Yeah, thatâs the version I know. I think they used Roland MIDIs to produce better sounding tracks.
And thatâs what they did with later games as the space was even more an issue. Loom was one of their first CD releases so they had to learn a lot.
Sadly those versions canât be bought anywhere. The version on GOG is the VGA CD one which is the worst version.
Iâve only looked at the monster.sou which only includes speech audio in case of FT. Sound effects and music is in the main data file but should be the same audio format.
Video is in separate files.
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I see an issue with this. A CD-ROM drive could operate either in data mode or audio mode, as far as I understand. In audio mode, it would behave like a regular CD player, pass the data through its internal DAC, which would then output the analog data to the soundcard. I donât know if it was even possible to switch modes to go read something off the data part of the disc, without the equivalent of pressing âstopâ on your CD player.
The only way I see to avoid this problem is to require harddisk installation of the game data. Which was probably doable for something relatively small like Loom, but lots of games with larger assets back in those days offered you the choice of either installing to the harddisk, or playing off the CD if you were space constrained. Iâm not sure the second option would work for games that played back CD Audio tracks while running.
As far as I remember you had to install Loom on your harddisk to be able to play it. So one solution would be to copy the voices on the harddisk too and leave only the music on the CD (as tracks). Possible problem: the limited hard disk capacity in the early 90s. 
Another solution would be to put the complete audio as WAV files on the CD (and not to use a mixed-mode CD).
Iâm also pretty sure you had to install the game to harddisk.
I never really thought about it or tried it but I also donât think you can play audio from CD and read the data track at the same time from a mixed mode CD.
Theoretically it wouldnât be necessary since resources are loaded before entering a room, i.e. when playing voices there is no data access necessary. But having the currently running application on there could be a problem.
Anyway: I think they did it this way just because they didnât know better. It maybe even was their very first game on CD. Does anyone now for sure?
Note that this dreadful Loom VGA CD version only contains speech in its audio track + sometimes a little bit of music for cutscenes. Otherwise there is no music in this version I know of! 
In comparison: Loom FM-Towns contains multiple audio tracks with music (+ sound effects in resource files) and no voices.
Yay! Lucky me! I bought it on Gog, which apparently only contains the VGA version. 
Yes and no. You could load all needed resources into RAM (or cache it on the hard disk) and then play the track. The problem were the limited amount of RAM and hard disk space back then.
Well, again: yes and no. There were many other games with voices on CD before Loom (just think about the CDTV games). So they should have known other techniques. I assume that they wanted to ship the best sound quality.
I may be wrong but wasnât everything loaded in RAM already after entering a room? (All hail the snail!)
Even if they wanted to use the highest bitrate they can get, stereo wouldnât be necessary (i.e. it can be reduced to 50%).
Storing it as uncompressed audio on data track would reduce it again by 25%.
Also having it as audio track so people can play it doesnât make sense either, itâs one long track, mostly speech.
This would only make sense for FM-Towns version which had 16 audio tracks with proper music tracks.
(Btw. Sam&Max also contained audio tracks of some songs which are just a bonus and meant for listening to them with a CD player. The actual music was in the monster.sou file.)
Good question. This should be true for the graphics. But please remember that RAM was limited at that time. So it wouldnât be possible to load all the voices of the current room into the RAM.
Thatâs what I wrote already. 
But the focus on the quality is the only explanation I have for this big track. And stereo would be necessary for the music, btw.
Do you mean that they have to use one long track or that the people are able to play the track on their CD player?
The first is simple to explain: If you decide to put the voices on the CD you have to use one big track: The specifications of the CD allow only 99 tracks. But in a game like Loom you have more than 99 lines. So you canât put each line in one track (even if you combine a discussion).
Regarding playing the CD on a player: The game wasnât meant to be played on a CD player. Especially with the data track at the beginning.
Not in the German version of âSam and Maxâ.
