DISGUST: Censorship of my post!

[Derrick]

As a loyal Fan of Sam & Max I am recently disgusted by the removal of the informative post I made.

I pre-oredered S&M 1 & 2. And pre-ordered W&G even though the controls stink, but will work quite well with a joystick. I even ordered other merchandise from TTG.

My post showed users how to play S&M Season 1 (and other TT games) in any video mode they choose. The lack of video modes has been an ongoing problem for me and other users. See this previous topic.
http://www.telltalegames.com/forums/...ead.php?t=3840

I did not tell people how to steal the game. I told them how to play the games at an enhanced resolution. I just got done playing S&M season 1, Ep 1 in Hi-Res widescreen. It was quite enjoyable. I would not have played it again except to see it in its hi-res glory.

I also told people how to select any mode for Strong Bad. That post was removed. I also explained why it is harder then most people think to add proper widescreen support to S&M S1. But all this usefull info has been removed.

As a loyal customer, I WANT/DEMAND AN EXPLAINATION!

P.S. as some TTG employees are ex-Lucas Arts... I also own every Lucas Arts adventure. Purchased the moment they were in the store at full price. Heck, I even purchased the floppy versions of DOTT and S&MHTR. Then I purchased the CD talkies when I found out about them and gave away the floppy versions. No complaint about the double purchase.

[Derrick]

Let's take a poll....

WHO wants to know how to play Sam and Max Season 1 in 1920x1080 Widescreen?

Quick... Before I get censored again.

[Lachlan_is]

me...

[Kevin]

I deleted your threads. We can't distribute information on modifying the games on this site. There is no way for us to verify that the modifications you're suggesting are safe for all users and don't have adverse side effects, etc. If you'd like to discuss things like this, you'll need to find an appropriate venue to do it. Please remember these are moderated forums.

Thanks,
Kevin

[Derwin]

@Kevin, I am wondering how much legal responsibility TTG has for user modifications posted on these forums. I am used to seeing third party tutorials/mods on game forums without any issue... just usually a disclaimer that the modification has not been verified to work with all systems and that users should modify the game at their own risk.

I understand this again may not be the best venue for this question, but I feel that a wide variety of forumers would benefit from knowing the reasons why TTG is unable to host such information on their forums.

@Derrick, I would suggest that if you do think that your solution is a valid solution to the problem, it might be best to host the information on an external website such as the Widescreen Gaming Forums.

[Derrick]

How is telling people how to get S&M season1 working in 1920x1080 widescreen any different from the posts telling people how to get the game running on Linux? Which seems to be allowed.

I did not post any info on how to modify the game itself. Just the preference file. And just to modify the 2 bytes that tell the video mode res. I even had plenty of disclaimers stating it is unsupported by TTG, etc.

Heck people, it is easy to do. Run the game and quit so the prefs.prop file is created. Save a copy of it. Run it again and change the video mode. Compare the 2 and you will see the 2 bytes that need changing.

The trick is in knowing what the 2 bytes mean, which is what I explained. I also explained how and why you may get graphical glitches in S&M S1. And why it is harder for TTG to add widescreen to S1 then it seems. But the glitches are quite livable knowing you are doing an unofficial hack to make the game work in a mode you may need.

But now that I am upset from the censorship and have played the games in widescreen to see the glitches that need fixing, I can say it really is not too hard to fix if they already have the mask graphics for the WII. TTG just does not want to do it, which I can understand.

Read about my and other folks problems in this thread to understand my video mode complaints.
http://www.telltalegames.com/forums/...ead.php?t=3840

The games are barely functional for me without hacking the video mode. I can barely see the inventory or options bar using the video modes allowed. Makes it very hard to play.

Just because you folks don't want to fix the problems, there is no reason for others not to know how to make the games meet their needs.


In the past I also complained about the loader and how the shell worked. I mentioned that even though I bought the games, I had to download cracked versions for them to be usable. This was fixed by S&M S1, Ep2 and I no longer needed cracked games.

Maybe my further squawking will make you folks finally fix this issue and let people run in video modes they want. It looks like TTG has fixed some of these issues in W&G, but time will tell.

BTW feel free to ban me, just give me my money back on all the games I purchased. They do not work to my needs without hacking in the video mode I need. I know that my post was removed by a weekend moderator and probably not a real official TTG employee, but it still rubs my fur the wrong way.

[Avel]

Originally Posted by Derrick

I know that my post was removed by a weekend moderator and probably not a real official TTG employee, but it still rubs my fur the wrong way.

Unless we're talking 'co-founder of Telltale Games' Kevin, which would be kind of funny.

(ommited since it already got done/suggested), though admittedly I can't see where TTG would be liable, but I suppose ethically I can see them wanting to limit the amount of possible f-up were the instructions wrong/too hard to understand for some folk..

