ScummVM

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ScummVM

ScummVM "Modern Remastered" Logo.svg
ScummVM with Remastered Theme.png
ScummVM screenshot
Basic data

developer ScummVM team
Publishing year October 5, 2001
Current  version 2.1.2
( March 30, 2020 )
operating system Multi-platform
programming language C ++
category interpreter
License GPL
German speaking Yes
www.scummvm.org

ScummVM is a software and script collection, in which numerous replicated game engines are combined under a common graphical user interface . Many older computer and console games can thus run on much more modern or completely different platforms than their original developers could foresee or take into account when programming.

Initially only for Adventures based on the script language SCUMM the provider LucasArts developed, supported ScummVM ( acronym "for S cript c reation u tility for m aniac m Ansion - V irtual M achine ") today quite a few games from other developers such as Revolution Software , Adventure Soft or Sierra Entertainment .

ScummVM is itself published as free software under the GNU General Public License . However, with a few exceptions, the individual titles that can be played with it are still protected by the rights of the respective manufacturer.

technology

ScummVM is neither an emulator nor a runtime environment , but an interpreter for various scripting languages such as those developed for older adventure games.

For ScummVM different game interpreters are analyzed by reverse engineering and then new implementations are developed. In doing so, attention is paid to largely compatible and behavioral effects. The original game resources, such as B. backgrounds, images, graphics, animations, characters, sound effects, music and videos are accessed. Their connection with the user interactions as the course of the game / action is no longer controlled by the interpreter, but platform-independent by scripts written by the game designers - hence the name "VM" for virtual machine .

ScummVM makes it possible to improve the graphic display compared to the original. Since many old adventures only run with a resolution of 320 × 200 by default, pleasant gaming is also possible on monitors with a significantly higher resolution. ScummVM offers many different graphic modes that use different techniques to optimize the quality of the display. Above all, techniques such as blurring , edge smoothing and filters are used. With ScummVM it is also possible to play various games with audio and music output, even if the sound hardware specified by the manufacturer is not used, as the operating system's own sound functions are used. FluidSynth can also be used directly as music output if the operating system does not support MIDI output.

ScummVM is written in C ++ and uses the portable program libraries SDL , MAD , Vorbis or Tremor , FLAC and libmpeg2 for graphics and sound output. In addition to the source code, binaries for most supported operating systems are available on the project's website. Many Linux distributions offer compiled program packages, and it is also included in the repositories of the FreeBSD / NetBSD / OpenBSD distributions. There are implementations for the platforms Microsoft Windows , macOS , Unix and Linux systems, BSD , for iOS , Android , Windows CE , Symbian OS , bada , AmigaOS , Atari and the console systems Dreamcast , GameCube , Nintendo DS , PlayStation , Wii and Xbox .

From version 1.2.0 "FaSCInating release", the initially purely English interface can also be displayed in other languages.

development

ScummVM is a private group of developers. New versions appear every six months, which, in addition to bug fixes and improvements in playability, also always bring support for other games. The project has been a regular participant in the Google Summer of Code since 2007 .

Initially, development focused exclusively on the SCUMM script system developed by LucasArts and all games that were developed with the associated SPUTM game engine . In addition to the LucasArts Adventures such as the first three Monkey Island games, various games from Humongous Entertainment use this system. In the meantime, however, the number of supported adventure games is growing increasingly with titles that have been developed on completely different engines.

The developers of the Sarien and FreeSCI projects have decided to bring the results of their work into the ScummVM project or to further develop ScummVM together. By then, they had successfully, but independently of ScummVM, dedicated themselves to the playability of older adventure games from Sierra On-Line (now Sierra Entertainment ). Numerous adventures that were developed with TrollVM (preAGI) and Adventure Game Interpreter (AGI) have been supported by ScummVM for some time. From version 1.2.0 ScummVM includes the long-awaited addition to the Sierra Creative Interpreter (SCI). This means that further adventures from the Leisure Suit Larry series , the quest series King's Quest , Police Quest , Space Quest and other well-known classics, not least numerous fan games, also developed in SCI, can be played via ScummVM.

Game availability

ScummVM itself does not contain any games. So users must first buy their own copy of one of the supported games. However, due to their old age, some of the games are available in inexpensive collections such as LucasArts Classics .

Meanwhile there are also some adventure games that have been released by the developers:

Their developers decided not only to allow the ScummVM team to view the source code, but also to publish the game data on both the CD and the floppy disk versions as free software, which makes them available for download on the ScummVM website and via free Linux distributions may also be added.

Further adventures are Dragon History ( NoSense ), which has been revised for ScummVM and whose source code has been placed under GPLv2 , and TeenAgent ( Metropolis Software House / CD project ), which can be downloaded as freeware from Good Old Games .

ResidualVM

ResidualVM (formerly just "Residual") is a side project of some ScummVM developers, which aims to make 3D graphics adventures also run on different systems. Initially, the focus was only on Grim Fandango and Escape from Monkey Island , both of which are based on the scripting language Lua and the game engine GrimE . In the meantime, Myst III: Exile - as well as The Longest Journey in the future - are also supported.

On March 9, 2014, the developers announced that ResidualVM had been accepted as a project for the Google Summer of Code grant under the auspices of ScummVM .

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Release 2.1.2 . March 30, 2020 (accessed March 31, 2020).
  2. ↑ Play adventure classics with ScummVM directly under Windows. In: Internet Archive . May 18, 2008 .;
  3. ^ Platforms. ScummVM Wiki. In: scummvm.org. October 21, 2016, accessed December 10, 2019 .
  4. ^ Dragon History. Adventure from NoSense . In: ucw.cz. July 6, 2012, accessed December 10, 2019 .
  5. ↑ Teen Agent. Adventure from Metropolis Software House . In: gog.com. Retrieved December 10, 2019 .
  6. ↑ Compatibility list of the games from ResidualVM. In: residualvm.org. June 1, 2019, accessed December 10, 2019 .
  7. ↑ Announcement of the support for The Longest Journey. In: residualvm.org. November 10, 2019, accessed December 10, 2019 .
  8. ↑ Announcement for GSoC 2014. In: residualvm.org. May 9, 2014, accessed December 10, 2019 .

Web links

Commons : ScummVM  - album with pictures, videos and audio files