scrolling in sci0

Robin_Gravel In king's quest 1 sci, I see a scrolling effect when Graham climbing up on the beanstalk. I wonder if I could add the scrolling effect in my game from left to right.

Robin Gravel
rwfromxenon I think you could, after all, it's the same version of sci, isn't it?
By the Way, Naturette is great!
Lars Skovlund In short, no. But allow me to explain what's going on.
The scrolling that you see is a so-called "show style". There are
several others, like the "checkerboard effect", to name one.
You can use them by setting a value for the style property,
either in the properties section of your room object or in its
init method before calling the superclass. The available show styles
are listed in Brian's documentation for the DrawPic() kernel call, though
you do not need to use that kernel call explicitly to use show styles.
KQ1 is written in SCI01 which has a few extra show styles not found in SCI0.

Lars
Pikachu14 A'right, lemme try.

What if, hypothetically, the Checkerboard thingy is code ... em... $05 and KQ1's scroller is code $20, k?
Now, the two engines are so gaddaym similar...

Just decompile the beanstalk script and find out the scroller's code (in this example $20). Then just copy KQ1's interpreter to your game (to enable the scroller) and use $20 instead of whatyamaycallitcheckerboardconstantthingy.
Brian_Provinciano SCI Studio doesn't support SCI01. Though from the player's point of view they look identical, internally, they are not. SCI01 interpreters won't run SCI0 games. SCI01 interpreters are the beginning of Sierra's non-backwards compatibility and most SCI01 games won't run on other game's SCI01 interpreters.
Robin_Gravel So do I still able to make a scrolling game and will Sci Studio support sci01?

Robin Gravel
Omer Mor Brian: "MOST SCI01 games ..." ?? 8)
I only know of 5:
1. QFG2
2. KQ1 SCI
3. Christmas Card 1990 - 16 Colors version
4. Mother Goose SCI - Amiga version
5. SQ3 - German (Multilingual).

Maybe someone knows of any other SCI01 games ?
Brian_Provinciano There's also Jones in the Fast Lane EGA, and probably more, I just can't think of on the top of my head. The thing is though, that most SCI01+ games won't run on other SCI01+ game's interpreters. That's why Sierra releases the new games in collection packs with the oldest interpreters.
Omer Mor Jones EGA - I guess you're right.
I once (million years ago) had an EGA version of KQ5. I guess it's also SCI01.
does any1 here have any of those versions BTW (Jones EGA, KQ5 EGA) ?
Brian_Provinciano I don't personally have KQ5 EGA, but I heard recently that it was a standard SCI1 VGA game with EGA drivers which dithered the colours. Only certain versions came with them though. I've got Freddy Pharkas, which is quite a bit newer, and it also has EGA drivers.
AGI1122 Yeah I have one of those SCI1 ega drivers as well, it came with Quest for Glory 1 remake. I beleive the EGA version of KQ5 was probably just a driver as well.
Omer Mor nope. i too have these drivers, but there was an EGA only version of kq5 which i once had before i got the VGA one. it was when it the game just went out.
this version was much smaller in size, which indicates that it didn't have VGA graphics.
CapTAmerik@ I remember something about KQ5 EGA. The game was released at the same time as the VGA-edition and came on less disks than the VGA-version.

KQ5 probably was Sierra's first try at VGA-graphics and way back then the standard was EGA. They wanted to make the game accessible to everybody and not lose a hundreds of adventurer fans to eg Lucasarts, simply by overdueing the system demands.... (a philosophy they soon threw overboard, :-\)....

CaptAmerik@
Omer Mor It's good to see the my memory have not yet betrayed me :)
Now time will tell if those EGA versions are lost forever or maybe someone might find a copy in his garage and upload it to the web, and there would be much rejoice.. 8)
Brian_Provinciano I just picked up a boxed version of Leisure Suit Larry 5 on 5 1/4" floppies today (I only had the CD version before) from a software store down here in Vancouver, and it came with a form you could fill out to get a 16 colour version! I think it's safe to say pretty much every VGA SCI1/SCI11 game could be obtained in 16 colour form. Sierra probably just repackaged them with different drivers and sent them out. This seems odd, since the drivers are only a few KB and surely would fit on the disks. I wonder why they didn't include them along with the VGA ones.

I wonder what Sierra would do if I sent in the form, heh. With their current management, I doubt they'd do anything more than pocket the money enclosed. However, I actually read on MixnMojo that I guy found an old copy of Monkey Island with a similar form and recently sent it into Lucas Arts. Amazingly, they sent him the game! Unfortunately, they didn't send the floppy version he requested, but a brand new CD version!
Mr. T SQ1's remake was quite interesting in EGA. It had a different icon for the Orat death, and had an extra death : being shot by the weapons-fetcher robot on the Deltaur if you showed him your ID card one too many times.
I picked this info up from Jess's SQ Broomcloset. I don't know the URL, sorry.
Brian_Provinciano Interesting! So they slightly modified SQ for it's EGA version!

