EGA releases of VGA games of Sierra On Line Game

[Patrick Chang]

Hello All,

Recently trying to look for all the EGA releases of VGA games of Sierra On-Line. I believe the following title have EGA releases. Graphic wise these titles are not as impressive as the VGA but they exist during the transitional period of EGA to VGA display.

- Castle of Dr. Brain
- Conquests of the Longbow
- EcoQuest I
- Heart of China
- Hoyle's Book of Games Vol.3
- Jones in the Fast Lane
- King's Quest V
- Leisure Suit Larry I remake
- Leisure Suit Larry V
- Mixed-Up Fairy Tales
- Police Quest III
- Rise of the Dragon
- Space Quest I remake
- Space Quest IV
- The Adventures of Willy Beamish (thanks to MusicallyInspired)

Anyone in this forum lucky enough to own the above rare titles?


PC

[Boogeyman]

I'm not aware of there being an EGA KQ5 (Unless you count the NES).

[NewRisingSUn]

Well, make yourself aware, then.

http://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/kings-quest-v-absence-makes-the-heart-go-yonder/screenshots/gameShotId,7357/

I have EGA KQ5 and SQ4. SQ4 because my father bought the wrong version in 1992 --- so I wouldn't consider myself lucky ---, KQ5 when I started collecting. EGA KQ5 has some crazy installation instructions.

[MusicallyInspired]

There are indeed EGA games. Before Sierra created the EGA 640x400 dithered driver for SCI1.1 games they had alternate EGA versions of all SCI1.0 games. There'd be a form in the box that you can fill out and send away with the VGA disks to get the EGA disks mailed back to you if you didn't have a VGA card. I have all of them except for Eco Quest 1.

Another cool fact is that these EGA versions came with Tandy 3-voice drivers that didn't come with the VGA counterparts. I don't think they did, anyway. My copies certainly don't except for the EGA versions. However the driver works with both versions.

[Alistair]

I've owned COTL, WB, SQ4, KQ5, PQ3, CODB, LSL1VGA, LSL5 in box EGA, I don't know if I have any left after moving and selling, though.

Damn you guys for reminding me

Seriously, EGA versions are definitely a rarity. My COTL EGA box had very different colours as well (and not just faded), very interesting.

- Alistair

[Andy_Roark]

I finally get to contribute something!

http://sierra.gracenroark.net/manuals/Kings_Quest_5_Downgrade_Offer.pdf

I think all versions were available at retail in different numbers and, as indicated on this sheet I scanned from my KQ5 set yesterday you could switch between them.  It's possible the EGA version was only available if the VGA didn't work and this was the only way to get it.  I don't really remember.

Andy

[parazythum]

Do you know about the PASSIGAR project ? It tries to list every sierra and lucas games that ever existed, all versions, platforms and languages.
I contributed information for many EGA versions (my nick is in the credits page )
http://www.sqeagz.com/passigar/ (The last update was in 2006 )

You can find information about many sci EGA versions there. OK, it's not easy to read the files, they are in the clrMAMEPro utility format, but you can easily write a macro or a little program to "filter" them to, for example, a csv file.

[Great Hierophant]

Do you know about the PASSIGAR project ? It tries to list every sierra and lucas games that ever existed, all versions, platforms and languages.
I contributed information for many EGA versions (my nick is in the credits page )
http://www.sqeagz.com/passigar/ (The last update was in 2006 )

You can find information about many sci EGA versions there. OK, it's not easy to read the files, they are in the clrMAMEPro utility format, but you can easily write a macro or a little program to "filter" them to, for example, a csv file.

Interesting project, but some information is incorrect:

The following graphic modes are available:
160x200x16 - all AGI games, except Mac and CGA versions
160x200x2 - Mac AGI games
160x200x4 - CGA AGI games
160x100x8 - all SCUMM1 games
320x200x16 - all SCI0 games & all SCUMM2 & some SCUMM3 games
320x200x256 - all SCI01+ & some SCUMM3 & all SCUMM5+ games
320x200x32 - Amiga SCI1 & SCUMM5+ games
320x200x64 - Amiga SCI1 games
320x240x256 - all FMTowns games
640x480x256 - all SCI32 games

This list contains several inaccuracies, this is more accurate as far as the PC goes:

160x200x16 all SCUMM1-2 games (Tandy/PCjr. graphics)
320x200x4 all AGI, SCI0-1 and SCUMM games (CGA graphics)
320x200x16 all Tandy/EGA AGI, some SCUMM1-4 & all SCI0 games, some SCI1 games (EGA/Tandy graphics)
640x200x2 all AGI & SCI0 games, some SCI1 games (CGA graphics)
640x200x16 all SCUMM4-5 & SCI1.1 games (EGA graphics)
720x348x1 all AGI, SCI0, SCUMM 1-3, some SCI1 and SCUMM4 games (Hercules graphics)
320x200x256 all SCI1 games, some SC11.1-2 games, some SCUMM4 games, all SCUMM5-7 games (VGA graphics)
640x480x256 some SCI1-2 games, all SCI3 games, all SCUMM8 games (SVGA/VESA graphics)

[Marten]

I don't think it's meaningful to talk about the physical resolution of the hardware.  I can look at a 16x16 bitmap scaled to 1200x1200 on my 1600x1200 monitor; that does not make the graphics resolution "1200x1200".

AGI is 160x200.  I expect the reference to "160x100" for SCUMM1 games is a typo.

[MusicallyInspired]

AGI is not 160x200. The picture resources are in 160x200 but if you look at the text it's not double-pixel-width. So the game itself is rendered in 320x200.

[Marten]

From my perspective, the text isn't what's important.  The resolution of the graphics is what matters.  Claiming that the text makes a 160x200 game into a 320x200 game is insanity.

Which is more important here, the hardware resolution or the resolution that the viewer will experience?

And for that matter, is the text in SCUMMv1 double-pixel wide?

[MusicallyInspired]

Well, for a project like this that's going to the lengths of naming all the technical aspects of each game then I'd say go with what the game is rendered in, not just the picture resources.

And I believe the text is double-pixel wide for the early SCUMM games.

[Marten]

Ah, but now we get into some fun technicalities.  Such as: Are the games really running in a true 160x200 video mode?

[MusicallyInspired]

That's a good point...

[Great Hierophant]

Compare the first two screenshots on this page: http://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/maniac-mansion/screenshots  The first font is the normal IBM 8x8 CGA font, the second is a custom font.  This is necessary because you would only be able to fit 20 normal characters on a line in the true 160x200 mode that Maniac Mansion and Zak McKracken use.  See this page for an illustration of normal text at 160x200: http://www.mobygames.com/game/pc-booter/river-raid/screenshots

For the AGI games, the pixels for the picture and view objects were stored in a manner that would be doubled horizontally by pixel on a PCjr., Tandy, EGA or VGA card.  However, the whole screen used normal text and these adapters were not designed to switch graphics modes in mid-screen.