Obscure Russian version of Monkey Island 2

[Tomas]

So, I have gotten my hands on a preview version of the new Monkey Island 2 special edition. Oh wait, no I haven't. Around seven or so years ago I stumbled upon an obscure version of Monkey Island 2 made for the Russian home computer Elektronika BK-0011(M). I got the thing running on some emulator and intended to do some research on it but I never did. I came to think of it the other day and thought that there might be some interest in it and as far as I know it has not been mentioned around here before.

I hope no one objects to me posting a link to the game, which you can get right here. It is possible to run the game with the help of the emulator Emulator 3000 which, among other systems, emulates the BK-0011(M). It is in English so getting the thing running should be no match.

Obviously this is not an official port of the game but rather some sort of fan made thing. But a rather ambitious one at that. Potentially, it was made by some company and perhaps even sold. My Russian is a bit rusty so I don't know for sure. There appears to be some sort of copyright claim dated to the year 1995, so I assume that is when the game was made.

The BK-0011(M) seems to be a rather limited home computer but the game is actually pretty impressive considering these limitations and it seems to be a rather ambitious remake. I don't know much about the actual limitations of the BK-0011(M) (as I said, I never came around to doing any research on this and I still haven't, I'm posting this hoping one of you will. ) but the game runs in 4 colors. These appear to be changeable but for the most part they are the classic CGA palette 1 colors (black, cyan, magenta, white). Here are some screenshots of it:

Click!

As you can see, it does not have any verbs like we're used to. Instead, you interact with objects and characters simply by clicking on them. There are no options for how to interact with them. The text below the action screen is the inventory list.

I have also uploaded a video to YouTube showcasing the gameplay in case you're too lazy to actually run it. Note that while this video does not have sound, the emulator does emulate sound.

YouTube Video

The file structure seems to be similiar to that of the original SCUMM interpreter. There are 45 room files (or 44 depending on if 00.lfm is a index file as in SCUMM, or the first room) which hints that not all of the original game has been remade as Monkey Island 2 has more than 100 rooms. In addition, the rooms are not scrollable. The Woodtick town overview for example, is three screens wide and I would suspect that these three screens are in turn represented by three "rooms" so it would take up three room files. This is just speculation though, as I have not done any examination of the actual data files (yet). Mostly, because I have not yet found a convenient way of extracting the data files from the image file.

The game does have some sound and music. The very first music cue (while the monkeys are dancing during the intro) has been remade to some sort of recognizable version but after that most of the scenes either have no music at all or some generic music. I have not played through the entire game so this just applies to the first few scenes but since there are only 11 sound files I guess there isn't too much audio going on.

It would be interesting to know how this thing was done. Perhaps this is some sort of stripped-down version of SCUMM created by reverse-engineering the original game? Here is a list of the game data files. As I said, I still have not found a way to extract them to separate files from the image file. Maybe some kind RUssian-speaking person can help out in hunting down some tools for doing that. Most of the related sites (and the tools themselves) are in Russian.

