Blade Runner WIP

[peterkohaut]

That was my goal, to have it released in scummvm in November 2019
To my knowledge, pathfinding is the last major part missing but it is being worked on. Then there are some minor features as autosave or proper manual video skipping. Also are still few issues which we know about like - characters refuse to die properly and on top of that, there is plenty of bugs which we don't know about yet...
I don't have any experience with scummvm project playtesting, but I guess it will help and it will be welcomed. Mainly for issues with game logic (not engine features) as the game is randomized on each run.

[WienerWuerstel]

That was my goal, to have it released in scummvm in November 2019
To my knowledge, pathfinding is the last major part missing but it is being worked on. Then there are some minor features as autosave or proper manual video skipping. Also are still few issues which we know about like - characters refuse to die properly and on top of that, there is plenty of bugs which we don't know about yet...
I don't have any experience with scummvm project playtesting, but I guess it will help and it will be welcomed. Mainly for issues with game logic (not engine features) as the game is randomized on each run.

A release in 2019 would be quite the achievement
Thanks for all the work and progress on this Engine. Especially in the last couple weeks. Hope you get enough sleep
I am currently playtesting the game (This is the first time playing this game btw and I didn't watch the movie) and it works quite well so far, except for the obvious pathfinding issues. Now I have to restart my playthrough though, because it seems that me starting a new game (to watch the Intro I skipped at first) or some of the recent changes seem to have broke my save data. I'm able to load just fine but poor Ray can't move anymore.
The terminal output just states that I click on nothing.

EDIT: Nope, it seems that save files break for me even when I don't start a new game or update ScummVM.

[peterkohaut]

I'm sleeping enough & well, thanks:)
There are many issues in scripts which i'm trying to fix, for example it was impossible to start 3rd act... so i recommend to use everyday nightly when there are any commits to bladerunner on github.
About your issue I experienced that only once, please, try opening debug console via CTRL+D and typing "goal 0 0" and "anim 0 0" without quotes, that should reset mccoy character.
If there are any bugs before official playtesting (like this) I recommend to contact me on irc at #scummvm channel

[WienerWuerstel]

Thanks for the response and good to hear that you sleep well. Sadly the commands didn't work but maybe I'll figure out somehow how to get him moving again (without having to start a new game again). I'm going to report any bugs that I encounter in the future on IRC, like you suggested.

[Praetorian]

Thanks for the response and good to hear that you sleep well. Sadly the commands didn't work but maybe I'll figure out somehow how to get him moving again (without having to start a new game again). I'm going to report any bugs that I encounter in the future on IRC, like you suggested.

As a temporary workaround, try to wait for a bit without clicking on anything, after loading a savegame with this particular issue. McCoy gets "unfrozen" (the other actors too along with him) on his own after a while.

Edit: I think I may have found a possible reason for this issue. There's a count-down timer before actor animations start to get updated and that counter is currently not reset after loading a save-game. Reseting it seems to fix the issue (hopefully it doesn't break anything else).

[peterkohaut]

in newer nightly builds, this timer can be reset in debugger console by command "timer 0 5 10", it means set timer for actor 0 (mccoy), timerid 5 (animation update) , timeleft = 10 (setting it to 0 will stop the timer altogether)

[Delirious17]

so I have my blade runner cds but I am wondering do I need to rename certain files a certain way to get scummvm to recognize the game?

[Praetorian]

so I have my blade runner cds but I am wondering do I need to rename certain files a certain way to get scummvm to recognize the game?

Hello. Is this the English version or another localization of the game?

Basically, I think what would suffice is:
1. Create a folder to be the game's directory on your HDD (eg. "C:\Westwood\BladeRunner\", if running Windows) and copy the files listed below from the game CDs into that folder. Everything should be copied in there flat, regardless of the subfolder they are located on the CDs.

