Messages

16

The Games and other Sierra Adventure stuff / Re: Leisure Suit Larry on sale for 99% off

« on: November 30, 2024, 05:49:50 PM »

It's a shame Steam positions Magna Cum Laude as the 4th in the series.... I guess they figure it's too confusing for new-comers if there's just not a 4th game.  I'm also kinda surprised they didn't include it's sequel Box Office Bust.  I never played it, but I assume it's as bad as Manga Cum Laude.

I'm curious to try Wet Dreams Dry Twice... I've only briefly played Wet Dreams Don't Dry, and it felt to me like a bit of a re-imagining of the original LSL1, but without the slavish adherence to it that LSL-Reloaded had (also not included in this compilation).  Which I think makes it the 5th version that game?

All that to say, I'm curious to see how Wet Dreams Dry Twice holds up.  I don't know too much about the studio that made it but from the art style it feels like the same studio that made Deponia, and that series was fun.

17

The Games and other Sierra Adventure stuff / Leisure Suit Larry on sale for 99% off

« on: November 29, 2024, 05:21:08 PM »

Hey, quick PSA, Fanatical Games is currently selling the Steam version of Leisure Suit Larry The Complete Cum-pilation for 99% off, as a Black Friday sale. Nine full games for less than $2.  No idea how long the sale is for.

https://www.fanatical.com/en/bundle/leisure-suit-larry-the-complete-cum-pilation

You get 1 steam key that includes Leisure Suit Larry 1-7, Magna Cum Laude, Wet Dreams Don't Dry, and Wet Dreams Dry Twice.

I just bought it myself, as I didn't have them in my steam collection yet (just Gog and original floppies).

18

SCI Syntax Help / Re: SCI0: Varibles and changestates

« on: November 26, 2024, 10:17:46 AM »

QFG1 EGA uses a StringEquals function in script 802.

Code: [Select]

;;; Sierra Script 1.0 - (do not remove this comment)
(script# INPUTCOMP) ;INPUTCOMP = 802
(include system.sh) (include sci2.sh) (include game.sh)
(use _User)

(public
ToLower 0
StringEquals 1
EventEqualsString 2
)

(procedure (ToLower param1)
(return
(if (or (< param1 65) (> param1 90))
(return param1)
else
(return (+ (- param1 65) 97))
)
)
)

(procedure (StringEquals param1 param2 &tmp temp0 temp1 temp2 temp3)
(= temp1 (StrLen param2))
(= temp0 (- (= temp0 (StrLen param1)) temp1))
(while (>= temp0 0)
(= temp3 0)
(= temp2 temp0)
(while (< temp3 temp1)
(if
(!=
(ToLower (StrAt param2 temp3))
(ToLower (StrAt param1 temp2))
)
(break)
)
(++ temp3)
(++ temp2)
)
(if (== temp3 temp1) (return (+ temp3 1)))
(-- temp0)
)
(return FALSE)
)

(procedure (EventEqualsString event param2 &tmp i userInputLineAddr)
(if
(and
(User canInput?)
(not (event claimed?))
(== (event type?) keyDown)
(or
(== (event message?) (User echo?))
(and
(<= 32 (event message?))
(<= (event message?) 127)
)
)
)
(event claimed: TRUE)
(if (User getInput: event)
(= userInputLineAddr (User inputLineAddr?))
(= i 1)
(while (< i argc)
(if
(StringEquals userInputLineAddr [param2 (- i 1)])
(return i)
)
(++ i)
)
(event type: speechEvent)
(event claimed: FALSE)
(Parse userInputLineAddr event)
(User said: event)
)
)
(return FALSE)
)


an example of it being used is in script 29.

Code: [Select]

(if
(or
(StringEquals (User inputLineAddr?) {purple})
(StringEquals (User inputLineAddr?) {pink})
)
(askQuestions changeState: 0)
else
(WrongAnswer)
)


19

SCI Development Tools / Re: Voice acting in Space Quest V - Part 2

« on: November 06, 2024, 08:46:34 PM »

I had to fiddle around with generating a RESOURCE.CFG since the patch does not copy any of the Sierra installer files or driver files. Simply copying INSTALL.EXE,  INSTALL.HLP, INSTALL.SCR and INSTALL.TXT does not work  because the installer fails with the inclusion of the GUS driver. since the INSTALL.HLP is missing the gmgus.drv entry.

