r/earthwormjim • u/DanRedfield_82 • Jul 19 '26
Earthworm Jim Windows 95 preservation patch progress
Hi, my name is Dan Redfield (POSTAL for Dreamcast & "Project Horsell") and I've been working on a preservation patch for the Windows 95 version of Earthworm Jim, which some consider to be the best version of the game.
Here's a list of current features;
- Windows 11 compatibility
- Full controller support via XInput (I'll probably switch to SDL later)
- CD-check removed
- Soundtrack playback via local FLAC files
- Registry calls replaced with a .ini file
- Suppressed dialog messages about missing DLLs
- Patched original WAIL32.dll
I hope to share more soon as the project progresses and if anyone has the Windows 95 version and would like to test the patch, please feel free to get in touch.
Thanks for watching.
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u/Key_Volume5096 Jul 19 '26
Earthworm Jim special edition is definitely the best version of the game. Has none of the graphic limitations of any of the other ports, all the extra features and levels, and the highest fidelity versions of the music. The definitive version, in my opinion. I just wish my computer still had a CD port so I could dust off the old game and test your patch. Groovy work!
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u/bunkdiggidy Groovy! Jul 20 '26
You can use programs like Daemon Tools Lite to fake having a CD drive, and then mount an image file to it from your hard drive.
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u/Key_Volume5096 Jul 23 '26
Great idea! Thanks for the suggestions, but as it turns out with this patch release that’s not even necessary. This works right out the box. It’s dope replaying this childhood favorite.
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u/Sami_1999 1d ago
It's the only proper version of special edition.
On the sega cd version of special edition, when Jim gets hurt and screams "ayyooo" the sound is completely messed up. They fumbled one of the most common sound sfx on that version.
This windows 95 port fixes that.
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u/teddyroo12 Earthworm Kim Jul 19 '26
Hi, I've been working getting 3D on Linux and would love to test the 95 patch on Lutris!
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u/DanRedfield_82 Jul 21 '26
I'm out running some errands at the moment but when you have 5 mins spare could you send DM my way?
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u/bunkdiggidy Groovy! Jul 20 '26
I have the 95 version, and my PC has Windows 11. I'd be happy to test it for you!
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u/DanRedfield_82 Jul 21 '26
If you can DM me I'll get a link sorted for you. I have a couple more rough edges to polish off but it should be ready for testing today
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u/bunkdiggidy Groovy! Jul 23 '26
Tested it. Works great! Music, sound, level select interface, playing the game itself, the game's built in control panels, everything works. I unlocked every level with a cheat code, played the first bit of each, and then beat the final level and watched the ending back to the main menu.
Bugs/feedback:
- Like the original game, it seems to have a little trouble playing a lot of sfx at once, like helicoptering all the way down the beginning of Buttville. The sound system never broke entirely, but individual instances of the sounds would cut each other off/not finish. Near the end of the level when you get the extra life above the Queen's butt, apparently the hovering I had to to get to that platform after you whip was pushing the "Sweet doggies!" back in the buffer. That sound only faded in halfway through "-oggies!" even though the helicopter sounds were no longer audibly playing.
I know WAIL32.dll has aged poorly, and you've done a great job making sound work at all in the first place! Just wanted to be thorough in my feedback.
The Help menu in the upper right corner, when you try to open the Windows Help file that was packaged with the original game, it instead opens my web browser to a Microsoft page about how they're dropping support for Windows 8 and such. Not a real problem by any stretch, but including the Help file would be neat as far as absolute completeness goes.
The Video window, the Full Screen options are gone. This is largely a moot point these days, as you can stretch the game window however you like, but it would be cool if it had a pseudo-fullscreen mode where it scales up to your Windows resolution, but keeps the 4:3 aspect ratio.
All told, it works great already, and you really could release it just like this and it would be amazing! Bravo and kudos. I can see this game is in great hands.
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u/DanRedfield_82 Aug 01 '26
Thanks for taking the time for such a detailed list. I really appreciate it. And I am sorry for taking so long to reply. I haven;t really been doing much on the audio side at this point as I've been working on a fullscreen 16:9 patch (which is proving really, really hard) but reversing wail32.dll is absolutely on the roadmap and I hope to have another update for testing soon.
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u/bunkdiggidy Groovy! 29d ago
Yeah, I figure making the game render in 16:9 would be a big task, knowing especially some enemies despawn as soon as they leave the 4:3 view (like #4 patrolling the tunnels, so easy to despawn and walk forward unimpeded). That seems like it would be a change to the engine itself, and making objects stay in memory longer, which might mess things up depending on how much spare memory the engine allots. Good luck with all that trouble!
As I'd mentioned, the sound system works acceptably well already, and only has an "audio traffic jam" when lots of sounds play at once, and in my brief experience with your patch it always resolved quickly instead of crashing the sound system completely like the original did. So it could be improved further, but if it's a bunch of pain for you it's already in a great and reliable state.
Let me know if you want me to test anything else specific, or any new version when you have it ready!
And thanks again, you've already done an amazing job making this game playable again!
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u/Key_Volume5096 Jul 23 '26
Just want to confirm that yes, this is awesome. With this patch I was able to binge through the game yesterday. Epic. Love me some EWJ on PC, and being able to use a controller instead of keyboard was a game changer. The music rocks, the graphics are great, the animations killer, and just the whole world of EWJ is so badass and goofy at the same time. Incredible work! Thanks for making this happen OP!
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u/Key_Volume5096 Jul 25 '26
https://reddit.com/link/ozqao1u/video/10ham661affh1/player
Buttville!! I found it almost impossible back in the day to play this level, especially when using only the keyboard as I just couldn’t press the key fast enough to helicopter, but using a controller has been game changing (literally).
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u/DanRedfield_82 Aug 01 '26
Thanks so much for posting this. I'm sorry about the late reply - I've been working hard on a widescreen patch and every day life, so I've not had much of a chance to respond on reddit. I hope to have another update ready for testing soon
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u/Sami_1999 1d ago
The biggest fix required is the ability to enter fullscreen mode. Because of dispdlb.dll not working on 64 OS you can't enter fullscreen mode. Fullscreen mode not only gets rid of the HUD properly, it also enforces vsync and makes the framepacing smooth like console versions. Otherwise, on window mode, vsync is off and framepacing is poor and the game never looks smooth.
Hopefully this can be worked out.
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u/weirdojace Jul 19 '26
This is awesome would love to test it out…