Having bought my last game, it occured to me that the old games I have bought here weren't really the games I played in the past. The point is... some PC games were just inferior counterparts of their Amiga versions. Amiga had better music in most cases, graphics was sometimes better too. PC versions were usually fuller, in that they contained more graphics content, longer cutscenes/intros etc. However, it is mostly music that created the experience.

My request, and suggestion is:
I do not know, if you would bother to do it, as it would definitely require more work, but wouldn't it be possible to augment PC versions of old games with Amiga music? Alternatively, maybe Amiga versions could be supplied as well? I suppose this would make the service more unique - some ppl still get old versions of the old games from the net and emulate them on their own. However, they only get stand-alone versions.
GOG has an access to the the library in full and can provide something that those other pages/services can't - improve the games, shifting data between different versions of the games, making them UNIQUE and one of a kind. Or at least provide Amiga music as additional soundtracks?

If you think the music is the same, here's sth to compare music between PC/Amiga versions. Colonization from Amiga sounds this way http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hz0FWO6STGQ&feature=related , on PC this way http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4no17ep3xqA The PC version is terrible. It is the same with the intro from Ishar and other games too. Please consider it, because you made at least one person (most likely many more) a bit disappointed after buyng the game. I think such things can cut the sales, because, let's face it, many ppl buy those games here out of nostalgia.

GOG doesn't get the source code to any of these games (as far as we know).

So smashing different elements together from different ports isn't really possible.

As radical as this sounds, I don't think it will realistically be possible

Also: love it how you used "Augmented" in that sentence

Probably the closest thing to that would be installing Roland support. GOG can't do that for you because the copyright on the files is questionable. Roland most likely owns it, but AFAIK they can't locate the documents to prove it, leaving the files in a sort of legal limbo.

Oh, bother, really? :/ But they are so cool that the could consider to do it somehow, huh? Or just the Amiga music as OST? ;)

@Roman - what about it? :)

@ hedwards - Roland ? First hear, I will look into it! But if you could give me a sketch of the thing's description, it could help me to narrow my searches down! Please! :)

As others have said, adding Amiga music in to the game would basically be impossible without the source code. The Amiga music was different because the hardware was different, not because they decided to arbitrarily change it between versions.

What you can try is starting dosbox, navigate to the game directory and start the config/install file in there from dosbox. Then try to set the music to Roland This will give you much better music in most cases but there is a problem. The sound tables for normal sound blasters and roland midi devices are different so some sounds will be wrong. This isn't a problem, when you can set the audio device for sound and music sepperately because in most cases it won't give you problems with the music but with the sound effects.

Then you can download bassmidi driver and look for a soundfont you like. This will also enhance the music.

I listened to both pieces and to be honest the PC version is far superior..I don't see the issue?







J/k The amiga version was a lot better, I didn't know there was such a difference between PC remakes.

damn you I must now break out one of my Amigas and play zool and dune2 -.-

Though I would sell my soul for a CM-64...

New sound hardware produces much higher quality than the old roland gear did for home use, but Roland was available by the time Wolf 3D came out 20 years ago.

The sound quality will be substantially higher, but GOG can't legally do that for you and it may or may not represent infringement as nobody really knows if Roland could enforce their copyright on the firmware you need to get that running.

Sorry to all for my belated answers.

@SirPrimalform - I know what the problem used to be, but now, as the autio hardware is MUCH better, ti'd be nice to hear it as it was meant to be heard, right? :)

@ Darkcloud and hedwards - thank you for the information and the hints, guys! I will get to it once I finally have some time for myself ;)

@ Nirth - You almost got me there :D
@ wodmarach - Hear! Hear! :D Mine's been gathering dust for too long too ;)

My solution for listening to the much better Amiga music is simply firing up WinUAE with the relevant ADF image. Simple, painless and much simpler than trying to force an ancient PC game into something it was never meant for. ;)

I think I will try it, if I can sort it all out. I haven't been much into this emulation thing. Thanks for the hint! It'd be nice if he had an Amiga section on GOG though.