SCUMM emulator DREAMM released in new beta version – News

Aaron Giles once released a patch for as a hobby project Star Wars – Rebel Assault, which drastically improved the performance on the Apple computers with PowerPC CPUs of the time. This hobby project led to a hiring at LucasArts to handle the conversions of Star Wars – Dark Forces and Full Throttle to implement on the Macintosh. Already in July 2022 he published the first version 1.0 of his SCUMM interpreter DREAMM. Now the beta version 2.0b10 has been released. DREAMM stands for DOS Retro Emulation Arena forManiac Mansion.

The history of DREAMM goes back to the year 2001. In that year the first version 0.0.1 of the ScummVM was released. Giles approached some of his former colleagues at LucasArts with the idea of ​​porting the SCUMM games to Windows so that they would run natively straight away. After a few months of deliberation from LucasArts, Giles got the job and got going. In the end, 11 out of 12 games were ported:

• Maniac Mansion
• Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders
• Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
• Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
• The Secret of Monkey Island
• Monkey Island 2 – LeChuck’s Revenge
• loom
• Day of the Tentacle
• Sam & Max
• Full Throttle
• The Dig

The Curse of Monkey Island was not revised at all. The actual project Giles was hired for died along with plans for its successor: an adapted, special downloadable version of Full Throttle. Ultimately, only a few of the ported titles were re-released: Full Throttle in the original version and Sam & Max made it onto a compilation CD, the Indiana Jones adventures, Loom and The Dig are distributed via Steam and run natively on Windows without ScummVM require. Although Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is not in German Steamshop to purchase there. on GOG the titles are sold together with ScummVM.

In order to be able to start the games in DREAMM, you need the original EXE files. You own this if you still have the old installation media. These are now also installed in some GOG versions:

• Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (English only)
• Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis (English only)
• Loom (English only)
• The Dig (at least in German and English)
• Maniac Mansion (English Only)

So the situation is confusing. If you install the German version of Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis via GOG, the EXE file is missing, which means that the start via DREAMM fails.

The LucasArts classics that run under DOS can now be played on a variety of platforms without any problems thanks to ScummVM, but also the DOSBox. So why do you need DREAMM when you can use DOSBox or the ScummVM? Giles addresses the topic in the interview. He emphasizes that the makers of the ScummVM have “reverse engineered” the engine, and that a very good job has been done. However, the ScummVM is not a native interpreter of the SCUMM engine, so it cannot play the original game. DREAMM is aimed at purists who want to play the original game on a modern platform and, for example, want to use their old savegames.

The second beta version has a revised interface and allows you to install the game using drag-and-drop: if you have disk images, for example, you simply drag them from Explorer into the program’s interface and start the installation. In addition, compared to the first version, the following games are also supported:

• Grim Fandango
• Escape from Monkey Island
• Star Wars – Dark Forces
• Star Wars – Rebel Assault
• Star Wars – Rebel Assault 2
• Star Wars – X Wing
• Star Wars-TIE Fighters
• Afterlife – chaos in the afterlife

Please note, however, that the newly added games may not yet run smoothly. DREAMM also offers you a bonus: If the code disk of your “backup copy” from back then got lost, the solution will be displayed at the bottom of the screen when the copy protection query is displayed.

On the Youtube channel Conversations with Curtis you will find an interview with Aaron Giles detailing his history with LucasArts – we have included the video at the end of this news item. On the website The International House of Mojo there is another interview in text form.