Grim Fandango playable on modern PCs thanks to ResidualVM

December 21 brought a lot of good news, including the fact that the world somehow didn't end after all, but the real revelation to celebrate was that the classic Grim Fandango is now playable on modern PCs. The first stable release of ResidualVM hit on that fateful day, doing a similar sort of thing for LucasArts' later adventure games what ScummVM does for the earlier classics.

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December 21 brought a lot of good news, including the fact that the world somehow didn't end after all, but the real revelation to celebrate was that the classic Grim Fandango is now playable on modern PCs. The first stable release of ResidualVM hit on that fateful day, doing a similar sort of thing for LucasArts' later adventure games what ScummVM does for the earlier classics.

Grim Fandango was made in the days of Windows 98, so it's been wonky on everything since Windows XP. ResidualVM uses the game's data files and replaces the executable with one friendlier to modern computers. You won't need to mess with custom installers or use tools to slow your CPU, no no, simply remove your copy of Grim Fandango from its shrine, copy the data files over, and fire up ResidualVM.

"We would like to note that, while we have tested ResidualVM quite thoroughly, there MIGHT be cases where you end up in a situation where the game is incompletable, some of these were actually also existent in the original game (while the game itself is designed to be dead-end-free, the bugs in it weren't, nor were our own)," the team said in the launch announcement. "So, please follow the old adventure-game mantra of 'save early, save often'."

While you're staying in a parental home for Christmas, have a good root around in the attic to dig up your copy of Grim Fandango and get playing.

One plucky fan is already working on a mod to improve Grim Fandango's interface, including that hideous inventory system.

From The Chatty
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    December 27, 2012 8:15 AM

    Alice O'Connor posted a new article, Grim Fandango playable on modern PCs thanks to ResidualVM.

    December 21 brought a lot of good news, including the fact that the world somehow didn't end after all, but the real revelation to celebrate was that the classic Grim Fandango is now playable on modern PCs. The first stable release of ResidualVM hit on that fateful day, doing a similar sort of thing for LucasArts' later adventure games what ScummVM does for the earlier classics.

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      December 27, 2012 8:52 AM

      YES! Now Lucasarts just needs to rerelease the game so more people can play it

      Which will never happen

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        December 27, 2012 8:53 AM

        In the next release you get to see Manny as a little kid!

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        December 27, 2012 9:22 AM

        It's been rumored Lucasarts was one of he companies GOG has been in discussions with for a while now.

        If that ever goes down then we'll probably see this plus the other ScummVM adventures. I would imagine anything licensed (like old Sam & Max or Monkey Island games) might require a little more negotiations.

        But it remains to be seen what effect the Disney acquisition of Lucas* would have on these negotiations.

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          December 27, 2012 10:19 AM

          Sam & Max was technically licensed, though since it was only from one person it should be easier to negotiate than with another company.

          Monkey Island wasn't licensed, though, LucasArts owns that lock, stock, and barrel.

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          December 27, 2012 1:06 PM

          GOG has been trying to get Lucasarts on board since the beginning probably. I really hope Disney leaves them alone or at least doesn't fuck up any deals they could have had. Not that Lucasarts was great in the first place but Disney has never really cared much about gaming other than social and mobile stuff now.

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      December 27, 2012 9:23 AM

      One of the best PC games ever.

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        December 27, 2012 1:43 PM

        And Glottis was one of the best game characters ever.

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      December 27, 2012 9:28 AM

      I played it in full on Windows 7 not too long ago. Some chaps out there had made various fixes.

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      December 27, 2012 10:12 AM

      http://www.pcworld.com/article/239339/how_to_play_grim_fandango_on_your_windows_7_pc.html Is this the same as this version?? Because I've had no problems with this one even on Win 7 64 machines...

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        December 27, 2012 12:56 PM

        Yeah that's the one I used. No issues with it either!

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      December 27, 2012 1:07 PM

      CAN YOU HEAR ME SAYING NOTHING

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      December 27, 2012 2:06 PM

      When I read Grim Fandango in the news section my heart skipped a beat.

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      December 27, 2012 2:08 PM

      An iOS port would be lovely.

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      December 27, 2012 2:10 PM

      DId they fix the controls? Holy crap that game is hard to play

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