SCI for ScummVM? Any news from the GSoC student and FreeSCI?

General chat related to ScummVM, adventure gaming, and so on.

Moderator: ScummVM Team

User avatar
JemyM
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Oct 25, 2008 4:41 pm

Post by JemyM »

Angelus3K wrote:KQ6 playable in ScummVM, now thats the dream!
KQ6 is SCI1 I think. FreeSCI only emulates SCI0.
User avatar
MusicallyInspired
Posts: 1136
Joined: Fri Mar 02, 2007 8:03 am
Location: Manitoba, Canada
Contact:

Post by MusicallyInspired »

SCI1.1 actually.
User avatar
maximus
Posts: 102
Joined: Sun Jan 06, 2008 4:17 pm
Location: Toronto, Ontario

Post by maximus »

Don't mean to bump an old topic, but I've got a question. I know that this was a GSoC project and that jvprat has done some work on freesci integration in the past, but neither project was completed (I'm guessing).

I'm just curious if someone picked this back up, would this be accepted by the ScummVM team as a valid engine or is there something else going on behind that scenes (I'm assuming from the freesci team) keeping this from happening?
User avatar
Longcat
Posts: 1061
Joined: Sat Sep 23, 2006 3:15 pm

Post by Longcat »

Well, IIRC, integration is up to the FreeSCI team now. You should go and ask on their forums instead.
User avatar
MusicallyInspired
Posts: 1136
Joined: Fri Mar 02, 2007 8:03 am
Location: Manitoba, Canada
Contact:

Post by MusicallyInspired »

FreeSCI is still far from perfect. I don't even consider it a viable alternative until all SCI versions are supported. The best support it has right now is SCI0 support (EGA games) and even that still has problems.
Collector
Posts: 549
Joined: Sun Oct 30, 2005 6:58 pm
Contact:

Post by Collector »

For the time being, DOSBox is the best tool for the SCI games.
NLS
Posts: 127
Joined: Sun Jan 08, 2006 4:43 pm
Location: Greece
Contact:

Post by NLS »

MusicallyInspired wrote:FreeSCI is still far from perfect. I don't even consider it a viable alternative until all SCI versions are supported. The best support it has right now is SCI0 support (EGA games) and even that still has problems.
To "consider it an alternative" means you have another solution to emulate/interpret... So do you?
User avatar
MusicallyInspired
Posts: 1136
Joined: Fri Mar 02, 2007 8:03 am
Location: Manitoba, Canada
Contact:

Post by MusicallyInspired »

Yes. It's this handy program called DOSBox that I mentioned earlier in the thread. And any stress that comes with getting everything in DOSBox working correctly is worth the 100% SCI game compatibility that FreeSCI doesn't have.
NLS
Posts: 127
Joined: Sun Jan 08, 2006 4:43 pm
Location: Greece
Contact:

Post by NLS »

DOSBox emulates DOS environment, not SCI.

It's a whole different ballgame.

There is no point comparing interpreting SCI with RUNNING the actual program.

SCUMMVM still needs to implement this interpreter.
User avatar
spookypeanut
ScummVM Developer
Posts: 159
Joined: Tue Sep 12, 2006 9:35 am
Location: St Albans, UK
Contact:

Post by spookypeanut »

it's still an alternative way to play the games, whether it's on an emulator or with an interpreter.

and for the record, scummvm doesn't *need* to do anything.
User avatar
MusicallyInspired
Posts: 1136
Joined: Fri Mar 02, 2007 8:03 am
Location: Manitoba, Canada
Contact:

Post by MusicallyInspired »

NLS wrote:DOSBox emulates DOS environment, not SCI.

It's a whole different ballgame.

There is no point comparing interpreting SCI with RUNNING the actual program.
That's not the point. SCI games work 100% in DOSBox. They do not work 100% in FreeSCI. And that's a perfectly valid point to compare interpreting SCI with running the actual program.
User avatar
ezekiel000
Posts: 443
Joined: Mon Aug 25, 2008 5:17 pm
Location: Surrey, England

Post by ezekiel000 »

NLS wrote:DOSBox emulates DOS environment, not SCI.

It's a whole different ballgame.

There is no point comparing interpreting SCI with RUNNING the actual program.

SCUMMVM still needs to implement this interpreter.
It's not really a whole different ball game, the aim is to run the games and running the original interpreter in an emulated DOS environment does that.

Whether you want to do that is a different matter.
Collector
Posts: 549
Joined: Sun Oct 30, 2005 6:58 pm
Contact:

Post by Collector »

NLS wrote:DOSBox emulates DOS environment, not SCI.

It's a whole different ballgame.

There is no point comparing interpreting SCI with RUNNING the actual program.

SCUMMVM still needs to implement this interpreter.
I usually stay away from the "if you want it, you code it" statements, but what you demand is an incredible amount of work that you are wanting someone to do for free. There is no just add Free SCI to ScummVM and all SCI games will magically run in it. Even Free SCI doesn't support the majority of SCI games. There are so many variations of the SCI engines that games would have to be added one at a time.

Out side of the couple of Windows only SCI games, there is almost no SCI game that doesn't run easily and and smoothly in DOSBox. As wonderful as ScummVM is, DOSBox is still the classic gamer's best friend. Remember, The right tool for the right job. Use ScummVM for the supported games, DOSBox for all other DOS games.
User avatar
pncFreak
Posts: 150
Joined: Sun Nov 02, 2008 3:33 pm

Post by pncFreak »

Looks like a future emulator will solve all problems...

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn1 ... nline-news
User avatar
md5
ScummVM Developer
Posts: 2250
Joined: Thu Nov 03, 2005 9:31 pm
Location: Athens, Greece

Post by md5 »

pncFreak wrote:Looks like a future emulator will solve all problems...

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn1 ... nline-news
Reminds me of MESS
Post Reply