Status of the AGI engine (ex Sarien)

md5 · Post by **md5** » Sun Dec 10, 2006 2:15 pm

I'm very confused about the status of the AGI engine in ScummVM. How mature is it? From the supported games found in the wiki:
http://wiki.scummvm.org/index.php/Sierra
http://wiki.scummvm.org/index.php/AGI
which ones are completeable? What's the level of compatibility for each game? What bugs exist for each game?
All the info I could gather was from the old SF pages of the ex Sarien project:
Bugs:
http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?atid=38 ... unc=browse
People who managed to finish games:
http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?atid=38 ... unc=browse

Will there be groups in the bugtracker of ScummVM for the AGI games?

I'm asking these questions because although the two projects have been merged, there's no information regarding the AGI engine (the ex Sarien project)

Edit: Another thing I've noticed is that the two pages in the wiki contain similar information. Perhaps it would be better to sort the games in a different manner in the two pages? You could leave the games in chronological order in the Sierra pages and group them by series in the AGI page, e.g. :

King's Quest
King's Quest II
King's Quest III
King's Quest IV
Space Quest
Space Quest II
Police Quest
The Black Cauldron
Donald Duck's Playground
Leisure Suit Larry
Mixed-Up Mother Goose
Gold Rush
Manhunter
Manhunter 2

Plus, I remember some other games that used EGA graphics, e.g. Leisure Suit Larry 2 and 3, plus Space Quest 3 and some more. Are those SCI games?

Edit 2: I've tried King's Quest 1, 2 and 3 from my King's Quest CD and they seem to work, but they're all recognised as "AGI game". Haven't tested them thoroughly though. I've also tried to run King's Quest 4, but that couldn't be recognised

Reckless · Post by **Reckless** » Sun Dec 10, 2006 4:42 pm

What's there to be confused about?

It's an in development engine and accessible only when using a SVN build. I really don't see the need to have a % compatible for games using engines in development as that very status would suggest 'not complete'. As you've already seen, I'm sure the team would appreciate bug reports/feedback (using the proper channels) for these games.

Game detection does indeed say 'AGI game x' but what difference does it really make? If you notice in the SCUMMVM console the AGI engine detects the game properly when run so maybe one day this info will find its way to the config screens. Either way it doesn't worry me!

Finally, KQ IV (from you KQ collection CD) will be the SCI version. The AGI version is considered 'rare' as it was pulled shortly after release as Sierra went with the SCI version.

Collector · Post by **Collector** » Sun Dec 10, 2006 4:47 pm

Though there was an AGI variant of KQ4, by far the most common was SCI. It was the 1st SCI game. The first SCI games were EGA. Leisure Suit Larry 2, 3 and Space Quest 3 are all SCI. These all run easily in DOSBox. Also, it is the earlier (EGA) SCI games that work with FreeSCI.

md5 · Post by **md5** » Sun Dec 10, 2006 4:55 pm

The thing is that there is no possible way to submit bugs for the AGI engine using the bug tracker because there is no appropriate category for the AGI games. All the information I could find is on the now-defunct Sarien SF pages, so wouldn't it be good if this information is brought over to the ScummVM project?

Thanks for the clarification regarding KQ4 and the early SCI games

Reckless · Post by **Reckless** » Sun Dec 10, 2006 5:00 pm

md5 wrote:so wouldn't it be good if this information is brought over to the ScummVM project?

Yep that sounds sensible - I've never had the need to report an official bug so I've not used the system!

fingolfin · Post by **fingolfin** » Sun Dec 10, 2006 6:04 pm

We are actually working on transfering the old Sarien tracker data to the ScummVM tracker. That's quite some work if done manually, though, which is why we are talking with SF.net to do the transfer for us, if possible.

In the meantime, nothing *technical* stops you from making bug reports for games for which we don't offer a category in our bug tracker: Just submit the bug w/o a group/category, and we'll sort it.

However, what *should* stop you is the fact that so far AGI support is still under development and hence we are not actually accepting bug reports for it yet (there'd be far too many). We will update the bug tracker, add AGI games to the compatibility list, etc. as soon as we think the AGI engine is ready for public consumption (and thus ready for bug hunting).

Just be a bit patient. We have to do all this in our spare time, which is not that abundant, and hence things can at times move slowly.

Kaminari · Post by **Kaminari** » Sun Dec 10, 2006 6:30 pm

Reckless wrote:The AGI version is considered 'rare' as it was pulled shortly after release as Sierra went with the SCI version.

As far as I know, KQ4 AGI was not even released on the shelves. It was only offered via mailing list to the first lucky buyers of the SCI version.

Reckless · Post by **Reckless** » Sun Dec 10, 2006 8:24 pm

Not from what I've read but I'm sure someone [like Collector] will be able to provide more accurate info

df · Post by df » Tue Dec 12, 2006 7:33 pm

well I dont know about kq4 rare either. There are two distinct versions, v2.0 + v2.2. I dont know what 2.2 fixed over 2.0 (Both are winnable). I remembering it being sold in australia for the tandy.

If it were pulled straight away from the shelves, Id not expect two versions.

But I guess its rare in that you would have a LOT of trouble finding a boxed agi version.