Eye Of The Beholder 1 & 2 AGA Versions?

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EstelRandir
Posts: 55
Joined: Thu Mar 16, 2017 6:02 pm

Eye Of The Beholder 1 & 2 AGA Versions?

Post by EstelRandir »

It has been stated that ScummVM now supports the Amiga versions of EoB 1 & 2. Is there any chance for the AGA fan patched versions? I tried to get ScummVM to run the first one by following the EoB Amiga guide. But it said that this version was unknown to ScummVM.

It would be awesome if they could be supported. Those versions have an in-game mapping tool, and I simply hate using Amiga emulators (even if someone set it up and bundled with the game).
athrxx
ScummVM Developer
Posts: 20
Joined: Thu Feb 14, 2008 8:26 pm

Re: Eye Of The Beholder 1 & 2 AGA Versions?

Post by athrxx »

These games are only available via illegal download and thus cannot be supported, since we have a strict anti-piracy policy. My understanding is that these game versions are basically made up from 3 different games (graphics from the PC versions of EOB, sound data from the Amiga versions and some automap graphics data from Lands of Lore). Apart from not being acceptable for these legal reasons, it would also require me to reverse enginee someone else's remake project which I do not consider to be very appealing.

If this is just about the auto map, if you really do get lost when playing in ScummVM, you can open the debugger console (Ctrl+Alt+d) and enter 'print_map'. This will print a text mode map which isn't particularly nice (quite the opposite) but should still do the job. It even shows the positions of keys lying around in the maze. This is the thing I made for my own test runs...

Or, if you want a "real" map function you could try out EOB I Sega-CD. That one actually has a map function built in.
EstelRandir
Posts: 55
Joined: Thu Mar 16, 2017 6:02 pm

Re: Eye Of The Beholder 1 & 2 AGA Versions?

Post by EstelRandir »

Thanks for replying. I understand about the legal reasons. I had to ask =).

There is another tool that reads the actual game files and runs an automap in a separate window. https://ase.zorbus.net. It is a few extra steps every time you launch the game. I am a bit lazy to mess with it just now. Maybe I will later.
Azdul
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Jul 22, 2021 7:48 am

Re: Eye Of The Beholder 1 & 2 AGA Versions?

Post by Azdul »

athrxx wrote: Fri Jun 04, 2021 2:43 pmThese games are only available via illegal download and thus cannot be supported, since we have a strict anti-piracy policy. My understanding is that these game versions are basically made up from 3 different games (graphics from the PC versions of EOB, sound data from the Amiga versions and some automap graphics data from Lands of Lore). Apart from not being acceptable for these legal reasons, it would also require me to reverse enginee someone else's remake project which I do not consider to be very appealing.
For me and many others 'EOB 1 AGA' is an ultimate, definitive version of the game - it contains extended game logic ('atmospheric texts'), better sounds, animated outro from Amiga version - and best available 256-color graphics from PC version.

I wonder if it would be possible to treat / support 'EOB 1 AGA' in similar way that Monkey Island 1 Ultimate Talkie Edition is supported. In case of MI 1 Ultimate Talkie Edition - graphics are taken from one, completely legal release of the game, and sounds are taken from another completely legal release of the game - building an ultimate edition on-the-fly using a script / batch file - without actually redistributing copyrighted files.

As I understand, it would require creating a script that can build something like 'EOB 1 Ultimate Edition' from existing, legal PC and Amiga installations. Of course such 'EOB 1 Ultimate Edition' would only run under ScummVM, not on actual Amiga - just like MI1 Ultimate Talkie Edition. And it would require ScummVM code to decode / read both 32 color and 256 color images from game resources while running EOB1 Amiga version.
vanfanel
Posts: 73
Joined: Sat Dec 15, 2012 11:14 am

Re: Eye Of The Beholder 1 & 2 AGA Versions?

