ScummVM Portable

ormus7577 · Post by **ormus7577** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 6:52 pm

Hi everyone,

I've made a portable version of ScummVM for use with the PortableApps.com suite.

It's biggest advantage is probably, that all drive letters are adjusted on startup to match the current USB device drive letter.

Please check it out and report any problems/ideas.

http://www.ormus.info/archives/39-Porta ... dness.html

On a side note: Would it be illegal to re-package FOTAQ or BASS for an easier installation on the portable device? It would be just an NSIS installer copying the files to the correct location and adding the section to scummvm.ini.

*edit* Here's the thread at the portableapps.com forums:
http://portableapps.com/node/7698

fingolfin · Post by **fingolfin** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 7:08 pm

Did that require any source code changes? If so, please don't forget to release them to the public.

ormus7577 · Post by **ormus7577** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 7:10 pm

No changes to the actual scummvm code. It's more of an launcher which adjusts the scummvm.ini and strictly divides application from settings/data for easy backup.

The launcher itself is also GPL'd and the source is included in the download...

fingolfin · Post by **fingolfin** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 9:33 pm

Great. Glad to hear it works w/o major changes needed

- So this sounds like a cool project.

As for the FOTAQ/BASS stuff, I thought there was a licensing text included in the archive, which also describes the redistribution requirements?

ormus7577 · Post by **ormus7577** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 10:31 pm

There's a legal notice:

Licence:
1) You may distribute this game for free on any medium, provided this Readme
and all associated copyright notices and disclaimers are left intact.

4) You may modify the game as you wish. You may also distribute modified
versions under the terms set forth in this licence, but with the additional
requirement that the work is marked with a prominent notice which states that
it is a modified version.

So I guess it should be ok. I'll give it a shot and see if anyone complains

clem · Post by **clem** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 10:39 pm

ormus7577 wrote:No changes to the actual scummvm code. It's more of an launcher which adjusts the scummvm.ini and strictly divides application from settings/data for easy backup.

The launcher itself is also GPL'd and the source is included in the download...

hehe, pretty much like what I did

ormus7577 · Post by **ormus7577** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 11:37 pm

One of the advantages of portableapps.com is, that it seperates data/settings from the actual application. So you can easily backup just your data with the Backup tool of portableapps.

clem · Post by **clem** » Sat Jun 30, 2007 12:01 am

(shameless self-plug)
http://www.unet.univie.ac.at/~a0200586/ ... /steelsky/
http://www.unet.univie.ac.at/~a0200586/ ... mes/fotaq/

no idea about portableapps, but I've been bundling scummvm+games for quite some time now (and NSIS as installer)

ormus7577 · Post by **ormus7577** » Sat Jun 30, 2007 7:45 am

I've seen your site. Are those packages just installers or also launchers? USB drives may change the drive letter, breaking the scummvm.ini paths. The portableapps thing takes care of this and adjusts the path. So it's working on every PC you plug it into...

clem · Post by **clem** » Sat Jun 30, 2007 9:29 am

ormus7577 wrote:I've seen your site. Are those packages just installers or also launchers? USB drives may change the drive letter, breaking the scummvm.ini paths. The portableapps thing takes care of this and adjusts the path. So it's working on every PC you plug it into...

the launcher
- gets current (USB) drive letter
- checks if all the needed files exist (scummvm, datafiles)
- patches scummvm.ini with drive for datafiles and savegame files
- checks if the USB stick is write protected, if yes, notifies you that you won't be able to save games
- checks if savegame directory exists, if no, notifies you that you won't be able to save or restore
- launches ScummVM with commandline parameters to point to the correct drive (additionally to the patched ini, better be safe than sorry)

(not necessarily in that order, but that's pretty much what the innocent little launcher exe does)

hope that answers it

EDIT: and it's written in NSIS script, too

raina · Post by **raina** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 11:34 am

Good stuff, ormus, thanks. Just installed ScummVMPortable on my sister's USB drive. She's 17 now and has some fond memories of DoTT from back whenever when she was still a little too young to play the game on her own. Now it's Round 2 wherever she goes.

mac_es · Post by **mac_es** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 7:04 am

FYI, You can use a scummvm.ini whith relative paths, so you don't need to bother about the drive letter...

ormus7577 · Post by **ormus7577** » Mon Nov 24, 2008 8:55 pm

I've updated my portable package to 0.12.0, you can find details at: http://www.ormus.info/archives/95-Scumm ... table.html

mac_es · Post by **mac_es** » Tue Nov 25, 2008 10:00 am

Also, you can use relative paths in scummvm.ini and make a .bat for running scummvm whith the correct -c option.

An example:

Scummvm.ini

Code: Select all

&#91;monkey2&#93;
music_driver=fluidsynth
gameid=monkey2
description=Monkey Island 2&#58; LeChuck's Revenge &#40;DOS&#41;
path=..\Monkey Island\Monkey Island II\
savepath=..\Monkey Island\Monkey Island II\Save

Scummvm.bat

Code: Select all

@echo off
cd scummvm_svn
rem SET SDL_VIDEODRIVER=directx
start scummvm.exe -c.\scummvm.ini %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7 %8 %9
cd ..

And this is the layout

Code: Select all

Root &#40;scummvm.bat&#41;
 |-Scummvm_svn &#40;obvious&#41;
 |-Monkey Island
    |-Monkey Island II &#40;game files&#41;
        |- Save &#40;for savefiles&#41;

You can copy the tree across any drive/directory

ormus7577 · Post by **ormus7577** » Wed Nov 26, 2008 6:00 am

hi mac_es,

I'm aware of the possibility to use relative paths, the default .ini I have in the package also uses them. But if a user (maybe only by accident) browses to the root of a drive, then the path will be saved absolute from this time on. My launcher handles both kind of paths, relative ones stay untouched while absolute ones are adjusted to the current drive letter of the removable drive.

ScummVM is very portable by itself already, my main focus is to fit it into the http://PortableApps.com menu structure. By fitting it into this directory layout one can easily backup the data (=games, saves, settings...) indepedent of the actual application. And it's pretty neat to start it from the menu...