Menneisyys
05-02-2007, 10:27 AM
Many "oldtimers" recognize the name of the game developer / publishing company Sierra. They have published several games since 1978 (http://www.the-underdogs.info/company.php?id=349).
As their games are, generally, very cool, there have been a lot of efforts to make an interpreter to run their files, as is the case with other, well-known adventure companies like Lucasfilm (ScummVM (http://scummvm.org/)) and Magnetic Scrolls (see related article HERE (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=1911&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1))
There are two interpreters for Sierra games: PocketSarien and FreeSCI. In this guide, I explain everything you'll ever need to know about these titles. I also recommend the generic forum for all platforms at AGI Games (http://www.agigames.com/forum/) (despite the name, it also discusses SCI games and interpreters!) for a quick read after reading this guide.
PocketSarien (http://pocketatari.retrogames.com/downloads.html)
One of the results of these efforts was the multiplatform Sierra Sarien (http://sarien.sourceforge.net/) (which has, in the meantime, merged with ScummVM (http://scummvm.org/); interestingly, the Scumm compatibility list (http://scummvm.org/compatibility.php) doesn’t list any Sierra titles), which is able to run all Sierra games (and, more generally, games written using the same AGI (Adventure Game Interpreter) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adventure_Game_Interpreter) engine) released in the eighties (but not later).
Sarien also has a free Pocket PC port, which runs on all Pocket PC's (even MIPS/SH3 Pocket PC 2000 ones).
http://www.winmobiletech.com/kuvat/PocketSarien-QVGAKeyboard.bmp.png
It also runs on VGA devices, but without the on-screen keyboard, as can be seen in the following screenshots: 1 (http://www.winmobiletech.com/kuvat/SarienDuckMain.bmp.png) 2 (http://www.winmobiletech.com/kuvat/SarienDuckMain2.bmp.png) 3 (http://www.winmobiletech.com/kuvat/SarienLSL1.bmp.png) 4 (http://www.winmobiletech.com/kuvat/SarienLostChapter.bmp.png) 5 (http://www.winmobiletech.com/kuvat/SarienMenu.bmp.png)).
It should be pointed out that PocketSarien will not run games released in and after 1990. That is, it won't run anything in the Larry series starting with part 2, in the Space Quest series starting with part 3, in the King's Quest series starting with part 4 etc. See the list of all supported games in the sarien.conf file included in the distribution ZIP file.
Note that they are NOT compatible with the AGDI (Anonymous Game Developers Interactive) remakes (see THIS (http://www.agdinteractive.com/about.php); right now, KQ1, KQ2 and Quest for Glory II) either! (Incidentally, if you're a fan of free (!) adventure games, make sure you give these games a try.)
Getting and running PocketSarien
Go HERE (http://pocketatari.retrogames.com/downloads.html); it’ll be listed at the bottom. Direct link HERE (http://emupage.pocketgamer.org/Downloads/Interpreter/Sierra_Games_Interpreter/PocketSarien/PocketSarien_20020424_ARM.rar).
Unzip PocketSarien.exe to anywhere on your Windows Mobile device. As explained in the readme.txt in the same ZIP file, you may also want to create a directory named etc in the root of the built-in storage of your device and copy the file sarien.conf in there.
Now, copy all the files from the original AGI games to anywhere on your Windows Mobile device (make sure you install Mad Programmer’s File Dialog Changer to be able to navigate anywhere on your device. See THIS (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=1911&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1) for more info on this). You can safely leave out *.ovl, *.com, *FONT files and the AGI file to save storage.
Now, just run PocketSarien.exe and select any file from your games, let it be VOL.0, VOL.1 or anything else visible. The game will start.
Getting the original AGI games
Unlike with some Lucasfilm games or all Magnetic Scrolls (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=1911&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1) ones, it’s not possible to acquire all games off the Web because of the copyright issues. However, some of them are still (legally) downloadable; for example, The Black Cauldron (http://www.allowe.com/download/The%20Black%20Cauldron.zip) (also see THIS (http://www.reloaded.org/download/Black-Cauldron/22/)) and Donald Duck's Playground (http://www.allowe.com/download/Donald%20Duck%27s%20Playground.zip) on Al Lowe’s personal homepage (http://www.allowe.com/More/download.htm) (Note that the other games don’t seem to be compatible!)
(A personal remark: I really recommend the above-linked Donald Duck's Playground (http://www.allowe.com/More/download.htm); back in the eighties, my little brother’s favorite game.)
