Version differences (new categorie?)
5 years ago
Hesse, Germany

Hi guys and girls,

Soon or later this toic will pop up (like now), so lets talk about it.

In general I do runs for Amiga games, so I was checking my few options to chose from and picked up Loom (last time played early 90s).

After not breaking the 30min wall, I was watching the other runs and I noticed that the content does differ (mostly dialog). So I was investigating about this and found out that there are two version of this game available and that they indeed differ from each other. Source: https://www.movie-censorship.com/report.php?ID=802320

Most of this does not really matter, for Speedrunning the game, but the thing is:

  1. A refresher for both versions.

EGA Standard Any% (my run)

VGA Standard Any% (firefyte)

  1. Differences: a) Load Times Well I did some changes in the settings and I could achieve nearly as fast load times as the VGA. i.E.: After lightning struck the tree (for me this does not really matter just to mention it, maybe with more optimize settings mine would be faster dunno)

b) Dialog There are three times (EGA) where you cant skip the dialog. ba) Talking to the 4 shepards bb) Talking to the woman who watches the lamb bc) Listening to the conversation between Mandibel and this swordsmith dude.

You cant skip those, because the player either learns a draft(Ninja) and (Heal) or you have to use a draft (cursing the sword). So it makes sense you cant skip them.

On VGA you can pretty soon walk away from the shepards, on the Amiga you have to listen to their stuff. I am also sure the dialog in the cabine with the lady shepard is a bit shorter on VGA. Not sure about the dialog in the castle.

c) Positioning Rusty is sleeping in different locations

d) Options I've noticed that there is an option to increase speed on VGA and reduce the Animation (For me its kinda looks faster then on EGA) On the other hand you can speed up the dialog on the EGA so the unskipable content will soon be over. Not sure if you can do this on Dos due to voicesamples.

e) Closing the rifts You only have to heal Rusty when you exploring the rifts, you dont have to talk the this glassmaker and you dont have to heal the shepards (serves them right) you can just leave and close the rift. This also makes sense: If I recall correctly there should be a Part 2 (with Rusty) a Part 3 (with lady shepard) and maybe more. So Part 2 only works when you heal Rusty, so must have. The Lady Shepard is still alive so she is fine for Part 3 and the glassmaker dies anyway. BUT: I am not sure how this works on VGA.

Conclusion: So these are my oberservations and I am not sure which version is faster. I was able to run low 26 and maybe can beat 25 wall. But there are also Dos runs mid 25 so its a close call. So what do you think different categories or all runs in the same category?

Personal Note: I just played this game as a kid and didnt like it, looked memorable but at this time to boring, Replaying it as an adult and investing some time into this I really have to say what a great game this is. Well written and crafted, unique gameplay mechanics, creative artwork, interresting lore and so on. Also it does not become a No-Brainer after some playthroughs thanks to some rng - Pen & Paper recommended.

Edited by the author 5 years ago
Finland

I think you might be running into differences in the EGA and VGA versions. The VGA is full talkie, which causes some secondary issues (missing scenes). Also, the steam version has a standalone executable, which doesn't let you do some speedups that SCUMMVM might let you do.

I have played the EGA version, and I think all of the differences you mention are just due to the EGA/VGA (talkie) differences.

There is also a possibility, where emulation itself will cause the game to run at different speeds (there's a youtube video with an even older run that specifically mentions the corridor in the hall of patterns).

e) Closing the rifts I have tested this on a newer (still pending!) run, and yes, this is true in VGA.

I'm still not 100% convinced that scummvm will run at the exact same speed on everybody's devices, which would not keep the playing field level. The EGA version (I don't have DOS VGA handy) should support speeding up the text speed (with '>').

Hesse, Germany

Hi,

thx for the answer :) Oh well yes I mean VGA and EGA version, I will change this in my post (sry for any confusion)

Would be a good addition to my obersavtions if you do also some testing and playing around with the game, there could be much more to find out about it.

Maybe it really would make more sense to differentiate our categories between EGA and VGA runs, what do you think?

Finland

I need to have a bit of time to test out the ega version with a run or two, with dos box and scummvm. The route is the same, the details are different. I think it is pretty optimal and my sum of best on steam is a low 26.

Finland

I'm also 99% sure it is just as fast no matter what difficulty you choose.

Hesse, Germany

Yes I agree that there almost no differences between the difficulty levels. Only difference is the handling of your Magicstaff and that you can see Bobbins Face when Cobb gets killed (on Expert only). Both does not matter for Speedrunning.

Thanks for taking your time for this :)

Finland

Keyboard is optimal for your distaff and cobb is in all difficulties in vga.

Hesse, Germany

I tried Keyboard on Expert and yes it feels better (and is faster) then using mouse.

Yea Cobb is in every difficulty thats right, I was just refering to this one special scene you only get to see on Expert (EGA) or can you see it on every diff on VGA?

I noticed also some other odd stuff in this game, but this is more like something for another topic(will post it soon). Will also rerun loom on the weekend high 25 should be possible.

Finland

The cobb death scene is in every difficulty on vga.

Hesse, Germany

Ah okay thx,

There is also the copy protection screen on EGA (at least my version has it). It only saves a couple of seconds, but I would suggest to start the timer after the copy protection screen disapears?

Hesse, Germany

Hi,

so any updates for this?

I was hoping that El-Nino will also join this conversation to clarify this, but it seems he is inactive (my any% run is still pending since almost 4 weeks) Does anyone know how long he will be absenced?

thx

Finland

Haven't had the time. It is the next thing on my schedule when I have a spare hour.

My expert run has been awaiting since late July.

Hesse, Germany

Hi thx for the reply..

Seems we are the only persons atm who care, so lets take our time :) (still not finished the guide so...)

Should we start to investigate what happened to El-Nino?

Finland

You can message him on his website: http://www.adventure-speedruns.com/main/index.php

I have a route and list for Loom already, but it's for the VGA version, I should probably refine it so I can list it here.

Hesse, Germany

Perfect I will trx to conatct him.

I also have a route and a list for loom but for the EGa version. :) We can both put a guide into the guide-section for every version than we got everthing covered.

Hesse, Germany

Okay now it becomes a bit weird.

I was unable to send my message to him. I tried Firefox,IE and Chrome but I could not enter a captcha. http://www.milktoastudios.com/img/elnino.jpg

Maybe I am just dumb dont know.

Overall he seems to be inactive, the website itself was not updated lately and the last video he upload on youtube is older then a year.

Would be best if anyone of the speedrun team could promote one of us to a Moderator.

firefyte likes this
Hesse, Germany

Hi,

okay I posted a request, so hopefully one of us will become a moderator. https://www.speedrun.com/The_Site/thread/63nr7/291#nviq5

Hesse, Germany

Yeah mate we did it :)

Now also make me a moderator and we can rule over Loom for all eternity ;)

Finland

Ok,

I'm going to necro this thread for a second.

I did a low 27 EGA run with scummvm just now, and I have an idea about the versions a bit.

EGA is probably slightly faster overall, due to text skipping (vs. dialogue that cannot be skipped or hurried up). SCUMMVM, with both EGA and Steam were slower in the hall walk on my machine, while on 'native' steam and dosbox, it was about the same time (~just under 34s). So until someone tests the hall walk on another machine on scummvm, I wouldn't recommend it.

I'll get my run submitted once my video is up.

Also see (or the full video of the stream):

Edited by the author 5 years ago
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