Topics

1

SCI Development Tools / A question about .rol files

« on: April 05, 2017, 02:52:37 PM »

I like to pretend I know about coding, but I'll admit I know sweet F.A. when it comes to Adlib sound...

I have a few .rol files I made. I have some utilities I used while making AGI games that could convert .rol to a resource file usable in AGI.
I was wondering if a similar tool exists for SCI? I've searched around and haven't been able to find anything.

I realize SCI deals with sound much, much differently than AGI, so I'll explain a bit more what I'm trying to do
Basically, the task I want to achieve is playing the .rol file when the ADL driver is used to play my audio resource in SCI, specifically 1.1 if it's possible.

If it's not possible, I have other ways to make my music. I'm just wondering if this is a possible route.

2

SCI Syntax Help / (SCI1.1) File Operation Cluelessness

« on: March 25, 2017, 06:26:02 PM »

I've been doing some experimenting with the file operation commands in SCI1.1, and can successfully read and write strings to/from a file. (E.g. Write "hello", then read it into the variable myString so printing myString prints "hello")
My question is, is there any methods or procedures I can use to read/write on a line-by-line basis?

Here's an example. Say I have a string "myString", and an integer "myNumber". Is there a way to write myString to line 1 of a file, write myNumber to line 2, and then later on seek to and fetch myNumber again by specifying that I want the second line?

Also, I've so far only gotten file operations to work with strings, and can work with that, but if there's a way to retrieve variables (e.g. Integers) I can do arithmetic to, it would be wonderfully helpful.

I've been asking a lot of dumb questions lately, so thank you all for being so patient with me 

3

SCI Syntax Help / Very basic question about strings, I'm sorry in advance

« on: February 08, 2017, 03:31:49 PM »

Time for what is possibly my dumbest question yet.

I'm using SCI1.1 Sierra script.

Let's say I have three strings set up, string 1 is "B", string 2 is "E", and string 3 is "N".
How do I make string 4 "BEN", referring to the other strings?
I thought it was obvious, but all my original attempts to get this syntax right (various types of addition etc) were incorrect.

4

The Games and other Sierra Adventure stuff / MIDI and AdLib: Rhythm tracks?

« on: January 31, 2017, 10:22:49 AM »

I love the sound of AdLib/SoundBlaster music, and try to support it in all my games.

I use Anvil Studio to make the music, and then use SoundBox to convert it to a resource I can put in the game.

MT-32 and Gen. MIDI drums are easy enough to understand.

What is the best way to make a rhythm track for AdLib? I can do instrument tracks easy-peasy, but rhythm tracks have always mystified me. They either don't play at all, or play with a default instrument in what I refer to as "piano drums" (playing a rhythm track as if it were an instrument track). Is there a specific patch I need, am I missing something, or is it a consequence of how I make the resources?

5

SCI Community How To's & Tutorials / Trying to understand picture resources in sci1.1

« on: January 29, 2017, 02:26:48 PM »

It's been a while since I asked another dumb question.
For one of my newer projects, I'm making the switch to SCI1.1. My progress came to a hault rather quick, however.
I drew a picture using the given tools in SCI companion, saved it, made a room out of it, and started the game. When the game switches to the picture I drew, only a small portion of the picture is drawn. The ego cannot move except when clicking directly next to him (moving him a small amount), and the OnMeCheck feature I coded triggers on the entire picture instead of just ctlTEAL like I coded it to.

The attached pictures are (blurry cell phone photos of) the picture as I drew it, and how it appears in-game.

Is this a common problem? Did I mess up somewhere in the drawing process?

Here's my feature code if that helps.

Code: [Select]

(instance theDoor of Feature
   (properties
      x 80
      y 30
      noun N_DOOR
      OnMeCheck ctlTEAL
   )
)
And in the room init

Code: [Select]

(theDoor init: setOnMeCheck: ctlTEAL)
I'm using Sierra syntax.

