Kyrandia as a software versions (best one?)- Call for expert

[tumbleweed]

Hi dudes,

first of all thank you for your great effort! ScummVM is now nearly perfect for me, just expecting forthcoming new SCI and M4.

But I am writing my first post (thats why I had to do a workaround and post the following links to other forum posts as topic ids) because I am wondering how many versions did you detect about Kyrandia.

My version is PC CD 1.1, but I read somewhere that several versions exist of this source, like Floppy 1.8
(topic 366), or CD talkie 3.7 (topic 9099 on vogons.zetafleet)

Somebody suggested it on Savegames_(Kyrandia_1) page of the Wiki

But he is mapping 3.7 version to Talkie, and my talkie version is 1.1¿?

So primarly, how many Cd versions are there in english? (I've seen detect.h in git only shows a single md5 for ENG). Shouldn't be CD version superior (newer= >1.8 at least) to any floppy version?


And second, does anybody know the relevant differences? I've read that there was some old versions which included light swearing and adult comments (topic 5414).

I'm trying to identify best version of this game (talkie). If somebody can shed some light I would be grateful


Thanks!

P.S: By the way, does somebody know whether official patch from 1.1 to 1.3 is needed by Scummvm for the CD taklie version? What did it fix?

[LordHoto]

But he is mapping 3.7 version to Talkie, and my talkie version is 1.1¿?

Where did you get that from? And what release is that? My talkie version is 3.7 too.

So primarly, how many Cd versions are there in english? (I've seen detect.h in git only shows a single md5 for ENG). Shouldn't be CD version superior (newer= >1.8 at least) to any floppy version?

I think comparing the floppy versions numbers to the CD version numbers is pretty pointless.

Aside I think the only thing which might make the CD version superior to the floppy one is the voice overs. Personally I prefer to play Kyrandia 1 without voice overs though.

And second, does anybody know the relevant differences? I've read that there was some old versions which included light swearing and adult comments (topic 5414).

The adult language is the only known difference to me. Then again I couldn't even remember that there's CD versions with it. I thought it was only in very old floppy versions.

I'm trying to identify best version of this game (talkie). If somebody can shed some light I would be grateful

If there's a CD version with adult content, that is probably the biggest difference between all those. I think if you look for a talke version any (DOS) CD Talkie release should do.

Aside from that, the "best" version usually does not exist. Most people like the version "best" the played back in the days. ;-).

P.S: By the way, does somebody know whether official patch from 1.1 to 1.3 is needed by Scummvm for the CD taklie version? What did it fix?

The patch from the Westwood FTP should only affect the (English) floppy version. So you won't need it for a CD version.

[tumbleweed]

I think comparing the floppy versions numbers to the CD version numbers is pretty pointless. Aside I think the only thing which might make the CD version superior to the floppy one is the voice overs. Personally I prefer to play Kyrandia 1 without voice overs though.

Now that has a lot of sense, sorry. I'm agree with the second part, but I like practicing english that's why I am trying to mount subtituled versions in spanish.

The adult language is the only known difference to me. Then again I couldn't even remember that there's CD versions with it. I thought it was only in very old floppy versions.

If there's a CD version with adult content, that is probably the biggest difference between all those. I think if you look for a talke version any (DOS) CD Talkie release should do.

Aside from that, the "best" version usually does not exist. Most people like the version "best" the played back in the days. .

Nice, thanks! Well I never concreted "best for who", implicitly it was for me. I read the point in the Forum rules .

The patch from the Westwood FTP should only affect the (English) floppy version. So you won't need it for a CD version.

Wow, thank you for that one piece of info,, it makes easier everything!

Where did you get that from? And what release is that? My talkie version is 3.7 too.

Well, I don't want to go against the rules of the forum but I'll tell you the situation. I own the last version sold in Spain (i.e in spanish) that I am aware of (Yes, I checked GOG and others). Unfortunately, even if it was purchased after international release of talkie kyrandias (released in 1995 and bought circa 96-97), it's voiceless (the box did not specify it but I thought it was obvious!!). My edition is a red Golden Line brand box distributed by Arcadia under the license of Hit Squad (Ocen Media Ltd.) according to the box.