Also, the two compatible fangames, Space Quest 0 – Replicated (http://www.zdnet.nl/downloads.cfm?id=35710) and Space Quest - The Lost Chapter (http://frostbytei.com/space/about.html) (also see THIS (http://www.reloaded.org/download/Space-Quest-Lost-Chapter/230/)) are freely available.
Finally, you can also download LSLI (http://www.zdnet.nl/downloads.cfm?id=43884) and SQI (http://www.zdnet.nl/downloads.cfm?id=41723) off the Web.
Unfortunately, the well-known abandonware site Underdogs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_of_the_Underdogs) doesn’t list many AGI (and, as far as FreeSCI is concerned, SCI0) titles.
Verdict
I can only recommend Pocket Sarien. It runs just great on all QVGA devices (and also VGA ones if you do have an external / built-in hardware keyboard; unfortunately, it’ll always use Portrait, which isn’t the best with landscape keyboards). Highly recommended!
FreeSCI for PocketPC 0.3.4c (http://pocketinsanity.sourceforge.net/content/view/24/34/)
While PocketSarien is an AGI-only interpreter, FreeSCI is an SCI0 (Sierra's Creative Interpreter version 0) one. Please see this Wiki page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sierra%27s_Creative_Interpreter) for more information on what this means and what other SCI versions there are.
The author of the port, PocketInsanity, is the author of some other, free utilities like XRick, OpenJazz (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=810&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1), PocketUAE and Wolf3D. They’re all free and should be given a test ride. Yes, free doesn’t necessarily mean bad not only with the PocketInsanity stuff, but also vijay555 (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=1788&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1), FdcSoft / DotFred (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&title=dotfred_releases_version_1_4_of_pim_back&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1) and n0p (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=1891&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1).
This WM2003+ (no pre-WM2003 compatibility – it is NOT compatible with PPC2k2 devices either!) emulator is for some of (the ones in the SCI0 and SCI01 section here (http://freesci.linuxgames.com/scihtml/x157.html) and also this list (http://members.fortunecity.com/roger_wilco/interpret.html)) the newer Sierra titles. This means that its compatibility is much narrower than what the official homepage states (also see this thread (http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?thread_id=1116055&forum_id=389662) on this problem). That is, the game is not compatible with the vast majority of the list "Leisure Suit Larry 2-7, Space Quest 3-6, King's Quest 4-6, Quest for Glory 1-4". This is certainly bad news.
Note that the freely available Leisure Suit Larry 2 Point and Click (http://www.freewebs.com/skimbleshanks/index.htm) does not use SCI (but AGS) and is, therefore, incompatible with FreeSCI.
Installing and running FreeSCI
Get the file HERE (http://pocketinsanity.sourceforge.net/content/view/24/34/) (alternate, direct download HERE (http://emupage.pocketgamer.org/Downloads/Interpreter/Sierra_Games_Interpreter/FreeSCI/FreeSCI_20040713.rar)).
Unzip freesci.exe anywhere on your Windows Mobile device and read the enclosed README.PocketPC.
Unfortunately, unlike with Sarien, you MUST list the games you have on your system in the main configuration file of FreeSCI. This is problematic because of two issues.
First, the configuration files use the Unix newline convention and they MUST stay in this format. This means you can’t edit the files with Windows’ Notepad (because it doesn’t handle Unix-style newline). You can’t use Windows’ Wordpad either because it’ll save the edited file using the Windows newline convention, which is incompatible with FreeSCI. Therefore, you MUST use for example the easy-to-use, free EOLNconv (http://www.sph.sc.edu/comd/rorden/eoln.html) for converting between the two formats. In my article “Java Midlets on the Pocket PC - the Complete Tutorial (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=644&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1)”, I’ve also recommended this tool for conversion from the Unix newline format to that of Windows (for exiting) and back.
Second, under newer editions of the Windows Mobile operating systems starting with WM5 (including, of course, WM6), you can’t create a directory starting with a dot. This is unlike older (pre-WM5) operating systems. This bug hasn’t been fixed in the last 1.5 years and no one has been able to find a solution to it (also see THIS (http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?thread_id=1481890&forum_id=389662), THIS (http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?thread_id=1540746&forum_id=389662) and THIS (http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?thread_id=1548679&forum_id=389662) (note that the there recommended Resco won’t help)) – before me, that is. Yes, I was the first to be able to fix the bug. (The Windows Mobile community can call itself very lucky to have a coder / programmer like me to fix problems like this - and I haven't even mentioned some of the other productivity apps I've contributed to!)