  File Name      Adress   Size
MONKEY\
  monkey   exe      744  72700 
  00       lfm    36000  16276 
  01       lfm    36000  20552 
  02       lfm    36000  31570 
  03       lfm    36000  22524 
  04       lfm    36000  23030 
  05       lfm    36000  52434 
  06       lfm    36000  21572 
  07       lfm    36000  31374 
  08       lfm    36000  21744 
  09       lfm    36000  43440 
  10       lfm    36000  35426 
  11       lfm    36000  22604 
  12       lfm    36000  26434 
  13       lfm    36000  30266 
  14       lfm    36000  33274 
  15       lfm    36000  22236 
  16       lfm    36000  26524 
  17       lfm    36000  25620 
  18       lfm    36000  31514 
  19       lfm    36000  13650 
  20       lfm    36000  40106 
  21       lfm    36000  20160 
  22       lfm    36000  14776 
  23       lfm    36000  26062 
  24       lfm    36000  43112 
  25       lfm    36000   7244 
  26       lfm    36000  46220 
  27       lfm    36000  32376 
  28       lfm    36000  47450 
  29       lfm    36000  52334 
  30       lfm    36000  20666 
  31       lfm    36000  21230 
  32       lfm    36000  54254 
  33       lfm    36000  33210 
  34       lfm    36000  37362 
  35       lfm    36000  25330 
  36       lfm    36000  50464 
  37       lfm    36000  34614 
  38       lfm    36000  27424 
  39       lfm    36000  33052 
  40       lfm    36000  24320 
  41       lfm    36000  36510 
  42       lfm    36000  21750 
  43       lfm    36000  46410 
  44       lfm    36000  24714 
  00       ovl     1000 135412 
  01       ovl     1000   1442 
  02       ovl     1000    752 
  1        sgm     5052   5006 
  2        sgm     5052   5006 
  3        sgm     5052   5006 
  4        sgm     5052   5006 
  00       snd    20000   5472 
  01       snd    20000   4604 
  02       snd    20000   4452 
  03       snd    20000   4770 
  04       snd    20000   5712 
  05       snd    20000   3376 
  06       snd    20000   5022 
  07       snd    20000   3706 
  08       snd    20000   4350 
  09       snd    20000   5336 
  10       snd    20000   4574

Are there any Russians around here that have heard of this version before? Maybe someone who knows the language can translate some of the text from the credits screens I posted above.

[elTee]

Great find, this is really interesting

[bgbennyboy]

Fascinating stuff! I look forward to a Russian-speaker giving more info on this.

[Aububuh]

Guybrush looks good in pink.

[Tomas]

If someone wants to try it out it might be worth mentioning that F2 works kind of like Esc normally does in SCUMM games. And I just figured out that the four sgm-files are probably savegames. These can be accessed by pressing F1, in case you want to check out some locations other than Scabb Island without actually playing the game. F9 appears to be the key to save a game.

[elTee]

Actually, I think there's a Russian artist at the company I work for - I'll find out tomorrow and see if she can help

[TheHutt]

Are there any Russians around here that have heard of this version before? Maybe someone who knows the language can translate some of the text from the credits screens I posted above.

In fact, I used to program on BK-0010 (though it did not have CGA graphics or that nifty Norton Commander thingie - it was just black and white, and the games were loaded from tape). Maybe BK-0011 was better.

Here is a translation of the texts:

(Loading screen)
SAMARA

(First text screen)
The town of Samara presents a game from Rostov-on-Don
MONKEY ISLAND
Authors: MBS & IMS
Adaptation for CSIDOS: DepSoft
Protection removal: DepSoft
Start Music: DepSoft
Start Animation: DepSoft

(Second screen)
Based on the Game "Monkey Island2"
Copyright (c) 1991 by LucasArts
Copyright (c) 1995 by IMS & MBS

(First Title)
Mikhail Borisenko

(scrolling)
MONKEY

(Selection screen points)
Exit - Information - Game

(Information screen)
instructions for playing (key mappings etc.)

(Monkey Island 2 Intro).
Guybrush: Hey you! Shoo!

(Titles)
Conception: M. Borisenko
Design: D. Tyuryev
Programming: M. Borisenko, D. Tyuryev
Story Programming: M. Borisenko
Graphics Output: D. Tyuryev
Graphics Adaptation: D. Tyuryev
Graphics Translation: M. Borisenko
Written by: M. Borisenko
Music Editing: A. Melnikov
Music Arranged by: M. Borisenko

(Game starts)
An Island in the Caribbean

Guybrush: ...And my boat was washed ashore. That's how I came to this island. Now I am going to find a treasure.
Right pirate: Ha-ha-ha!
Left pirate: Ha-ha-ha!
Right pirate: What are you saying! There is no treasure on Shoe Island.
Largo: Stop! Who are you?
Guybrush: I am Jim Greenwood, a pirate! And who are you?
Largo: I am Largo, and I am the ruler of this island! And now give me all your money!
Guybrush: Why that?
Largo: Well, I don't like your face, sucker!

(Verbs)
- Come again?
- Move along, buddy.
- You are a rude one, shorty!

