Randomization works OK in Putt-Putt and Freddi Fish games I have, however it just doesn't work in any of the Pajama Sam games I have (the first three adventures + "Sock Works", but anyway the problem doesn't apply to the last one). Some small elements change, for example the image in the jigsaw puzzle in "Thunder and Lightning", but none of the major elements do, those that cause gameplay to split into a few paths. All these games were downloaded from the same source, a known site with many games in versions that can only be used with Scumm VM (without exe files).
Actually I've already asked about it on Moby Games and somebody supposed it may be related to processor speed - that slowing my computer down could work. However, I've been a bit reluctant to try this advice due to two factors:
1. My computer is a laptop and laptops generally tend to overheat. I have never cleaned it inside because I don't know how and so it overheats fairly quickly. It generally doesn't have a problem with running games in DOSBox and Scumm VM, but there are games - for example Amiga-to-Windows ports and some browser games - are very succesful in forcing my computer to shut itself down after just some minutes of gameplay.
2. I actually looked for an easy, user-friendly, free slowdown utility. I found an ultra-simple program called "Slow" that consists of a single file... I tried it out on a nice simple browser-based platformer, "Weirdville" - I really liked this game on my old laptop (produced around 1999) and now I just can't play it anymore because it goes too fast - and the program seemed to have no effect at all.
Does anyone have advice on how to solve this problem? I can try to slow down my computer anyway, but please remember I'm no IT specialist, I can use a computer and that's all.
In DOSBox it's very easy to make the game run slower, is there any such feature in Scumm VM?