audio 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 Bugfix [Blocker] 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 [Content restoration?] Make it possible to click on the sentence line to execute a command, like the manual says.
2.7.0 2.7.0 V1 Cosmetic Fix a typo ("tring" where it should be "trying") in Syd's biography in the English version. This typo does not appear in later - or earlier - versions.

Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders

Added Optional Version Type Description
0.10.0 - All Bugfix [Blocker/Usability?] 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 Cosmetic 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 Type Description
0.6.0 - FM Towns Bugfix [Blocker/Usability?] Make the biplane controls usable again in the FM Towns version. This enhancement is always enabled, since this part of the game is almost unplayable, otherwise.
1.4.0 - All Bugfix Properly allocate IQ points for some puzzles where some original versions would get some conditions wrong.
1.8.0 - FM Towns Audio 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 Cosmetic 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 Cosmetic 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 Cosmetic 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 Cosmetic 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 Cosmetic 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 Cosmetic Clear some verb leftovers at the bottom of the screen in the same zeppelin cutscene.
2.6.0 2.6.0 All Cosmetic Restore the missing first frame of animation when Indy makes a wise or poor choice for the Grail.
2.7.0 2.7.0 VGA, FM Towns Cosmetic Fix an original small glitch around the tapestry that's inside one of the first rooms of Castle Brunwald. An unusual vertical line was drawn in the middle of the room.

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 Type Description
0.5.0 2.7.0 All except VGA talkie [Content restoration] Restore a missing line from the shepherds when trying to use the stealth draft on them.
0.6.0 - VGA talkie Cosmetic [Audio?] Fix a script error causing the lens workers' conversation to become very out of sync.
0.8.0 2.6.0 VGA talkie Cosmetic Chaos no longer introduces herself as "Choas".
2.5.0 2.6.0 Macintosh Cosmetic 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 Bugfix 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 [Continuity error] 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 Cosmetic 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 Cosmetic 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 Cosmetic 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 Bugfix 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 Cosmetic 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.
2.7.0 2.7.0 EGA, Macintosh, Amiga, Atari ST Cosmetic Prevent Bobbin from walking through one of the staircases inside the dragon's cave, when he has entered the room from the other stairs in the ground. This issue was present in the earliest 16-color releases, but appears to have been fixed in the official v1.2 and later versions.

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 Type Description
0.6.0 - Sega Cosmetic [Usability?] The original Sega CD release enabled so-called Shadow mode in its palette for all scenes, making the whole game extremely dark. ScummVM just ignores this, using a brightness setting that's similar to the other releases.
0.6.0 2.7.0 FM Towns Cosmetic Render the verb font with the same "3D" effect as the other releases. The original FM Towns interpreter had a bug which disabled that effect and made the font much thinner than intended.
2.5.0 2.6.0 Enhanced Cosmetic [Content restoration] 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 floppies. For whatever reason, the CD version only kept the latter behavior.
2.5.0 2.6.0 Enhanced Content restoration 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 Content restoration 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 Cosmetic Fix incorrect "à" character in the font that's used on the copy protection screen of the French floppy versions.
2.6.0 2.6.0 Enhanced Cosmetic [Audio?] Don't stop the background sound when showing the close-up of captain Smirk. This imitates the behavior of the Special Edition.
2.7.0 2.7.0 All Cosmetic [Continuity error] Don't show the Jolly Roger during the Sea Monkey cutscenes, once Guybrush has picked it up from the crow's nest. (This continuity error was only fixed in some versions of the VGA floppy release.)
2.7.0 2.7.0 Enhanced Cosmetic [Continuity error] Use the same subtitle color for all the lines said by the ghost priest when Guybrush enters the church in the last part of the game.
2.7.0 2.7.0 Enhanced Cosmetic Restore the intended color for the subtitles of the head of the navigator. It's supposed to be brown, as in all other editions, but the palette wasn't adjusted in this release.
2.7.0 2.7.0 Enhanced (DOS and Macintosh) Cosmetic Fix the green, yellow and gray colors at Stan's Previously Owned Vessels. The most obvious example was the "striking yellow color" of the flower from the forest being suddenly greenish in this scene.
2.7.0 2.7.0 Enhanced (DOS and Macintosh) Cosmetic Use approximately the same colors for the "important notice" about the sleeping dogs as in earlier versions. The new colors were hard to read, and probably not changed intentionally. (The sign is still using the some palette indexes as before, but the palette itself is different.) The SEGA version does not have this problem to begin with, and the FM Towns version solves the readability problem by adding an outline to the font.
2.7.0 2.7.0 Enhanced Cosmetic In Mêlée Island, make sure that the storekeeper closes the door before walking away from it, when Guybrush rings the bell.

Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge

Added Optional Version Type 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 Audio 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 Content restoration 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 [Audio?] 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 [Content restoration] 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 Cosmetic 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 Cosmetic 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 [Content restoration] 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.
2.7.0 2.7.0 All Cosmetic Fix a small glitch with the door in Largo's room, if one closes it just before using the voodoo doll on Largo.

Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis

Added Optional Version Type Description
0.7.0 2.7.0 All Cosmetic Fix the wall sprite being drawn over Indy when he stands at a specific place at the center of Atlantis.
0.9.0 2.7.0 All Cosmetic [Content restoration] When Indy finds orichalcum under some bones in Crete and he has already put some beads in the gold box, make sure that his first comment is not quickly interrupted by the second one.
0.10.0 2.7.0 Talkie Bugfix Fix Ubermann strangely counting "pregod8" and "pregod9" beads instead of "18" and "19", in some releases and languages.
2.1.0 - Talkie Bugfix [Audio?] 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 Cosmetic [Continuity error] 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 Cosmetic When Kerner uses the phone booth in New York, one of his printed lines may be quite different from what he's actually saying, in most of the English talkie releases. The fixed text is taken from the Macintosh 1994 talkie release.
2.7.0 2.7.0 Talkie Audio Fix Sophia speaking with Indy's voice when looking at him.

Day of the Tentacle

Added Optional Version Type Description
1.0.0 2.6.0 Talkie Audio 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 Cosmetic 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 Content restoration Restore a missing line from Dr. Fred when he receives a new diamond but Hoagie and/or Laverne haven't powered their units yet.
2.7.0 2.7.0 All Cosmetic [Continuity error] Make George Washington wear his chattering teeth in the cutscene where he comes back after Hoagie picks up the gold-plated quill pen, since he's always wearing them at this point of the game.

Sam & Max Hit the Road

Added Optional Version Type Description
0.3.0 - All Cosmetic 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 Cosmetic 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 Cosmetic The "Loading Sounds...Please Wait" screen when starting the game is skipped.
0.7.0 - All Cosmetic [Audio?] 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 Cosmetic 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 Cosmetic [Content restoration?] 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 Cosmetic [Audio?] 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 Cosmetic 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 Cosmetic Fix two lines said by Sam but being misattributed to Max, while both characters wear the bigfoot costume and talk to Evelyn Morrison. (It appears that the English release was the only one not having this bug.)
2.7.0 2.7.0 All Cosmetic [Content restoration?] Fix Max's comment being cut way too early, if one tries buying the pecan-flavored candies at Snuckey's while having no money.

Full Throttle

Added Optional Version Type Description
2.6.0 - All Audio 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 Type Description
0.11.0 2.7.0 All Content restoration Restore some missing subtitles in some conversations between Low and Brink.
1.5.0 - All Audio Fix the sound of trickling water in the spider lair not being properly stopped.
2.5.0 2.7.0 All Content restoration Restore a missing subtitle when Low finds the purpose of the crypt inside the tomb.

The Curse of Monkey Island

Added Optional Version Type Description
0.9.0 - All Bugfix [Blocker] 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 Audio [Content restoration?] 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 Audio Fix the music indefinitely playing if the ESC key is pressed early, when Guybrush gets on the Sea Cucumber for the first time.