(Selected)
Guybrush: You are a rude one, shorty!
Largo: They don't argue with me around here. How is this, boy?
Guybrush: Help! Police!
Largo: Ha-ha-ha! There is no police on this island! I am here the police, the court and the law!

(Verbs)
- Let me go! It hurts!
- Please! My new jacket!
- Please put me down!

(selected)
Guybrush: Please put me down!
Largo: Okay, this time I'll just take your money. And remember: Nobody comes to and nobody leaves from this island without my permit!
Guybrush: Phew! Wow. How good I have a secret pocket. But this rascal took 1000 pieces of gold from me!

(Inventory)
money - sign

Guybrush: I think I can take the shovel.

(Inventory)
money - shovel

(going to carpenter)
(to carpenter)
Guybrush: Excuse me...
Carpenter: Hm-hm! Yes?

(Verbs)
- I am Jim Greenwood, a pirate. And you?
- How are you?
- What a job you have!
- You look tired. I'll come back later.

(selected)
Guybrush: You look tired. I'll come back later.
Carpetner: I never get tired.

(exiting, going to bartender)
(going into kitchen)

(selecting "sharp kitchen knife")
Guybrush: The knife will come in handy.

(exiting kitchen)
(exiting bar, selecting Wally's place)

Wally: Hi!
(exiting)
(exiting Wally's)
(exiting Woodtick)
(exiting bridge)

Map of Scabb Island. Title: "Shoe Island".
(selecting "Swamp")

Sign: "House of Mojo"
(selecting "coffin on water")

(Voodoo Lady's house)
(highlighting "potion")

Guybrush: Before taking it, ask yourself: do you really need it?

(highlighting "Sorcery books")
Guybrush: I won't take them. They are too heavy and too dusty.

(going to Voodoo Lady)
Voodoo Lady: Come in, my child. I know who you are and why you have come!
Guybrush: I don't really know myself why I have come...
Voodoo Lady: I do though!
Guybrush: I don't.

End of film

[elTee]

Incredible work! This is quite wonderful, I think.

[Tomas]

Thanks for the translation, TheHutt! Really interesting! I used the F2 key to skip parts of the intro so that's not the complete one in the clip, just to clarify that.

So it seems that the thing was created mainly by two people; Dmitry Tjurev and Michael Borisenko. Dmitry seems to also have written a BK-0010 emulator as well as a version of the game Reversi (AKA Othello) called Reversy, both for MS-DOS and written in Assembly language.

It would be interesting to know if this thing is at all based on SCUMM or if they just ripped the graphics and created the thing from scratch.

[TheHutt]

The programmers Tyuryev and Borisenko from Rostov-na-Donu created HC-DOS, an operating system for BK-0011M. This version of Monkey Island was supplied with this OS, according to Wikipedia.

Also, Borisenko is the creator of the first Russian MMORPG, "Sfera" (Sphere).

BTW, the download link you specified doesn't seem to work anymore - could you share the archive someplace else?

[Tomas]

Oh, forgot to check the link, here is a working one: ftp://ftp.komkon.org/pub/EMUL8/BK001...nkeyIsland.zip. I also fixed the link in the original post.

[MusiclyInspired]

How fascinating!

[phedon]

I'm just wondering how to load this ".img"-file into the emulator
if always says:"Ôîðìàò ôàéëà íå îïðåäåëåí" what is "File format undefined" in english..

[Michael Borisenko]

Originally Posted by Tomas

Are there any Russians around here that have heard of this version before? Maybe someone who knows the language can translate some of the text from the credits screens I posted above.

Impressive, thank you. I knew there were a few BK0011M emulators around, but couldn't even imagine they're known outside Russia.
I found this forum accidentally and this thread leaped out at me to my biggest surprise, so I decided to register and comment on your questions.

Memory limitations on BK0011M were not severe for that time, you could access 128K of paged memory.
But there were only 2 bits per pixel + palettes of 16 colours.
CPU = 500Khz (0.5Mhz), archtecture pretty close to PDP11 processos (16bit).
You could store data on tape or 5" drive, some people managed to use HDD.