The installer can read external driver.hlp files. I've attached one that can be just dropped into your SQ5 folder that will make the installer work properly.

20

SCI Development Tools / Re: Voice acting in Space Quest V - Part 2

« on: November 05, 2024, 08:52:30 AM »

Looks like he's completed his SQV Voice Acting mod.  I'm eager to try it out... not sure I ever finished SQ5 now that I think of it... seems like an excellent opportunity to try.

https://github.com/cdb-boop/Space-Quest-V-Voice-Acting-Mod

21

The Games and other Sierra Adventure stuff / KQ6 Box Colors - Did the different colors mean anything?

« on: October 04, 2024, 04:29:11 PM »

After years of them sitting in storage, I finally bought some shelves and put all my sierra game boxes on display in my office. And looking at the various doubles I have (especially around King's Quest games) it got me thinking.

I know Sierra released  at least 4 different big box versions of King's Quest 6: Red, Blue, Black, and White.  Did the different colors mean anything?  I know it's not platform, because I have 1 PC and 1 Mac copy, both blue. But did different retailers get different box colors, did Sierra make any fanfare about the different colors, was it a way to encourage multiple sales?

As far as I remember they weren't like later reissues or something... they just existed all at the same time.

So, what's the deal with them?

22

The Games and other Sierra Adventure stuff / Re: Recommended Game: "The Crimson Diamond"

« on: September 16, 2024, 08:31:47 AM »

I'd seen that project. It looks really cool.  Feels like there's almost a 3rd wave resurgence of the Sierra-like games lately.  There's Betrayed Alliance, Crimson Diamond, the new King's Quest fangame: It Takes Two to Tangle.  All within the last year or couple months or so.

23

SCI Syntax Help / Re: SCI0: Events claimed Flags etc

« on: August 23, 2024, 08:36:21 AM »

Whoops. Man, that makes a lot more sense ? I felt like 255 was way too low to be the highest value a variable could hold. Thanks. Well I hope the visual still helps anybody who needs it.

24

SCI Syntax Help / Re: SCI0: Events claimed Flags etc

« on: August 22, 2024, 09:07:07 PM »

If it helps to see things a bit more visually, I made this quick infographic.


This show a hypothetical four global variables (in an 8-bit system, like SCI0) with their values in them. Each of the Decimal, of Hexadecimal, or Binary is the exact same value, just how it's represented in each of those number formats.

I think it's very easy to get the concept of a single variable. At it's simplest, you give it a name and you can put a number in there that you can refer to later or change or whatever.

The concept of a "flag" in SCI or programming in general is just that: a concept. It has no special construct in and of itself. It's just means a variable that is only ever binary. On/off, yes/no (or more commonly true/false i.e. 1/0). Kinda like a mailbox flag... it's either up or it's not.

You could use a full variable for your 1/0 value, but because each variable is really made up of bunch of bits, and memory space is oh so very precious, why not use each of those bits individually. That gives you 8 times as many yes/no variables (on an 8-bit system like SCI0, or 16 times as many yes/no's on a 16-bit system like SCI1).

The bitwise functions BTst, BSet, BClr do all the legwork to figure out which specific bit in which specific variable to manipulate, but essentially what it's doing is only changing a small part of one variable out of a bunch of variables set aside for the flags.

25

SCI Syntax Help / Re: What's going on???? (emLEFT_BUTTON and emRIGHT_BUTTON)

« on: April 30, 2024, 12:06:29 AM »

Surely this wouldn't be the case with the additional conditional check for this being specifically a evMOUSEBUTTON/evMOUSERELEASE event, right? The game shouldn't care about the keyboard modifiers even though they use the same bit values. At any rate, Activating/deactivating caps lock/numlock doesn't seem to change any behaviour in-game.

I don't know from checking the sci source, but I'm pretty sure that modifiers are the same regardless of event type. That's why holding shift and clicking is the same as a right-click. Hold Shift or press the right mouse button, get the same results.

I suspect this was more a feature than a bug... Don't forget, back in those days mice were a new novelty... not standard on every computer. They didn't all have right buttons either. And not just for macs. I can't find any evidence for it on a quick google search, but I'm pretty sure I remember an early box-shaped mouse for PC that only had one button.

26

SCI Syntax Help / Re: What's going on???? (emLEFT_BUTTON and emRIGHT_BUTTON)

« on: April 28, 2024, 09:23:40 PM »

What about instead of checking explicitly if the the left button is a modifier, check if the right button is NOT a modifier?

