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DS Misc > ScummVM?

#38518 - gumba - Mon Mar 28, 2005 9:00 pm

I just played Monkey Island with ScummVM on the xbox and I think a DS Version would be the best port (after snes9x of course) ever on the Nintendo DS.We could use the Pocket PC version of Scumm to port it.The DS would be the perfect platform for Scumm because of its touchscreen.What do you think about it?

#38532 - PhoenixSoft - Mon Mar 28, 2005 11:06 pm

There is already a version of SCUMM available for the GP32, if you really want to play it on the go without buying a PocketPC.

#38537 - Wriggler - Mon Mar 28, 2005 11:22 pm

Without trying to sound like an ass, what exactly do the PocketPC platform and the DS have in common? The DS hardware is incredibly specialised, and it would be a massive job to port... well, anything.

Ben

#38542 - ector - Tue Mar 29, 2005 12:14 am

Both have ARM processors, although that's irrelevant since ScummVM is written in C. A port supporting some games shouldn't be too hard for people with passthroughs but they probably want to explore the hardware first. Someone will surely do it sooner or later.

#38583 - gumba - Tue Mar 29, 2005 9:11 am

I thought about the Pocket Pc Version because of its touchscreen support and the GP32 is a good handheld but for ScummVm its not very comfortable.You need a mouse or a touchscreen for this old Adventures

#38587 - TJ - Tue Mar 29, 2005 10:11 am

Even with all the power the GP32 has, it can't run many games properly.

I think it is probably beyond the capabilities of the DS.

#38589 - Spaceface - Tue Mar 29, 2005 11:23 am

SCUMM beyond the capabilities of a DS but not beyond the capabilities of a PocketPC? O__o

#38598 - sonic-nkt - Tue Mar 29, 2005 2:10 pm

the scummvm gp32 is old.. the last version released was an unoptimized version, after that nothing was released anymore.. im sure gp32 can handel most scumm games perfect..
scumm for the gp runs with 133mhz.. the ds has arround 60mhz and 30mhz
but the gp32 doesnt has a gpu.

#38603 - tepples - Tue Mar 29, 2005 3:11 pm

Spaceface wrote:
SCUMM beyond the capabilities of a DS but not beyond the capabilities of a PocketPC? O__o

The Nintendo DS screen is 256x384 with a big split across the middle, whereas the Pocket PC or GP32 screen is 240x320 all as one unit. Pocket PC is clocked faster than the Nintendo DS, which may become important if SCUMM uses GPU-unfriendly graphics transformations, and possibly has more memory as well.
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#38718 - Mike - Wed Mar 30, 2005 10:11 pm

Not to mention RAM requirements for both SCUMMVM and the games it is to play.

Nevertheless, an older, pruned version of SCUMMVM running mainly the older 16/256-color games might work.

There's also MAME, which could make special use of the DS' touch-screen and vertical screen lineup. (Remember those old space railshooters that used a horizontal screen setup?)

And, offcourse, who could forget the obvious flood of Game&Watch Emulators we'll be seeing. :p

#48859 - Veg - Sat Jul 23, 2005 8:45 am

Sorry for bumping this, but a couple months on, with a bit more known about the system's capabilities, do any devs think a DS port of ScummVM is do-able?

#48860 - headspin - Sat Jul 23, 2005 9:16 am

According to a post on the ScummVM forums they will consider making a port if someone donates a DS.

I think the main concern is the memory limitations of the DS.
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#48864 - Spaceface - Sat Jul 23, 2005 11:35 am

yeah and storage, or is that what you meant?

#48870 - abigsmurf - Sat Jul 23, 2005 1:55 pm

I thought the GP32 only had 4mb of ram like the DS

#48873 - Veg - Sat Jul 23, 2005 2:56 pm

I think the GP32 has 8mb of RAM.

They want someone to get them a DS before they'll even attempt a port? Puts paid to that idea, I guess.

Unless anyone wants to donate a bit of money.

#48876 - tepples - Sat Jul 23, 2005 4:59 pm

Veg wrote:
I think the GP32 has 8mb of RAM.

The support for reading and writing the file system on the GP32 is also more mature than the GBAMP hacks on the DS.

