Messages

1

SCI Development Tools / Re: Decompilation Archive

« on: Yesterday at 08:22:04 PM »

Whew! Here are new decompilations of the LSL1, LSL5, SQ1, and PQ3 demos.
Here, I went through the system scripts, and identified all of the temp variables and parameters I could. The demos all play to completion with no known issues.

As for the full LSL1VGA, I've gone through that game's system scripts as well. I should have a ready decompilation of that soon.

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SCI Development Tools / Re: Decompilation Archive

« on: January 05, 2020, 03:33:14 PM »

And here are decompiles of SQ4 CD, Ms. Astro Chicken, and the LSL1 and LSL5 demos!

The LSL1 demo has wide exports, but SCICompanion didn't realize this at first. That confused me when I found that all the procedures were even-numbered. Once I checked the "Wide exports" option in the version detector, the scripts decompile fine.
The demos and Ms. Astro Chicken play through to completion, and SQ4 CD seems to work okay, with a few bugs related to the fact that the game still uses some of the older dialog classes and procedures (moved into their own scripts)

So, what's next? I guess I'll work on LSL1VGA!

3

SCI Development Tools / Re: Decompilation Archive

« on: December 18, 2019, 08:35:08 PM »

Here are new decompiles of the QFG2 demo and full game (1.105).

The demo plays to completion without any known issues.
The full game, however, is a different story. Script 2 causes the game to glitch up when restoring a save, and 702 (the alley index) freezes the game when entering the alleyways.
It's not possible to visit the Moneychanger without debug (decompilation error in alley 151?), and the prompt to input gold to exchange doesn't appear (this seems to be an issue with INTRFACE.SC)

On the plus side, I did manage to recreate a few disassembly blocks in script code, such as BlueFrogTP, script 810's chAlloc cue: method, and Talker's messages: method. Much of the defines in GAME.SH have been placed into enums, and more global variables have been identified.

And since it's a week away from Christmas, here's a new decompile of Seasoned Professional! It's been tested to compietion.
Now there are no disassembly blocks in this or the QFG2 demo. The reason some functions would not decompile is because they relied on scripts that the game doesn't have. With those scripts spliced in, those functions decompile as intended.

Time for me to move on to SQ4...

4

SCI Development Tools / Re: Decompilation Archive

« on: December 08, 2019, 07:27:54 PM »

Here are new decompiles of KQ1SCI (demo and full), as well as the demos for HQ1 and Iceman.

The demos all play to completion with no known issues.
HQ1 and Iceman demos use interpreter 0.000.685, while KQ1 (both demo and full) uses S.old.010.

KQ1SCI has an issue where the game sometimes hangs at the rooms where you can plant the beanstalk.
And sometimes, the giant never falls asleep when he gets tired.
These seem to happen intermittently, and I've managed to play through the game to completion with full points.
And one more thing - I manually recreated the death handler.

5

SCI Development Tools / Re: Decompilation Archive

« on: December 03, 2019, 12:32:39 PM »

Game and interpreter versions?

Ah, yes, I forgot to mention that.

LSL3 is version 1.021, interpreter 0.000.572, and SQ3 is version 1.018, interpreter 0.000.685. These are the versions used in compilations and digital distribution.

LSL2 Amiga is version 1.003, interpreter x.yyy.zzz.

6

SCI Development Tools / Re: Decompilation Archive

« on: December 02, 2019, 09:22:10 PM »

Finally, here is LSL3. The game plays fine so far, and I've made sure to fix the speed bugs. I also managed to recreate the death handler.

Here's also a decompile of the Amiga version of LSL2! Its scripts are newer, and I recreated the death handler for that too. Now there is no assembly code at all in this one. Perhaps it can be used to make an ultimate patch for the game, similar to the Amiga sounds update for KQ4.

Finally, here is updated source for SQ3. The game's doit: has been fully recreated in script code thanks to researching Astro Chicken's doit:.

7

SCI Development Tools / Re: Decompilation Archive

« on: November 20, 2019, 12:19:06 PM »

Here's a little something random - decompiles of the KQ6 demo and the 1992 Christmas Card!

At this point, there's a new issue I'd come across during my digital archeology: missing system scripts.
For example, in the Christmas Card, the main (and only) game-specific script refers to vital scripts like INTRFACE, PRINT, and DIALOG. Without these scripts, the game's handleEvent: method can't decompile!
Fortunately, with a little work of transplanting the missing decompiled scripts and 997.voc from the EcoQuest 2 demo, that problem is solved. Now both fully compile and play to completion.

One thing I've noticed about the demos is that some of them are practically just stripped-down versions of the full games. As a result, there tend to be unused scripts remaining in the resource files, even those that a demo wouldn't logically use at all. This may just be to ensure that no errors occur from omitted scripts.

Next is LSL3 for sure!

Another note: I think it'd be a good idea to start the whole minigame compilation idea in a new topic.

