User Manual

[edit]

WORK IN PROGRESS, HELP NEEDED

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User's Guide

Introduction

What is ScummVM?

ScummVM is a program which allows you to run certain classic graphical point-and-click adventure games, provided you already have their data files. The clever part about this: ScummVM just replaces the executables shipped with the game, allowing you to play them on systems for which they were never designed!

Some of the adventures ScummVM supports include Adventure Soft's Simon the Sorcerer 1 and 2; Revolution's Beneath A Steel Sky, Broken Sword 1 and Broken Sword 2; Flight of the Amazon Queen; Wyrmkeep's Inherit the Earth; Coktel Vision's Gobliiins; Westwood Studios' The Legend of Kyrandia and games based on LucasArts' SCUMM (Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion) system such as Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle, Sam and Max and more. You can find a thorough list with details on which games are supported and how well on the compatibility page. ScummVM is continually improving, so check back often.

Among the systems on which you can play those games are Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, Dreamcast, PocketPC, PalmOS, AmigaOS, BeOS, OS/2, PSP, PS2, SymbianOS/EPOC and many more.

At this time ScummVM should be considered beta software, and is still under heavy development. Be aware that whilst we attempt to make sure that many games can be completed with few major bugs, crashes can happen.

If you enjoy ScummVM feel free to donate some money to help us. This will help us buy utilities needed to develop ScummVM easier and quicker. If you cannot donate, help and contribute a patch!

Reporting bugs

To report a bug, please create a SourceForge account, then use our bug tracker to file a report (you can also reach it via the "Bug Tracking" link from our homepage. Please make sure the bug is reproducible, and still occurs in the latest daily build/current SVN version. Also check the bug doesn't already exist on the bug tracker, and have a look at the compatibility list on our website for that game, to ensure the issue is not already known.

Also, please do not report bugs on games that are not listed as being completable in Appendix: Supported games, or in the online compatibility list. We already know those games have bugs.

Please include the following information:

• ScummVM version (PLEASE test the latest CVS/Daily build)
• Bug details, including instructions on reproducing
• Language of game (English, German, ...)
• Version of game (talkie, floppy, ...)
• Platform and Compiler (Win32, Linux, FreeBSD, ...)
• Attach a save game if possible
• If this bug only occurred recently, please note the last version without the bug, and the first version including

the bug. That way we can fix it quicker by looking at the changes made.

This should only take you a little time but will make it much easier for us to process your bug report in a way that satisfies both you and us.

Contacting the developers

The easiest way to contact the ScummVM team is by submitting bug reports (see reporting-bugs) or by using our forums. You can also join and email the scummvm-devel mailing list (see [1]). Or chat with us on IRC (channel #scummvm on irc.freenode.net).

Please do not ask us to support an unsupported game -- read our FAQ for an explanation.

Getting started

Requirements

TODO: List Requirements (in terms of required/optional libraries, CPU power, memory, ... In particular it would be nice if we could e.g. say what PalmOS devices support ScummVM; not necessarily a list of all supported Palm models, but more a list of what OS you need how much memory, colors, etc.)

ScummVM is known to run on the following systems:

• Unix-like (Linux, *BSD, Solaris, etc.)
• Windows
• Mac OS X
• Windows Mobile (WinCE / PocketPC / Smartphone)
• PalmOS
• Dreamcast
• MorphOS
• GP32
• GP2X
• Symbian based smartphones
• PlayStation 2
• PlayStation Portable
• Nintendo DS
• BeOS
• AmigaOS 4
• Atari/FreeMiNT
• Solaris
• OS/2
• Opie

Besides these, there have been many more unofficial ports in the past. Since they were not done by us, we can not say anything about their reliability, legality, or availability, nor can we provide support for them. Use them at your own risk!

Among those officially unsupported systems are:

• XBox
• RISC OS

If you plan to compile ScummVM yourself, you will need certain additional libraries. More on that in Compiling from sources.

How to obtain ScummVM

Basically you have two choices on how to get ScummVM: either you download one of the binaries we built for you (probably the most convenient way); or you can compile it yourself from source. For beginners, we strongly recommend using our prebuilt binaries.