Quote:
They want someone to get them a DS before they'll even attempt a port?

That's the one reason why I'm not writing any DS software yet, because I can't afford $160 for a modded DS.
_________________
-- Where is he?
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-- I think he moved to Tilwick.

#48895 - Chetic - Sat Jul 23, 2005 9:29 pm

Fingolfin seems to really dislike the DS.
This is horrible, because I'd almost rather see a ScummVM port than a fully working SNES emulator. (yeah that's right, and I love SNES with all my heart!)

And Ludde said he's not going to do it (though he is interested in DS development, he's not going to)

So anybody else considering this?
_________________
Packin':
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1Gbit XG2T 2005 (Neoflash compatible)
GBAMP, Supercard CF, 512Mb Magic Key 3 and EZFA 256Mbit

#48896 - tepples - Sat Jul 23, 2005 9:37 pm

ScummVM runs on Pocket PC.

ScummVM runs on top of libsdl. Port libsdl to run on top of libnds and you're already halfway to porting ScummVM and lots of other games.
_________________
-- Where is he?
-- Who?
-- You know, the human.
-- I think he moved to Tilwick.

#48897 - Diskun - Sat Jul 23, 2005 9:44 pm

tepples wrote:
ScummVM runs on Pocket PC.

ScummVM runs on top of libsdl. Port libsdl to run on top of libnds and you're already halfway to porting ScummVM and lots of other games.
Someone?? PLEASE!! :P

Greetz

#48901 - tepples - Sat Jul 23, 2005 10:33 pm

Perhaps you could try your hand at it rather than begging ;-)
_________________
-- Where is he?
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-- I think he moved to Tilwick.

#48917 - Diskun - Sun Jul 24, 2005 4:42 am

tepples wrote:
Perhaps you could try your hand at it rather than begging ;-)
I'm learning to code. I don't think I'd be able to do that :P

#49050 - agentq - Mon Jul 25, 2005 11:20 pm

I've been having a go at this over the weekend. No promises, but it looks hopeful from what I've got done so far.

Although don't expect anything post Monkey Island 2, if that. The RAM will be a serious limiation. Speed wise, I don't think it'll be too much of a problem if it's slow. It's not as if they're action games.

#49051 - abigsmurf - Mon Jul 25, 2005 11:51 pm

what is it about scummvm that uses so much ram? Most of the games it uses were more than able to run off of 512k ram (non voice versions though)

surely being an interpreter it doesn't need to load a whole game image into memory at once and can take what it needs from the flash cart?

#49057 - tepples - Tue Jul 26, 2005 1:53 am

abigsmurf wrote:
surely being an interpreter it doesn't need to load a whole game image into memory at once and can take what it needs from the flash cart?

A lot of people don't have a GBA flash cart or a GBA Movie Player; they use WiFiMe with a modded DS (either a pre-modded one or one modded with a borrowed flash card). In order to load parts from "disk" in such a situation, the interpreter would have to have a Wi-Fi driver, a TCP/IP stack, and a CIFS or HTTP client to pull down the files. If you can get a Wi-Fi driver working, you can earn a bounty.
_________________
-- Where is he?
-- Who?
-- You know, the human.
-- I think he moved to Tilwick.

#49088 - telephasic - Tue Jul 26, 2005 9:00 am

agentq wrote:
I've been having a go at this over the weekend. No promises, but it looks hopeful from what I've got done so far.

Although don't expect anything post Monkey Island 2, if that. The RAM will be a serious limiation. Speed wise, I don't think it'll be too much of a problem if it's slow. It's not as if they're action games.


As a long time lurker, DS owner with flashed bios and flash card, and a rabid fan of all of the homebrew development for the DS, it is this project that single-handedly excites me the most right now.

As someone in their (very) late 20s who played all of the scumm games when they came out (including Maniac Mansion on my good 'ol c64) I can't describe how happy I would be to play any scumm games on my little DS.

As for the 'don't expect anything post Monkey Island 2', some of us still pretend that anything beyond Monkey 2 doesn't exist...

Please keep us all informed of your progress!

