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The Royal Archives => TSL General Archives => Topic started by: atec123 on October 28, 2010, 12:50:37 PM

Title: ScummVM Appreciation Thread
Post by: atec123 on October 28, 2010, 12:50:37 PM
Ok.... so I decided to try ScummVM.

Installed it on my deskytop with arch linux... it was in the repos so it was really easy to get.  Decided to test some games.  I put in my KQV cd, and selected add game.  selected the game cd directory as the game directory, and pressed start.

I was shocked.... it worked!  That's right.  no installation, no special configuration... no drive mounting... no installing windows 3.1 in dosbox.... KQV worked... and better than ever.

I then did the same for all the other games except for KQ7.

They all worked right away and beautifully.

ScummVM manages the saved games better... you have 99 saved game slots for each game and they come with a screenshot and timestamp.  you can load a saved game from the menu without even starting the game so it's a bit faster.  it can run windowed or full screen.

The best part... it takes like.... 15 seconds to set up... it's cross platform, works on windows, mac, and linux/bsd/wii/ps3 even I think....
It's amazing.

everyone who doesn't own the whole series on gog should use scummvm.  just buy the 7/8 pack on gog.  7/8 will not work on scummvm.

I am serious... This works so well... I won't be using dosbox or windows 3.1 anymore. (though I will keep my windows 3.1 install for playing myst :P )

who else loves scummvm?
Title: Re: ScummVM Appreciation Thread
Post by: kindofdoon on October 28, 2010, 01:25:01 PM
This is good to know.

Quote from: atec123 on October 28, 2010, 12:50:37 PM
ScummVM manages the saved games better... you have 99 saved game slots for each game and they come with a screenshot and timestamp.  you can load a saved game from the menu without even starting the game so it's a bit faster.  it can run windowed or full screen.

That would have been mighty helpful when playing KQV! I had quite the technical issues with saving in that game.
Title: Re: ScummVM Appreciation Thread
Post by: liggy002 on October 28, 2010, 02:39:41 PM
I'm running Discworld on this and it works nicely as well.  It seems to be quite a nifty little program.  All hail Scumm!
Title: Re: ScummVM Appreciation Thread
Post by: MusicallyInspired on October 28, 2010, 03:26:13 PM
SCI support (versions SCI0 to SCI1.1 anyway) was recently finalised into ScummVM a couple months ago. It also supports the Windows version of KQ6. So no mucking around with the Windows installation to get those nice hi-res dialogue portraits!

SCI versions above SCI1.1 are in the works so eventually games like SQ6, KQ7, GK1, GK2, Phantasmagoria, Lighthouse, LSL6 hi-res, LSL7, Torin's Passage, PQ4, QFG4, et all will be fully supported.
Title: Re: ScummVM Appreciation Thread
Post by: Eike on October 28, 2010, 04:21:16 PM
At the beginning of the school year I tested scuum out. Very awesome program!
Title: Re: ScummVM Appreciation Thread
Post by: Lambonius on October 28, 2010, 04:21:40 PM
I've been raving about ScummVM here and elsewhere forever.  Glad to see you're getting a kick out of it, atec.  :)
Title: Re: ScummVM Appreciation Thread
Post by: atec123 on October 28, 2010, 06:04:37 PM
Quote from: MusicallyInspired on October 28, 2010, 03:26:13 PM
SCI versions above SCI1.1 are in the works so eventually games like SQ6, KQ7, GK1, GK2, Phantasmagoria, Lighthouse, LSL6 hi-res, LSL7, Torin's Passage, PQ4, QFG4, et all will be fully supported.

GREAT news!  ATM, the only way to run my version of KQ7 is dosbox/windows 3.1 so that will be a lot better/easier.
Title: Re: ScummVM Appreciation Thread
Post by: Centaur444 on October 29, 2010, 12:56:30 PM
If you haven't yet, I believe you can download and play Beneath a Steel Sky and Flight of the Amazon Queen on ScummVM for free.  Beneath is a pretty well known, awesome adventure game, and I found Flight of the Amazon Queen to be extremely enjoyable as well.  A true hidden gem.
Title: Re: ScummVM Appreciation Thread
Post by: kindofdoon on October 29, 2010, 01:10:34 PM
I think Beneath a Steel Sky is also free on GOG.
Title: Re: ScummVM Appreciation Thread
Post by: Enchantermon on October 29, 2010, 02:31:49 PM
Oh wow, so it is. I didn't know there were any free games on GOG, aside from the giveaways and such.
Title: Re: ScummVM Appreciation Thread
Post by: kindofdoon on October 29, 2010, 02:33:46 PM
Yeah, there's another freebie as well from the same developer, but I don't think it's as good or well-known. Still cool though.
Title: Re: ScummVM Appreciation Thread
Post by: MusicallyInspired on October 29, 2010, 03:13:48 PM
Beneath a Steel Sky, Flight of the Amazon Queen, Lure of the Temptress, Drascula The Vampire Strikes Back, and Teen Agent are all free and supported by ScummVM.
Title: Re: ScummVM Appreciation Thread
Post by: crayauchtin on November 02, 2010, 02:49:41 PM
OMG, I freaking LOVE ScummVM! I have been replaying the QfG series all week!!
Title: Re: ScummVM Appreciation Thread
Post by: Enchantermon on November 03, 2010, 08:53:46 PM
So I decided to try the King's Quest games in ScummVM to see if they'll record better than in DOSBox and they do, however I have one problem: on my widescreen laptop, the games are stretched to widescreen instead of displaying in fullscreen with black bars on the sides like they do in DOSBox. In the graphics options, if I check just the aspect ratio box, I get the right fullscreen aspect but the game plays in a window (which I dislike). If I also check the fullscreen box, then the game covers the entire screen, but it again stretches the game to match the widescreen ratio. So is there any way to get ScummVM to play the games in full screen without matching the widescreen ratio?

