Messages

226

SCI Development Tools / Re: Decompilation Archive

« on: December 14, 2018, 09:52:30 PM »

Here we go again, my new and improved decompile of QFG2! This time, I used 1.105 from the QFG Anthology, to be sure that I had the latest code. The only difference I could see is that the import patch was integrated into the resource files. The game seems to compile and run okay, but going into the actual game, it freezes when attempting to enter the maze of alleys! This might be a tough one for us to crack, but thankfully, "suck blue frog" and the EGA 1990 Christmas interpreter's internal debugger are there to help us.
Credit goes to Omer Mor for unearthing the original import and export scripts for the game. This helped me identify quite a bit of the original defines for the game, and the export script even has the original "saveHero" (which SCI Companion can't decompile).

227

SCI Development Tools / Re: QFG1 VGA

« on: December 14, 2018, 09:24:27 PM »

I did, and those notes are present in my decompile of QFG1VGA.

Some examples:
Script 814, death procedure

Code: [Select]

(procedure (Die message title cel loop view &tmp temp0 temp1 temp2 temp3 temp4 temp5 temp6 temp7 [msgStr 150] [temp128 50] [temp178 4] [temp182 4])
;increased msgStr from 120 to 150, so that really long death messages don't overflow into the title.The two death messages that overflow into the title are getting attacked by the ghosts in the graveyard, and the previously-unattainable death message regarding that drunk Brigand in the dining hall, as noted below:
From the Rm95 init:

Code: [Select]

(drunk init: setPri: 12 stopUpd:)
;Replaced addToPic: with stopUpd: to make the drunk clickable, as is the case in the Macintosh version.

The Macintosh version also fixed the bug where you could infinitely sell mushrooms to the healer even after she has enough.

228

SCI Development Tools / Re: QFG1 VGA

« on: December 13, 2018, 08:35:37 PM »

I got a better idea: an all-out QFG1VGA fixpack, to borrow a term from the modding community. I already laid down the foundation in the QFG1VGA decompile by fixing some of the old script bugs (some relating to wrong message tuples or death icons). Some of the bugs were actually already fixed by the time the Macintosh version came out in 1994. We can implement the fixes from that.

229

The Games and other Sierra Adventure stuff / Re: Al Lowe reveals his Sierra source code collection—then puts all of it on eBay

« on: December 13, 2018, 08:31:48 PM »

So, Activision killed the auctions. In all fairness, while they don't own Larry, they do own much of the other Sierra franchises, and they share engines.

I imagine the legal issue is referring to the system scripts that the AGI and SCI games all share. There's just one problem, though: many of those scripts are also in freely available demos. I took advantage of that fact when creating the SCI01 template game, using the QFG2 demo as the foundation and the interpreter from the EGA 1990 Christmas Card.

If I had to take a guess, this is one of those scenarios where Activison is compelled to act. You can’t pick and choose when to enforce IP rights. If they chose not to go after Al and then someone else releases source code that they actually care about, attorneys can point to ALS scenario and say Activison is being partial and selective in their enforcement of their IP rights, which you can’t do under US law.

That would be true to an extent with trademarks, but it's completely wrong copyright-wise. A copyright owner can, in fact, pick and choose when to enforce their rights. The worst thing that would happen by ignoring copyright violations is less damages awarded to the copyright owner in a lawsuit.
I'm no lawyer, by the way; I just read the TV Tropes article regarding copyright law (it explains that defending a copyright is not required, simply allowed), as well as this article regarding copyright myths (the relevant one is number 5).

230

SCI Development Tools / Re: Decompilation Archive

« on: December 10, 2018, 11:06:29 PM »

Here is my work on QFG1VGA.

With the exceptions of a few scripts, everything seems to compile okay. I even enabled the hidden "Where to, Hero?" dialog at startup, so you can test each individual room!

I was thinking of doing a patch that would fix various script bugs in the game, and restore some unused messages and interactivity. This source could work well as the basis.

This code is best compiled without any SCR and HEP patch files in the directory, so you can be sure that the game only uses the RESOURCE files. The scripts, of course, were decompiled from the patches to ensure that all official bug fixes are present.