Code: Select all

File            | From Folder   | Found at
--------------------------------------------
COREANIM.DAT    | /BASE         | CD#1
MODE.MIX        | /BASE         | CD#1
MUSIC.MIX       | /BASE         | CD#1
SFX.MIX         | /BASE         | CD#1
SPCHSFX.TLK     | /BASE         | CD#1
STARTUP.MIX     | /BASE         | CD#1
1.TLK           | /CD1          | CD#1
A.TLK           | /CD1          | CD#1 (identical in CD#2, CD#3, CD#4)
OUTTAKE1.MIX    | /CD1          | CD#1
VQA1.MIX        | /CD1          | CD#1
2.TLK           | /CD2          | CD#2
OUTTAKE2.MIX    | /CD2          | CD#2
VQA2.MIX        | /CD2          | CD#2
3.TLK           | /CD3          | CD#3 (identical in CD#4)
OUTTAKE3.MIX    | /CD3          | CD#3
VQA3.MIX        | /CD3          | CD#3 (identical in CD#4)
OUTTAKE4.MIX    | /CD4          | CD#4

2. Then you need to create the HDFRAMES.DAT which should also be copied in the above folder ("C:\Westwood\BladeRunner\"). Edit: Or alternatively you could simply copy the four CDFRAMES.DAT files in your game directory, renaming them as described here.

If you choose to create the HDFRAMES.DAT file, you will have to download the latest build of ScummVM tools for your specific Operating System from here: https://buildbot.scummvm.org/builds.html (Windows builds are at the bottom of the list). Follow the procedure outlined in the ScummVM tools README, which I copy here:

Code: Select all

pack_bladerunner
	Used to combine Blade Runner CDFRAMES.DAT files into HDFRAMES.DAT.

	1. Copy CDFRAMES.DAT file from CD1 to some directory.

	2. Copy CDFRAMES.DAT files from CDs 2,3,4 to the same directory
	but name them CDFRAMES2.DAT, CDFRAMES3.DAT, CDFRAMES4.DAT respectively.

	3. Run the tool:
	  ./scummvm-tools-cli --tool pack_bladerunner [-o outputfile] <inputdir>/CDFRAMES.DAT

	4. Copy the resulting HDFRAMES.DAT file to the game directory.

3. Finally, get the latest ScummVM stable daily build from that same ScummVM web page for you OS, run it, then Add the Game (with "Add Game...") and launch it with "Start" .
https://buildbot.scummvm.org/builds.html

4. For subtitles, you can find the latest (March 21st!) resource file (SUBTITLES.MIX in a zip file) here:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=18Br40 ... tLvhg8oCH6
You would have to extract that zip file into the game directory.

Let us know if the above worked for you, or if you have any further questions.

[Raziel]

@peterkohaut

Answered your request

Awesome so far

@Praetorian

Are you planning to upload the subtitles file to a scummvm server aswell once the game engine is finished?
I can't access Google (we never share your data, promise!) Drive

[digitall]

Since the game is in-tree, it would also be reasonable to add an entry to https://wiki.scummvm.org/index.php/Datafiles

[Praetorian]

@Praetorian

Are you planning to upload the subtitles file to a scummvm server aswell once the game engine is finished?
I can't access Google (we never share your data, promise!) Drive

Yes, definitely.

Since the game is in-tree, it would also be reasonable to add an entry to https://wiki.scummvm.org/index.php/Datafiles

Done.

• Installing Blade Runner instructions on the wiki
• Required Data files
• Packing tool instructions

Probably some polishing is required and maybe some links are missing (I'm unsure if I should post a SUBTITLES.MIX link there), but the info is there.

[Raziel]

from the tools readme

Note that an alternative method, also supported by ScummVM, is to simply copy the CDFRAMES.DAT files from each CD into the game directory; following this approach, the files from the first, second, third and fourth CDs should be renamed as CDFRAMES1.DAT, CDFRAMES2.DAT, CDFRAMES3.DAT, CDFRAMES4.DAT respectively, in order to be properly detected by ScummVM.

That doesn't work here, i *need* a HDFRAMES.DAT otherwise ScummVM will throw n GUI Error on start about missing resources and -d2 tells me

Running Blade Runner (Windows/English)
File::open: opening 'HDFRAMES.DAT' failed

CDFRAMES1.DAT through 4 in place

EDIT:
And, i'd like to point out some inconsistency which i hit (and probably others will too).
While the readme and datafiles page tell me to rename the CDFRAMES.DAT files from the different CD's to CDFRAMES1-4.DAT, the tools program explicitely *needs* the first CDFRAMES.DAT to be NOT renamed and stay CDFRAMES.DAT...that is really puzzling and will create (user) errors, like for me.
Why can't the tools programs simply pick up CDFRAMES1-4.DAT and work with them instead of the first one being the original name?