As you've no doubt already seen, here are the other event modifiers defined in sci.sh:

Code: [Select]

(define emRIGHT_SHIFT 1)
(define emLEFT_SHIFT 2)
(define emSHIFT 3)
(define emCTRL 4)
(define emALT 8)
(define emSCR_LOCK 16)
(define emNUM_LOCK 32)
(define emCAPS_LOCK 64)
(define emINSERT 128)
(define emLEFT_BUTTON 1)
(define emRIGHT_BUTTON 3)

So you're checking for modifier == 1, which logically means if you're holding shift, or have numlock, scroll lock, or caps lock on, or insert turned on, then the result will NOT be 1. and so the logic check will fail.  I've never checked that in code, if numlock, scroll lock, or caps lock are properly detected or cause havock with right-clicking.

I have checked that a right-click is the same as holding shift and left clicking.  So that's also something that may be messing with your debugging... seemingly random, but maybe you're accidentally pressing caps lock every other time you type or something.

27

AGI Development Tools / Re: The web version of AGILE (https://agi.sierra.games)

« on: April 27, 2024, 11:06:03 PM »

One thing I'm certain should be avoided is the way in which SCI pauses the game while the text input window is open. Part of the nature of AGI is how you can type a command while things are also happening on screen.

I agree that typing without pausing sure gives me the AGI feels while playing, but it's important to note that the original interpreter did pause (at least some versions of it). My recollection is specifically the dos herc.mono version.  No clue why it did that... I always assumed it was because of some limitation of the hardware.

For what it's worth, ScummVM has also implemented this feature across all graphic modes as an optional toggle... not that ScummVM should be your model of reference.

28

AGI Development Tools / Re: The web version of AGILE (https://agi.sierra.games)

« on: April 07, 2024, 10:21:40 PM »

How does it look now? If you don't see a difference, try doing a force refresh of the page. I've changed it to "Nearest" in the code. It was set to Linear before. I'm surprised that I didn't change this already, as this is clearly different from the C# version of AGILE. I think I just got used to it and didn't notice it until you pointed it out. Now that I've changed it to Nearest, it looks a lot more original AGI 

Oh much better. I don't see any need to do anything fancier than that for the classic chunky look. Others tastes may vary, but personally I think at a minimum this nearest neighbour look is better than a simple liner upscale.

And I think you were absolutely right about the folder name for the IIgs... it had to be that. Although it did auto add the KQ3 thumbnail which was surprising. Maybe it was because I clicked to add KQ3 to begin with, and duplicated that?

29

AGI Development Tools / Re: The web version of AGILE (https://agi.sierra.games)

« on: April 06, 2024, 05:20:00 PM »

Strange that it recognised it actually. I have only added detection for DOS versions of the games so far. I assume that the DIR file it uses to calculate the MD5 hash from is identical in that IIgs version of KQ3 to one of the DOS versions. I'm not sure when I would get around to supporting the other platforms. I don't think it would be for quite a while, but it is something I'll add to the list for when time allows.

Oh, that's surprising... it added it as King's Quest 3 [Apple IIgs], but now that I look at it, the text is White (not grey) but the thumbnail picture is still dimmed. Honestly I was surprised that it recognized the IIgs version at all, but now I'm even more surprised knowing you didn't purposefully code it to recognize it.

30

AGI Development Tools / Re: The web version of AGILE (https://agi.sierra.games)

« on: April 05, 2024, 03:20:17 PM »

Hey, I've just given it a quick try today, and gotta say it's very cool.

I only played around for a couple minutes so haven't really put it through its paces... running Firefox in Windows 10, so not really an edge-case scenario. The only things I noticed off the bat i was curious about: how much control do you have over the filters/scalers?  It looks like a simple bilinear upscale, which is really blurry... my personal preference is a nearest-neighbor overscale, then bilinear to down-sample to the desired size.

Also, ever since i learned the Apple IIgs versions have digitized sounds effects, those have been my goto in scummvm. I tried loading KQ3 IIgs and while it detected it, it only loaded a black screen. Are those unsupported?

Oh, and one minor thing... thanks to my goldfish memory, when I clicked a game to load, I'd forgotten which game I'd clicked on by the time it came for me to browse for it. Are you able to put the game name in the file dialog? Or is that too OS specific? Or maybe a different kind of highlight in the game selection window while I'm browsing.

Otherwise though, super impressive work. It looks fantastic!