Binaries

You can download official binaries of ScummVM from our downloads page. Go there with your favorite web browser and download the binary for your platform. If none is available, you may have to build ScummVM yourself, refer to the next section for instructions on how to do that. Alternatively, some third parties are providing unofficial ScummVM binaries for further platforms, but naturally, we can not make any statements about the quality of such unofficial builds - use them at your own risk!

We always ship pre-built binaries of ScummVM for the following platforms (note that it can take some time after a release for all binaries to be available):

• Linux (Fedora Core)
• Linux (Debian)
• Windows
• Mac OS X
• Windows Mobile (WinCE / PocketPC / Smartphone)
• Symbian
• Dreamcast
• PlayStation 2
• PlayStation Portable
• Nintendo DS
• GP2X

In addition to these, we try to provide more binaries, but which depends mostly on how many volunteers we can find to help us out. In the past we have shipped binaries for these systems:

• Linux (Mandrake)
• Linux (Slackware)
• Solaris
• BeOS
• AmigaOS 4
• MorphOS
• OS/2

Compiling from sources

TODO:

• Point to the Compiling ScummVM page, resp. integrate that here.
• List all required libs; where to get them; how to install them
• List all optional libs etc.
• We could separate this by OS, or by compiler/dev system. I think the current split in the README (section 9.0) isn't too bad.

Installation

After you have obtained ScummVM as described in the previous section, you will probably want to install it on your system. The steps required for that differ between the various operating systems. In the following we try to cover all the systems we officially support.

Debian

From the downloads page, download the Debian .deb package. To install it, you need to be root and type dpkg -i packagename.deb into a virtual terminal near you.

Fedora Core / Redhat

TODO

Slackware

TODO

Amiga OS4

From the downloads page, download the AmigaOS4 package. You will download a packed archive (.lha). To open it, double click on it and UnArc will unpack right away or ask for the installation path. Once it is unpacked, you can move the whole drawer where ever you wish to store it.

Windows

From the downloads page, download either the Win32 .zip file or the Win32 .exe file. If you download the .zip file, you will need a program such as WinZip to open it. After opening the archive, copy it to the folder where you want to put it. If you download the .exe installer, you will get options where you want to install it. Choose the location to where you want to install it. Also, the installer places a shortcut in the Start Menu.

Mac OS X

From the downloads page, download the "Mac OS X Universal Binary" file. You will download a disk image (.dmg). To open it, double click on it and Disk Copy will mount the image. Once it is mounted, copy the files inside to a folder where you wish to store it.

Windows Mobile (WinCE / PocketPC / Smartphone)

Create a folder on your device to put ScummVM into, e.g. "\My Device\SD-MMcard\ScummVM". From the downloads page, download the "Windows CE ARM package" zip file. Extract everything from this file, and place it all in the folder that you created on your device (using ActiveSync or similar: note that if your chosen location is short of space, the only absolutely required file is "scummvm.exe"). To run ScummVM just tap on "scummvm.exe" in File Explorer: you may wish to copy a shortcut of "scummvm.exe" to your Start Menu to allow for easier access.

PalmOS

From the downloads page, download the "PalmOS 5 binary" or the "PalmOS Tapwave Zodiac binary" and unzip the files to your computer. Using your hotsync tool, install the scummvm-frontend.prc and skin.pdb files to your device. Launch ScummVM to create the /PALM/Programs/ScummVM/ folders and subfolders on your memory card. Using a card reader, copy the engines you require to play your games to the /ScummVM/Mods/ folder on your card (scumm.engine for scumm games, queen.engine for FOTAQ, etc.)

Symbian / EPOC

TODO

Nintendo DS

TODO

Dreamcast

From the downloads page, download either the Dreamcast .zip file or the Nero image file. If you download the .zip file, you will need a program such as WinZip to open it. After opening the archive, copy it to the folder where you want to put it. The Nero image can be burned automatically to a CD using Nero Burning ROM or any other program that accepts NRG formatted disc images.

