New in this version (1.8):

• Fixed downloading and installing the 1.1 update patch. The URL to the patches changed.

What is Escape From Monkey Island Launcher ?:
A replacement launcher program for Escape From Monkey Island (Monkey Island 4).
The original launcher program doesn't work on modern versions of Windows.
It also has features not present in the original launcher:

• Can run EMI in windowed mode.


• Can patch the game so the cds don't need to be in the drive to play.


• Can make EMI run in a higher resolution (subject to some limitations, see the bugs/limitation section below).


• Supports all recent versions of Windows (XP, Vista, Windows7, Windows8). Windows 98, ME and 2000 are not officially supported but should work correctly.


• Can automatically download and install the V1.1 update patch for all language versions of EMI.


• Loads one of 10 random images as the main launcher image - for added eye candy.

The program does not need to be installed and can be run from anywhere since it reads the registry values in order to find the location of EMI. So Escape From Monkey Island must be installed for the launcher to work correctly.

How to use it:
Usage should be fairly self-explanatory:

• Click either Play fullscreen or Play windowed to start the game.


• The Lucasarts readme button displays Lucasarts' EMI readme, while the Launcher readme button displays this readme.


• Click Change Resolution to bring up the Change Resolution window. Choose a resolution from the dropdown box and then click 'Change' to change the resolution that EMI runs in.
  
  The resolution patch has been tested on patched and unpatched English versions of EMI. If you use a version of EMI for another language it *should* still work but this is untested.

Click 'Options' to bring up the options menu.

• Run without cds:
  This patches the game so that the cds dont have to be in the drive to play. If you click it again, then it will undo the patch. For this to work - you must have installed the patch to update the game to version 1.1. It should work with all versions of the game except Italian.


• Get update patch:
  This automatically downloads and installs the V1.1 game update.


• Close launcher on play:
  If enabled, then the launcher closes when one of the play buttons is clicked.


• Direct3D/OpenGL:
  Lets you choose between the two rendering modes.


• 32 bit/16 bit colour:
  Allows you to switch between the different colour modes.


• Sounds in launcher:
  If enabled, then the launcher plays the same sounds that Lucasarts' original launcher program did.

Bugs/Limitations:
The no cd patch doesn't work with the Italian version. For some reason this version of the game has different copy protection to the others.

There are known issues with the resolution patch.:

• Cutscenes may not fill the whole screen. The patch makes the videos double in size at resolutions of 1280x960 and above. But if you choose a resolution other than 640x480 or 1280x960 the videos will not fill the whole screen.


• Playing in a window wont work with some resolutions. Fullscreen will still work though.


• There may be some visual glitches like tearing.


• Saved games made in higher resolutions are not always compatible with each other. They will usually work but there may be visual glitches if you load a saved game that you made in a different resolution.

Credits and thanks to:
Jeunealbert - who created the resolution initial patch and continued to perfect it. The resolution patching in this launcher is based on his findings.

Launcher icon uses the EMI icon created by Thanius.

Readme, tick, cross and update icons from the Buff set by Mahttahan.

Gannet - who provided the higher resolution windowed mode fix and the cutscene size doubling fix.

Salty Horse - helped with extracting the resources from the EMI patches. He is a legend.

Support:
Contact me.

All my software is completely free. If you find this program useful please consider making a donation. This can be done on my website.

Changes in previous versions:

Changes in the version 1.7:

• Fixed the resolution patch so it works with the German version. Many thanks to Stefan Mueller for finding the bug and identifying a fix.

Changes in version 1.6:

• Added a no cd patch:
  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. I also needed to do this so I could add the cutscene patch. It will work for every version of the game except Italian.
  To enable the nocd patch go to the options menu.


• Updated resolution patch to support common resolutions and custom resolutions:
  The list of resolutions now includes the most common 4:3, 16:9 and 16:10 resolutions. Or you can enter a custom resolution.


• Resolution patch improvements:
  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 640x480, while the doubled videos are 1280x960. So at resolutions of 1280x960 and above the launcher will patch the movie files to make them double size.
  Many thanks to Gannet for these two fixes.


• Hint text at the bottom of the launcher now shows the resolution.


• Added a few fixes to make the launcher work correctly in Windows 8.


• Changed URL for the V1.1 update patches since Lucasarts no longer provides them.


• Added option to use sounds in the launcher - just like the original game launcher does. Its enabled by default.

Bennyboy 14/08/22