Another interesting thing is how the "VGA" SCI games on Amiga only use 32 colours! They don't look as nice as the originals, but they look pretty good considering how few they have.
Omer Mor again - i don't know about the ega versions of lsl5 & sq1 (but it sure does sound interesting!), but i'm pretty much sure about the ega version of kq5, and i have this evidence to support my claim that it's a different version, not just different driver:

In the following address this guy lists his game collection:
http://www.bunnz.org/skank/oyn/oyn.html
If you'll look cloesly you'll see this 2 lines:
King's Quest 5 (CGA & EGA).zip - 5,173,835
King's Quest 5 (VGA).zip - 8,912,532

From the size of the versions it is clear that the EGA version can't be the same one with different drivers.

I also found in Moby Games screenshots from the EGA version and it doesn't look like simply dithered graphics to me:
http://www.mobygames.com/game/shots/gameId,130/

So what do you say?
Brian_Provinciano Wow!!! If these truely aren't the same as the VGA with different drivers--wow! I'd really like to find the EGA LSL5! My copy of KQ5 is VGA only too :(
Omer Mor me too!
Who knows - maybe those EGA versions are even SCI01 compatible...
Brian_Provinciano I'm thinking they are, and even use vectored graphics! It still puzzles me though, as to why I've never heard of LSL5 EGA. Maybe it was a standard form that came with the games that no one filled in, so it's very rare, or maybe they jsut threw it in all games and not all had EGA versions? Who knows!

If infact they did have seperate EGA versions of SQ1 VGA and LSL5, that are more than just different drivers, I think it's pretty odd that they would put all the effort into it yet not widely distribute it. The reality is, how many people with EGA cards were going to fork out $59.95 for a game that says "VGA only" on the box, says nothing about a mail-in EGA version, and just assume there is a coupon inside!? Beats me!

The reason Sierra did King's Quest 4 in AGI and SCI was not because it was created during a transition--that would be a terrible waste of time and money! It's because King's Quest 4 was their debut SCI title to showcase their new hi-res engine, but since computers like the Apple didn't support SCI, they had to use something else to support them, and AGI was the easiest route to take. If it weren't for the older computers like the Apple II which they still supported, I doubt they have done it in AGI as well at all. It came out back in the day when it was common for companies to make a game for The PC, Amiga, C64, Atari ST, Spectrum, Apple, and Mac! It was just part of the business to support them all, everyone had to do it if they wanted to reach a wide audience. That's the prime reason they have AGI and SCI--so they don't need to recreate each game for each platform.
Omer Mor Right you are. I remember those days. When you wanted to buy a personal computer, IBM-PC was not the only option as it is today. there were lots of platforms...
the question still remains - will the curernt sci community be able to lay it's hands on those rare games?
I realy hope so.
Maybe Brian, you should try to give a call to Sierra, and tell them about your coupon and how much you'd like to get this EGA version.
HwM The following SCI games are KNOWN to exist: Hoyle's Book of Games 3 (EGA version) Jones in the Fast Lane (EGA version) King's Quest 5 (EGA version) Leisure Suit Larry 5 (EGA version) Mixed-Up Fairy Tales (EGA version) Space Quest 1 remake (EGA version) and probably even more... edit: after searching the 'net, Space Quest 4 & Police Quest III also appear to have EGA versions...
Omer Mor HWM - do u have any of those?
HwM well... not currently... but I do know people who could have...

the fact that they do exist is based on personal experience (seen the games, read about it...) however, I compiled a version list of all/most AGI/SCI games and I think it's fairly safe to say that every SCI1 was made in EGA... I don't know the exact defenition of SCI11, but I think those weren't made in EGA...

but then again, laura bow 2 (which has a very strange interpreter, most likely a SCI11, but billed as 2.000.xxx) COULD (some research figured out) have an EGA version...

I'll do my best to find some of the games... I do know that most of the EGA games were released in the so-called warez scene, so they were wide-spread (meaning not only the few people who actually send the coupon had them)...
sonneveld The ega versions I have are:

Space Quest 4
Space Quest 1 remake
Conquest of the Longbow
Space Quest 5 (vga and ega)

and I think that's it. I was kinda disappointed that I got an ega version of sq4 for my birthday :)

as an interesting side note.. if you play SQ5 in ega, you can choose to skip the floor polisher game since you can't see any difference on the floor due to dithering!! :)

- Nick
Brian_Provinciano My assumption is that pretty much any SCI1 game should have an actual EGA version, and SCI11 games mostly just have EGA drivers. With this new revalation, It seems that the SCI01 game list will grow vastly larger than we had known at the actual games are found (rather than just screen shots--we need to inspect the interpreters)!
Omer Mor This is very exciting! Nick - Please please share your *knowledge about the* EGA games with the rest of the SCI community!
sonneveld probably not appropriate to post on this board.