[Derrick]

Per Derwin's suggestion, I posted the info here:
http://www.widescreengamingforum.com...ic.php?t=15758

I actually had a larger explanation posted here that got removed, but did not feel like typing it all in again.

I even tried to explain why TTG does not add widescreen to S&M S1. But in my disgust over the censorship, I can no longer forgive TTG laziness in not porting the graphics from the WII over to the PC version. Even just for an unofficial version.

I have played S&M S1, Ep1 all the way through in hacked widescreen mode on the PC and the main problems have to do with the masking graphics for fades and the TV views. Not hard to fix. Then add the wall nearest the player view to the office where needed. The wall is there in Ep1, so just add it to the other episodes. That would make it quite playable in widescreen.

I do not know how the TV view masks are handled on the WII, but for the PC version, you could just leave them masking the TV view as a 4:3 screen and just expand the graphic to block the rest of the widescreen view. Same for any other mask like the dream view, etc.

I know TTG does not owe us PC users an updated S1 with widescreen, but to say it is a lot of work makes me wonder how portable their tools and graphics are between the computer/console formats. I would think they should be able to update it in a day once they are told the scenes that need updating. The hardest part would be modifying the options menu to allow for other video modes. Which they still do not do sufficiently even in season 2.

The more I think about it, it might even be quicker to just have the software stretch the mask graphics to fit the screen. Then you would not have to update the graphics except minor missing parts such as the previously mentioned wall. We already have to view the whole game stretched on a widesceen, so just stretching the masks will not look too bad.

But now I'm rambling in anger. TTG does do a fine job on their games and seems to try to work out complaints from older games into their newer games.

[Pantagruel's Friend]

I think this censorship may have to do with the nature of the modifications you're explaining. If you mistype something in your post, or even if your stuff is absolutely right but the user mistypes while modifying the resolution, it may damage the monitor in unfortunate circumstances. I'm only guessing, but I think Telltale's trying to avoid that kind of situation.

[Dangerzone]

Yeah I really don't see why they just don't make a directors cut of season one...

about a week of work to... fix the masks, give it more resolution settings... stretch and fix a few missing graphical elements (which should already have been fixed for the Wii verson) and they may suddenly get a bunch of new Season one orders in just because it can be viewed in HD widescreen now (and for only a little work)

because if telltale tries saying that making season one support widescreen is too hard.... after seeing those photos... well, then they are lazier than I thought.

[Shauntron]

Originally Posted by Derrick

I would think they should be able to update it in a day once they are told the scenes that need updating.

The production momentum required to re-release an entire season of Sam & Max is substantial. Updating "scenes" is one thing, but ensuring that the ~2 year old Sam & Max game content is functional and presentable in the latest version of our engine across a range of personal computers is something else entirely, and no, our recent Wii and XBLA meanderings don't exactly drop right in to the PC version. It can be likened to porting Sam & Max to a new platform. That's a lot of man-hours for a small company like ours, which is already pretty swamped with W&G, the S&M XBLA re-releases, Season 2 Wii among other lovely things.

We want everything, all the time, immediately, but we gotta be patient too. Maybe some day.

Originally Posted by Derrick

The hardest part would be modifying the options menu to allow for other video modes.

That would be one of the easier parts.

Originally Posted by Dangerzone

well, then they are lazier than I thought.

Hah! It's like we don't even have feelings. Now pardon me while I recline in my huge executive chair and guffaw, cigar in-hand.

[Tjibbbe]

I love the tags for this topic

[Derrick]

I don't want this thread to turn into a Bash TTG for not adding widescreen support to a previously released game.

Like I have said in the past TTG is a great company that (mostly) listens to it's users. The DO NOT owe us an updated version.

If people could have read my original censored thread, they would have seen I took TTG's side. Then as my anger grew over the thread being removed, I went over to the dark side and took the position that it is really not too hard.

If TTG is looking at it from a standpoint of updating the whole game to their newest engine used by W&G, then yes, I imagine it is a lot of work. And I would not want them to do that. Would not want to loose the Point&Click.

But looking at it from the view of just updating the game using the 2.0 version they have already updated to, then a quick patch of the masks would fix up a lot of problems. Totally unsupported of course.

Part of the update problem may also be the different ways the games were released and updating all of those.

To sum things up, I just felt unjustly censored for posting info that I need to use the game as I have described in other posts. And looking at other threads, I know other users want/need this info. They can use this info knowing in advance about the graphical glitches it will create.

Maybe if I had received a private notice as to why the thread was removed, it may have defused me. But I would have still argued about my right to let others know about it.

