Posted: 10/3/2016 7:48 AM
Post subject: The Curse of Monkey Island
MUGG
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The 3rd game in the Monkey Island series. I just wanted to point out some things that might not be obvious or known. I haven't played for many years so my descriptions might be vague. - When stuck in the swamp, if you use the skeleton hand on the top left corner of the screen, it causes a glitch. Guybrush will walk there and sort of be out of bounds. - When Guybrush is shrunk, there is a sign you can check (maybe you have to use an item on it?) and it will cause a glitch. The screen will turn black and messy. I'm not sure if the game is softlocked at this point. - The English version has a song "a pirate I was meant to be" which is cut from at least the French and the German version. So if you speedrun this game, you can save like 3 minutes if you use a version that doesn't have the song. I'm not sure if the song was localized in any of the other languages.
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Posted: 2/4/2017 4:44 PM
MUGG
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To clarify what I said in the first post: The quicksand bug happens only in hard mode, if you merge paste with skeleton arm and then use any item with the top-left corner. The bug itself seems to be only graphical. Link to video I will try to make a video about the sign glitch. Looking through Youtube, there seem to be some more bugs that I never saw before. Not particularly useful ones but interesting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFRlGHftM5s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ckzVP_ge58
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Posted: 2/5/2017 10:20 AM
(Edited: 2/5/2017 8:41 PM)
Flip
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The gold tooth glitch extends far beyond what's shown in the video. If after popping the first bubble, you give Blondebeard some new gum he'll decline as intended. If you give him the chewed gum he'll accept for some reason, and create a second bubble. However, it won't allow two of them to exist at the same time, but you can get around that. Simply take the first tooth, offer some chewed gum, and then place your current one into the chewed gum. That'll change it to another object, and thus it won't be deleted from your inventory upon looting the second. There are then 2 which exist, have a choice of which one you want to keep, to take outside. Try to leave and Blondbeard will stop you, and force you to hand over your Tooth-in-Gum. Simply loot the 2nd one now, and you can take that one outside without hesitation. Useless sadly, as it appears to be a separate object from the tooth you loot from the puddle, because Cutthroat Bill won't accept it as a valid treasure. The other way is to loot the 2nd gold tooth, hand that back to Blondebeard, and then walk out with the Tooth-in-Gum. This then becomes really buggy, as you can then try to inhale the Balloons, and then chew the Tooth-in-Gum which tries to start a sequence, which differs depending on your location. The effects can be as follows: -Asking cabana boy for oil -Opening all stage lights -Examining Blood Island sticker on trunk -Using Gum machine -Refusing to play caber toss (By using it on the playing field, it's the same effect as if you tried to manually pick up a caber) -Asking Haggis for another haircut (Softlocks, no way to leave) Doing it anywhere else has either has no effect, or just crashes the game. It'll complain about "Local script 2009 not being room __"; and so this also has 0 potential for saving time.
Posted: 2/5/2017 2:08 PM
MUGG
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@Flip, oh wow interesting. I shall try that sometime. Here is the sign bug I mentioned. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvN-44bBGec Basicly just 'use' the sign and it turns the screen black. It's purely a graphical glitch and you can keep playing. The graphics will be fixed when going to the next chapter. I also looked into the quicksand bug a bit. Basicly the game creates a click area regardless where you are, when you use the paste with the skeleton arm. In almost all cases, Guybrush will say that he cannot reach the area. But if he is stuck, his sprite will be moved.
  • If you do it while inside the snake, he will move to the bottom right for a few pixels.
  • If you do it in the quicksand, he will move to the top left.
  • If you do it while in the pot on the Sea Cucumber ship, he will move to the top left.
----- I looked into the gold tooth bug, here are my notes. I didn't find anything new from what you listed. How do you get the "refusing to play caber toss"? 
Puerto Pollo, main hub area		nothing happens
Puerto Pollo, hill area		Guybrush says "teh"
Puerto Pollo, hill area different view	error - local script 2009 is not in room 23
Puerto Pollo, Theater backroom	checks Blood Island stickers
Puerto Pollo, Theater control room	uses right-most switch
Puerto Pollo, Theater stage		nothing happens
Puerto Pollo, Barber shop		asks for another haircut
Swamp				nothing happens
Swamp, interior			uses the nickels on the gum machine
Fort				nothing happens
Cabana, Kiosk			 Asks for oil
Cabana, Beach 			nothing happens
Cabana, Balido			nothing happens
Danjer Cove			nothing happens
Danjer Cove, using the boat		error - local script 2009 is not in room 34
Danjer Cove, in front of ship		error - local script 2009 is not in room 37
Danjer Cove, inside ship		nothing happens
Danjer Cove, on deck of the ship	error - local script 2009 is not in room 35
If you leave the 2nd gold tooth on the ground, and let the 1st one float through the window, then pick up the 2nd tooth, you can end up with two gold teeth in your inventory. The two teeth really are seperate. I would be somewhat interested if the 2nd tooth works on Stan (Blood Island), assuming the game doesn't delete it until then.
