Recent Posts

1

SCI Development Tools / Re: SCI Unlocked - Sierra's game engine running on Python3 + Raylib

« Last post by deckarep on September 16, 2026, 02:22:08 PM »

Hey y'all,

Update on the SCI Unlocked project - this has been like a 3.5 years journey with 2 false starts along the way.

Here's a modified version of lsl1 running as a native WASM app (no ScummVM, no Dosbox, no emulation layer):

100% compiled from Sluicebox's scripts, all of this is written in Zig + Raylib.

https://sci-unlocked.fly.dev

NOTE: You should be able to skip the questions with: CTRL+ALT+X (PC) or CMD+ALT+X (Mac)

I have not yet confirmed the game is 100% beatable with no bugs - see how far you get!

2

The Games and other Sierra Adventure stuff / Re: Debugging protection LSL5 with Winuae

« Last post by Kawa on September 16, 2026, 07:40:33 AM »

The ATM machine closeup, room 258, uses the TTDialer script (#20), which can tell if it's supposed to be readable numbers or weird symbols. View 10 has the dialer interface including readable buttons, and view 11 has the weird buttons. Pressing a button, weird or otherwise, concatenates its value into a string, so you spell out "555 123456" or whathaveyou. This string is then parsed in two separate steps, one for the area code and one for the rest of the number. Why is it a string? Because SCI variables are inherently 16-bit so "555123456" wouldn't fit.

Each button has a key to look for so you can dial by using the keyboard, and a key it'll append to the fully-composed number. Keyboard inputs change for the ATM, but their numerical values remain, so if you dial "130 63639" on a regular keypad, that'll be the actual string value in memory. And if it's the weird ATM buttons, they'll have the same digit values in the same places so if you blindly press the same buttons you'll get the same actual string value in memory.

The best part is, not one thing I just described is particular to the DOS or Amiga versions. The dialer and copy protection work the same way in both! So you don't really need WinUAE's debugger to figure any of this out. Both of them use the same ASCII character set, so those string values with the digits you've dialed so far would be identical.

(Sluicebox's decompilation may throw you off a bit if you look at rm258.sc, where the copy-protection numbers include negative values. This is because the decompiler assumes a signed value (-32k to 32k) while you can also write them as unsigned (0 to 65k) and it'll Just Work. This includes converting the string value "34023" to -31513 and still comparing equal to 34023! This is because 34023, which is a little higher than 32767, is 1000'0100'1110'0111 in binary, and as you can see the leftmost bit is 1 so it can also be read as -31513.)

Hope this helps!

3

The Games and other Sierra Adventure stuff / Debugging protection LSL5 with Winuae

« Last post by slipperypete on September 16, 2026, 06:53:50 AM »

Evening Gents

Well ive managed to get my head around the code for lsl5 Atm machine.
Even found the codes in SCummvm and SCI Companion BUT im having trouble tracking it down in winuae debugger.
Even tried looking for the code in decimal and hexidecimal and just cant find it which is frustrating.

If anyone  has had any expereience of what the value woud become with looking it up in Amiga code Id be very very greatful.



Many thanks.

You can always count on Slippery Pete

4

SCI Development Tools / Re: LSL4 Demo

« Last post by doomlazer on September 15, 2026, 02:57:19 PM »

The art and animation looks really good

5

SCI Development Tools / LSL4 Demo

« Last post by robbo007 on September 12, 2026, 12:52:46 PM »

Hi guys,
I've put together a little non playable marketing demo for my game. It's going to be on display at the Portland Retro Gaming Expo this year.

Hope you enjoy it.

I'm looking to release the full game next year in 2027. I'm still finishing some of the coding in the last rooms and then I need to tackle the music and sound effects.

6

The Games and other Sierra Adventure stuff / Re: Rare SCI Games

« Last post by Threepwang on September 12, 2026, 08:27:25 AM »

In the ScummVM detection table, line 559, there is a LOWRES-EGA version of Conquests of the Longbow (Game version unknown, Interpreter version 1.000.510). Source: https://github.com/efimandreev/scummvm-ctr/blob/master/engines/sci/detection_tables.h

The only LOWRES-EGA PC version I know has an interpreter of 1.000.175:


Is it possible that it is the same game with a "ScummVM guess" SCI interpreter? How can I check this on my version of the game?

7

AGI Development Tools / Re: AGI-64

« Last post by lance.ewing on September 11, 2026, 11:32:07 AM »

I have been in contact with the author of AGI-64. He said to let him know of anyone else who is interested in helping out with the tedious task of play testing AGI-64. I have already started some testing with SQ1, so far only as far as the escape pod landing on Kerona. Keep in mind that this is the C64, so it struggles a bit to keep up with the animation requirements of AGI at times, so I think the slowness of the animation is a known and currently expected feature. You don't need a real C64 to test on. The VICE emulator is sufficient and the process of loading and running a game is very easy, and quick, assuming you have a pre-built .crt file, which the author would be able to provide you with.

Send me a PM if you want me to send you his direct contact details.

8

The Games and other Sierra Adventure stuff / Re: Rare SCI Games

« Last post by lskovlun on September 01, 2026, 10:55:48 PM »

Buried in this SCIW_V.EXE is the string:

PKWARE Data Compression Library(
)
Copyright 1990-92 PKWARE Inc.  All Rights Reserved.
Patent No.
,745
Version 1.03
I am not sure what it is doing there if it was not packed with it, but as I mentioned, unlzexe will not handle it.

Oh, PKWARE DCL is used for the resource volumes and for savegames. It is not an executable packer.

9

The Games and other Sierra Adventure stuff / Re: Rare SCI Games

« Last post by Collector on September 01, 2026, 10:16:21 PM »

Buried in this SCIW_V.EXE is the string:

PKWARE Data Compression Library(
)
Copyright 1990-92 PKWARE Inc.  All Rights Reserved.
Patent No.
,745
Version 1.03

I am not sure what it is doing there if it was not packed with it, but as I mentioned, unlzexe will not handle it.

The reason that I am trying to sort it out is that this is the one from Hoyle 4. The SIERRA.EXE has the NB00 and NB02 strings visible, even before decompressing.

Strings visible before decompressing are references to Win16 system files and scidll and the string  "Windows version of SCI - HOYLE" along with various generic error messages. It also shows the interpreter's flags, but no hint of a version number. I think ScummVM ID it as on of those "x.yyy.zzz" interpreters, but I would like to have my tool determine it instead of relying on a reference.

10

The Games and other Sierra Adventure stuff / Re: Rare SCI Games

« Last post by lskovlun on September 01, 2026, 07:50:47 PM »

I was looking at the EXEs from Hoyle 4. The Windows SCIW_V.EXE interpreter readily unpacks with unlzexe

Hm, that's odd. LZEXE doesn't usually work with Windows executables.

It looked like that it was not packed since it has a lot readable strings as is, but I see no trace of a version number. Any ideas on what is going on? If it is packed, what can unpack it?

Microsoft's EXEPACK could be the culprit here. It doesn't actually compress very well, but it does mangle text strings. Do you know about Ben Castricum's old UNP tool? It knows about LZEXE and EXEPACK and a bunch more. A one-stop shop.