GP2X

TODO

GP32

TODO

PlayStation 2

TODO

PlayStation Portable

TODO

Running and using ScummVM

The Launcher

Managing your games

Adding a game

Before you can play a game using ScummVM, you first need to add it to the Launcher.

1. Your game will run more smoothly if you copy all the files from the original disk(s) (whether floppy or CD) into a folder on your hard-drive.
2. 

   The ScummVM Launcher
   Click on the "Add Game..." button on the right-hand side of the Launcher.
   
3. 

   Add Game Dialog Box
   You will now be presented with a file browser. You should use this browser to locate the directory in which the files from your game's disks are located. Double click on the name of a directory to go into it, and use the "Go up" button to go back up one level. Once you are in the correct folder, click the "Choose" button.
   
4. 

   Game Settings Dialog Box
   If ScummVM detected the game correctly, it will now display a dialog box which lets you change various settings about the game, including the name that appears in the main window of the Launcher. There are six tabs full of settings to change, and these are discussed in later on in the configuration section, but you don't need to change any of them. To finish adding your game, just click the "OK" button.
   
5. 

   The ScummVM Launcher with one game added
   Tada! You've added your first game to ScummVM. To play it now, just select the game you want to play and click on the Start button.
   

Adding multiple games at once

1. 

   Confirmation dialog for mass add
   If all of your games are in separate subdirectories of one "games" directory, you can add all of your games at once. Simply hold down the "shift" key, and the "Add Game..." button will switch to being a "Mass Add..." button. If you click on it, the ScummVM Launcher will ask you to confirm that you really do want to do this.
   
2. 

   File browser for mass add
   You will then be presented with the same file browser that we used previously to select just one game. This time, however, click "Choose" when you are in the top-level directory which all your game directories are inside.
   
3. 

   Mass add complete
   The mass add will then search for all the games it can find within that directory, and come back and let you know how many it found. You should then see all the games it found inside the Launcher window.
   

Removing a game

Dialog to confirm deletion

To remove a game from the ScummVM Launcher, just select the game you want to remove and click the "Remove Game" button on the right-hand side. ScummVM will ask you whether you are sure you want to remove it, so click yes to remove it. Note that this will not delete the game files from your hard drive: you can easily re-add it again later.

Configuring the Launcher and configuring individual games

There are many options to change the way that ScummVM runs games: for discussion of these options see the configuration section.

Running ScummVM from the command line

As well as starting your ScummVM games using the graphical Launcher, you can also start them from the command line. The simplest way to run a game from the command line is to type, for example:

scummvm samnmax

Note this command is dependent on your system. You may have to specify exactly where ScummVM is installed to, for example in Windows:

c:\games\scummvm\scummvm.exe samnmax

Or in Unix:

/home/username/scummvm/scummvm samnmax

The short game name you see at the end of the command line ("samnmax" in this case) specifies which game is started. It either corresponds to a user-defined target (i.e. one that has been added using the Launcher: this is the case in the example above), or to a built-in gameid. A brief list of the latter can be found in the supported games section.

There are many different options that can be specified to make ScummVM run the game just the way you want, and these are listed in the table below. The meaning of most long options (that is, those options starting with a double-dash) can be inverted by prefixing them with "no-". For example, "--no-aspect-ratio" will turn aspect ratio correction off. This is useful if you want to override a setting in the configuration file.

