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Fantastic to see that there is still interest in this AWESOME game (IMHO). Fantastic to see that anyone else still remembers it...

I too have the original and a copy which I downloaded from Underdogs (which is exactly the same, just conveniently in one folder instead of on 7 (gasp!) 5 1/4" floppies).

I have also downloaded the "speech and VGA patch" and the 52meg "audio & vga" CD data. But the readme's in each are so confusing... I can't work out what it means by "a data CD is required to play the game" and why I get prompted to insert a CD "to play the talkie version" when I run the EXE file the patch creates in the "data" folder.

here Loom at Home of the Underdogs is where I got these files from. Anyone who has successfully patched the disk version to the VGA & Audio CD version I would really appreciate you telling us how you managed it...

David.

[Tuttle]

I've done the patch, but it was ages ago. I don't remember the exact commands, but basically you're creating a 2-track CD -- track 1 is the game data, and track 2 is an audio track that contains the sound from that big MP3 file.

After many long hours of trial an error, I managed to get the HOTU vga cd audio patch working using a combination of Nero, Daemon Tools, and ScummVM. If there is interest in how exactly to accomplish this, let me know, I will check back to see if anyone wants to know the exact process.

[MasterGrazzt]

I remember that once upon a time I downloaded the audio drama that came on a tape with the deluxe version of Loom. It was a sort of prequel, a set-up for the game's events. Unfortunately, I can't remember where I got it from. Oh well. At least it's out there, somewhere...

The ending cries out for a sequel. Too bad one was never made. Curse you, LucasArts!

[Sebatianos]

Originally posted by MasterGrazzt@Jan 16 2005, 07:22 AM
The ending cries out for a sequel. Too bad one was never made. Curse you, LucasArts!

Don't you dare say that again. The ending is perfect the way it is. It's indicating they're off to weave a new and better world with Chaos left behind. Anything you want to add to the story you should use your imagination...

Don't make the sequel. There's nothing you could actually do to continue that story without destroying it.

You could make more adventures of Bobin, but you should not pick up where the priginal game ends!

[Braindead]

Originally posted by Tuttle@Jan 16 2005, 04:12 AM
I've done the patch, but it was ages ago. I don't remember the exact commands, but basically you're creating a 2-track CD -- track 1 is the game data, and track 2 is an audio track that contains the sound from that big MP3 file.

Yes I did the patch too a while ago. Don't remember the details but isn't there in the readme a suggestion to download a free CD-burner?
I think I downloaded that burner and burned the CD clean as a whistle :whistle: with it...

HellishFiend, if you can be bothered, I am one person who would love to know the details of getting the CD right... I have put in hours of trial-and-error too but I can never get the audio lined up properly (the suggested 4:32 leading silence in the README doesn't work out quite right) and when I get it working for some scenes, others are timing-dependent and just run waay too fast on my Athlon and screw everything up...

The CD burning program which comes with the doc's has errors when I run it, and only manages to detect my DVD drive and the nero imagedrive... not my CD burner ( ). Can't find an updated version for windows either... though if I knew how I guess I could compile one from source and maybe that would work.

Hey Fiend, if you could explain it using the Nero and SCUMM method that would be great, I have those programs so whatever worked for you would probably work for me! Many thanks in advance!

Hey all, glad to see there is some interest in the method I used. I will work on getting it typed up and post it here in the next day or so!

Ok, here is my method. Hopefully you guys can get it working by following this. I'll check back again later, let me know how it goes!

What you need (or at least what I used):

Nero (any version should do)
Daemon Tools
Original Loom game files (I got mine from my original non-pirated Lucasarts classic Adventures floppies)
ScummVM 0.7.0
Loom CD upgrade for floppy version*
Audio pack for full speech upgrade*

*http://www.the-underdogs.org/game.php?id=655

Ok, here goes, the first thing you need to do is unzip all the patch files and audio pack files into the same directory. Once youve done that, copy all your original loom game files into the "in" directory in the patch folder. I have read that pirated versions of the loom files wont work, but I wouldnt know, since I used the files from the original floppies like is suggested. Run assemble.bat, and you should end up with loom.toc, track01.iso, and track02.wav in your "out" folder. Now, here is where my method deviates from the instructions included with the patch. Since I had absolutely NO luck using cdrdao or even GUI-based dao applications such as burnatonce, i had to resort to nero. I'll go step by step from here:
1) MOUNT track01.iso using Daemon tools
2) Launch nero, using a Mixed-Mode cd template
3) Drag all files from the track01 iso from windows explorer into the files portion of your new nero compilation.
4) Drag the wav file into the audio portion

Ok, here is another fuzzy portion of the process. Using Dosbox to run the game, I had to experiment with the Pause for track02 until I got it right, and ended up with 20269 frames as a good pause delay to work with. However, Dosbox seems to glitch Loom to where subsequently played draft notes dont play after the first one. Anyways, as a result of that, I resorted to ScummVM, which worked great, only the audio clips seemed to play just a TAD too early, sometimes causing clips to end early, or playing a small portion of the clip just before it. So, I went back to experimenting with the pause delay, but no amount of changing the pause seemed to have any effect! My theory is that ScummVM intelligently seeks out the audio track and plays it of its own accord.

Anyhow, sorry about the rant, but I just thought I'd share that info. Moving on:

5) Right click/properties on the track02.wav entry, and set a FRAMES delay of 20269. Click ok, and the pause should now read 4:30.19 (not that i'm sure if it matters with ScummVM)
6) On the Recorder menu, choose "choose recorder", and make sure you opt to use the Image Recorder rather than your DVD/CD burner.
7) Burn the Compilation to your hard drive
8) Right click your Nero icon in the toolbar, and make sure the Analog Audio option is checked under Options.
9) Mount the Image
10) Launch ScummVM using the command line "scummvm --cdrom=?" where ? is the number of the drive you mounted the image to (may have to use trial and error to find it, unless you know)
11) Add Loom to ScummVM like normal, You should be able to use either the files directly off the mounted CD image, or in the data folder of your patch directory
12) Run the game, and it should work great!

You may notice a couple of annoying sound delay issues, but I have not been able to correct them by adjusting the pause. If you somehow get it fixed, or are having problems with my steps, let me know! Hope this helps!