Virtual machine for this game was inspired by SCRUMM, but in fact we didn't reversed original MI2 to that extent, our VM was our own as well as the rest of the game engine. The graphix was obviously captured from PC using special screenshot taker...

The storyline resembled original MI2, however it was shorter. I also made a couple other quests for BK0011M based on own original storylines, but MI2 was the last and best one.

Despite 'Samara' caption, the game was made in Rostov-on-Don by myself and my friend Dmitry Tjurev (Tyuryev in alt trasliteration) and was running under our own OS. In Samara it was adapted to another OS (yes there were multiple OSes for BK0011, every single homebrew developer made their own OS)

After this MI2 remake which was obviously not-for-profit, we started professional career in gamedev making PC quests and eventually MMORPG. I left Russia in 2006, Dmitry is still doing MMOs in Rostov.

[Melancholick]

Just one question, Mr. Borisenko, if you would be so kind...

... why "Shoe Island?" That's one of the best bits of gold in this translation, but I am curious as to why it was a preferable choice to any of the Russian words for "wound," or the like.

Though Google implies that the literal translation of "scab" is three words long, so that might just be a self-explanatory bit of curiosity.

[Michael Borisenko]

Hello,

the story was based on the original MI2 but we didn't literally follow it translating it like a poem not prose to convey the spirit

That's an interesting question though if it was possible to rewrite and run SCRUMM VM on that computer, more theoretical rather than practical because 'home comuter BK0011M' died in 1995, manufacturing was stopped and I think there are barely any fans with working stations left these days.

[ThunderPeel2001]

Jim Greenwood? Hahaha! That's the stupidest name I ever heard!

[ThunderPeel2001]

What kind of crazy computer system can only handle four on screen colours, but has enough memory and CPU power for complex animations? Bizarre!

[Michael Borisenko]

Originally Posted by ThunderPeel2001

What kind of crazy computer system can only handle four on screen colours, but has enough memory and CPU power for complex animations? Bizarre!

IBM PC XT with CGA?

On that BK0011M system, btw, the screen resolution was 256x256. I'd say the system was somewhere between ZX Spectrum and PC XT.

[Melancholick]

Originally Posted by Michael Borisenko

Hello,

the story was based on the original MI2 but we didn't literally follow it translating it like a poem not prose to convey the spirit

Ha! Fair deuce. Thank you, good sir.

[sanguinehearts]

Originally Posted by Michael Borisenko

That's an interesting question though if it was possible to rewrite and run SCRUMM VM on that computer

Do you still have the source code?

[Michael Borisenko]

unfortunately no, and my old computer vanished during my relocations...
it was pure asm anyway, except for the script for VM.

[sanguinehearts]

So, this game popped into my head again today and I decided to take a look at extracting the contents from the image file.

I've not really got any plans to dig any further but if anybody else does then I've chucked the extracted datafiles up here: http://gracesdisposal.bpweb.net/Games/MI2%20BK-0011.zip

I'd love to see those backgrounds

When extracting I discovered there were more files than those listed above(a few more exe's), my complete file list is as follows:

00.lfm
01.lfm
02.lfm
03.lfm
04.lfm
05.lfm
06.lfm
07.lfm
08.lfm
09.lfm
10.lfm
11.lfm
12.lfm
13.lfm
14.lfm
15.lfm
16.lfm
17.lfm
18.lfm
19.lfm
20.lfm
21.lfm
22.lfm
23.lfm
24.lfm
25.lfm
26.lfm
27.lfm
28.lfm
29.lfm
30.lfm
31.lfm
32.lfm
33.lfm
34.lfm
35.lfm
36.lfm
37.lfm
38.lfm
39.lfm
40.lfm
41.lfm
42.lfm
43.lfm
44.lfm
1.sgm
2.sgm
3.sgm
4.sgm
00.ovl
01.ovl
02.ovl
00.snd
01.snd
02.snd
03.snd
04.snd
05.snd
06.snd
07.snd
08.snd
09.snd
10.snd
monkey.exe
print.exe
graber5.exe
csiview.exe
csiedit.exe
CSIDOS3.EXE
cds2.exe
bu.exe