I literally just started SCI1.1 this week, so my apologies if this seems like a dumb thing to ask. I couldn't find anything on it in the forums or tutorial pages
I tried rebuilding the resources, thinking it was maybe loading an unfinished version of the picture, but it still only draws a small number of the instructions.

Also, this was typed on my phone as my work computer doesn't have Internet, so please forgive me for any weird formatting in this post.

If you need any more information to help, let me know and I'll do my best to provide it. As I mentioned I'm on my phone and this is all I can provide as of now.

6

SCI Syntax Help / SCI1.1 - Hiding the menu bar and more interface trickery

« on: November 23, 2016, 05:36:56 PM »

Can I remove the menu bar (icons, cursor selection etc) from a room completely?

I can explain.

Well, not QUITE completely. I know you can disable use of the menu bar in circumstances where you wouldn't want the player using it (such as the ego's death or a cutscene), but let's say I have a room where I want the player to be able to move the cursor to the top of the screen and have the menu bar still be invisible and unusable. (Hot keys and other alt methods of menu usage still available, I just want the bar to be visibly gone)

Ideally I'd like to tie this to a Boolean so I can control it with, for example's sake,

Code: [Select]

(= menuInvisible True)Or even a function like

Code: [Select]

(menuInvisible)
;blah
(menuVisible)Or a similar line. Though if that bit can't be done, I'm still cool (this is only for one room so script size isn't my concern).

Maybe this is already a thing. I almost feel like it is. I don't know. I'm very tired.

Maybe there's something I can put in the room initialization that would be automatically loaded and unloaded?

7

SCI Syntax Help / IF/ELSE Issues

« on: October 28, 2016, 09:27:51 AM »

(Or as I like to call them, IFFues.... Okay, okay, that was lame.)

I'm flat-out stumped by why this is detected as a problem.
When writing code for a class I want to define, I wanted a method containing an IF/ELSE statement.

I'm not on the correct computer to provide the actual code, so I'll do my best to recreate it as helpfully as possible in a quick pseudocode fashion...

Code: [Select]

(class MyClass of DCIcon ;for example's sake
(properties)
(method (init)
(var myVariable) ;included in case this was messing it up, but I don't know why it would
(if (condition) ;yadda yadda expression goes there
;thing happens...
)(else
;other thing happens...
) ;end else
) ;end method
) ;end class
(Let me know if this is too vague and I'll try to post my actual code when I get the chance)

The issue with this code is that when compiling, I'm told the line containing "else" should be an expression. Apparently, I can't use "else" there.

....Why not? I may just be missing something obvious, but isn't this the correct usage of "else"?

I'm using Sierra syntax, if that helps.

8

Everything-Else / I'm curious about AGT...

« on: October 18, 2016, 10:47:22 AM »

I recently amassed a huge collection of DOS games, and while going through them, I ran across a copy of the Adventure Game Toolkit. I thought it was real neat-o (I had never seen it before, and I had been looking for something like this for ages), and I decided to attempt making a game with it.

My issue is... I can't find anything on it. My copy didn't come with any sort of manual or documentation. I can learn enough to get going from taking a gander at the example games, and I've got a nice solid demo working this way, but there's things I want to do that I have no idea how or if it's even possible, which aren't in the example games.

I couldn't find any resources online (found some downloadables, but the only device I have with stable internet right now is my phone so I can't download anything), and was wondering if anyone here was familiar with or had any experience with the engine?

EDIT: My roommates managed to stay connected on the wifi for a while on their computer, so I used that to download some (alleged) documentation. I'll read through it later and see if it's what I'm looking for.

9

Everything-Else / Claude's Off-Topic "I'm Sick and Want to Vent" Post

« on: October 14, 2016, 11:03:44 PM »

Attempting to put this in the off-topic board but as mentioned I'm sick and a little out of it as a result so apologies if this shows up where it shouldn't.

Yeeeah I don't really have much else to say other than that I'm kinda having a rough day. I'm sick as a dog and I just heard the last chapter of the new KQ will be out before November, which I am excited for, don't get me wrong, but also kinda freaks/stresses me out for personal reasons I don't want to get into on a public forum.
So, I'm stressed and nauseous, always a fun combo.