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Posted: 2/6/2017 2:52 PM
Flip
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Upon further investigation, it's not just the Skeleton Arm + Paste which creates that extra icon, it's basically any combination which does not remove an object from your cursor as the active one. EG combining Hook + Ramrod will remove either one from your mouse, and create the Gaff in the inventory. Using Paste on Rubber Plug will remove the object from the mouse and create the Sticky Rubber Plug in your inventory. Whereas using Paste on Skeleton Arm, or Skeleton Arm on Paste, will keep your active item on your cursor and also create the glitched icon in the corner. Other objects which have similar effects include poking holes in the Jar Lid, cutting out the Portrait Face, filling the Pie Pan full of Shaving Cream, etc.
Posted: 4/18/2026 3:58 PM
(Edited: 4/18/2026 3:59 PM)
MUGG
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RTA runners have been using a new glitch to go to Blood Island early. According to Youtube comments, the original bug was discovered by Totem, and was expanded by Zelop. Explanation of the original bug: Link to video In the settings, Text needs to be checked. Aside from the things you can do that are explained in the video, it looks like runners are basicly doing this: Go to the shipwreck and click on the path beyond Murray. Key "U" on the ship a few times - When Guybrush is past Murray, open inventory. Key "E" on the pirate literature. "ESC" out of the dialogue and double-click into the shipwreck. The game runs fine on Windows 95 in DOSBox-X and I've been testing the bug. Unfortunately, the game keeps closing on an error when performing the bug. Not sure if I've been doing it wrong or everyone else is playing on ScummVM?
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Posted: 4/18/2026 4:24 PM
Spikestuff
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MUGG wrote:
Not sure if I've been doing it wrong or everyone else is playing on ScummVM?
The Steam release is based either on, or a dev build after of ScummVM v2.0.0 as a note (I don't own the game so I can't give a more precise date). It is known that ScummVM can cause issues in titles where it's beneficial for speedrunners to have tricks or bugs that they can essentially abuse^. ^My note is with Riven: The Sequel to Myst which was using ScummVM v2.1.0 at the time of submission but I opted for v2.8.0 due to it being actually accurate for that title. The v2.1.0 would've had a movement advantage and a code advantage that I didn't opt in for (the game is now updated to the v2.8.0 release of ScummVM). Also as I have showcased with Myst that you can split up the ScummVM release and the original releases, so as long as you can get the information about it you should be fine.
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Posted: 4/18/2026 4:53 PM
(Edited: 4/18/2026 5:00 PM)
MUGG
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Yes, I used the same game files in ScummVM and it doesn't crash at all. According to hyperformancespeedruns on his 7:48 WR video:
when you are in the glitched state inside the shipwreck: use/pick up the pin > ESC the cutscene > inv > use the pin (or skeleton arm) with voodoo doll > inv > use skeleton arm with lantern.
So I did, but it just brings me back to the shipwreck interior. When I use the glue on the skeleton arm, it works! Ah, I guess the 7:48 run used easy difficulty. I have not been able to run ScummVM (the 2026.1.0 Windows 95+ zipfile version) in Windows 95. It just crashes on launch.
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Posted: 4/18/2026 4:59 PM
DrD2k9
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ScummVM is known to run games differently than they are in native DOS/Windows environments. For example, IIRC, character pathing is different for some games compared to the original interpreters used for those games. I want to say that some branches of ScummVM (if not the main branch) also has intentional changes for certain games to try and internally avoid bugs that were present in the original games. This introduces the possibility that ScummVM might also introduce bugs that aren't possible in the original games played in their original interpreter/environment.
Posted: 4/18/2026 5:27 PM
GJTASer2018
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DrD2k9 wrote:
This introduces the possibility that ScummVM might also introduce bugs that aren't possible in the original games played in their original interpreter/environment.
... Which I highly suspect based on the evidence seen so far is the case for this new skip. Unless there is some proven and consistent way to get it to work in the original interpreter/environment, this will have to be assumed to be unique to ScummVM (and subsequently there will have to be a decision on how "legitimate" it is to use in a regular speedrun or TAS).
c-square wrote:
Yes, standard runs are needed and very appreciated here too
Dylon Stejakoski wrote:
Me and the boys starting over our games of choice for the infinityieth time in a row because of just-found optimizations
^ Why I don't have any submissions despite being on the forums for years now...
Posted: 4/19/2026 12:54 AM
(Edited: 4/19/2026 12:57 AM)
Spikestuff
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MUGG wrote:
I have not been able to run ScummVM (the 2026.1.0 Windows 95+ zipfile version) in Windows 95. It just crashes on launch.
libTAS x ScummVM is the way to go.
WebNations/Sabih wrote:
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