Command line options

scummvm [OPTIONS] GAME

Short	Long	Description
-v	--version	Display ScummVM version information and exit
-h	--help	Display a brief help text and exit
-z	--list-games	Display list of supported games and exit
-t	--list-targets	Display list of configured targets and exit
-c	--config=CONFIG	Use alternate configuration file
-p	--path=PATH	Path to where the game is installed
-x	--save-slot[=NUM]	Save game slot to load (default: autosave)
-f	--fullscreen	Force full-screen mode
-F	--no-fullscreen	Force windowed mode
-g	--gfx-mode=MODE	Select graphics scaler (see also Graphic filters)
	--gui-theme=THEME	Select GUI theme (default, modern, classic)
	--themepath=PATH	Path to where GUI themes are stored
-e	--music-driver=MODE	Select music driver (see also Music drivers)
-q	--language=LANG	Select language (see also section TODO)
-m	--music-volume=NUM	Set the music volume, 0-255 (default: 192)
-s	--sfx-volume=NUM	Set the sfx volume, 0-255 (default: 192)
-r	--speech-volume=NUM	Set the voice volume, 0-255 (default: 192)
	--midi-gain=NUM	Set the gain for MIDI playback, 0-1000 (default:100) (only supported by some MIDI drivers)
-n	--subtitles	Enable subtitles (use with games that have voice)
-b	--boot-param=NUM	Pass number to the boot script (boot param)
-d	--debuglevel=NUM	Set debug verbosity level
	--debugflags=FLAGS	Enables engine specific debug flags (separated by commas)
-u	--dump-scripts	Enable script dumping if a directory called 'dumps' exists in the current directory
	--cdrom=NUM	CD drive to play CD audio from (default: 0 = first drive)
	--joystick[=NUM]	Enable joystick input (default: 0 = first joystick)
	--platform=WORD	Specify version of game (allowed values: 3do, acorn, amiga, atari, c64, fmtowns, mac, nes, pc, segacd, windows)
	--savepath=PATH	Path to where savegames are stored
	--extrapath=PATH	Extra path to additional game data
	--soundfont=FILE	Select the SoundFont for MIDI playback (only supported by some MIDI drivers)
	--multi-midi	Enable combination of Adlib and native MIDI
	--native-mt32	True Roland MT-32 (disable GM emulation)
	--enable-gs	Enable Roland GS mode for MIDI playback
	--output-rate=RATE	Select output sample rate in Hz (e.g. 22050)
	--aspect-ratio	Enable aspect ratio correction
	--render-mode=MODE	Enable additional render modes (cga, ega, hercGreen, hercAmber, amiga)
	--alt-intro	Use alternative intro for CD versions of Beneath a Steel Sky and Flight of the Amazon Queen
	--copy-protection	Enable copy protection in SCUMM games, when ScummVM disables it by default.
	--talkspeed=NUM	Set talk speed for SCUMM games
	--demo-mode	Start demo mode of Maniac Mansion
	--tempo=NUM	Set music tempo (in percent, 50-200) for SCUMM games (default: 100)

Examples of Command Line Usage

Running Monkey Island, fullscreen, from a hard disk (Win32)

C:\Games\LucasArts\scummvm.exe -f -pC:\Games\LucasArts\monkey\ monkey

Running Full Throttle from CD, fullscreen and with subtitles enabled (Win32)

C:\Games\LucasArts\scummvm.exe -f -n -pD:\resource\ ft

Running Monkey Island, fullscreen, from a hard disk (Unix)

/path/to/scummvm -f -p/games/LucasArts/monkey/ monkey

Running Full Throttle from CD, fullscreen and with subtitles enabled (Unix)

/path/to/scummvm -f -n -p/cdrom/resource/ ft

Hotkeys

TODO

Saving and loading

TODO

Macintosh games: Accesing HFS filesystems

You will need the "Windows Installer" from the download page. To copy the game data file from the CD to your hard disc, you will need HFVExplorer. Make sure you get the "HFV Explorer installer" rather than the zip file. When you choose to download the zip file, make sure you read the readme included with HFVExplorer, to set it up properly. Run the HFVExplorer installer and allow it to use its defaults.

Start up HFVExplorer; if you don't have a shortcut for it, find it in "C:\Program Files\HFVExplorer". It should open the HFS (Macintosh filesystem) CD-ROM automatically when you insert the disc. Make sure HFVExplorer is displaying hidden files: Select View->Options and enable "Show invisible Mac files" on the "File attributes" tab.

Now, look for the data file in the right pane. It will probably end with the word "Data" and will be the largest file on the volume. For instance (using Sam & Max Hit the Road as an example), it is called "Sam & Max Data" on the "Sam & Max" CD-ROM. Select the data file and copy it (use Ctrl+C or Edit->Copy). In the left HFVExplorer pane, navigate to the directory where you want the game to reside on your hard disc. We recommend selecting drive C: and creating a new folder called "SamNMax" or a name that better reflects your particular game.

