Difference between revisions of "SCI"

Revision as of 22:30, 21 July 2010

SCI
Engine developer	clone2727, fingolfin, lskovlun, m_kiewitz, md5, waltervn, wjp
Companies that used it	Sierra
Games that use it	Sierra SCI Games, SCI Fan Games
Date added to ScummVM	2009-02-14
First release containing it	None

About

SCI, which Sierra referred to as both the "Script Code Interpreter" and later "Sierra's Creative Interpreter", is a p-machine style virtual machine for executing platform-independent, object-oriented code.

SCI was designed for 16-bit little-endian computers, although there were later attempts to create 32-bit versions, LSCI and SCI3. SCI was exclusively used by Sierra On-Line, Inc., to run its computer game series, with titles like Leisure Suit Larry 2-7, Space Quest 3-6, King's Quest 4-7, Quest for Glory 1-4, and several others.

The SCI engine in ScummVM is based on the code of the FreeSCI project, used with permission.

History

SCI was initially created in 1988 by Jeff Stephenson to replace AGI. The first game using it was King's Quest IV at the same year of its creation, which was simultaniously released with an AGI edition for lower-end machines.

Engine Status

Known Games That Can Be Completed (MM/DD/YYYY)

NOTE: All of these games should get completed again to find sci-valgrind issues.

Codename: ICEMAN (05/17/2010) - although with parser issues
King's Quest 6 (10/2009)
Leisure Suit Larry 2 (02/27/2010)
- Currently not completable (07/21/2010): Error "Attempt to use invalid or discarded reference 0016:0040 as list node!" When arriving on Island after Lifeboat
Laura Bow 1 Colonel's Bequest (12/28/2009)
Police Quest 2 (05/18/2010)
Police Quest 3 (05/11/2010)
Space Quest 4 CD (05/26/2010)
- Currently not completable (07/21/2010): Roger is zapped instantly on entering Room 530 i.e. This is a regression of fix for "The same goes for entering one of the time pods on the Sequel Police dispatch..." on SCI Bugs

Known Games That Can Be Completed Since sci-valgrind

Castle of Dr. Brain (06/27/2010)
Hero's Quest/Quest for Glory (07/11/2010)
Quest For Glory 1 VGA ((07/15/2010)
Island of Dr. Brain (06/26/2010)
King's Quest 1 (07/20/2010) - although a problem happened with the condor not appearing (ffs. TODO)
King's Quest 5 (06/26/2010)
Leisure Suit Larry 1 (07/16/2010)
Leisure Suit Larry 3 (07/18/2010)
Leisure Suit Larry 5 (07/18/2010)
Leisure Suit Larry 6 (07/19/2010)
Space Quest 1 VGA (07/20/2010)
Space Quest 3 (07/21/2010)

Resources

SCI Bugs: List of known bugs in the original SCI games
SCI Features: Features in SCI
SCI TODO: TODO Page
SCI Specifications: SCI Specs, based on "The Sierra Creative Interpreter" document from the FreeSCI Team, with our modifications
SCI Pathfinding: Documentation by Walter van Niftrik about the pathfinding method used in FreeSCI and now the SCI engine
SCI Development: Programs used to make SCI Fan Games
Sierra Game Versions: Versions of Sierra's Games (AGI & SCI)
FreeSCI Documentation: Technical documentation about FreeSCI
SCI Patches: A list of known game patches for SCI games, both official and unofficial, which fix several game bugs and offer new features
SCI/Playthrough videos: Playthrough/let's play videos of several SCI games, for reference and debugging

Debugging

Show priority and control map in original interpreter (SCI1/SCI11)
- search for A9 06 00 74 05 in original interpreter, replace with all 90h (NOP)

Error loading resource 999.pal message with original interpreter

King's Quest 7

resource.cfg has to include this:

 directory = .\
 videoDrv  = VESA.DRV
 soundDrv  = ADL.DRV
 audioDrv  = DACBLAST.DRV
 joyDrv    = NO
 cmd       = KQ7DOS
 mouseDrv  = NONE
 memoryDrv = NONE
 minMemory = 1600k
 brightness= 0
 language  = 1
 minCPU    = 386
 CD        = yes
 resMap=.\
 resAUD=.\
 resSFX=.\
 patchDir=.\;.\AVI
 robot=.\

start the game using sierrah -o resource.cfg

Space Quest 6

Just start the game using "sierra -o". That will fix it (happens at least with SQ6 DOS included in the Space Quest Collection).

External Links

@@ Line 33: / Line 33: @@
 * Police Quest 3 (05/11/2010)
 * Space Quest 4 CD (05/26/2010)
+** Currently not completable (07/21/2010): Roger is zapped instantly on entering Room 530 i.e. This is a regression of fix for "The same goes for entering one of the time pods on the Sequel Police dispatch..." on [[SCI/Bugs|SCI Bugs]]
 === Known Games That Can Be Completed Since sci-valgrind ===