Aspect Ratio Correction on FM Towns Games

[ZvikaZ]

I played a bit with the Hybrid FM-Towns / Hebrew version of Loom and the following binary:
https://github.com/ZvikaZ/scummvm/relea ... -K22Im2EwU

The only problem I noticed so far (I didn't play much) was at Cygna's grave:
scummvm-loom-fm-00002.png

You mentioned it was fixed in z_zm_height_200_v4, so it might be a regression.

That was indeed a tough one...
First I tried to split the text to two, with a waiting between them. But it was too difficult to implement, and required an ugly hack.
I ended with relocating the text, and adding vertical space between its two sections.
It's not perfect now, but I think it's good enough.

Code: Select all

git clone https://github.com/ZvikaZ/scummvm
git checkout z_zm_height_200_v8

Well, more feedback is welcome

[OmerMor]

I played a bit with the Hybrid FM-Towns / Hebrew version of Loom and the following binary:
https://github.com/ZvikaZ/scummvm/relea ... -K22Im2EwU

The only problem I noticed so far (I didn't play much) was at Cygna's grave:
scummvm-loom-fm-00002.png

You mentioned it was fixed in z_zm_height_200_v4, so it might be a regression.

That was indeed a tough one...
First I tried to split the text to two, with a waiting between them. But it was too difficult to implement, and required an ugly hack.
I ended with relocating the text, and adding vertical space between its two sections.
It's not perfect now, but I think it's good enough.

Code: Select all

git clone https://github.com/ZvikaZ/scummvm
git checkout z_zm_height_200_v8

Well, more feedback is welcome

I'm glad to hear! Can you please provide a Windows binary?

Another (more complex) possibility would be to skip the subtitles in Cygna's grave altogether.
In the English version, the text is already displayed in English.
For the Hebrew version, we might be able to provide a new image with Hebrew writing. That's what was done for the EGA Hebrew DOS version:

cygna-hebrew.png (20.19 KiB) Viewed 11600 times

[ZvikaZ]

I'm glad to hear! Can you please provide a Windows binary?

Here you go: https://github.com/ZvikaZ/scummvm/files/5049228/v8.zip

Another (more complex) possibility would be to skip the subtitles in Cygna's grave altogether.

Actually, from my side, it's very easy to do. Much easier than what I've already done...
However, I think that my solution is good enough (even though, not perfect), and it's better to leave it as-is.
Regarding the Hebrew translation - I think that making a VGA quality picture of the grave with Hebrew text is too much work - but it's up to you...

[OmerMor]

Here you go: https://github.com/ZvikaZ/scummvm/files/5049228/v8.zip

Great!

This looks much better:

scummvm-loom-fm-00003.png (51.38 KiB) Viewed 11577 times

I believe this is sufficient. It would be nice to justify the text to the right in the Hebrew version, but it's out of scope of this patch.

Although I didn't test the whole game yet, I think the patch is good to go. After all this is an optional feature, and if other problems would be found, they could be addressed in the future.

Thanks for writing this patch!

[ZvikaZ]

Although I didn't test the whole game yet, I think the patch is good to go. After all this is an optional feature, and if other problems would be found, they could be addressed in the future.

Well, that makes sense.
However, the issue in Loom is more severe.
The problems I'm afraid of aren't misplaced text, but program crashes.
(That was the situation in the grave scene, for example, before I did anything. When I said [in an old version] that it was fixed - I meant that it stopped crashing, and the text seemed reasonably OK. After you've mentioned this scene again, I returned to it, and improved the text location)

Therefore, I'd really prefer to have someone play Loom from the beginning to the end, and see that there aren't major problems.
It's a short game, I assume it can be finished in an hour with a walkthrough.

[elvisish]

Although I didn't test the whole game yet, I think the patch is good to go. After all this is an optional feature, and if other problems would be found, they could be addressed in the future.

Well, that makes sense.
However, the issue in Loom is more severe.
The problems I'm afraid of aren't misplaced text, but program crashes.
(That was the situation in the grave scene, for example, before I did anything. When I said [in an old version] that it was fixed - I meant that it stopped crashing, and the text seemed reasonably OK. After you've mentioned this scene again, I returned to it, and improved the text location)

Therefore, I'd really prefer to have someone play Loom from the beginning to the end, and see that there aren't major problems.
It's a short game, I assume it can be finished in an hour with a walkthrough.

Hey there, I can test it to help get it ready for inclusion. Do you need it captured or just playing normally?

[elvisish]

Also, should I be getting the warning about CD tracks being ripped to audio? It isn't playing the audio tracks after I set the extra path, unfortunately.

EDIT: nevermind, it hasn't been compiled with mp3 support.

[ZvikaZ]

Although I didn't test the whole game yet, I think the patch is good to go. After all this is an optional feature, and if other problems would be found, they could be addressed in the future.

Well, that makes sense.
However, the issue in Loom is more severe.
The problems I'm afraid of aren't misplaced text, but program crashes.
(That was the situation in the grave scene, for example, before I did anything. When I said [in an old version] that it was fixed - I meant that it stopped crashing, and the text seemed reasonably OK. After you've mentioned this scene again, I returned to it, and improved the text location)

Therefore, I'd really prefer to have someone play Loom from the beginning to the end, and see that there aren't major problems.
It's a short game, I assume it can be finished in an hour with a walkthrough.

Hey there, I can test it to help get it ready for inclusion. Do you need it captured or just playing normally?

Thanks. It'd be great.
No need to capture anything.
Just play Loom from beginning to end, and make sure that there aren't any warnings in the console.
If there are warning in the console, or if you encounter any problem, please report to me.
If you finish the game without warnings and problems - great. Please tell me, and I will send a PR.

[elvisish]

The colors in Annie's office are a little different on the new version, I don't think this is an issue at all, just interesting:

[elvisish]

@ZvikaZ Seems to be a slight bug in the dragon's lair, trying to actually select the hotspot and get it to stay:
https://imgur.com/CgDRTug

[ZvikaZ]

@ZvikaZ Seems to be a slight bug in the dragon's lair, trying to actually select the hotspot and get it to stay:
https://imgur.com/CgDRTug

Wow!
I've missed that post of yours
I just wandered, maybe there's something new here, and I missed it - and indeed, I missed it.

So, I'm sorry for not responding so long...
Can you please attach a save game? or PM me it?

[ZvikaZ]

The colors in Annie's office are a little different on the new version, I don't think this is an issue at all, just interesting:

What game is it?
Are you sure it happens only with my new feature, and doesn't happen without it?
If that's the case, I will have to look into it.
Please supply also a savegame.

Thanks

[Raziel]

The game should be zakmckracken

[ZvikaZ]

The game should be zakmckracken

Ok. Do you happen to know what room is it?

[Raziel]

I don't know the internal room number the scripts use, but it's Annie's office past the bus and the second hand vendor (who also sells lotto tickets) around the block of Zak's apartment.

Just leave Zak's apartment, go right, past the bus, around the block, past the second hand vendor and enter the next door.

I haven't played the game for a long time, so I don't know if you have to wait for something before you can enter Annie's house.

Iirc you need to at least watch the news on your TV until Annie appears for an interview.

Edit: I try to remember to check the game when I got back home