(Posted on: November 03, 2010, 10:29:54 PM)


I should add that someone asked this on the ScummVM forums and was answered with what boils down to "Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't; it's not fixable right now," which I'm not completely satisfied with. Since there's at least one ScummVM aficionado here, I figured I'd ask anyway.
Title: Re: ScummVM Appreciation Thread
Post by: MusicallyInspired on November 03, 2010, 09:28:47 PM
It's supposed to work properly. According to the ScummVM devs, the only reason it doesn't work properly if the settings are set correctly is if the graphics drivers aren't installed properly or something like that (something outside of ScummVM).
Title: Re: ScummVM Appreciation Thread
Post by: Enchantermon on November 03, 2010, 09:33:19 PM
My graphics drivers are installed properly as far as I can tell, though for some reason I can't change any of the scaling options in the NVidia Control Panel; they keep switching back whenever I hit Apply.
Title: Re: ScummVM Appreciation Thread
Post by: Lambonius on November 03, 2010, 09:35:07 PM
Quote from: MusicallyInspired on November 03, 2010, 09:28:47 PM
It's supposed to work properly. According to the ScummVM devs, the only reason it doesn't work properly if the settings are set correctly is if the graphics drivers aren't installed properly or something like that (something outside of ScummVM).

What MI said.  It's always worked correctly for me on my widescreen iMac.  One thing that might help would be to adjust the scaler from the default setting to something like 3x.  If that doesn't help then yeah, try messing around with your computer's actual graphics settings.

(Posted on: November 03, 2010, 11:33:52 PM)


Quote from: Enchantermon on November 03, 2010, 09:33:19 PM
My graphics drivers are installed properly as far as I can tell, though for some reason I can't change any of the scaling options in the NVidia Control Panel; they keep switching back whenever I hit Apply.

Hmm...that's odd.  Does changing around the scalers in ScummVM help at all? On my widescreen iMac, I always keep it set to 3x with aspect ratio correction and fullscreen checked.
Title: Re: ScummVM Appreciation Thread
Post by: Enchantermon on November 03, 2010, 09:38:48 PM
Quote from: Lambonius on November 03, 2010, 09:35:07 PMHmm...that's odd.  Does changing around the scalers in ScummVM help at all? On my widescreen iMac, I always keep it set to 3x with aspect ratio correction and fullscreen checked.
Nope. In fact, some make the graphics even worse: everything becomes blurry.
Title: Re: ScummVM Appreciation Thread
Post by: MusicallyInspired on November 03, 2010, 09:56:36 PM
Quote from: Enchantermon on November 03, 2010, 09:33:19 PM
My graphics drivers are installed properly as far as I can tell, though for some reason I can't change any of the scaling options in the NVidia Control Panel; they keep switching back whenever I hit Apply.

I think that constitutes a driver problem...
Title: Re: ScummVM Appreciation Thread
Post by: Enchantermon on November 04, 2010, 07:25:22 PM
Maybe. I'll keep playing with it, but I know I have the latest Windows 7 driver available.

(Posted on: November 04, 2010, 12:13:30 AM)


Hah.
I finally got it to work after reinstalling my driver in a rather complicated fashion. Honestly, it seemed pretty needlessly complicated, but since it works, I'm not complaining. I found this method here (http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=169555). After I did all of that, I was able to turn off scaling and use aspect ratio, fullscreen and a 3x scaler to get King's Quest back where I wanted it.
Thanks for your help guys! :)

(Posted on: November 04, 2010, 11:47:55 AM)


Okay, so now I'm looking for a way to disable the mouse cursor for AGI games that originally didn't have a mouse. I found a post about that from a couple years ago, but the file it told me to edit no longer had the values in it that I was supposed to change. Any thoughts?
Title: Re: ScummVM Appreciation Thread
Post by: MusicallyInspired on November 05, 2010, 01:20:26 PM
Just move the cursour off the screen and pretend it doesn't exist?
Title: Re: ScummVM Appreciation Thread
Post by: Enchantermon on November 05, 2010, 02:15:03 PM
Heh. That was my original plan; to just move it to the bottom-right corner, but whenever the game loads something the cursor turns into an hourglass, and the top-left portion of it pops into view. I wouldn't mind if I were just playing, but I'm recording as well and I don't want it there. And no matter which corner I put it in, it still pops into view.
Title: Re: ScummVM Appreciation Thread
Post by: MusicallyInspired on November 05, 2010, 03:16:21 PM
That's a fair point.
Title: Re: ScummVM Appreciation Thread
Post by: snabbott on November 05, 2010, 03:18:52 PM
Quote from: MusicallyInspired on November 05, 2010, 01:20:26 PM
Just move the cursour off the screen and pretend it doesn't exist?
I know British spellings of words often have u's in them, but I don't think cursor is one of those words. ;D :P
Title: Re: ScummVM Appreciation Thread
Post by: kindofdoon on November 05, 2010, 03:35:03 PM
Perhaps it is an especially sour cursor.
Title: Re: ScummVM Appreciation Thread
Post by: Enchantermon on November 05, 2010, 06:15:20 PM
Well, I asked this same cursor question on the ScummVM forums and was told that the ability to do this does not exist and there were no current plans to add it. So, with the help of MI (thanks!) I found the Feature Tracker and put in a request for it.
Of course, this doesn't help me much at the moment because I'm trying to keep a schedule with my Let's Plays, so I'll be looking into DOSBox's recording feature (which seems to be acting up) instead of ScummVM. Thanks again for the help!
Title: Re: ScummVM Appreciation Thread
Post by: MusicallyInspired on November 05, 2010, 09:58:11 PM
Absolutely. :)