FMV Classics @ GoodOldGames.com

[HarroSIN]

I should have created this topic sooner:

If you guys haven't heard, there's a fairly new website around by the name of "Good Old Games" which specializes in fixing up and selling older computer games (usually pre-millennium) for really, really cheap prices, from $5.99 to $9.99. February is apparently "Activision" month, which includes some of Sierra's back-catalog. There's currently only two FMV adventures available, Gabriel Knight 2: The Beast Within (for $5.99, about werewolves and vampires) and the first Phantasmagoria game (for $9.99, about demons and spiritual hauntings), but I wouldn't be surprised if the second Phantasmagoria game, A Puzzle of Flesh, turned up on there as well (psychological drama/horror).

All of their releases are DRM-free, and once you purchase and download the game, it's yours to keep. GOG.com has a few games available for free at the moment, including Beneath A Steel Sky, which is an excellent non-FMV (but fully voice-acted) adventure title than runs beautifully on modern releases of Windows. They are definitely worth checking out.

[padmore]

You were right about "Puzzle of Flesh."

Link: http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/phantasmagoria_2

[mazinz]

Thanks for that excellent link HarroSIN!

kingdom: the far reaches (a cartoon fmv from the makers of dragon's lair)

as well as one of the Tex murphy FMV adventure games are also there.

It is cool that a place like this exist to sell old games legally with no worries about "cracked" issues, , etc

PS: Hey HarroSIN any further work with Night Trap?

[HarroSIN]

kingdom: the far reaches (a cartoon fmv from the makers of dragon's lair)

as well as one of the Tex murphy FMV adventure games are also there.

Yeah, I just noticed the Tex Murphy series on there. They're supposedly making a new one, but I don't think it's going to be FMV -- possibly 3D (damn).

PS: Hey HarroSIN any further work with Night Trap?

Still figuring out the video decompression. I have an algorithm that is working alright with the Sega CD version, but I want to extract video from the 32X/3DO version (which is compressed -- vector quantization is much harder to work with). I'm still working on the modern port. Engine is mostly complete. Works fine in Windows, should also run under OS X and Linux if I targeted those platforms. I hate working with the crappy, low-quality video. I wish that James Riley (Night Trap director) would surface so that I could ask him for the original footage. Then, "Night Trap: High-Definition" remake would be absolutely possible.

EDIT:

Usually I don't release screenshots of my software until it's near completion, but here's a snapshot I took a few weeks ago. I've been developing it on and off for the past few months. There's no HUD icons because I turned the interface off temporarily. Likewise, ignore the misplaced numbers and filenames... they are just there so that I can test the engine quickly)

[mazinz]

Outstanding! Besides Merlix (who made the sega cd movie viewer) you are perhaps the only one out there who is still trying and actually showing results. Very much so looking forward to all of your work

Never hurts to ask, but I suppose you could not release your sega cd one could you? Be nice to see it in a larger screen rather than the 2" by 2" screen the sega cd movie viewer supplies (though I had a sort of work around for that).

The sega cd movie viewer has been abandoned as the author Merlix is trying to get it to work with ffmpeg's direct show filters instead, but he works very, very slow

[HarroSIN]

Actually, Merlix's version is more complete than mine is.  I wrote it quickly just as a test. Besides, Merlix is working on an SGA decoder that he plans to include in the FFMPEG library. If that ever comes through, it would be great: theoretically, a play could use my port with any version of the Night Trap disc in the drive and have the program adjust the video resolution as needed (because my port is utilizing the ffmpeg library to decompress and play video).

[ghost1215]

Nice work HarroSIN I always preferred the 32XCD version the best except for the redone beginning and SCAT team van scenes. I always thought they looked the best even though I use emulation filters.  (Yeah I know placebo effect)

How do you think the original Night Trap footage is kept? If it is 35MM film then a digital transfer might be expensive but be beyond HD in quality.

Have you tried the GoG version of Phantasmagoria 2 and how does it compare to Dosbox and your patch? Does it display correctly? It's nice to have a "Steam" for FMV rather than to tweak Dosbox all day.