Honestly, I genuinely wish I could be programming right now, as it would successfully distract me from the nausea and maybe even calm me down, but I am simply too tired/loopy to feel confident about coding without making a million dumb mistakes.

So yes. This is really the only true point of this post. Just wanted to type it somewhere, I guess.

10

AGI Syntax Help / Object failing to cycle?

« on: September 26, 2016, 10:32:35 PM »

I feel like I've been posting too much... I've just been really frustrated with my code lately.
And I had been doing so well up to this point. To be fair, it was an ambitious scene for my skill level.
The main focus is an object I defined as "gelnath", which performs some animations.
He had been animating okay until this block:

Code: [Select]

if (f52) {
         erase(o4);
         set.loop(gelnath,1);
         set.cel(gelnath,0);
         start.cycling(gelnath);    //The problem happens whether this line is there or not.
         end.of.loop(gelnath,f53);
}Wherein I do see cel 0 of loop 1, but he doesn't finish the animation. He just freezes there. You can see where I added an extra start.cycling command in an attempt to bypass anything that could be stopping his movement, but I'm not sure if it did any good at all, as the problem is still occurring. Obviously, flag 53 is never triggered. Ego can move around the room after gelnath's cel/loop changes, but the sequence never finishes. (Note: o4 is a sound effect bubble I put over the action for visual effect. I made sure it was set to ignore objects, in case collision was messing the sequence up, but to no avail.)

I had a similar issue with ego in a different room, but that was before I was aware of flag 31, and once I learned how to use it, the problem was gone. Could there be a similar situation happening with my gelnath, or is the fault in my code?

UPDATE: I "solved" this problem functionality-wise by letting the animation play out during a sound effect, then triggering flag 53 after that. It works fine, but it's not the most graceful fix I've ever done. I'm still clueless as to why the issue is there in the first place, though.

11

Everything-Else / Sequel Police Doom mod

« on: September 23, 2016, 03:14:43 PM »

This is only partially related to anything Sierra, so I figured I'd put it in the misc board. It's more a question about Doom than anything else.

I found a Doom mod a while back on the Virtual Broomcloset that replaces the sergeants ("shotgun guys", whatever you wanna call them; the manual from my knowledge just calls them sergeants) in Doom with the Sequel Policemen from SQ4. I just recently decided to attempt to install this mod.
The zip file gave me a bunch of GIFs, a batch file, and an executable the batch file uses.
My first instinct was to extract it all into my Doom directory, and run the batch file. That seemed to work; it paused for a bit and then said "enjoy!" which upon looking at the batch file seems to be what happens when all goes well. (Running it outside of the Doom directory reveals it's looking for the WAD.) However, the game remains unaffected.

I thought I'd ask in a community full of Sierra fans -- has anyone downloaded and successfully installed this mod, and can tell me what I'm doing wrong?
I'm doing this all in DOS, if that helps.

12

The Games and other Sierra Adventure stuff / (Just for fun) Why sleep is important when programming

« on: September 23, 2016, 11:27:24 AM »

I decided it would be a good idea to stay up late last night to program one of the games I've been working on. Turns out, unsurprisingly, that's not a good idea at all.
I found my code riddled with stupid mistakes. I spent all morning fixing it. I figured it might be entertaining to show off some of these mistakes as an example of just how tired I really was.
This isn't really a "guide" or "what not to do" so much as a humorous (at least to me) look into the facepalm-inducing errors that come pre-packaged with an interest in programming.

Code: [Select]

; On an unrelated note, I'm coding this at night. Who in the world codes at night? I don't even like being on the computer in the dark. My eyes hurt and I want to go to bed.

; It's morning now. I'm reading this again. I made so many mistakes it's not even funny. Ay yi yi. Don't code at night, kids. Or when you're tired at all, really.