#49100 - agentq - Tue Jul 26, 2005 1:59 pm

My love for Lucasarts games came mainly with Day of the Tentacle and Sam & Max, both were fantastic.

The memory problems partly come from the fact that so far the binary itself is 2Mb! That's half the memory gone before you start. Also, I expect that ScummVM would be less efficient than the original interpreter was, as all of the ScummVM targets have plenty of memory and therefore memory usage optimization would not have been top on their list.

#49111 - Veg - Tue Jul 26, 2005 5:25 pm

Good news agentq - good luck with it!

I'm more a Zak McKracken man myself.

#49229 - Chetic - Wed Jul 27, 2005 2:41 pm

Please keep us updated, this is amazing news! (Yes, I know, no promises :P)
_________________
Packin':
Grey DS with FlashMe v7
1Gbit XG2T 2005 (Neoflash compatible)
GBAMP, Supercard CF, 512Mb Magic Key 3 and EZFA 256Mbit

#49253 - Dirge - Wed Jul 27, 2005 9:29 pm

I was going to try to keep quiet about this until I had more to show but since everyone is so excited about it I thought I'd just let people know that porting ScummVM to the DS is not only possible, but on the works as we speak. I've just recently started the port and although there's not much to show my progress so far has been very promising. Here's a few shots of it running in iDeaS:
[Images not permitted - Click here to view it]
[Images not permitted - Click here to view it]

So far I have most of the basic graphics backend functionality implemented as well as input through the touchscreen. Sound is yet to be implemented as well as file system support. After this there shouldn't be much left to do to get at least a scumm game up and working, although I anticipate severe performance issues since the backend stuff I did isn't really taking advantage of the DS' graphics hardware.

No promises how soon any of these things will be done since, like a few of you mentioned, the DS' filesystem support is very limited (although I do have a few neat idea's about how to get around this problem which are very similar to how my friend rich got NesterDS working). I'll keep everybody up to date when I have more to show though (sorry to be such a tease).

#49259 - Mighty Max - Wed Jul 27, 2005 9:54 pm

Great Dirge

Quote:
DS' filesystem support is very limited (although I do have a few neat idea's about how to get around this problem which are very similar to how my friend rich got NesterDS working).


May i suggest implementing Chishm's GBAMP read/write and fat functions for this?

#49262 - Veg - Wed Jul 27, 2005 10:09 pm

Excellent Dirge. Looks like you're well on the way!
If you need anyone to test on hardware, I'm sure you'll find plenty of willing volunteers around here (including me) ;)

#49263 - chishm - Wed Jul 27, 2005 10:12 pm

Mighty Max wrote:
May i suggest implementing Chishm's GBAMP read/write and fat functions for this?

Read - yes, write - still got a few bugs to work out.

#49264 - Mighty Max - Wed Jul 27, 2005 10:23 pm

I'd help you there, unfortunally im still waiting for my gbamp to arrive :p

You'll do it im sure, and when my piece arrives and you have still probs with that, i'd glad to help.

The topic continues here.

#77068 - Guitarluke - Mon Mar 27, 2006 11:31 pm

Is there a runable Version of ScummV for the GBA, not for the DS ? Sorry for my bad english and for asking, I don?t speak your language well :)

#77082 - tepples - Tue Mar 28, 2006 2:21 am

ScummVM is not ported to GBA. You want PocketNES so that you can run Censored Maniac Mansion.
_________________
-- Where is he?
-- Who?
-- You know, the human.
-- I think he moved to Tilwick.

#77111 - Guitarluke - Tue Mar 28, 2006 9:52 am

tepples wrote:
ScummVM is not ported to GBA. You want PocketNES so that you can run Censored Maniac Mansion.


I see. Thank you for the information. So this Information from May 11th 2002
is no more for serious? :(

"Also, we currently have someone working on a GBA port. This has been a popular request, and hopefully will be ready in time for 0.3.0. You can see proof of it's existence in this development screenshot. The port is currently too early to be placed in CVS, so just hang tight :) "


Just hang tight...but how long??? :)
So the canceled the project

#77205 - agentq - Wed Mar 29, 2006 9:33 am

Sorry to disappoint, but I think it's unlikely ScummVM will be ported to the GBA.