8

SCI Development Tools / Re: Decompilation Archive

« on: November 16, 2019, 11:39:17 AM »

Thanks Eric!

Here's an idea for a fun project which could be based on your decompilations:
Make a mini-games collection with all the little games that weren't packaged as Nick's Picks, e.g. Dag-Nab-It and Mage's Maze from QfG1, Iceman's Dice game, etc.

That sounds like a good idea. Of course, QFG1's minigames take Ego's stats into account, so those may be hard to implement.
Things like Iceman's Dice game, Astro Chicken, and LSL3's river ride, on the other hand, would be trivial to put into one package. And no saving or restoring allowed - that takes away the challenge!

9

SCI Development Tools / Re: Decompilation Archive

« on: November 15, 2019, 08:28:55 PM »

Here are decompiles of SQ3 -- full game (version 1.018, interpreter 0.000.685), demo, and Astro Chicken. There's also a decompile of Fun Seeker's Guide.

SQ3 plays through with no known issues... until you get to ScumSoft HQ. Attempting to get into Elmo's office crashes the game with an "Out of Heap space" error. The demo, Astro Chicken, and Fun Seeker's Guide have been fully tested.

I guess next up is LSL3!

10

SCI Development Tools / Re: Decompilation Archive

« on: November 11, 2019, 08:39:35 PM »

And here are decompilations of PQ2, both the full game (1.002.011) and demo!

The demo plays through to completion.

In the full game, I've gotten up to the Cotton Cove, but haven't gotten farther than that. Other than a "Memory Fragmented" warning at the beginning, the game seems to play okay so far, and debugging has been enabled.

Next up is SQ3...

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SCI Syntax Help / Re: Police Quest 1 VGA

« on: November 07, 2019, 11:13:43 AM »

Hi,
I am taking the liberty to reapproach you regarding this topic (topic above, Conquest of the longbow).
It is possible to import ".txt" files that have numbered over 999?
Or It is not possible ?
I thank you for answer and help.

Text resources actually have the .TEX extension. And yes, it should be possible, as the game already has text resources numbered in the 1000 rang. However, they apparently need to be called through the "GetFarText" kernel function.

12

SCI Development Tools / Re: Decompilation Archive

« on: October 27, 2019, 01:35:09 PM »

And now here are decompiles of the LSL2 demo and full game (version 1.002.000, interpreter 0.000.409)

The demo plays through to completion.

The full game starts up and plays normally. Unlike KQ4, LSL2 uses heap much more efficiently. There have been cases of views vanishing and other graphical glitches, which appear to be priority bugs. This should not affect gameplay.

Next up, PQ2!

I would have done the 1988 Christmas Card, but that game was never upgraded to the newer SCI0 format. SCICompanion does not properly support the older SCI0 format, so you get things like "BAD_SELECTOR" errors in decompiled scripts (this seems to be due to the two-bit selectors, whereas later SCI games used one-bit selectors). I already posted this issue here.

13

SCI Development Tools / Re: Decompilation Archive

« on: October 21, 2019, 08:26:05 PM »

Here are decompiles of the KQ4 demo and full game (version 1.006.004, interpreter 0.000.502)

The demo plays through without issue. Since it has no VOCAB.997, I had to use the one from the full game. The demo is pretty much just a stripped-down version of the full game anyway.

The full game starts up and plays normally... but there is a high risk of the game crashing with "Out of Heap space" errors, particularly when cleaning the dwarves' house.
Man, this game does not use memory efficiently! Of course, it is the first-ever SCI game, and the programmers were still used to AGI, so we can't blame them for that.

Next on my agenda is LSL2...

14

SCI Development Tools / Re: SCI01 Template Game

« on: October 15, 2019, 09:15:08 PM »

Hmm... it seems I'd made a commit a month ago, but I'd forgotten to push it! Oops!   

Most of the changes were in the system scripts, thankfully.
The big change here? Support for sorted features! They were used in QFG2.

Now this is as as complete as it can get. Have fun.

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SCI Development Tools / Re: SCI01 Template Game

« on: September 24, 2019, 09:32:06 PM »

Why use a demo or minigame at all? The SCI0 template game used LSL3 as a base, IIRC. The SCI11 template game is based on a stripped SQ5. I don't see the issue with basing it on a full game, unless you're just thinking it would be easier to start with less and not have to strip stuff out?

In both of those templates, they have clear signs of their origins.

SCI0 had the option of window colors (which is specific to LSL3) and the "Order Hintbook" joke option in the death dialog (again, this is only in LSL2 and 3).

SCI1.1 has SQ5's specific fonts, subclasses, and status code.

My main focus was to make my templates as generic and minimalist as possible, and mainly use the stock SCI resources that can be found in game demos. Since they're officially freely available and have minimal game-specific scripts, it makes perfect sense to repurpose those.