(method (handleEvent pEvent)
(super handleEvent: pEvent)
;
;         * Handle the possible said phrases here *
(if (Said 'look>')
(if (Said '/sign<gold,front,desk') (Print 2 12))  ; To my embarrassment, I had forgotten the word separator on all of these. Also, for some reason, I hadn't changed "front" to count as a qualifying adjective.
(if (Said '/sign<bin') (Print 2 2))  ; I flat-out wrote and coded a response for looking at a sign that does not exist. There is no sign on the sale bin. On another note, I probably could have coded this entire sign section more gracefully if I had actually been thinking about what I was doing.
(if (Said '/sign<door') (Print 2 3))
(if (Said '/sign') (Print 2 0))
(if (Said '/door') (Print 2 4))
(if (Said '/desk') (Print 2 5))
(if (Said '/bin')
(if (& (gEgo onControl:) ctlTEAL)
(Print 2 6)

else (Print 2 13)  ; For some reason, I had referenced a text resource here that does not exist.
)
)
(if (Said '[/around]') (Print 2 9))
)
(if (Said 'dance[/desk]') (Print 2 11))  ; The word separator here was outside the brackets, for some reason. This meant that only "dance desk" would work, and not "dance", which was the point of the brackets in the first place.
(if (Said 'open/door')
(if (& (gEgo onControl:) ctlGREEN)
;(gRoom newRoom: 3) FORGET THIS I'M NOT CODING RM003 TONIGHT LET ME SLEEP NOW BYE
else (Print 2 14)
)  ; This close parenthesis was the bane of my existence when trying to figure out where my code went wrong this morning. It was one line too high, meaning any input from the user whatsoever triggered this print statement, unless it was the engine parsing the phrase "open door".
)

13

SCI Community How To's & Tutorials / Need help finding a tutorial -- Am I going crazy?

« on: September 22, 2016, 11:58:21 PM »

Times like this make me wish there was a "?!" message icon.

I swear this is a tutorial/guide I saw somewhere. I don't know if it was on the forums, or the wiki, or what, but I can't find it for the life of me.

It was a guide on making an "exit message" (optionally, a randomly selected one) that appears in DOS upon exiting the game. The example given was the messages that pop up when you exit SQ6 to DOS, and the process involved putting all the messages you wanted in a text resource.

I know this tutorial/guide exists because I remember using it and showing off the results to my friends. Or did I hallucinate the whole thing? Or maybe I'm just tired and it was right here all along (I stayed up later than usual tonight to work on RoPreSto.)

Also, I'm sorry if this isn't in the right board. I couldn't think where else to put it, and as I mentioned before, I'm quite tired, so apologies if this post in general has a thousand horrible mistakes. I'll probably edit this heavily when I wake up tomorrow.

14

Everything-Else / How old is everyone?

« on: August 28, 2016, 05:28:15 PM »

I didn't grow up with Sierra the way it seems everyone else here did, so I tend to assume myself as the youngest (I'm 19). However, you never know, there may be more like me out there who discovered the games kinda late-ish and got into SCI programming that way.
So I gotta ask: What's the average age group on these forums?

15

The Games and other Sierra Adventure stuff / Sierra Source Codes?

« on: August 12, 2016, 03:21:43 PM »

I have the source code (or at least a replicated version) for SQ4 and 5 from somewhere on this site (forgive me, I've forgotten who was kind enough to provide it ), but I've seen forum posts that would suggest someone has access to the source to SQ3? Is there any way I could get my hands on the source to other games, specifically SQ3 and 6?

I ask because I have fun "dissecting" these sorts of games, and I've pretty much exhausted my usage of SQ2 since AGI code is so easily accessible.

Or perhaps I'm incorrect, and the posts "suggesting" the source for 3 was available were simply taken from analyzing the disassembly, which I'm absolutely inept at?

I don't intend to USE the code, per se, so much as I enjoy reading it, odd as that may sound.

I used SQ as my examples because that is Very Much My Thing but I will gladly take code from other franchises too.