Paste the data file (with Ctrl+V or Edit->Paste) and allow HFVExplorer to choose the copy mode. Now, wait while the program copies several hundred megabytes from the CD. When the file is copied, close HFVExplorer.

More details (including how to use extract_scumm_mac) can be found at HOWTO-Mac_Games, a wiki page dedicated specifically to Macintosh games.

Multi-CD games

In general, ScummVM does not deal very well with multi-CD games. This is because ScummVM assumes everything about a game can be found in one directory. Even if ScummVM does make some provisions for asking the user to change CD, the original games usually install a small number of files to hard disk. Unless these files can be found on all the CDs, ScummVM will be in trouble.

Fortunately, ScummVM has no problems running the games entirely from hard disk, if you create a directory with the correct combination of files. Usually, when a file appears on more than one CD you can pick either of them.

These instructions are written for the PC versions (which in some case is the only version) of the games. Windows and DOS use case-insensitive file systems, so if one CD has a file called MONKEY.DAT and another has a file called monkey.dat, they are the same files. These instructions give file names in all lower-case names, even if that’s not always how they appear on the CDs. In fact, on case-sensitive file systems you will have to make sure that all filenames use either all upper- or all lower-case letters for ScummVM to be able to find the files.

The instructions for the Broken Sword games are for the Sold-Out Software versions, which are the ones you are probably most likely to find in stores now.

The Curse of Monkey Island

For this game, you will need the comi.la0, comi.la1 and comi.la2 files. The comi.la0 file can be found on either CD, but since they are identical it doesn't matter which one of them you use.

In addition, you will need a resource subdirectory with all of the files from the resource subdirectories on both CDs. Some of the files appear on both CDs, but again they're identical.

Broken Sword 1

For this game, you will need all of the files from the clusters directories on both CDs. You will also need the speech.clu files from the speech directories, but since they are not identical you will need to rename them speech1.clu and speech2.clu for CD 1 and 2 respectively.

In addition, you will need a music subdirectory with all of the files from the music subdirectories on both CDs. Some of these files appear on both CDs, but in these cases they are either identical or, in one case, so nearly identical that it makes little difference.

ScummVM does not support the original cutscene files (with file extension .smk) for legal reasons, so there is no need to copy them.

Broken Sword 2

For this game, you will need all of the files from the clusters directories on both CDs. (Actually, a few of them may not be strictly necessary, but the ones that I’m uncertain about are all fairly small.) You will need to rename the speech.clu and music.clu files speech1.clu, speech2.clu, music1.clu and music2.clu so that ScummVM can tell which ones are from CD 1 and which ones are from CD 2. Any other files that appear in both cluster directories are identical. Use whichever you like.

In addition, you will need the cd.bin, cd.inf and startup.inf files from the sword2 directory on CD 1.

ScummVM does not support the original cutscene files (with file extension .smk) for legal reasons, so there is no need to copy them.

The Feeble Files

TODO

Configuration

Using the Launcher to configure ScummVM

The ScummVM Launcher gives us a graphical method for changing the settings that it uses to run games. There are two ways to do this: firstly by changing the default settings (which games will follow unless told otherwise), secondly by overriding an individual game to use settings that are different from the defaults. To begin with we will look at changing the default settings. To do this, click on the "Options" button on the right-hand side of the Launcher window. There are many options, and they are separated into tabs: we shall look at each tab in turn.

The Graphics Tab

The Graphics tab of the ScummVM options

The graphics tab allows us to change various things about the way the games are displayed on screen when played.

