Space Quest

As a follow-up to my Blondie Mod for ‘Space Quest: The Sarien Encounter’ (see here), I also made another mod that changes Roger’s hair colour from brown to blonde in the sequel, ‘Space Quest II: Vohauls’ Revenge’.

Although now one of my least favourite games in the series, Space Quest II was the first Sierra game I ever played, and as such holds a special place in my heart… even though it’s also one of (IMO) the most difficult and frustrating.

Like my SQ1 Blondie Mod, I made this patch back in 2012 but never posted it publicly, because I couldn’t figure out a way to do so without sharing the entire (copyrighted) game or at least entire files from it. In 2017, however, I discovered the xdelta program and ability to create “diff” files, which allowed me to finally make a proper “patch” and installer that I could share.

What does it do? Simple: this mod changes Roger’s hair colour in SQ2 from brown to blonde, just like it is in the later games. I’ve hand-edited every sprite I could find of Roger (including the larger “cutscene” ones, like sitting in the shuttle before departing Labion), but please let me know if I missed any!

This patch was made using a combination of WinAGI and Nailhead’s AGI Studio (see link above). It was tested for use with version 2.0F of the game (the “final” version included with the original Space Quest Collections and the version currently sold by Good Old Games); it may work with other versions, but I can’t confirm that.

Note that this is for the original AGI version of the game, not the later unofficial fan remake!

I recommend the installer version as the easiest to use, especially if your copy of Space Quest II was bought from Good Old Games or was installed from physical floppies. If your install directory isn’t automatically located, you can easily tell the installer where your game is installed when asked.

If you’re not using Windows, however, or want to install the patch manually, there’s a “no installer” version too.

In both cases, you can easily uninstall the patch if you decide you don’t like it. Instructions for this are included in the download.

Enjoy, and remember: don’t take any wooden buckazoids!

Download Links:

Installer version (recommended)

Zip version (for manual install)

Sierra’s graphic adventures – Space Quest, King’s Quest, Police Quest, Leisure Suit Larry and Quest for Glory – were a huge part of my childhood and their earliest chapters were among the first computer games I ever played. I can still remember buying ‘Space Quest II: Vohaul’s Revenge’ – my first Sierra game – from my local Tandy Electronics store, and then subsequently Space Quest I (the EGA original) from the same place. Soon after, I received a store-made-taped-three-boxes-together bundle of King’s Quest I-II-III as a birthday gift. I was hooked, even though I often needed to buy Sierra’s “hint books” to get through these games (remember, this was pre-internet, where hint books and strategy guides were the only option if you got “stuck” in a game).

Of all these games, the Space Quest series was my favourite as a kid. I loved sci-fi, and the humour really appealed to me too. One thing that confused me though was that the main character, Roger Wilco, went from having brown hair in the first and second game, to being blonde in the third game onwards. There was never any explanation for this in-game, or anywhere else for that matter!

In the 2000’s, thanks to the wonders of the internet, tools to edit these old Sierra games were reverse-engineered and made available by awesome people like Brian Provinciano and others (the biggest site for these can now be found here). Finally, after all these years, I had a way to “fix” the incongruity of Roger’s changing hair colour!

I made this mod for ‘Space Quest: The Sarien Encounter’ in 2012 but never posted it publicly, mainly because I couldn’t figure out a way to do so without sharing the entire (copyrighted) game or at least entire files from it. In 2017, however, I discovered xdelta which allowed me to make a proper “patch” and installer, so that this can be downloaded and applied to your own game.

What does it do? Simple: it changes Roger’s hair colour from brown to blonde, just like it is in the later games. I’ve hand-edited every sprite I could find of Roger, but please let me know if I missed one!

This patch was made using a combination of WinAGI and Nailhead’s AGI Studio (see link above). It was tested for use with version 2.2 of the game (the “final” version included with the original Space Quest Collections and the version currently sold by Good Old Games); it may work with other versions, but I can’t confirm that.

Note that this is for the original AGI version of the game, not the later remake with VGA graphics!

I recommend the installer version as the easiest to use, especially if your copy of Space Quest was bought from Good Old Games or was installed from physical floppies. If your install directory isn’t automatically located, you can easily tell the installer where your game is installed when asked.

If you’re not using Windows, however, or want to install the patch manually, there’s a “no installer” version too.

In both cases, you can easily uninstall the patch if you decide you don’t like it. Instructions for this are included in the download.

Enjoy, and remember: in space, no-one can hear you clean!