[WarpSpeed]

I can sort of see both sides of this. I don't work for Telltale, but I am a professional developer, and I know that for a commercial, supported project, making even small changes can force an entire re-testing cycle, to make sure everything still works, and that takes a long time. Personally, I'd rather have Telltale's people working on Sam & Max Season 3 than trying to pretty up Season 1.

On the other hand, I've also been on the side of writing how-to instructions to get games to work on unsupported equipment. Because some things aren't done because of market realities, but a few tweaks here and there will get something that "mostly, probably" works with my strange computers.

If Telltale doesn't want these patches on their boards, it's their right to remove them. It's probably what the company lawyers would recommend. And that's why there are other forums elsewhere. You might try to see if a search engine or something still has your post cached somewhere (by searching on a unique phrase that would have been in it), which would let you copy and paste your post to somewhere else in its original glory.

[Marduk]

Originally Posted by Derrick

I don't want this thread to turn into a Bash TTG for not adding widescreen support to a previously released game.

But... That's how it was when you started it

[Derwin]

Originally Posted by Derrick

Per Derwin's suggestion, I posted the info here:
http://www.widescreengamingforum.com...ic.php?t=15758

Thanks for reposting the solution, I look forward to trying it one of these days.

[Rather Dashing]

Originally Posted by Marduk

But... That's how it was when you started it

No it wasn't. This person is just upset because he was trying to help out people with the same problem he had, using the same sort of solution he used.

Telltale shut him down because they don't want untested techie bits here and there, which this guy doesn't think is fair considering all the how-to guides on Linux and Mac.

This person starts off pretty mad, but they have some good points. I can understand Telltale's position, depending on the possible effects of this sort of thing. If it can, for example, permanently break a monitor...it's hard to say that it's the best idea to keep it on their forums. But I can see this poster's point, that he's trying to actually add something to the community with his odd technical fix. He loves Telltale and their games as much as any of us.

[Derrick]

Originally Posted by Rather Dashing

No it wasn't. This person is just upset because he was trying to help out people with the same problem he had, using the same sort of solution he used.

Telltale shut him down because they don't want untested techie bits here and there, which this guy doesn't think is fair considering all the how-to guides on Linux and Mac.

This person starts off pretty mad, but they have some good points. I can understand Telltale's position, depending on the possible effects of this sort of thing. If it can, for example, permanently break a monitor...it's hard to say that it's the best idea to keep it on their forums. But I can see this poster's point, that he's trying to actually add something to the community with his odd technical fix. He loves Telltale and their games as much as any of us.

Thank you for stating my POV in a "Rather Dashing" way.

It all started by wanting to fix some of the problems that I (and others) have been having as mentioned here:
http://www.telltalegames.com/forums/...ead.php?t=3840

As mentioned there, in S2 I can't use 1176x664. It is soooooo close to 16:9 that it should be allowed
16:9 = 1.7777777777777777777777777777778
1176:664 = 1.7710843373493975903614457831325

Now I have found a way to do it and the side effect is that I can play S1 in widescreen along with all the glitches involved in doing so. And as another side effect I posted pictures showing some of the problems TTG would have to fix. I did not want to post shots from the TV masking problems in S1, Ep2 because some folks may not have played that far yet.

[Derrick]

Originally Posted by Tjibbbe

I love the tags for this topic

Yeah, they are quite funny.

- the following not directed at Tjibbbe -

But I take it to mean that people these days can't bother reading and understanding everything posted. Including the thread that explains people's need for this hack. Any resemblance of me to a raving lunatic is completely coincidental

The main focus of the censored thread had to do with allowing the user to pick any video mode they wanted. S1 widescreen is just a side effect. The main reason for this thread was to get an answer to why the info vanished.

FWIW, I understand TTG framing issues with the games. But people want/need to use specific video resolutions for different reasons. My reason is my TV display. Other want to run at the native resolution of their LCD monitor. That is how the picture looks best.

TTG could have made the games use any resolution and then just add sidebars or letterbox as needed to keep the framing. Oddly enough this is just what they have done for Wallace & Gromit. Of course if they had done that for S&M, you would not be able to hack them to widescreen I would have liked to see a stretch to fit option in W&G, but hey, you can't have everything.

I wonder why W&G has this great new video support? I wonder if it has anything to do with W.A.B's like myself that have pestered them for years over this issue. (W=whiny, A=... figure it out)

At least this thread and the S1 widescreen pics thread have not been removed. So now people can find the link to a way to solve their problem. Not a perfect fix, but it is better then nothing. In the future I will think twice before trying to be helpful.

Now on to playing W&G tommorow. Of course first I have to make a joystick profile. Can't stand the new keyboard controls. I play from the couch, not at the desk. I had thought about starting a thread on how to use AutoHotkey to use a joystick with W&G, but...

[Rather Dashing]

Rather Ranting.

...

I like the sound of that. =p