Simon the sorcerer

2015-03-27 01:08:51 pm

Adventure games very seldom have low% or 100%. They more typically afford having several endings/paths (like Fate of Atlantis) if that.

Something I told BigManJapan to do is start a knowledge base page for adventure games in general for the benefit of new runners. Just some sort of checklist for what kinds of things tend to repeat from game to game.

Fast mouse movements is something playing FPS games (or RTS or anything) trains but platformers etc. don't.

You're right it's a tough game to run. You can still get a sub-20 fairly easy if some many conversations are unrouted.

CleverDan

2015-04-02 04:53:53 pm

So I've been thinking about this lately, and I don't think that the fast mode should be used in a speedrun of this game. As far as I can tell, fast mode is either a SCUMMVM-only "feature," or it's part of a debug-mode left in by the developers. The manual for this game mentions other keyboard shortcuts ("m" for muting music, "s" for muting sound) but makes no mention of any sort of "fast mode." Also, the SCUMMVM readme.txt says "Note that using Ctrl-f or Ctrl-g is not recommended: games can crash when being run faster than their normal speed, as scripts will lose synchronisation."

So, I feel that my previous runs should be considered invalid because they used this fast mode. What do other people think?

LotBlind

2015-04-03 06:55:03 am

You should ask bigmanjapan about that because I think there was a game that he was running which had the same option that he, too, mentioned was liable to break the game and was not an original feature. I don't really wanna comment on it myself.

Bigmanjapan

Edit history:

Bigmanjapan: 2015-10-03 06:13:53 am

Bigmanjapan: 2015-05-24 09:41:52 pm

Bigmanjapan: 2015-05-24 09:41:00 pm

Bigmanjapan: 2015-05-24 09:40:42 pm

2015-05-24 09:38:14 pm

When it comes to DOS games emulation, ScummVM will often make games behave differently from native environment.

I experienced this with Kyrandia games. For example, in Kyrandia 2 you can speed up dialogues and animations by multiple left mouse button clicking.
In Kyrandia 1, doing such speedups will result in graphical glitches. These are obviously not original features.

Another thing is sometimes GOG versions will have functions that were not present on the original games' releases. In GOG's Leisure Suit Larry 7 you can open inventory by pressing Tab which saves a lot of time (in comparison to right mouse button clicking). That's why I always specify in my comments what version I run.

DOSBox on the other hand never failed me, so I highly recommend using it.
If you want to run a game on ScummVM that much then find original game's files, run it in both DOSBox and ScummVM to see if they have differencies. If not, then you are welcome to play it on ScummVM, I guess.

When it comes to DOS games emulation, ScummVM will often make games behave differently from native environment.

I experienced this with Kyrandia games. For example, in Kyrandia 2 you can speed up dialogues and animations by multiple left mouse button clicking.
In Kyrandia 1, doing such speedups will result in graphical glitches. These are obviously not original features.

https://youtu.be/ZTmAEBdWnqo

Another thing is sometimes GOG versions will have functions that were not present on the original games' releases. In GOG's Leisure Suit Larry 7 you can open inventory by pressing Tab which saves a lot of time (in comparison to right mouse button clicking). That's why I always specify in my comments what version I run.

DOSBox on the other hand never failed me, so I highly recommend using it.
If you want to run a game on ScummVM that much then find original game's files, run it in both DOSBox and ScummVM to see if they have differencies. If not, then you are welcome to play it on ScummVM, I guess.

LotBlind

2015-05-25 10:17:48 am

How did you get the mouse cursor free from the first active window without using the windows button or alt-tab at 0:43? Or maybe you did use alt-tab?

I think if the only reason you can speed the game up is the emulator, but it's not an "official" one, i.e. the game can't be bought bundled with the emulator (like with DosBox) then I don't think the speed-up can be allowed. In essence it's the emulator itself hacking the game isn't it? If it IS sold in a bundle with ScummVM somewhere then I think you CAN run that version but can also run the unaltered version.

Looks like there's now a 20th anniversary edition of Simon 1 on the Android.

Bigmanjapan

Edit history:

Bigmanjapan: 2015-10-07 10:19:45 am

Bigmanjapan: 2015-05-25 05:44:17 pm

Bigmanjapan: 2015-05-25 05:44:06 pm

2015-05-25 05:31:08 pm

Quote from LotBlind:

How did you get the mouse cursor free from the first active window without using the windows button or alt-tab at 0:43? Or maybe you did use alt-tab?

In windowed mode ScummVM usually doesn't lock mouse pointer within its window.

Quote from LotBlind:

In essence it's the emulator itself hacking the game isn't it?

Yes. ScummVM uses plugins (from ScummVM devs) for different games that augment their features.
On GOG site Kyrandia games are sold with ScummVM bundled. In comparison to DOSBox you can finish those much faster.
If ScummVM is to be allowed then it needs to go under a separate category.

LotBlind

2015-05-26 09:51:14 am

Happy days for CleverDan then.

Bigmanjapan

Edit history:

Bigmanjapan: 2015-05-26 03:05:40 pm

2015-05-26 02:40:49 pm

I think the topic of dividing DOS / old games into at least two categories (if there is a differencies in gameplay and a game recieved a release with ScummVM bundled) — DOSBox and ScummVM, should be discussed on a scale more than this thread.

LotBlind

2015-05-27 10:33:36 am

If the ScummVM hacks literally break the games sometimes I don't see a problem with just banning it UNLESS it's the only legitimate way to come by the game.

Could I ask you (if you haven't already) to start the thread in SDA Discussion since you actually run games?