Author Topic: INN - LSCIDump  (Read 34295 times)

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Offline Collector

Re: INN - LSCIDump
« Reply #30 on: November 13, 2015, 08:52:19 PM »
The only thing that I would warn about Wordpress is that it does seem to be a target for would be hackers. I am not using it for SHP, but when I look through the error logs I always see a bunch of repeated attempts to access a Wordpress admin page.

As to SCI2, no pressure, but what a coup it would be to add the ability to make SCI2+ games in Companion.
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Offline troflip

Re: INN - LSCIDump
« Reply #31 on: November 13, 2015, 09:18:06 PM »
"It can load and save just about all the important things in SCI2 but it's not officially supported."

Ell-oh-ell.

I am kind of impressed that I figured out the mystery data at the end of views, coded it up and it worked first time. Must be all the coffee I had today. I can now save views into GK1, at least. Unfortunately if I save things in SQ6's resource files, when I run the game, I get a "this game has not been version stamped" error. So it sounds like it's comparing against some checksum or something. I can save things as patch files though.

The missing things with SCI2 would be:
- a template game (this is obviously a huge amount of work, as we've seen). It's theoretically something someone else could do though (shouldn't require any changes to SCI Companion code, if I've done things right)
- a proper workflow for pics. I've put something barely workable in.
- palettes seem to work very differently in SCI2, I don't really know what's going on. I'll change the palette in a pic, and it won't take. Until at some point in the scene suddenly it "takes". I assume it's because there are other views in the scene that have palettes that override the pic's palette or something. At any rate, it seems confusing.
Check out my website: http://icefallgames.com
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Offline Collector

Re: INN - LSCIDump
« Reply #32 on: November 13, 2015, 11:47:49 PM »
Can I have some of that coffee you had :)

I have encountered the version stamped before. I believe it was from when I working on Phantasmagoria on or two. Does SQ6 accept an altered view if it is saved as a patch file, i.e. not packed in the main resource file?

SCI2+ has been stumping the ScummVM team for quite some time now. In fact their SCI development seems to be stalled out because of it.
KQII Remake Pic

Offline CTxCB

Re: INN - LSCIDump
« Reply #33 on: November 14, 2015, 03:11:53 AM »
SCI Community should get some kind of facelift as well. At the very least changing some of the example images from EGA resource editing to VGA resource editing would give it a fresh indication of what's now possible. SCI creation in general has had the reputation of being EGA only for a very long time.
I've been a hobbyist Web Designer for a couple of years, and would love the challenge of eventually working on a redesigned SCIProgramming Website. A facelift on the website, adding some features, making everything look more fancy, and slick, whilst still being easy to use, would be cool. Here are some of the things I've worked on (some coded straight from scratch, others using freely available templates that are then being edited to the extremes): http://toiletheadstudios.com/, http://melkshamskills.co.uk/ and http://sd.savedisneyshows.org/ (The last link is going to have a facelift itself soon).
« Last Edit: November 14, 2015, 03:20:57 AM by CTxCB »

Offline CTxCB

Re: INN - LSCIDump
« Reply #34 on: November 14, 2015, 03:21:23 AM »
But for now, I suggest redoing your site when you have a final version of SCI Companion 3.x.x.x

No doubt. scicompanion.com is available!

edit: and now registered
I wouldn't mind helping with the SCI Companion Website too... Looking at it, it's currently a wordpress thing and I don't think that's how it should look (I could whip up a great-looking website, whilst keeping it minimalistic, and clean). Why would I do this for all of you? Honestly, because it helps me settle in to the community. I've been here before, years ago and I stayed a while, but I think I've forgotten my account name or I deleted it for a fresh start in the future (now). I want to help the SCI Community however I can... Eventually, that'll be with designing games... But for now, I have to help with what I'm good at.

Offline CTxCB

Re: INN - LSCIDump
« Reply #35 on: November 14, 2015, 03:23:04 AM »
On an unrelated note, I think I've deciphered how to save SCI2 views. Reading them is not problem (same format as SCI1.1 for the actual image data), but writing them in a way SCI expects was not easy - there's a whole bunch of data at the end of the view which is apparently very important. And I've just figured out what it is. SCI Companion won't have official SCI2 support, but it will be able to read everything (except for movies), and I've been able to save messages, text, and pics back to the resource packages. I assume scripts would work, but I haven't tried. And now, hopefully, views will work.
One thing that might be cool for a future idea, for when you get around to moving to a focus of working more on SCI2, is .RBT and .VMD Support, which are the two video formats used by Sierra for their FMV Games, such as Phantasmagoria. The RBT (Robot) Format has video and (sometimes) audio, but has a transparent background layer which used to overlay the video over an already existent background (presumably to save space and rendering time in-game), usually this transparent layer in SV.EXE is displayed as black, but I'd suggest a rarely used color, like vibrant green, vibrant blue, or vibrant pink. The VMD Format is purely video and audio, it seems as if it'd be a lot easier to implement a VMD Viewer into SCI Companion, than a RBT Viewer; On VAG's SCI Page (http://vagsoft.chat.ru/sci.html), there's a beta for a VMD Player that is "90% complete", could be interesting to just take a peek at that?

Offline troflip

Re: INN - LSCIDump
« Reply #36 on: November 14, 2015, 03:49:59 AM »
I have encountered the version stamped before. I believe it was from when I working on Phantasmagoria on or two. Does SQ6 accept an altered view if it is saved as a patch file, i.e. not packed in the main resource file?

SCI2+ has been stumping the ScummVM team for quite some time now. In fact their SCI development seems to be stalled out because of it.

Yup, it works as a patch file.