It's curious because I also own a very rare copy in Spain of Malcolm' Revenge (spanish box of Virgin White Label) and I remembered back in those years shocking out because it was a COMPLETE english game, again the box did not specify anything (never seen that in Spain and I own like 40 games). I did not found evidence that Hands of Fate was even released in my country, but that is another story.

Let's say there is only one patch for translating english talkie version, and it's targeted at an ISO with a multilanguage with version Europe 1.1 written everywhere (executables and scripts). I never found nobody speaking of this version and that is why I was asking for identifying all the games, since I would like to found which distirbution is and what I would loose. For what is worth, GEMCUT.PAK is FAC399FE62F98671E56A005C5E94E39F as any other english CD and that is what I did not understand. Probably the patch is a very forced solution or something. I'll have to assume I'll never be successfull playing this game in spanish with voices.

[LordHoto]

Where did you get that from? And what release is that? My talkie version is 3.7 too.

Well, I don't want to go against the rules of the forum but I'll tell you the situation. I own the last version sold in Spain (i.e in spanish) that I am aware of (Yes, I checked GOG and others). Unfortunately, even if it was purchased after international release of talkie kyrandias (released in 1995 and bought circa 96-97), it's voiceless (the box did not specify it but I thought it was obvious!!). My edition is a red Golden Line brand box distributed by Arcadia under the license of Hit Squad (Ocen Media Ltd.) according to the box.

It's curious because I also own a very rare copy in Spain of Malcolm' Revenge (spanish box of Virgin White Label) and I remembered back in those years shocking out because it was a COMPLETE english game, again the box did not specify anything (never seen that in Spain and I own like 40 games). I did not found evidence that Hands of Fate was even released in my country, but that is another story.

Let's say there is only one patch for translating english talkie version, and it's targeted at an ISO with a multilanguage with version Europe 1.1 written everywhere (executables and scripts). I never found nobody speaking of this version and that is why I was asking for identifying all the games, since I would like to found which distirbution is and what I would loose. For what is worth, GEMCUT.PAK is FAC399FE62F98671E56A005C5E94E39F as any other english CD and that is what I did not understand. Probably the patch is a very forced solution or something. I'll have to assume I'll never be successfull playing this game in spanish with voices.

Well one thing is for certain, that will not be supported by ScummVM.

That also sounds that your copy is illegal and we don't like that.

[tumbleweed]

Well, frankly I would buy the original if I could as a collector I am (more than 40 graphic adv), but first I wanted to identify the only version that can be translated that I am aware of. But ill give up, no worry, I will play just the non-talkie version I own.

And of course, forthcoming questions would have been whether fan translation could be played in Scummvm, which I think it is not possible, so I'll discard both problems.

Thank you

Never understood how this companies dies not see the potential of this games for learning english. If only they could do it multilingual... But I am not paying for keeping 2 versions of the same game.

[CaptainJei]

I've tracked down and paid for the same game twice in two different languages for the very purpose of learning a new language, and I have to agree it's a wonderful aid. The good news is, if you like Monkey Island, the Special Editions of Monkey Island 1 and 2 are multilingual. At least they were when I bought them on Steam.

[tumbleweed]

Yes, I just bought them on amazon last week, for 9.95 Eur I think it's a very good deal

I'm now trying to use the talkie patch on the original ones which I also own

[CaptainJei]

It IS a good deal. And the talkie patch is fantastic on the first one! I haven't tried the patch on the second yet. Does it work pretty well?

[tumbleweed]

Well, frankly, I am getting primarly lost learning about MT-32 emulation, even looking for some good deal in eBay for the machine, before resuming with the voices patch. So I will tell you once I'm done

By the way Lord, I know I am overwhelming asking, but 3 new questions arisen me and you are certainly an expert. I'd be glad if you could help me.

Are you aware of any spanish fan translation of Kyrandia 2 that is supported by ScummVM?

