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SCI Development Tools / Re: General MIDI vs MT-32
« on: September 05, 2023, 04:26:35 AM »My observations regarding the MT-32:To answer your questions then, I don't know if it's accurate but if it is, the switch would likely be when they started using that single patch in SCI 1.1 and later.
- The first few SCI 0 games had no special patches to reprogram the MT-32. Means they load pretty quick.
- Then they started using game-specific patches. This is the set of games with cute startup messages like "INSERT BUCKAZOID".
- The later SCI games, starting with 1.1, shared a common MT-32 patch resource, with "SIERRA ON-LINE" as the single message. This patch approximates the General MIDI standard.
Thanks, it makes sense.
I've looked at the games that are SCI 1.1, and before SCI 1.1 (at https://wiki.scummvm.org/index.php?title=Sierra_Game_Versions#SCI1.1) and was surprised to see that SQ4 (floppy) is SCI1 (early), while SQ4 (CD) is SCI1.1
It's interesting to compare them - do they use the same sound resources? (and then SQ4 is probably an exception to our MT32/GM rule), or maybe Sierra have re-composed the sound tracks? if so - why should they do such an effort?