Here is the compile log:

Code: [Select]

Error: (WizardGame.sc) Duplicate label 'code_0448'  Line: 145, col: 0
Error: (WizardGame.sc) Duplicate label 'code_0453'  Line: 152, col: 0
Error: (inputBox.sc) Undeclared identifier '--UNKNOWN-PROP-NAME--' .  Line: 1281, col: 32
Error: (egoFight.sc) Undeclared identifier '--UNKNOWN-PROP-NAME--' .  Line: 332, col: 32
252 scripts compiled.
--------------------------------
Time elapsed: 7.56 seconds.


231

SCI Development Tools / Re: SCI01 Template Game

« on: November 28, 2018, 08:48:14 PM »

Here's the new version of the SCI01 template! It fixes a few bugs (such as GetNumber not working properly) and I have gone through most of the system scripts! They now closely match that of the SCI16 scripts (taking into account the SCI01 differences, of course) Everything seems to compile and play fine now.

232

SCI Development Tools / SCI01 Template Game

« on: November 26, 2018, 10:21:07 PM »

After a bit of work, here is my SCI01 template game!
I based it off the QFG2 demo, and used the interpreter from the EGA 1990 Christmas Card.

The choice of the interpreter was an important one - it's the last pre-1991 interpreter, and still has its internal debugger on top of that!

11/27/2018 EDIT: I solved the problem with the game not recognizing new words -- SCI Companion thought the parser vocab was 000 instead of 900. To fix this, I went into the version detector and set the parser vocab to 900. Now it recognizes new words!

1/16/2019 UPDATE: The template is now on Github! From now on, you can get it there and make updates to it.
TODO
Work on R44Q SCI01 remake (I can do the scripting, but I can't do the graphics all that well).

233

SCI Development Tools / Re: Decompilation Archive

« on: November 24, 2018, 09:23:44 PM »

And now for something a little different...
Here is decompiled code for the QFG2 demo! So far, everything seems to run fine... up until the Iblis Unleashed scene, where it immediately crashes with an "Oops!" error!

By the way, I've been working on a new EGA template game, using the QFG2 demo as the foundation and the interpreter from the EGA 1990 Christmas Card (it's compatible with QFG2, and still has its internal debugger!). So far, things seem to work okay. I'll upload this template sometime soon.

234

SCI Development Tools / Re: Decompilation Archive

« on: November 15, 2018, 11:01:07 PM »

Here is my work on LSL1VGA. Some tweaks were made to allow the game to compile fully. I played though the entire game with no known issues (except maybe for sometimes freezing when entering the casino, but I think that's an original speed bug)

235

SCI Development Tools / Re: System Logger found in QFG1VGA

« on: November 10, 2018, 11:55:37 AM »

This is a tool that was used by Quality Assurance to generate bug reports within the game. It lists various details about the current game state, and lets you decide the severity of the bug you discovered, as well as which department you would think could fix it (programming, art, music, or design)

236

SCI Development Tools / System Logger found in QFG1VGA

« on: November 08, 2018, 08:49:56 PM »

Well, it turns out the original system logger is still intact in QFG1VGA. To access it, delete or rename 952.scr and 952.hep (these are dummy files meant to disable the logger). During gameplay, press Alt-N to bring up the logger.

It seems that this was supposed to be removed for shipping, but Sierra made a mistake and left the key combination in the Main script.

Code: [Select]

(KEY_ALT_n
((ScriptID 952) doit: @sysLogPath 0)
(return (pEvent claimed: 1))
Here is some output:

Code: [Select]