Is Hands of Fate official patch needed for CD version or does it happen the same thing as in 1 (only for floppy)?

Is there any way to show subtitles in the intro of English Kyrandia 3?

Thank you for your very good job. ScummVM is the best invention since alarm clock snooze and I am discovering it now!!!.

[CaptainJei]

Unfortunately you DO need to own an actual MT-32 to legally emulate it. I would say it's worth the cost and trouble, but others would say it isn't. If and when you get an MT-32, I'd recomment just using it through a MIDI-USB converter, because dumping the ROM's is difficult. In fact, if you do decide to dump them, take it to a professional to do so. I made the mistake of having a friend who was an amateur electrician do it, and though the ROM's dumped, the MT-32 would not power back on once he was done.

[tumbleweed]

Unfortunately you DO need to own an actual MT-32 to legally emulate it. I would say it's worth the cost and trouble, but others would say it isn't. If and when you get an MT-32, I'd recomment just using it through a MIDI-USB converter, because dumping the ROM's is difficult. In fact, if you do decide to dump them, take it to a professional to do so. I made the mistake of having a friend who was an amateur electrician do it, and though the ROM's dumped, the MT-32 would not power back on once he was done.

I was looking in ebay as I said last post, but I did not know they were SO expensiveeeee. Mannnn. I can't afford this right now. Indeed I only required Mt-32 for Monkey Island 2, Kyrandia and Simon. Anyway for the first one I can listen to SE version , and there is some good enhancement ost for the others. It is not the same, but I cannot do more.

[AlesteDX]

Hi...

I have that Golden Line red box spanish edition. The CD contains only images from floppy disks. So it's same version as floppy one.

Regards.

[tumbleweed]

Yes it is the same edition as me, as I quoted before. It is voiceless and a true shame, I never identified a later edition.

[Wesker]

First of all, concerning The Legend of Kyrandia 2: The Hand of Fate, there has ALWAYS been an OFFICIAL Spanish language version of the game, which was of course released in Spain. It was only released in floppies, though, but this one is what we could call the Spanish version of the game. The thing is, ScummVM doesn't support this version. They support other language versions, but not the Spanish one, unlike the first The Legend of Kyrandia which has its Spanish language version (also released in floppies) supported since long ago.

Now, it's true that there are CD-ROM versions for both Kyrandia games, featuring English language voiceovers. Unlike the floppy versions, these were NOT released in Spanish. For some reason, and everywhere they were released, they only feature English, German and French textscreen languages. There has already been attempts to "import" the official Spanish language translations from the floppy versions to the CD-ROM versions, but these ones are not supported by ScummVM either.

The only similar thing which was granted support by ScummVM was the Spanish fan-translation of The Legend of Kyrandia 3: Malcolm's Revenge, which was never released in Spanish in the first place (probably because that one was never released on floppies and was born as a CD-ROM game, given how much Westwood disregarded the Spanish language with CD-ROM games). If I'm not mistaken, this was because the Spanish fan-translation of that game is a proper patch application to be applied to the original game, rather than what was done with the CD-ROM versions of the previous Kyrandia games, a "copy and paste" sort of procedure which is not well regarded by the ScummVM team.

ScummVM would have to support even if just the official Spanish version of The Legend of Kyrandia 2: The Hand of Fate. That is, the one that was actually done back in the day and released in floppies. The already existing CD-ROM fan-translations for both this one and the first The Legend of Kyrandia are not even perfect, since they don't translate everything in both games (or at least, they don't do it at the same degree of content translation they were in the floppy versions). I would regard them better if they would do it, but I'm not sure if that is possible at all.

[LordHoto]

ScummVM would have to support even if just the official Spanish version of The Legend of Kyrandia 2: The Hand of Fate. That is, the one that was actually done back in the day and released in floppies.

There's an old feature request about that one. But we need a copy of the floppy version to support it. If you want to donate one to _athrxx or me the chances of it getting supported in the near(er) future would be much improved. However, we are both busy in real life at the moment, thus we can't make any promises on when it would happen then.