Unfortunately, I do not have that game (i try to avoid point-and-clicks). Would you mind choosing something from this list (yeah, i should've started with this)?

It's free on GOG. That's why I picked it.

Well, heck, i didn't catch that. Downloading now.

So, you're right, they didn't include the exe for the original, and therefore if the scummvm version has broken sounds, they should have brought over the exe and other files so that it would run in DOSBox. However, i'm not seeing in the readmefile where lure of the temptress is mentioned other than that it's a supported game.

Good news is, i googled the problem, and lure of the temptress has been working well for a while, but GOG did indeed make an error, and the sound actually does work. They used the DOS version, instead of the AMIGA version, which has a lower sound quality. That's the version they were provided, unfortunately, so everything is midi files. Now, if you go into lure.ini go down to line 22 (don't quote me on that)? It'll be "music_driver=" which if you change "windows" to "adlib" it'll work again. Bad setting on GOG's part, and they should probably fix that, so i recommend dropping a bug report.

So the sound in Lure of the Temptress works, but only the lower-quality Adlib rather than MT-32 support. So GOG's version is still inferior to the original release, which they could fix by simply providing the original files.

And yes I know that Temptress is freeware so it doesn't matter, but that's not the only game with problems.

I would like it more if GOG's mission included the preservation of the gaming history, and the same files they received from the publisher would be made available to the customers. Alas, it is not so, sadly.

As mentioned, there are some reviews where people complain about GOG "tampering" with the game. This option (providing the -- as much as possible -- pristine vanilla version of the game) would take care of that problem. It also has the potential to cause other problems for GOG, such as support requests.

I believe that satisfying both worlds (compatibility and preservation) would be doable, but the returns for GOG just aren't there.

Correct me if i'm wrong, but isn't MT-32 copyrighted and only used as abandonware status or something? Given the legally shakey ground, I don't think it's reasonable to judge gog on this. Presumably, this is precisely why scummvm hasn't implemented it. Once it's legal, i assume scummvm will build support for it. However, GOG shouldn't be held to a standard that expects them to cater to possibly illegal avenues.

Then again, scummvm actually half-supports MT-32, except you have to provide your own MT-32 ROM, kind of like how EPSXE is legal, but doesn't work without the illegal bios copy. So, actually, support's not really broken, it's just not available because it's illegal. Meanwhile, i'm anxious to hear where you can find a legal alternative, because i'm pretty sure Steam and other platforms are broken, too, outside of piracy.

Depends on the cases. I am sort of confused why things like Lure of the Temptress has the MZ file removed, but on the other hand, we do see they do tend to provide the original files if you look hard enough. I'm thinking the ScummVM thing is more of a long term investment.

As for what the devs provide, we actually don't know what the devs provide. Are the scummvm games provided to gog with scummvm and the executable removed? It's possible: we don't know. There are some games that, presumably, would work with scummvm, but they still come with dosbox (Dragonsphere, for example, isn't officially supported, but presumably would be a prime target, and based on the topics, it wouldn't be too hard for the scummvm team to get it working). That i find interesting. But, maybe i'm wrong. I can admit when i'm wrong. =p

What is an MZ file? Oh, "MZ" is not the extension but the header of an .exe file. I don't think that is exclusive of Lure of the Temptress; I recently installed Loom and I did not see an EXE file there (I have not tried to open it in ScummVM yet, so I'm not a reliable source). I'd say it is a GOG choice.

I believe that GOG mostly contacts publishers, that hold the rights to distribute the games. Publishers, I imagine, mostly have what the developers had given them to put into media and sell (I'm focusing on older titles here). They would be lucky if they can find source code or something else to polish their re-release.
So we agree that what is available to GOG is not predictable, but certainly that the contents of the original release are available, right?

The extension is only really meant to be a "hint" of the format. In windows (95 specifically), there are 2 types of EXE files: "MZ" (DOS) and "PE" (Portable Executable - Windows extended MZ). The difference can sometimes be important. In this scenario is most likely not that important, but it can be depending on the direction it goes. Not necessarily. GOG often contacts devs as well (like with Tangledeep). Indies are directly dev, but others are likely a bit more confusing. We've actually seen cases where files were missing (especially manuals or specific language versions of some games) being provided by customers, which then GOG used. What I can conclude then is, GOG gets permission to republish games, but sometimes the publishers don't actually have the games (or all of the material). GOG then sometimes must actually go out and get it. Publishers are not necessarily holders of archives and such, but, rather, funders of publishing. Alot of people rag on publishers for being greedy, for example, by taking 90% of profits, while the devs split up the remaining 10%. I've actually had the pleasure of hearing from a publisher or two about their side of the argument, and it's actually quite reasonable: the publisher usually ends up taking the biggest risk (allowing IP usage [which devs can ruin], funding advertisments, funding physical distribution, lawyers, etc), so it's only fair that they get the highest payoff, else there's no incentive to be a publisher instead of a developer. Sure, most pubs most likely keep archives or something, but in reality their job is funding the printing of CDs, not actually burning the CDs (that's subcontracted by the publisher). Publishers are just a fancy name for "investors," or even "investors of you on behalf of inveters of them." Sometimes, that means GOG gets files from the publishers, and if they have their own tech department, maybe the DOSBox setup or ScummVM setup was actually made by the pub (though gog's pretty good at doing it, too). We can't really establish if all original contents are available to gog, nor can we establish that GOG is allowed to go get them (torrent or something) if they're not directly given to them, especially because a publisher might be put off by the risk of a GOG released version having a bug resulting from getting a CD off ebay that turns out to be scratched in just the right spot. A random marker spot ruining the one image someone got of a boxart scan of an obscure game can be enough for a pub to say "no, that doesn't meet our quality standards, so it's better if it doesn't get released at all than in that subpar state, because that makes us look bad." This seems to be the reason for the cancellation of Megaman Legends 3.

If you're dedicated enough to care about the MT-32 enough to have an actual one or an emulation thereof, you're dedicated enough to make it work yourself.

[url=http://wiki.scummvm.org/index.php/User_Manual/Appendix:_Music_and_sound#MT-32_emulation]Here, I'll get you started.[/url]

GOG can't provide the driver or associated files due to licence required from Roland, which tend to be prohibitively expensive. (As is the case with musical production companies.) Even if affording could be had, the terms of the licence would likely be another snagging point.

You'll note that in a lot of cases, when asking of the whereabout of such files, it's basically a "look the other way and don't tell anyone" basis.

GOG isn't violating any copyrights by providing the entirety of a game they have permission to distribute. I'm not asking for them to include the MT-32 ROMs; I'm asking them to include the version of Temptress that does not have truncated sound capabilities.

That has nothing to do with ScummVM.

How do I get that steam setup you had, to work offline?

Except the reason it's not provided is that it's not necessary to have in the presence of ScummVM which works better than DOSBox for more computers, right?

Uh, kind of. You have to look at the depot history with external tools/websites and do some hacking around based on that info. It's not straightforward and it's certainly not intended functionality.

Some developers use the beta branches as a way to make older versions available, but most don't. One of my (many) issues with the way Steam works.

If it wasn't intended functionality, Valve could very easily remove it by invalidating the download_depot command for normal Steam users. It's certainly not a publicized feature of Steam, but I don't agree that you need to "hack around" to get it to work. It only takes a minute longer than it does to download a game the normal way.

And that's exactly how it could work on GOG: Not a publicized feature that is only needed in rare circumstances, and takes a bit more time to do.

ScummVM doesn't work better than DOSBox for most computers. DOSBox's compatibility is universal across virtually all OSes.