If all the according programs/files would be CDFRAMES1-4.DAT it would seem to be more consistent, imho.

I don't know how the main engine works, but i guess it will first check for HDFRAMES.DAT and only if that is not found fall back to CDFRAMES1-4.DAT?
(Which doesn't seem to work right now, see above)

[Praetorian]

from the tools readme

And, i'd like to point out some inconsistency which i hit (and probably others will too).
While the readme and datafiles page tell me to rename the CDFRAMES.DAT files from the different CD's to CDFRAMES1-4.DAT, the tools program explicitely *needs* the first CDFRAMES.DAT to be NOT renamed and stay CDFRAMES.DAT...that is really puzzling and will create (user) errors, like for me.
Why can't the tools programs simply pick up CDFRAMES1-4.DAT and work with them instead of the first one being the original name?

That has actually been in my TODO list, since ehrm... yesterday-ish when I noticed the inconsistency

I don't know how the main engine works, but i guess it will first check for HDFRAMES.DAT and only if that is not found fall back to CDFRAMES1-4.DAT?
(Which doesn't seem to work right now, see above)

We'll have to look into that. I'm sure it'd be a quick fix.

[Praetorian]

That doesn't work here, i *need* a HDFRAMES.DAT otherwise ScummVM will throw n GUI Error on start about missing resources and -d2 tells me

Running Blade Runner (Windows/English)
File::open: opening 'HDFRAMES.DAT' failed

CDFRAMES1.DAT through 4 in place

I've pushed a possible fix for this issue (it should appear in tomorrow's daily builds for those who would like to avoid compiling from the sources). Let me know if this works for you. I have tried with several combinations of missing and present and renamed files, and I don't get errors if all is as it should be (either HDFRAMES.DAT, or the CDFRAMES1.DAT, CDFRAMES2.DAT, CDFRAMES3.DAT, CDFRAMES4.DAT files). As an extra note here, there was already code in the game to accept either CDFRAMES.DAT or CDFRAMES1.DAT for the file from the first CD, so there was consistency in that regard albeit not mentioned in the current documentation.

[Raziel]

Yep, game is found and running now, thank you

Do you want proper bug reports or should i post my findings here?

First bug:
Debugger opens when i sned the policeman to question the crowd in the left corner, fisrt scene
Unable to locate page 2092 for animation 604 frame 0!

Code: Select all

User picked target 'bladerunner-win' (gameid 'bladerunner')...
  Looking for a plugin supporting this gameid... Blade Runner
  Starting 'Blade Runner'
Download SUBTITLES.MIX from ScummVM's website to enable subtitles
WARNING: SliceAnimations::openFrames: HDFRAMES.DAT resource not found. Falling back to using CDFRAMESx.DAT files instead...!
WARNING: numQueuedStreams: 0!
WARNING: numQueuedStreams: 0!
WARNING: numQueuedStreams: 0!
WARNING: numQueuedStreams: 0!
	Blade Runner
	
	From the dark recesses of David Leary's imagination comes a game unlike any
	other. Blade Runner immerses you in the underbelly of future Los Angeles. Right
	from the start, the story pulls you in with graphic descriptions of a
	grandmother doing the shimmy in her underwear, child molestation, brutal
	cold-blooded slaying of innocent animals, vomiting on desks, staring at a
	woman's ass, the list goes on. And when the game starts, the real fun begins -
	shoot down-on-their-luck homeless people and toss them into a dumpster. Watch
	with sadistic glee as a dog gets blown into chunky, bloody, bits by an
	explosive, and even murder a shy little girl who loves you. If you think David
	Leary is sick, and you like sick, this is THE game for you.
	
	JW: Don't forget the wasting of helpless mutated cripples in the underground.
	It's such a beautiful thing!
	
	DL: Go ahead.  Just keep beating that snarling pit bull...ignore the foam
	around his jaws. There's room on the top shelf of my fridge for at least one
	more head... - Psychotic Dave
	
	MG: Is David Leary a self-respecting human or is he powered by rechargeable
	batteries?

	MG: Hey, leave that officer alone. Can't you see he's busy?
	JM: (...mmm, donuts...)
	MG: It's all fun and games until someone loses a tiger cub.
	MG: We don't want any of that abstract art oozing out onto the street.
Unable to locate page 2092 for animation 604 frame 0!