Some help: Running ScummVM Itself (Maybe): Two Ways.

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GusCE6
Posts: 62
Joined: Wed Nov 07, 2018 9:50 pm

Some help: Running ScummVM Itself (Maybe): Two Ways.

Post by GusCE6 »

Guess this is my contribution, even if it isn't much...maybe this post belongs elsewhere? Oh, well...

There are two parts to this: Swiftshader and 3-D Analyze.

If anyone has installed the ScummVM application successfully but when trying to actually run it it just crashes- maybe without even an error message- what may help is what worked on my old 2001 Sony XP laptop: Swiftshader, in my case Swiftshader 2.1. :D

It consists of three files: d3d8.dll, d3d9.dll, and SwiftShader.ini files. You simply copy them into the same folder as the ScummVM EXE file, you do not replace anything in the Operating System.

Swiftshader 3.0 may work too (it does not have a d3d8.dll file), but it requires SSE2 to work- so older computers, like those with Intel Pentium 3, cannot use it.

If the administrators here would like and it doesn't violate any policies I can e-mail them to this site so others can use them too. I do not remember where I downloaded them from, but they haven't ever caused me any trouble and have gotten games like "Deepica," "The Golden Path of Plumeboom," "Plumeboom the First Chapter," "Inherit the Earth(?!)," "Elementals the Magic Key," "Ancient Wonderland," and "Mythic Pearls" running too.

Oh- in the SwiftShader.ini file under

[Processor]
ThreadCount=0


add this line:


EnableSSE=1

It usually makes things run better.




****PART 2: 3-D Analyze****


The second way of getting ScummVM working on your computer if it keeps crashing just after being activated is with an application called "3-D Analyze (v2.36b)." Note that earlier versions, like the commonly-found v2.34, should work too.

3-D Analyze is an application meant to "fool" games into thinking a computer can do something it normally can't, although it does also add certain abilities. Its main advantage over Swiftshader is that it moves faster, when you have a choice between the two. It is not difficult to find this application online, luckily; here is what you do:


1) You fire up 3-D Analyze, use "Select" to find the ScummVM.exe file, then choose that file.

2) Check the following boxes:

* "Skip pixel shader version 1.1"

* "Skip pixel shader version 1.4"

* "Skip pixel shader version 2.0"

* "Emulate max. sim. textures"

* "force reference rast."

(That last one is VERY important!)



Now just click "Run" and ScummVM will hopefully work.

You can click "Save batch file!" at the bottom to save a batch file in the same folder as the ScummVM.exe file; this saves the settings and you can just click it to fire up 3-D Analyze with the settings intact and ScummVM already selected and running!

There does seem to be somewhat smoother and faster movement than with Swiftshader, although not really significant. This is really just so anyone here having trouble getting ScummVM to run now has two options that can be tried.

The script error message that appears when trying to play "Foxtail" does not appear in either case, by the way: with Swiftshader you get a black screen and the cursor is an hourglass; with 3-D Analyze ScummVM simply shuts down- briefly an error line about SDL appears in the command window. This worries me.

Both ways of getting ScummVM working here have been tested with "Inherit the Earth" and "The Legend of Kyrandia," as well as with "Foxtail." Except for what's mentioned above they work the same. I do not have any other game ScummVM recognizes.


UPDATE: When trying the WME Demo- the one with the woman in the red dress and the flashing red "WME" sign- it works fine with Swiftshader but the ScummVM application crashes when trying it with 3-D Analyze. So at this early stage of testing Swiftshader 2.1 has proven more reliable.



Good luck. :wink:
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