Implementing an interpreter is quite a different thing than a resource editor. SCI2 has a *lot* of new kernel functions to support. So I suspect it's a significantly bigger challenge than a resource editor. From a resource standpoint, SCI2 is not very different from SCI1.1. Both ScummVM and I need to be able to read resources (relatively straightforward), ScummVM has the additional challenge of implementing all the kernels, and I have the additional challenge of needing to write resources.
Check out my website: http://icefallgames.com
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Offline troflip

Re: INN - LSCIDump
« Reply #37 on: November 14, 2015, 04:04:20 AM »
I wouldn't mind helping with the SCI Companion Website too... Looking at it, it's currently a wordpress thing and I don't think that's how it should look (I could whip up a great-looking website, whilst keeping it minimalistic, and clean).

Well I just registered it today and installed wordpress and haven't done anything else with it yet, lol. So that's why it looks like that :P.

I was just planning on it being a clean landing page with a handle of links: download, documentation, github, a link to here.
Check out my website: http://icefallgames.com
Groundhog Day Competition

Offline CTxCB

Re: INN - LSCIDump
« Reply #38 on: November 14, 2015, 04:08:11 AM »
I wouldn't mind helping with the SCI Companion Website too... Looking at it, it's currently a wordpress thing and I don't think that's how it should look (I could whip up a great-looking website, whilst keeping it minimalistic, and clean).

Well I just registered it today and installed wordpress and haven't done anything else with it yet, lol. So that's why it looks like that :P.

I was just planning on it being a clean landing page with a handle of links: download, documentation, github, a link to here.
I'd still love to help with the website however I could, if you don't mind. If you do, I understand though.

Offline MusicallyInspired

Re: INN - LSCIDump
« Reply #39 on: November 14, 2015, 11:18:06 AM »
I was going to offer web design help myself, but I don't want to compete. And my hands are full right now anyway with other projects. Web design is a bit like programming in that it's fun to see exactly what you picture becoming a reality. :)

Some I made from scratch. I don't like using templates because I find they are too bloated for sites that just don't need that level of content:
http://brandonblume.com
http://sc55.duke4.net
http://brandonblume.com/tl2

I wanted to try my hand at the popular "book cover" modern design. I had started working on a demo for a local reservation near my area and was going to offer it to them when I finished as their current site is terribly outdated. It's just barebones right now, but you can see where it was going. I also needed more photos to liven it up which I don't have access to.

http://brandonblume.com/_notseen/dakota/
« Last Edit: November 14, 2015, 11:24:01 AM by MusicallyInspired »
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Offline troflip

Re: INN - LSCIDump
« Reply #40 on: November 14, 2015, 12:51:06 PM »
I appreciate the offers of help, but I think in the end I'd like to do it.

I'm kind of going for something like this: http://cdn.wpdailythemes.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Enclosed.jpg
If you'd like to help, maybe suggest how I can integrate and "old school" feel with something like that?
Check out my website: http://icefallgames.com
Groundhog Day Competition

Offline CTxCB

Re: INN - LSCIDump
« Reply #41 on: November 14, 2015, 12:57:08 PM »
I appreciate the offers of help, but I think in the end I'd like to do it.

I'm kind of going for something like this: http://cdn.wpdailythemes.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Enclosed.jpg
If you'd like to help, maybe suggest how I can integrate and "old school" feel with something like that?
I'd suggest by incorporating it into the background, and into the images used, such as the buttons and the spotlight bar (where the drink is in that image you linked). You can also incorporate the "old school" feel by making SCI Companion Website have a logo, and make it be old-school themed.

Offline troflip

Re: INN - LSCIDump
« Reply #42 on: November 14, 2015, 07:13:47 PM »
It looks something like this now (see attached).

http://scicompanion.com

Some of the icons are a little rough-looking. Do you think over all that the blocky 8-bit icons look ok though? Maybe the icons should be modern hi-res ones, but the text should stay blocky? Or vice-versa?

For the slider bar images, I choose 3 screenshots each from combinations of VGA/EGA and Sierra/fanmade games (for a total of 12). Can anyone suggest better screenshots? Ideally I was looking for iconic scenes and, perhaps more importantly, scenes of predominantly one hue, as 3 adjacent scenes of mixed hues looks bad. I certainly failed in some cases.

Can anyone suggest title/subtitles for the sliderbar images that appear on top? I can't think of anything non-cheesy so I just put placeholder stuff in. But I was going for "create" copy for the fanmade screenshots and "nostalgia" copy for the sierra screenshots.


I hate wordpress.

[edit:] of course, IE is scaling the icons for some reason, ruining the blocky look. :-p
« Last Edit: November 14, 2015, 07:18:12 PM by troflip »
Check out my website: http://icefallgames.com
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Offline MusicallyInspired

Re: INN - LSCIDump
« Reply #43 on: November 14, 2015, 07:31:47 PM »
Nice work! I'm liking it! Nice screenshot choices!

Some ideas for subtexts:

CONCEIVE - your own game
CRAFT - your own experience
CREATE - your own adventure
DELVE - into classic nostalgia
RECAPTURE - the magic
POINT - and click (ok this one was a joke, but it is a good indicator of P&C possibilities in SCI now)
DISCOVER - new possibilities
RENEW - past passions

I don't know...that's all I got. Also, I love the 8-bit buttons. An idea for a replacement subtext the site title though, maybe, might be "Create your own classics!" instead of "Create your own classic games!"
« Last Edit: November 14, 2015, 07:35:00 PM by MusicallyInspired »
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Offline troflip

Re: INN - LSCIDump
« Reply #44 on: November 14, 2015, 09:10:32 PM »
Note: If anyone has any fairly monochromatic screenshots from VGA projects (or EGA) they're working on, I'd love to use them for the site.
Check out my website: http://icefallgames.com
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