Post by vanfanel »

Azdul wrote: Thu Jul 22, 2021 8:47 am
athrxx wrote: Fri Jun 04, 2021 2:43 pmThese games are only available via illegal download and thus cannot be supported, since we have a strict anti-piracy policy. My understanding is that these game versions are basically made up from 3 different games (graphics from the PC versions of EOB, sound data from the Amiga versions and some automap graphics data from Lands of Lore). Apart from not being acceptable for these legal reasons, it would also require me to reverse enginee someone else's remake project which I do not consider to be very appealing.
For me and many others 'EOB 1 AGA' is an ultimate, definitive version of the game - it contains extended game logic ('atmospheric texts'), better sounds, animated outro from Amiga version - and best available 256-color graphics from PC version.

I wonder if it would be possible to treat / support 'EOB 1 AGA' in similar way that Monkey Island 1 Ultimate Talkie Edition is supported. In case of MI 1 Ultimate Talkie Edition - graphics are taken from one, completely legal release of the game, and sounds are taken from another completely legal release of the game - building an ultimate edition on-the-fly using a script / batch file - without actually redistributing copyrighted files.

As I understand, it would require creating a script that can build something like 'EOB 1 Ultimate Edition' from existing, legal PC and Amiga installations. Of course such 'EOB 1 Ultimate Edition' would only run under ScummVM, not on actual Amiga - just like MI1 Ultimate Talkie Edition. And it would require ScummVM code to decode / read both 32 color and 256 color images from game resources while running EOB1 Amiga version.
I second all this. There's no practical difference between MI Ultimate and EOB1 AGA.
And EOB AGA is just incredible, the definitive edition of the game as said.
Automap would make it way more playable today...
Blakes7
Posts: 39
Joined: Sun Nov 03, 2019 9:44 am

Re: Eye Of The Beholder 1 & 2 AGA Versions?

Post by Blakes7 »

vanfanel wrote: Thu Jul 22, 2021 10:54 am
Azdul wrote: Thu Jul 22, 2021 8:47 am
athrxx wrote: Fri Jun 04, 2021 2:43 pmThese games are only available via illegal download and thus cannot be supported, since we have a strict anti-piracy policy. My understanding is that these game versions are basically made up from 3 different games (graphics from the PC versions of EOB, sound data from the Amiga versions and some automap graphics data from Lands of Lore). Apart from not being acceptable for these legal reasons, it would also require me to reverse enginee someone else's remake project which I do not consider to be very appealing.
For me and many others 'EOB 1 AGA' is an ultimate, definitive version of the game - it contains extended game logic ('atmospheric texts'), better sounds, animated outro from Amiga version - and best available 256-color graphics from PC version.

I wonder if it would be possible to treat / support 'EOB 1 AGA' in similar way that Monkey Island 1 Ultimate Talkie Edition is supported. In case of MI 1 Ultimate Talkie Edition - graphics are taken from one, completely legal release of the game, and sounds are taken from another completely legal release of the game - building an ultimate edition on-the-fly using a script / batch file - without actually redistributing copyrighted files.

As I understand, it would require creating a script that can build something like 'EOB 1 Ultimate Edition' from existing, legal PC and Amiga installations. Of course such 'EOB 1 Ultimate Edition' would only run under ScummVM, not on actual Amiga - just like MI1 Ultimate Talkie Edition. And it would require ScummVM code to decode / read both 32 color and 256 color images from game resources while running EOB1 Amiga version.
I second all this. There's no practical difference between MI Ultimate and EOB1 AGA.
And EOB AGA is just incredible, the definitive edition of the game as said.
Automap would make it way more playable today...
I'll third this suggestion. Someone please make a script to make it happen. I would also like to see the King's Quest IV ultimate edition supported as it is an amalgamation of amiga environmental sounds and pc version with night scenes and it is built from a script just like MI1 Ultimate is but that has also been deemed piracy for some reason.
Juppstein
Posts: 6
Joined: Sun Oct 03, 2021 1:57 pm

Re: Eye Of The Beholder 1 & 2 AGA Versions?

Post by Juppstein »

Thanks to this thread I finally decided to try out this AGA version using FSUAE. And holy moly, playing this version is like day and night compared to vanilla EotB :o I really do hope that someone with the knowledge required will bring this to ScummVM one day, even if it's unofficial. It's really good.
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