To fix the bug, using a hexa file editor, position to cbe74 (http://www.winmobiletech.com/kuvat/FreesciTakeOutTheDot.png) and change '2e' to, say, 66 (the hex code for 'f'). If you are afraid using a hex editor, I’ve made the hacked EXE available HERE (http://www.winmobiletech.com/sekalaiset/freesci-hexedited.rar); it requires the config file to be put in the ffreesci (instead of .freesci) directory in the root.
Finally, note that you must also list the version number of your game in the config file, not only its directory. To find it out, open the main .exe file (it's about 70 kbytes and, with most games, it's called sierra.exe and sciv.exe) with a file viewer (for example, F3 in Total Commander) and look for (Find, F7) the string ".000". When you find it, paste the entire X.000.XXX version number it's located in into the configuration file. (Also see THIS (http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?thread_id=1174032&forum_id=389662) – it’s a worse description though).
Note that it works with external keyboards; then, however, the cursor keys will not be remapped to the landscape mode and will, therefore, work the other way around.
Speed issues
Unfortunately, unlike with Sarien, the FreeSCI is VERY slow (also see for example THIS (http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?thread_id=1407530&forum_id=389662)). It’s like playing these games on an imaginary 1 MHz IBM PC with CGA emulation on a Hercules monitor. Really-really bad, even on a fast Windows Mobile device!
Note that some people recommend (see for example THIS (http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?thread_id=1300112&forum_id=389662)) tweaking the graphics parameters; using the
dirty_strategy = 1
pic0_dither_mode = dither
parameters instead of the default
dirty_strategy = clusters
pic0_dither_mode = flat
In my practice, this didn't help at all.
Note that (I've tested this all!)
turning up the speed to 16 (Speed/Change) won't help at all – on the contrary
adding the pcmout_driver = null option to disable sound won't really help
also note that if you remove midi_device and sound_server, things will get much worse
See THIS (http://www.sourcentral.org/man/debian-unstable/6+freesci) for more info on these parameters.
Related info: PG (http://www.pocketgamer.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3770).
Verdict
Unlike with Pocket Sarien, I don’t recommend this interpreter. It’s just TOO slow, even if you try to tweak the parameters. It’s pretty useless to try to play anything in it.
As their games are, generally, very cool, there have been a lot of efforts to make an interpreter to run their files, as is the case with other, well-known adventure companies like Lucasfilm (ScummVM (http://scummvm.org/)) and Magnetic Scrolls (see related article HERE (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=1911&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1))
There are two interpreters for Sierra games: PocketSarien and FreeSCI. In this guide, I explain everything you'll ever need to know about these titles. I also recommend the generic forum for all platforms at AGI Games (http://www.agigames.com/forum/) (despite the name, it also discusses SCI games and interpreters!) for a quick read after reading this guide.
PocketSarien (http://pocketatari.retrogames.com/downloads.html)
One of the results of these efforts was the multiplatform Sierra Sarien (http://sarien.sourceforge.net/) (which has, in the meantime, merged with ScummVM (http://scummvm.org/); interestingly, the Scumm compatibility list (http://scummvm.org/compatibility.php) doesn’t list any Sierra titles), which is able to run all Sierra games (and, more generally, games written using the same AGI (Adventure Game Interpreter) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adventure_Game_Interpreter) engine) released in the eighties (but not later).
Sarien also has a free Pocket PC port, which runs on all Pocket PC's (even MIPS/SH3 Pocket PC 2000 ones).
http://www.winmobiletech.com/kuvat/PocketSarien-QVGAKeyboard.bmp.png
It also runs on VGA devices, but without the on-screen keyboard, as can be seen in the following screenshots: 1 (http://www.winmobiletech.com/kuvat/SarienDuckMain.bmp.png) 2 (http://www.winmobiletech.com/kuvat/SarienDuckMain2.bmp.png) 3 (http://www.winmobiletech.com/kuvat/SarienLSL1.bmp.png) 4 (http://www.winmobiletech.com/kuvat/SarienLostChapter.bmp.png) 5 (http://www.winmobiletech.com/kuvat/SarienMenu.bmp.png)).
It should be pointed out that PocketSarien will not run games released in and after 1990. That is, it won't run anything in the Larry series starting with part 2, in the Space Quest series starting with part 3, in the King's Quest series starting with part 4 etc. See the list of all supported games in the sarien.conf file included in the distribution ZIP file.