           GAME: Glory
        VERSION: 2.000
        QA-DATE: 11/08/118
        ANALYST: EO
       SEVERITY: S
    QA-COMMENT1: This is a test of the hidden System Logger found in QFG1VGA.
    QA-COMMENT2:
    QA-COMMENT3:
    QA-COMMENT4:
    QA-COMMENT5:
    QA-COMMENT6:
    QA-COMMENT7:
    QA-COMMENT8:
    QA-COMMENT9:
   QA-COMMENT10:
     DEPARTMENT: P
           ROOM: 300
    ROOM-SCRIPT: sEnter
     ROOM-STATE: 2
          EGO-X: 237
          EGO-Y: 181
          EGO-Z: 0
     EGO-SCRIPT:
      EGO-STATE: 0
       EGO-VIEW: 4
       EGO-LOOP: 6
        EGO-CEL: 0
   EGO-PRIORITY: 14
    EGO-HEADING: 45
         CYCLER: StopWalk
      EGO-MOVER:
        MOVER-X: 0
        MOVER-Y: 0
    EGO-MOVESPD: 6
    SIGNAL-BITS: 3002
   ILLEGAL-BITS: 8000
        HOWFAST: 3
        ICONBAR: mainIconBar
       CUR-ICON: iconTalk
   DETAIL-LEVEL: 3
       CD-AUDIO: 0
      VIDEO-DRV: VGA320
      SOUND-DRV: ADL
      AUDIO-DRV: AUDBLAST
   KEYBOARD-DRV: IBMKBD
        JOY-DRV: NO
          MOUSE: STDMOUSE
   LARGEST-HEAP: 12782
      FREE-HEAP: 12910
     TOTAL-HUNK: 294
   LARGEST-HUNK: 31824
      FREE-HUNK: 37
**********************************


237

SCI Development Tools / Re: Recreating complete QFG1 EGA source code

« on: November 05, 2018, 09:08:45 PM »

I based the game.ini file on the one for 1.000. While I accounted for the changes in the game scripts, I didn't account for additional system scripts.

Two system scripts added by the time 1.200 was released were Avoider and Sight.

Here is an updated version of the code, with a few more local variables identified as well as the additional system scripts.

As for test results...

The game seems to play okay, but certain rooms have gotten bugged. In the fairy ring, the mushrooms are not placed properly on the screen, and the game may crash with an "Oops!" error when the fairies approach you at night.

Entering the Meep's Peep is now completely impossible, since the game crashes with an "Oops!" error when trying to enter it. Good thing Razzle Dazzle Root Beer is there to bypass those bugged parts.

238

SCI Development Tools / Re: Recreating complete QFG1 EGA source code

« on: November 01, 2018, 11:53:00 PM »

The original names are based on the code snippets that OmerMor provided previously. Also, in the Main.sc of the HQ1 source zip, it is stated that Bclr and Btst are their original names.

239

SCI Development Tools / Re: Recreating complete QFG1 EGA source code

« on: November 01, 2018, 10:22:27 PM »

After weeks of combing the code and identifying many local variables, I now have the decompiled source code for QFG1EGA, version 1.200! Obviously, some things were changed between 1.200 and 1.000, so I overhauled the game.sh file to reflect this, as well as gave more readable names for the event flags and shorter, more concise names for the inventory items.

I made sure to put as much of the comments from the HQ1 code into the QFG1EGA code. The names of some of the variables and procedures were changed, either to be consistent with Sierra's original names (such as Bclr and Btst) or to be more accurate (HasLockPickTools has been changed to CanPickLocks, for example)

The code compiles without any errors (save for warnings about duplicate case values, which are in the original scripts anyway). I have not yet played through the game to see if anything went awry.

11/3/2018 EDIT: Apparently, something DID go awry - the menu bar stopped working (because I removed the "The" from the menu bar class name by mistake) and the stats on the character sheet are over black boxes (the HQ1 code had that mistake by using the wrong define) Here's the new code with these mistakes fixed. Sorry for the inconvenience.

240

SCI Development Tools / Re: Decompilation Archive

« on: October 19, 2018, 12:44:56 PM »

Here is my work on Quest for Glory II v1.102 (from GOG.com). I managed to write up a game.sh file to go with it, which lists all the skills, ego walk modes, and much of the event flags. Thanks go to Charles for the QFG1EGA code (which helped me identify procedures and global variables, and whose game.sh file I based mine off of) and OmerMor for some code snippets he posted previously. The scripts compile fine, with a few exceptions listed below.

Code: [Select]

Error: (CharSheet.sc) The rest modifier must be followed by a parameter name.  Line: 27, col: 9
Error: (CharSheet.sc) The rest modifier must be followed by a parameter name.  Line: 42, col: 9
Warning: (rm130.sc) Duplicate case values. Already encountered a case for '54'  Line: 1003, col: 5
Error: (BoxSelector.sc) The rest modifier must be followed by a parameter name.  Line: 32, col: 9
239 scripts compiled.