SCI/SCI32 Mac Support Status

Status

This page is an attempt to track the state of ScummVM support for SCI32 Mac games. They are not supported yet. The work stalled for several years and it is unclear how much is left to do. I (sluicebox) gathered most of the Mac games to determine their current blockers. In the process I found several easy fixes that got some games to boot and play audio for the first time. Many of the others are one or two issues away from booting. We could be closer than we think.

Data Files

Extracting data files from SCI32 Macintosh CDs is particularly difficult. Unless a reasonable method is discovered and documented, it seems unlikely that the average user will be able to take advantage of ScummVM support.

Extracting Macintosh files is already complicated by resource and data forks. SCI resources are in the resource fork and many users have trouble with just that part. It's often necessary to use a real or emulated classic Macintosh at some point in the process. SCI32 CDs complicate this further by setting the Hidden flag on files and directories. The Macintosh Hidden file system flag is like the Windows one in that it prevents a file from appearing in Finder. The difference is that Macintosh has no Show Hidden Files setting. Instead, third party programs such as File Buddy must be used to reveal and copy these otherwise invisible files. Sierra hid all files that didn't need to be copied to the hard disk, which is all of the media files and most of the data files. As a final complication, some data files were duplicated between these hidden directories and the visible ones, and different data files use the same name on different CDs.

There is also a performance problem that needs to be solved for SCI32 Mac games. The CD versions contain as many as ten thousand media files which slows the loader to a crawl when starting a game. Each audio resource is in its own file instead of a resource volume and the loader is doing work on each.

General TODOs

• Fix palette handling. Games either have corrupt palettes at startup or soon afterwards.
• Upscale native Mac cursors.
• Implement kPlatform Mac subops for saving and restoring in KQ7, Shivers, Lighthouse, and Mother Goose.
• Implement, or workaround, kPlatform Mac subop 12 for setting music volume (Phantasmagoria only)
• Games seem too dark
• Verify accuracy of music playback

SCI32 Mac Games

Game	Blockers
GK1	Testing, the game is playable.
KQ7	Requires kPlatform subops for saving and loading (see below) Intro and other movies require QuickTime to be implemented in video player
LSL6 HI-RES	Testing, the game is playable.
PQ4	Palette corruption. Introduction error about too many screen items.
GK2	Palette corruption. Video files don't play. VLC can't play the Mac videos. Possible endian issue. Determine how to name/detect the multi-disc Data files
HOYLE5	Palette corruption.
MOTHERGOOSE HI-RES	Requires kPlatform 0 6,7,8,9,10,11 subops for saving and loading, prevents booting Palette corruption.
PHANTASMAGORIA	Palette corruption. Determine how to name/detect the multi-disc Data files
SHIVERS	Requires kPlatform subops for saving and loading (see below)
SQ6	Palette corruption. Audio assertion when clicking a main menu item.
TORIN	Lip sync not animating, log reports missing sync resources
LSL7	Saving/restoring crashes, kScummVMSaveLoad script patch not applied correctly
LIGHTHOUSE	Palette corruption Lite:init errors if VERSION file is missing Script crash when starting new game Requires kPlatform subops for saving and loading (see below) Determine how to name/detect the multi-disc Data files
RAMA	Palette corruption Determine how to name/detect the multi-disc Data files
PQSWAT	"Unable to load file" error after video when starting new game Palette corruption Determine how to name/detect the multi-disc Data files

kPlatform subops

kPlatform supports a handful of miscellaneous Mac-specific sub operations. The SCI32 ones are different than SCI16, and some changed between SCI32 versions. I have decompiled and audited all kPlatform calls in all SCI32 Mac scripts, so this is a complete list of who uses what outstanding operations:

• KQ7 does custom saving and restoring with subops 3, 4, and 5 to initiate, save, and restore files. Initiate is called when starting a new game. Initiate and Restore would display a native Mac save or open dialog with a hard-coded and misspelled prompt such as "Who's game?". The interpreter would remember the current save file, not the game scripts. These subops take no parameters.
• Shivers also does custom saving and restoring with subops 3, 4, and 5 but they take parameters similar to the normal kSave and kRestore functions. It appears the interpreter is no longer in charge of tracking the current save file.
• Lighthouse also does custom saving and restoring but just for fun it only uses subop 3 but adds a sub-subop parameter for the three operations. It appears that -1 initializes, 1 saves, and 0 restores.
• Mother Goose uses subops 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 for saving and restoring. This includes delete functionality. These subops take parameters similar to kSave and kRestore.
• Phantasmagoria sets the music volume from the control panel with subop 12 and passes a volume parameter between 0 and 15.