Note that they are NOT compatible with the AGDI (Anonymous Game Developers Interactive) remakes (see THIS (http://www.agdinteractive.com/about.php); right now, KQ1, KQ2 and Quest for Glory II) either! (Incidentally, if you're a fan of free (!) adventure games, make sure you give these games a try.)
Getting and running PocketSarien
Go HERE (http://pocketatari.retrogames.com/downloads.html); it’ll be listed at the bottom. Direct link HERE (http://emupage.pocketgamer.org/Downloads/Interpreter/Sierra_Games_Interpreter/PocketSarien/PocketSarien_20020424_ARM.rar).
Unzip PocketSarien.exe to anywhere on your Windows Mobile device. As explained in the readme.txt in the same ZIP file, you may also want to create a directory named etc in the root of the built-in storage of your device and copy the file sarien.conf in there.
Now, copy all the files from the original AGI games to anywhere on your Windows Mobile device (make sure you install Mad Programmer’s File Dialog Changer to be able to navigate anywhere on your device. See THIS (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=1911&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1) for more info on this). You can safely leave out *.ovl, *.com, *FONT files and the AGI file to save storage.
Now, just run PocketSarien.exe and select any file from your games, let it be VOL.0, VOL.1 or anything else visible. The game will start.
Getting the original AGI games
Unlike with some Lucasfilm games or all Magnetic Scrolls (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=1911&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1) ones, it’s not possible to acquire all games off the Web because of the copyright issues. However, some of them are still (legally) downloadable; for example, The Black Cauldron (http://www.allowe.com/download/The%20Black%20Cauldron.zip) (also see THIS (http://www.reloaded.org/download/Black-Cauldron/22/)) and Donald Duck's Playground (http://www.allowe.com/download/Donald%20Duck%27s%20Playground.zip) on Al Lowe’s personal homepage (http://www.allowe.com/More/download.htm) (Note that the other games don’t seem to be compatible!)
(A personal remark: I really recommend the above-linked Donald Duck's Playground (http://www.allowe.com/More/download.htm); back in the eighties, my little brother’s favorite game.)
Also, the two compatible fangames, Space Quest 0 – Replicated (http://www.zdnet.nl/downloads.cfm?id=35710) and Space Quest - The Lost Chapter (http://frostbytei.com/space/about.html) (also see THIS (http://www.reloaded.org/download/Space-Quest-Lost-Chapter/230/)) are freely available.
Finally, you can also download LSLI (http://www.zdnet.nl/downloads.cfm?id=43884) and SQI (http://www.zdnet.nl/downloads.cfm?id=41723) off the Web.
Unfortunately, the well-known abandonware site Underdogs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_of_the_Underdogs) doesn’t list many AGI (and, as far as FreeSCI is concerned, SCI0) titles.
Verdict
I can only recommend Pocket Sarien. It runs just great on all QVGA devices (and also VGA ones if you do have an external / built-in hardware keyboard; unfortunately, it’ll always use Portrait, which isn’t the best with landscape keyboards). Highly recommended!
FreeSCI for PocketPC 0.3.4c (http://pocketinsanity.sourceforge.net/content/view/24/34/)
While PocketSarien is an AGI-only interpreter, FreeSCI is an SCI0 (Sierra's Creative Interpreter version 0) one. Please see this Wiki page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sierra%27s_Creative_Interpreter) for more information on what this means and what other SCI versions there are.
The author of the port, PocketInsanity, is the author of some other, free utilities like XRick, OpenJazz (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=810&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1), PocketUAE and Wolf3D. They’re all free and should be given a test ride. Yes, free doesn’t necessarily mean bad not only with the PocketInsanity stuff, but also vijay555 (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=1788&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1), FdcSoft / DotFred (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&title=dotfred_releases_version_1_4_of_pim_back&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1) and n0p (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=1891&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1).
This WM2003+ (no pre-WM2003 compatibility – it is NOT compatible with PPC2k2 devices either!) emulator is for some of (the ones in the SCI0 and SCI01 section here (http://freesci.linuxgames.com/scihtml/x157.html) and also this list (http://members.fortunecity.com/roger_wilco/interpret.html)) the newer Sierra titles. This means that its compatibility is much narrower than what the official homepage states (also see this thread (http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?thread_id=1116055&forum_id=389662) on this problem). That is, the game is not compatible with the vast majority of the list "Leisure Suit Larry 2-7, Space Quest 3-6, King's Quest 4-6, Quest for Glory 1-4". This is certainly bad news.