- Nick
Brian_Provinciano Nick's right. I don't want this board to be a pirating den. Otherwise, Sierra could have reson to shut us down.
Omer Mor Right - I modified my message ... ::)
MK
Brian Provinciano wrote:

I don't personally have KQ5 EGA, but I heard recently that it was a standard SCI1 VGA game with EGA drivers which dithered the colours. Only certain versions came with them though. I've got Freddy Pharkas, which is quite a bit newer, and it also has EGA drivers.


I can confirm that there is a KQ5 EGA out there, as I've got it myself! It's standard 320x200 EGA (not the 640x200 that was found in many SCI1 games). The EGA graphics look pretty ugly in this game, as they seem to have been derived from the VGA ones.
Brian_Provinciano Can you extract the pictures/views with SCI Decoder (SDV or SDE)? If so, which one, and do they open up in SCI Studio?
rwfromxenon You'd think that Sierra would put the EGA games in the collections too! I have KQ5 from the Kings Quest Collection and it doesnt work coz of display drivers!!! ::)
Ps in the installation for SQ5, KQ5,etc you can select 16 colors for graphics. Just thought ya'd like to know. ;D
Omer Mor MK:
Can you please contact me by mail: sitrajunk@hotmail.com

Allyb:
the 16 colors option in those games will just use an EGA driver which dithers the graphics to 16 colors, and I think it also uses higher resolution. but we're looking for authentic EGA-only games, because they probably use the SCI01 interpreter, which means vector graphics, and we have little knowledge about them (because they are so rare)
MusicallyInspired im new here but id like to just add that i also have KQ5EGA and SQ4EGA. they are *not* VGA games with EGA drivers. they are separate versions. i tried looking at the pictures and views with SCI Decoder but both come out in a mess of pixels stretched out over the screen with a screwed up palette which makes it impossible to tell what they are. SQ4EGA is (unlike the VGA version) decodable tho and you can take pictures and views and sounds etc out of the game. i took Roger from SQ4EGA and put him in SQ1VGA. looked awkward but it worked. but you cant put VGA views/pictures in EGA games. i also took sounds out of SQ4 and patches and replaced a bunch of sounds in SQ1VGA with them. kool experience :).

i also have Heart of China around here somewhere and its supposed to be a VGA game (am i right? im not sure) but my version is EGA. then i read in the manual that if a certain version doesnt work or somethn you can mail sierra and they will send you an Disk version with EGA graphics instead. thats about all i can remember.

i seem to be 2 disks short of KQ5EGA but it still works. i havent gotten past the beach with the rowboat tho cuz i lost the dumb copy protection so i dont know how far the game will go before it stops work ncuz i dont have the last 2 disks.

the difference between the EGA and VGA versions is that the VGA versions (well with SQ4 anyway) only have Resource.000 along with Resource.map but the EGA versions are like SQ1VGA/PQ3/KQ5VGA in that they dont have a resource.000 file but have resource.001, resource.002, etc.

anyways there you go...
MusicallyInspired oh also....the SCI Decoder version i used was the VGA decoder version
MusicallyInspired oh! also yet again...

in the SQ4 there is a store in the Galaxy Galleria name "Hz. So Good". but in the EGA version its called "Radio Shock"

i think thats all now...
CapTAmerik@ Because of legal issues! Assumingly, Radio Shack was not too pleased with the matter and threatened with legal action. Nice way to solve to problem do... change the name and make sure nobody gets a share of SQ-EGA, :).

CaptAmerik@
mr-t Radio Shock is in the disk version, Hz. So Good replaced it in the CD version, 16 colour or not. 8)
Omer Mor To Musically Inspired (and whoever has any EGA version of sierra's SCI1 games):
Can you please contact me by mail: sitrajunk@hotmail.com
I'd be sending a private message but you are a guest user so I can't... sorry...
Jonsauce Hey guys-

I'm new here (As of today..Sept 1 2002) so Im still figuring out all this SCI01 SCI1 SCI11 stuff.
What I did want to say is that I think I have an EGA version of KQ5. The box says "Supports Tandy Graphics, EGA, MCGA(PS/2), and VGA" but on the 3.5 and 5.25 disks it says "KING's QUEST V 16 COLORS".
I dont know if that means this is EGA only or not, but it sure sounds like it. I remember my friend down the street complaining that I got the EGA version instead of the VGA version when it first came out (my computer didnt support VGA at the time).
Hope this helps you guys

AGI1122 Yes, the 16 color version is the EGA version.

Not sure how it helps us unless you where to send it to us to examine.