Control	Description
Graphics mode	This allows us to change the graphic filter that ScummVM uses. See the Graphic filters section of the manual for more detail
Render mode	For games that could be played on various different systems / graphics cards, this control allows us to decide which system we want ScummVM to reproduce. The options are <default> (which tries to choose the most sensible option), Hercules Green, Hercules Amber (monochrome), CGA (4 colors), EGA (16 colors), and Amiga (32 colors))
Fullscreen mode	Switches between playing games in a window, or playing them in fullscreen mode. Switch between the two using Alt-F5 while in a game.
Aspect ratio correction	Most games supported by ScummVM were designed to be played at a screen resolution of 320x200. Most modern systems, when displaying this size image, will display it in a window that is not 1.33:1 (as the designers intended), but 1.6:1 or even 1.7:1. This results in the game appearing stretched and the characters looking wider than they should. If this option is checked, ScummVM corrects for this by stretching the game window down by a similar amount, and the game can be played without distortion. Like Graphic filters, this takes a little processing power to achieve.

Graphic filters

ScummVM offers several anti-aliasing filters to attempt to improve visual quality. These filters take the original game graphics, and scale it by a certain fixed factor (usually 2x or 3x) before displaying them to you. So for example, if the game originally ran at a resolution of 320x200 (typical for most of the SCUMM games), then using a filter with a scale factor of 2x will effectively yield 640x400 graphics. Likewise a 3x filter will give 960x600.

ScummVM uses the following graphic filters:

Name	Factor	Description
1x	1x	No filtering, no scaling, fastest
2x	2x	No filtering, simple pixel duplication (default for non 640x480 games)
3x	3x	No filtering, simple pixel duplication
2xsai	2x	SAI filter
super2xsai	2x	Enhanced 2xSAI filtering
supereagle	2x	Less blurry than 2xSAI, but slower
advmame2x	2x	Doesn't rely on blurring like 2xSAI, fast
advmame3x	3x	Doesn't rely on blurring like 2xSAI, fast
hq2x	2x	Very nice high quality filter but slow
hq3x	3x	Very nice high quality filter but slow
tv2x	2x	Interlace filter, tries to emulate a TV
dotmatrix	2x	Dot matrix effect

To select a graphics filter from the command line, use the '-g' command line option, e.g.:

scummvm -gadvmame2x monkey2

There is always a speed impact when using any form of anti-aliasing/linear filtering. Filters can be especially slow when ScummVM is compiled in a debug configuration without optimizations. For these reasons, not all backends support all (or even any) of the filters listed above; some may support additional ones. The filters listed above are those supported by the default SDL backend.

NB: The final resolution depends on the original resolution of the game you are playing. For example, the FM-TOWNS version of Zak McKracken uses an original resolution of 320x240, hence for this game the final resolution with a scaler will be 640x480 (2x) or 960x720 (3x). Likewise, games that were originally 640x480 (such as Curse of Monkey Island or the Broken Sword games) will be scaled to 1280x960 (2x) and 1920x1440 (3x).

Music and Sound

Output sample rate

The output sample rate tells ScummVM how many sound samples to play per channel per second. There is much that could be said on this subject, but most of it is beyond the scope of this document. The short version is that for most games 22050 Hz is fine, but in some cases 44100 Hz is preferable. On extremely low-end systems you may want to use 11025 Hz, but it’s unlikely that you will have to worry about that.

To elaborate, most of the sounds that ScummVM has to play were sampled at either 22050 Hz or 11025 Hz. Using a higher sample rate will not magically improve the quality of these sounds, thus 22050 Hz is fine.

Some games use CD audio. If you use compressed files for this, they are probably sampled at 44100 Hz, so for these games that may be a better choice of sample rate.

When using the Adlib, FM Towns, PC Speaker or IBM PCjr music drivers, ScummVM is responsible for generating the samples. Usually 22050 Hz will be plenty for these, but there is at least one piece of Adlib music in Beneath a Steel Sky that will sound a lot better at 44100 Hz.

Using frequencies in between is not recommended. For one thing, your sound card may not support it. In theory, ScummVM should fall back on a sensible frequency in that case, but don’t count on it. More importantly, ScummVM has to resample all sounds to its output frequency. This is much easier to do well if the output frequency is a multiple of the original frequency.

Appendix: Supported games

(well this already exists on the wiki, so just link to these pages, but also see the extra notes below)

Appendix: Tools

(describe each ScummVM command line tool in detail. Game pages might link to this.)