Note that the freely available Leisure Suit Larry 2 Point and Click (http://www.freewebs.com/skimbleshanks/index.htm) does not use SCI (but AGS) and is, therefore, incompatible with FreeSCI.
Installing and running FreeSCI
Get the file HERE (http://pocketinsanity.sourceforge.net/content/view/24/34/) (alternate, direct download HERE (http://emupage.pocketgamer.org/Downloads/Interpreter/Sierra_Games_Interpreter/FreeSCI/FreeSCI_20040713.rar)).
Unzip freesci.exe anywhere on your Windows Mobile device and read the enclosed README.PocketPC.
Unfortunately, unlike with Sarien, you MUST list the games you have on your system in the main configuration file of FreeSCI. This is problematic because of two issues.
First, the configuration files use the Unix newline convention and they MUST stay in this format. This means you can’t edit the files with Windows’ Notepad (because it doesn’t handle Unix-style newline). You can’t use Windows’ Wordpad either because it’ll save the edited file using the Windows newline convention, which is incompatible with FreeSCI. Therefore, you MUST use for example the easy-to-use, free EOLNconv (http://www.sph.sc.edu/comd/rorden/eoln.html) for converting between the two formats. In my article “Java Midlets on the Pocket PC - the Complete Tutorial (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=644&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1)”, I’ve also recommended this tool for conversion from the Unix newline format to that of Windows (for exiting) and back.
Second, under newer editions of the Windows Mobile operating systems starting with WM5 (including, of course, WM6), you can’t create a directory starting with a dot. This is unlike older (pre-WM5) operating systems. This bug hasn’t been fixed in the last 1.5 years and no one has been able to find a solution to it (also see THIS (http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?thread_id=1481890&forum_id=389662), THIS (http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?thread_id=1540746&forum_id=389662) and THIS (http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?thread_id=1548679&forum_id=389662) (note that the there recommended Resco won’t help)) – before me, that is. Yes, I was the first to be able to fix the bug. (The Windows Mobile community can call itself very lucky to have a coder / programmer like me to fix problems like this - and I haven't even mentioned some of the other productivity apps I've contributed to!)
To fix the bug, using a hexa file editor, position to cbe74 (http://www.winmobiletech.com/kuvat/FreesciTakeOutTheDot.png) and change '2e' to, say, 66 (the hex code for 'f'). If you are afraid using a hex editor, I’ve made the hacked EXE available HERE (http://www.winmobiletech.com/sekalaiset/freesci-hexedited.rar); it requires the config file to be put in the ffreesci (instead of .freesci) directory in the root.
Finally, note that you must also list the version number of your game in the config file, not only its directory. To find it out, open the main .exe file (it's about 70 kbytes and, with most games, it's called sierra.exe and sciv.exe) with a file viewer (for example, F3 in Total Commander) and look for (Find, F7) the string ".000". When you find it, paste the entire X.000.XXX version number it's located in into the configuration file. (Also see THIS (http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?thread_id=1174032&forum_id=389662) – it’s a worse description though).
Note that it works with external keyboards; then, however, the cursor keys will not be remapped to the landscape mode and will, therefore, work the other way around.
Speed issues
Unfortunately, unlike with Sarien, the FreeSCI is VERY slow (also see for example THIS (http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?thread_id=1407530&forum_id=389662)). It’s like playing these games on an imaginary 1 MHz IBM PC with CGA emulation on a Hercules monitor. Really-really bad, even on a fast Windows Mobile device!
Note that some people recommend (see for example THIS (http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?thread_id=1300112&forum_id=389662)) tweaking the graphics parameters; using the
dirty_strategy = 1
pic0_dither_mode = dither
parameters instead of the default
dirty_strategy = clusters
pic0_dither_mode = flat
In my practice, this didn't help at all.
Note that (I've tested this all!)
turning up the speed to 16 (Speed/Change) won't help at all – on the contrary
adding the pcmout_driver = null option to disable sound won't really help
also note that if you remove midi_device and sound_server, things will get much worse
See THIS (http://www.sourcentral.org/man/debian-unstable/6+freesci) for more info on these parameters.
Related info: PG (http://www.pocketgamer.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3770).
Verdict
Unlike with Pocket Sarien, I don’t recommend this interpreter. It’s just TOO slow, even if you try to tweak the parameters. It’s pretty useless to try to play anything in it.