This is not necessary regarding Loom: There are no voices or music: only sound effects (+ scripts, costumes etc.) need to be loaded.
I think this was my first guess but after our conversation and checking the release dates etc. I prefer my other explanation (â inexperience).
Loom VGA doesnât really have music except during cutscenes, also I donât see really a need for stereo.
When the developers were thinking this way: stereo or twice as much space, I think they would have chosen the latter one.
Yes, this was another potential explanation why they could have favoured an CD Audio track over data files.
It makes sense with Loom FM-Towns, but not with Loom VGA.
CD players allow to skip tracks, some even skipped data tracks automatically or muted them.
Those who didnât⌠oh well, I hope the stereo wasnât turned up to 11⌠
Iâm sure there are other games which included audio tracks even as bonus like the following oneâŚ
Actually I was specifically talking about the German one since this is the one I own on CD. It looks like this:
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Iâm almost sure Loom was LFL/LAâs first CD talkie, but I have not checked the release dates.
I confirm @Nor_Treblig, my CD from the 10 game pack had the audio tracks and I remember listening to them in my CD player. 
Yes, but I was talking about the (VGA) version with voices.
Yes, but you know the typical users ⌠I remember the warning labels on mixed mode CDs not to use them in a normal CD player.
Yes and No. The Mac version had the music tracks. My PC edition of the german Sam and Max talkie hadnât the music tracks. Instead Softgold put several demo versions of other LA games on the CD. The box has even a label that âadvertiseâ the demos. The directory listing looks like this (CD info at the moment only in German):
This version should be the first edition. I had a chat back then with Softgold about the music tracks. They told me that the music tracks had a bad quality so they decided to put the demos on the CD instead. (And that I wouldnât miss the music tracks). Later I bought the mac version with the music tracks and I was surprised that they werenât that badâŚ
Yes, me too, or more precisely it was about using a mixed mode CD.
I was listing the stuff which need to be loaded for a room so when you are doing interactions in the room and voices (CD audio) need to be played there is no data track access needed.
I also have the PC Edition and it looks like this German front cover @mobygames
There is also a similar box with additional stickers: another German front cover @mobygames
Iâll check later if mine was also published by Softgold. What timestamps do you have on your CD?
Yep, thatâs mine.
Iâll have to check that tomorrow.
Ok. Now I want to reply MI1 and MI2, preferably in the original version. Any suggestion where/which to buy? Links? Is the original availablw on gog? (Its very unclear if the remake version can be switched to.original). Help pls.
If you want to play the original EGA version then you have to âfindâ it.
Otherwise you can get the Special Editions (GOG, SteamâŚ) and convert them to Ultimate Editions.
Those are nearly bug-free version and you can play it with voices if you want (classic VGA graphics).
e.g. see MI Special Editions - don't work on Mac OS? - #8 by Nor_Treblig and I also mentioned it in this thread: Monkey Island 1, 2, 3 remakes! - #12 by Nor_Treblig
@Someone: Yes (of course) it was also published by Softgold.
The CD looks like this: CD @mobygames
The booklet looks like this: Front @mobygames, Back @mobygames (copyright notice says 1994)
My edition may be a re-release and luckily theyâve decided to put those tracks back on the CD. It also contains the hintbook (didnât remember that!).
I purchased it in 1995; All hail invoices printed on non-thermal-paper!
Thanks. Can you explain what is meant by ultimate edition and how to convert from special edition? I find this really confusing.
- You have to buy MI1:SE and/or MI2:SE
- Download and install the game(s) normally
- Download and install ScummVM in case you havenât already.
- Download the ZIP files from The Secret of Monkey Island Ultimate Talkie Edition and/or Monkey Island 2: LeChuckâs Revenge Ultimate Talkie Edition
- Follow the instructions on this website (section Installing it for ScummVM) to generate the Ultimate Editions.
- Run ScummVM and add the newly generated Ultimate Edition folders.
- Enjoy the games.
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