New website, toast-making function coming in future update

Apparently people browse the internet on phones and tablets now and Google is downranking sites that aren’t optimized for mobile devices. Although this clashes with my nostalgic view of everyone using an Amiga 1200 and 33.6k modem I cant ignore Google rankings.

So here’s my new website; its responsive, mobile friendly and will probably make toast too if needed. Now that’s out of the way I’m going to get back to making software. I’ve been updating a number of my programs and will release new versions next week.

DoubleFine Explorer Now Supports Grim Fandango Remastered

I’ve added support for Grim Fandango Remastered to DoubleFine Explorer. The original files can still be decoded with SCUMM Revisited, so in this release I’ve concentrated on adding support for the newer stuff introduced in the Remastered version. That mostly boils down to viewing/decoding/dumping the audio and images. The main features added to support Grim Remastered are:

  • The .mcb files in MATERIALS.LAB are the new textures – these can all be viewed and batch saved.
  • The music and voices as well as the new commentary audio can all be played back and batch saved.
  • The concept art in IMAGES.LAB are just normal png images and can be viewed and saved.

This release uses VIMA decoding code from the legendary Jimmi Thøgersen (Serge), many thanks to him. Although its 15 years old, his most famous tool SCUMM Revisited 2 is still the goto tool for anything related to the SCUMM engine and it works with Grim Remastered.

Download DoubleFine Explorer here.

Telltale Music and Speech Extractor Both Updated

I’ve added support for Game of Thrones episode 1 to Telltale Music Extractor and Telltale Speech Extractor.

As I’ve done previously, I’ve added skeleton support for the remaining episodes – assuming that the file format and naming convention remain the same, the new episodes should work without me needing to update the program.

Amongst other changes the speech extractor has now caught up with the music extractor and lets you open individual ttarch files.

Download them here.

[Edit] – It seems that Game of Thrones stores some of its music differently. At the moment only a small number of tracks are dumped by the Music Extractor. The Speech Extractor still works fine.

[Edit2] – This is now fixed in the new version of the Music Extractor

DoubleFine Explorer Bugfix

I’ve updated DoubleFine Explorer. The full list of changes is:

  • Fixed a bug that stopped the streaming music in Brutal Legend from decoding.
  • Added partial support for Psychonauts. Right now the data2.pkg file and parts of the level pack files work. I would still recommend that people use Psychonauts Explorer in most cases.
    The only reason for using this for Psychonauts at the moment is if you have the new Steam or GOG version of the game. The level pack files have changed in these and cant be opened in Psychonauts Explorer.

Download it here.

Grim Fandango Setup and Launcher programs also updated

Yesterday I released updated versions of my Escape From Monkey Island setup program and launcher. Today I’m doing the same for my Grim Fandango equivalents.

Changes to the setup program:

  • Changed the cd detection code to fix the problem that some people had when it couldn’t search through all their drives and find the cd.

Changes to the launcher program:

  • Added option to use sounds in the launcher – just like the original game launcher does. Its enabled by default.
  • Added keyboard navigation to launcher.
  • Fixed debug keys form displaying incorrectly on some high res systems.
  • Added a few fixes to make the launcher work correctly in Windows 8.
  • Fixed launcher position on multi-monitor systems. Now appears in current screen center.

Download Grim Fandango Setup here and Grim Fandango Launcher here.

Escape From Monkey Island Setup and Launcher programs updated

After a short delay of a mere 3 years I have finally kept my promise and updated my Escape From Monkey Island launcher and setup programs.

For those that are unaware, the setup program is a replacement installer for Escape From Monkey Island. while the launcher is an improved version of the launcher program that LucasArts shipped with the game. It has a number of features not present in the original launcher such as running in windowed mode and patching the game to run in a higher resolution. The launcher program is included with the installer.

Changes to the setup program:

  • Now fully supports all language versions of the game. There is one file “i9n.m4b” that is only found in the non-English versions of the game. Previously this file wasn’t copied – this is now fixed.
  • Changed the cd detection code to fix the problem that some people had when it couldn’t search through all their drives and find the cd.

Changes to the launcher program:

  • Can now apply a no cd patch – so the cds don’t need to be in the drive to play.
    • I resisted adding this for years due to concerns about piracy but now things have changed. The game is really old, its unavailable to buy and many computers no longer have a cd drive. It will work for every version of the game except Italian.
  • The resolution patch has been updated to support the most common resolutions and to allow you to choose a custom resolution.
    • Remember that the game wasn’t designed for this so there are some issues. See the readme for more information about this.
  • The resolution patch has been improved:
    • The game should now work in windowed mode when patched to a higher resolution. This doesn’t work for every resolution but works fine for most 4:3 resolutions
    • Cutscene movies now scale up to fill more of the screen. The patch now edits the movies to make them play at double size when appropriate. The original videos are 640×480, while the doubled videos are 1280×960. So at resolutions of 1280×960 and above the launcher will patch the movie files to make them double size. Many thanks to Gannet for these resolution fixes.
  • Added option to use sounds in the launcher – just like the original game launcher does. Its enabled by default.

Download EMI Setup here and EMI Launcher here.

Telltale Music Extractor Now Supports Tales from the Borderlands

I’ve added support for Tales from the Borderlands episode 1 to Telltale Music Extractor. I’ve also added skeleton support for the remaining episodes – assuming that the file format and naming convention remain the same – new episodes should work without me needing to update the program.

Since I only have the Steam edition of Tales from the Borderlands the game dir wont be auto-detected if you have the Telltale version. If someone does have this version then please contact me. If you send me the registry keys that the game uses I can add auto-detection for this version too.

Download it here.

Telltale Explorer Update

Telltale Explorer has been updated to support Law & Order Legacies, Poker Night 2 and The Walking Dead Season One (remember that only games that are at least a year old are supported in this tool).
I’ve also tweaked its look and behaviour to match that of newer tools like Doublefine Explorer, fixed the error when opening really small ttarch files and added experimental lua script decompiling. See the readme for the full list of changes.

Download it here.

Telltale Music and Speech Extractor Bugfix Updates

Many thanks to raedon in the comments for pointing out that the music and speech extractors didn’t work correctly with the Telltale editions of The Wolf Among Us and The Walking Dead Season 2.

Since I only have the Steam editions of these games the game dir wasn’t auto-detected if you had the Telltale versions. This caused problems with automatically identifying the correct resource files that the tools should open.

I’ve now fixed this and uploaded new versions of both tools. I’ve also added support for The Walking Dead Season 2: Episode 2 to the Speech Extractor.

Download them here.

DoubleFine Explorer and Telltale Music Extractor Updated

I’ve updated DoubleFine Explorer to add support for Broken Age. Music, images, text and scripts are viewable and dumpable.

I’ve also updated Telltale Music Extractor to add support for The Walking Dead 400 Days, The Walking Dead Season 2 Episode 1 and The Wolf Among Us Episode Two. I’ve cleaned and reworked the source code a bit in this version (the program is 8 years old) so please let me know if I broke anything. In addition, I’ve added support for the remainder of the episodes of The Walking Dead Season 2 and The Wolf Among Us. Assuming that the file format and naming convention remain the same – new episodes should work without me needing to update the program

Download them here.