Messages

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Mega Tokyo SCI Archive / Re:Importing Vector Graphics

« on: June 23, 2004, 07:35:18 PM »

It's certainly possible, and any vector graphic format would translate better into SCI than bitmap formats. I'm not super-familiar with all that's possible with SVG, but I think you might need to use a restricted subset of the SVG spec or else use some clever algorithms to translate the graphics. Another consideration is the fixed screen size in SCI and the unrestricted SVG canvas.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - I suppose the biggest question is "Why"?
PPS - To some of us, the answer would only need to be "Because we can".

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Mega Tokyo SCI Archive / Re:Mirror effect in sci

« on: December 25, 2003, 07:11:18 PM »

Actually, you were both right. If the mirror is on the left or right wall, left and right would be reversed, and up and down would remain the same. If the mirror is on the back wall, then left and right remain the same while up and down are reversed.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - A real challenge would be to make a mirror on another angle.
PPS - Probably too much of a challenge, IMO.

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Mega Tokyo AGI Archive / Re:The way AGI Stores Images...??

« on: March 05, 2003, 06:58:47 AM »

But there could be. We already have code to read and display AGI backgrounds, so all we need to do is:
1. Create a cut-down version of, say, NAGI that just opens and displays one picture.
2. Agree on a standard file extension for the pictures. Perhaps .avp for AGI Vector Picture, or .abg for AGI Background.
3. Associate the viewing program with the file extension.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - Easy as pie.
PPS - But not especially useful.

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Mega Tokyo SCI Archive / Re:thanks

« on: February 15, 2003, 10:52:33 PM »

If the images are all the same size, it should be as easy as cut & paste. If they're different sizes and some of your code depends on the size of views, you'll have a little more trouble, but it's still pretty easy.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - That's just a barebones summary, mind.
PPS - And I have more experience with just the SCI graphics format than SCI Studio, so I may be wrong.

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Mega Tokyo SCI Archive / Re:Stupid newbie questions

« on: January 16, 2003, 07:34:04 AM »

That's right: you can't see the script. The only reason for this is that it's almost impossible. It's totally impossible to see the original script, and seeing a decompiled, reconstructed script might be slightly possible, but it's not on Brian's TODO list, and I wouldn't want to attempt it, either.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - It is possible to disassemble scripts, but that's about it.
PPS - You'll have to make do with manual reverse-engineering.

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Mega Tokyo SCI Archive / Re:I'm So Clueless

« on: December 29, 2002, 06:32:39 PM »

AFAIK there are no emulators which currently support SCI1, so you'll have to do your best getting the old interpreter to work.
If you're able to give some more specific details of any error messages, that would be helpful.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - And perhaps your computer and OS specs, too.
PPS - You could wait for FreeSCI to support SCI1, but it could be a while.

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Mega Tokyo AGI Archive / Re:Very wierd problem.

« on: December 23, 2002, 10:02:36 PM »

I've seen some problems like that before. Usually it means that there isn't an end-of-picture character (0xFF) at the end of the file. AGI keeps reading memory and treating it like drawing instructions until it reaches that character, wherever it might be found.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - It might also mean that one of the last instructions is too short or too long.
PPS - That would make the interpreter miss the end-of-pic character.

8

Mega Tokyo AGI Archive / Re:program for flags?

« on: November 11, 2002, 05:07:12 AM »

I'm coming into this discussion a little late, but this is *exactly* why I wrote ARVO and ARVO-XML. They generate your "defines.txt" for you, so you don't have to keep track of your variables or flags.

<advertisement tagline>So if you don't want to just search for which variables and flags are used, use ARVO!</advertisement tagline>

Mokalus of Borg

PS - I think it's a slightly better solution than searching for used variables.
PPS - You could also wait for Nick's new compiler.

9

Mega Tokyo AGI Archive / Re:AGI Reusable Variable Organiser

« on: October 29, 2002, 06:33:11 AM »

I've just updated ARVO-XML at the prompting of Mr Sonneveld. Version 1.1.0b now includes support for both Windows newlines (CR/LF) and Unix newlines (LF).

Mokalus of Borg

PS - The interface has also been updated to suit my current whims and tastes.
PPS - Get it here.

10

Mega Tokyo AGI Archive / Re:AGI Reusable Variable Organiser

« on: October 26, 2002, 03:38:44 AM »

It's been a while since I released any updates to ARVO, but here's a new one:
ARVO-XML version 1.0.1b
The only things added to this release are a Document Type Definition and an XSLT stylesheet, which allows previewing of the generated defines.txt file before running ARVOXML.

Future plans:
I will probably be able to make the preview a bit more sophisticated in a future release, and I might even be able to get all the ARVO functionality into the stylesheet. So you could use any XSLT-enabled XML processor you want, instead of being forced to use Python.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - But don't hold your breath about that one.
PPS - The new version is available at http://www.angelfire.com/games/hexdomain/agisci/tools/index.html

11

Mega Tokyo SCI Archive / Re:Why doesn't the SCI Studio's language follow C-style notation

« on: October 23, 2002, 05:36:36 AM »

The lisp-like syntax is much easier to parse than most other possibilities, which is probably why Sierra chose it, and Brian followed.
Besides that, C++ isn't the only object-oriented language around, as I'm sure you know. Despite being the de-facto industry standard, there's not much else to recommend it. Since the issue here is the usability of the language, I'll leave out my other arguments and say that you'll just have to grit your teeth and bear it. That is, unless you can convince Brian to spend most of his energy on a new compiler rather than SCI Studio VGA, or you write one yourself.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - Please note that I don't intend to speak on behalf of Sierra or Brian.
PPS - In which case, you may proceed to ignore this message. >_<

12

Mega Tokyo SCI Archive / Re:AGI2SCI - picture conversion breakthrough

« on: October 08, 2002, 07:31:56 PM »

Thanks for the encouragement, guys. The emulation is good, but it can make the file size pretty large. I've got a couple of ideas on how to use less space, but I'm still working on them.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - In the meantime, I hope this is either interesting or useful to someone.
PPS - It was at least interesting to write.

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Mega Tokyo SCI Archive / AGI2SCI - picture conversion breakthrough

« on: October 08, 2002, 02:18:36 AM »

[attachment deleted by admin]

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Mega Tokyo AGI Archive / Re:AGI Pics

« on: September 25, 2002, 03:34:02 AM »

Having looked quite thoroughly at both formats to write PIC2PIC (</cheap plug>) I'm in a position to offer an informed opinion here.

	AGI	SCI
Basic format	Vector	Vector
Virtual screens	2	3
Resolution	320 x 190	640 x 400
Colours	16	256 (dithered)

Mokalus of Borg

PS - They are pretty similar, overall.
PPS - One was based on the other, I assume.

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Mega Tokyo SCI Archive / Re:AGI2SCI

« on: August 09, 2002, 01:00:52 AM »

If you're just asking because you want a link without searching for one, then try these two:
ap2sp, Brian's program.
PIC2PIC, my program.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - Neither works completely perfectly, though.
PPS - You'll need to touch up the resulting pictures in SCIStudio.