[mazinz]

Actually, Merlix's version is more complete than mine is.  I wrote it quickly just as a test. Besides, Merlix is working on an SGA decoder that he plans to include in the FFMPEG library. If that ever comes through, it would be great: theoretically, a play could use my port with any version of the Night Trap disc in the drive and have the program adjust the video resolution as needed (because my port is utilizing the ffmpeg library to decompress and play video).

Interesting to know. Though I do consider yours a bit more advanced for the sole fact that it can do other plattforms and not just sega cd's.

off subject I was able to make a dual layered dvd using Merlix's viewer. The catch since his view screen is super small was that I found an old external monitor output card that used your pc's usb port as power. This item connected to the monitor port on the back of your pc and then you can hook this into whatever (in my case a dvd recorder). What makes this card stand out though was that it zoomed in on the screen to make objects bigger for viewing. It did not do the opposite of actually making the items bigger themselves. So in the case of this, it just zoomed in on the super small sega movie viewer screen and therefore I was able to record all of the footage (used a file joiner for that) without it being distorted looking and roughly the size of the screen as if your were playing the game

Either way, your viewer once done will/can retire my disc. Looking forward to your future progress


GHOST1215
 I am curious about some of these games offered. Are they really legit or did they take games that now fall under the abandon-ware motto and just market them themselves with no real official say in the matter? I do see some of them as having winxp with the originals not in that format or hacked by groups to work in such manner. And if that is the case I am wondering if they are just giving you hacked versions but instead of getting it via a torrent you can pay them to get the same game (or I should say edition)

[ghost1215]

I do see some of them as having winxp with the originals not in that format or hacked by groups to work in such manner. And if that is the case I am wondering if they are just giving you hacked versions but instead of getting it via a torrent you can pay them to get the same game (or I should say edition)

Looks pretty legit to me as they must have been reworked from their last official patched relase to run on modern OS's.

I don't think they would try to sell hacked abandonware without it catching on too quick and getting shutdown. Besides there is profit to be had.

Makes more sense to acquire the license or rights and fix a few exe's and be able to sell it legally thereby making it possible to turn once buggy old software into cheap royalty checks for almost nothing in capital.

I think we will see a lot of preservation sites spawning soon as it is hard for software to remain cross platform and compatible sometimes between the space of 2 years even though it may remain fully functional and efficient.

I have most of these games backed up too but the thought of them being properly released with support versus all the workarounds, tweaking, and time wasted is well worth $6 a game for.

Some things you can't put a price on, for everything else, p2p.

[mazinz]

ghost1215 wrote

I have most of these games backed up too but the thought of them being properly released with support versus all the workarounds, tweaking, and time wasted is well worth $6 a game for.

Some things you can't put a price on, for everything else, p2p.

I was thinking about this too. The prices are cheap enough, I was more so curious if they just took versions already floating around and upped them for a small download fee. However getting a sort of official patched version  (or like no cd switching) is a nice touch. Regardless I might get some of their versions even though I do have a few of them with the same features via hacker groups/torrents. At least this way I know who it is truly coming from. Besides the complete uncut version with all addons for Postal is one I would not pass on

[HarroSIN]

I've been in contact with Merlix recently and he's been kind enough to offer me the source code for his Night Trap/SEGA-CD viewer. If I could incorporate some of his code into my Night Trap engine build, or at least use it as a base for .SGA video decompression, then we could absolutely have a complete and native Windows version available without any Sega emulators needed (of course, the game would require Night Trap for SEGA/MEGA-CD, but at least it's a start)!

[mazinz]

I've been in contact with Merlix recently and he's been kind enough to offer me the source code for his Night Trap/SEGA-CD viewer. If I could incorporate some of his code into my Night Trap engine build, or at least use it as a base for .SGA video decompression, then we could absolutely have a complete and native Windows version available without any Sega emulators needed (of course, the game would require Night Trap for SEGA/MEGA-CD, but at least it's a start)!

Wonderful news!!!