Broken Sword

[Rissa]

Hello everyone,

last summer (shortly before the release of the ScummVM 1.0.0rc1) I started to copy my adventure games that are supported by ScummVM to my computer, all unnecessary files removed and all needed files added.

After downloading the RC1 I noticed that my Broken Sword game lacked the Cutscenes. Re-reading the information given to the RC I noticed that
- Broken Sword 1 & 2 now run with original cutscenes

That means that the cutscene packs from the download page are no longer needed (or better said they can't be used any more as they aren't supported now), instead I had to copy the original video files from my CDs.

My questions would be now:
Why are the modified cutscene packs still available at the download page if they are not longer supported? Are they still there for those who use older versions or is there another reason?
Why are the needed folders ("SMACKSHI" and/or "SMACKSLO" for Broken Sword 1 and "Smacks" for BS2) not yet added to the Wikipage for datafiles? Was it just forgotten or is this still worked at?

I'm really just curious. But it would help to avoid confusion as several people have already had problems with this and asked about it in the Adventure Treff-forum.



On the aforementioned Wikipage it also says that for the Windows version of BS1 one music file isn't needed (needed files: MUSIC folder (Except 2M29.WAV in CD2))
But if I start the game I get the
"Warning: Can't find music file 2m29".

Is this really not needed so that I can ignore this message or is the information on the Wikipage incorrect?

Other than that I have to say that I absolutely love ScummVM as it's so easy to use and configure. And I love to be able to play all the games I haven't played for a decade or longer or in some cases never at all without (m)any problems.
So a big THANK YOU to all developers, testers and supporters who made this possible

[eriktorbjorn]

Why are the modified cutscene packs still available at the download page if they are not longer supported? Are they still there for those who use older versions or is there another reason?

Actually, the ones available on the downloads page are still supported. The README in the current development version of ScummVM describes the situation in detail, but the brief version is that there have been three different formats for the Broken Sword cutscenes: Smacker (used in the original release), MPEG (used for earlier versions of ScummVM, and - as far as I know - in one commercial release), and DXA (originally a format used by some versions of The Feeble Files).

Smacker and DXA look identical to the player, but MPEG is lossy, so those movies look noticeably worse. Support for MPEG was dropped recently, because playback was rather messy. The DXA files remain an option for those who do not have the Smacker ones.

Why are the needed folders ("SMACKSHI" and/or "SMACKSLO" for Broken Sword 1 and "Smacks" for BS2) not yet added to the Wikipage for datafiles? Was it just forgotten or is this still worked at?

I guess no one's gotten around to it. Incidentally, SMACKSHI and SMACKSLO should contain the same cutscenes, but at least some of the ones in SMACKSLO are in lower quality. I think they were made for people with slow computers.

On the aforementioned Wikipage it also says that for the Windows version of BS1 one music file isn't needed (needed files: MUSIC folder (Except 2M29.WAV in CD2))
But if I start the game I get the
"Warning: Can't find music file 2m29".

I don't have my CDs within reach at the moment... Is that the one that's included on both CDs? That would explain why it says it's not needed from the second one.

[Rissa]

Many thanks for your quick answers!

Why are the modified cutscene packs still available at the download page if they are not longer supported? Are they still there for those who use older versions or is there another reason?

Actually, the ones available on the downloads page are still supported. The README in the current development version of ScummVM describes the situation in detail, but the brief version is that there have been three different formats for the Broken Sword cutscenes: Smacker (used in the original release), MPEG (used for earlier versions of ScummVM, and - as far as I know - in one commercial release), and DXA (originally a format used by some versions of The Feeble Files).

Smacker and DXA look identical to the player, but MPEG is lossy, so those movies look noticeably worse. Support for MPEG was dropped recently, because playback was rather messy. The DXA files remain an option for those who do not have the Smacker ones.

Well, what do I know?
I must have tried to use the MPEG files then.
Others in the AT forum have just recently posted about the same problem though (not getting cutscenes to work), and they said that they've tried the German cutscene packs from here. Then I don't know what problem they could have had.

And on another note: I've downloaded the dxa-cutscene pack now to compare it to the smk files I have. I noticed that there are only 6 cutscenes included while there are 19 smk files in my game. Do I only need those with the same name as in the downloadable pack (I mean are River.smk etc. needed as there isn't a river.dxa or .fla in the cutscene pack)? Can I remove the others from my harddrive without borking the game? Or are they just optionally?

Why are the needed folders ("SMACKSHI" and/or "SMACKSLO" for Broken Sword 1 and "Smacks" for BS2) not yet added to the Wikipage for datafiles? Was it just forgotten or is this still worked at?

I guess no one's gotten around to it. Incidentally, SMACKSHI and SMACKSLO should contain the same cutscenes, but at least some of the ones in SMACKSLO are in lower quality. I think they were made for people with slow computers.

I thought something like that, that HI is high resolution and LO is low. But without a guide I just copied both, just in case, didn't want to mess up the game.

On the aforementioned Wikipage it also says that for the Windows version of BS1 one music file isn't needed (needed files: MUSIC folder (Except 2M29.WAV in CD2))
But if I start the game I get the
"Warning: Can't find music file 2m29".

I don't have my CDs within reach at the moment... Is that the one that's included on both CDs? That would explain why it says it's not needed from the second one.

I also don't have the CDs right here with me, but I can have a look at them this weekend. I hope that you're right and that it was just a stupid mistake on my part, that I read this as "this file isn't needed at all" instead of "this file is a dublicate and not needed because of that".

[eriktorbjorn]

And on another note: I've downloaded the dxa-cutscene pack now to compare it to the smk files I have. I noticed that there are only 6 cutscenes included while there are 19 smk files in my game. Do I only need those with the same name as in the downloadable pack (I mean are River.smk etc. needed as there isn't a river.dxa or .fla in the cutscene pack)? Can I remove the others from my harddrive without borking the game? Or are they just optionally?

From what I remember, the "river" cutscene shows George's being dumped into a river. It's used, if you mess up a certain puzzle. Is it the German cutscene pack that only contains six files? If so, that's an add-on; you "[o]verwrite files in English Pack with files from this archive" to get the complete set. (Presumably, it's the ones with localized speech and/or text.)

[Rissa]

Now I feel utterly stupid. Good for those who are capable of reading, seems like I'm not one of them.

Anyways, I've been able to have a look at my CDs. CD2 includes several Wave-files that are also included on CD1. Maybe they are all the same but this single one.

Seems like I understood it wrong like said above.