New Tablet User - Need Help (Android 11 Device)

[thegregk]

Hey everyone, I'd like to think I'm pretty tech-savvy, but I am having a hell of a time getting SCUMMVM to work correctly on my Galaxy Tab 6 Lite. I've searched for a clear tutorial, and I've yet to find it here, on YouTube, or on Reddit.

I've installed SCUMMVM on my Tab. I have no idea where to put the games or how to add them.
On my SD Card, I made a folder called SCUMMVM, but it doesn't show up on the directory when I try to add a game.
I then put a folder for a game (let's say Monkey Island 2) into a folder that I CAN access from the add a game menu and it says there are no games there.
I tried to use the "files" folder in the SCUMM folder in the Android/Data directory, it also says it can't find any games there.
I'm assuming that I need to include all of the files that come with the folder?
Am I looking for a particular file type?
Is there a reason why the SCUMMVM folder I made (/sdcard/scummvm) isn't showing when I go to add a game?
Is there a particular way I should be couching the folders? Do I use the folders or just the files?

Sorry for the flood of questions, but I would love to have access to these games on my tablet and I've been working on it for a few weeks now and can't figure it out. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Praetorian]

Hey everyone, I'd like to think I'm pretty tech-savvy, but I am having a hell of a time getting SCUMMVM to work correctly on my Galaxy Tab 6 Lite. I've searched for a clear tutorial, and I've yet to find it here, on YouTube, or on Reddit.

I've installed SCUMMVM on my Tab. I have no idea where to put the games or how to add them.
On my SD Card, I made a folder called SCUMMVM, but it doesn't show up on the directory when I try to add a game.
I then put a folder for a game (let's say Monkey Island 2) into a folder that I CAN access from the add a game menu and it says there are no games there.
I tried to use the "files" folder in the SCUMM folder in the Android/Data directory, it also says it can't find any games there.
I'm assuming that I need to include all of the files that come with the folder?
Am I looking for a particular file type?
Is there a reason why the SCUMMVM folder I made (/sdcard/scummvm) isn't showing when I go to add a game?
Is there a particular way I should be couching the folders? Do I use the folders or just the files?

Sorry for the flood of questions, but I would love to have access to these games on my tablet and I've been working on it for a few weeks now and can't figure it out. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Hello, could you provide a few more details on your tablet? Mainly:
- What is the version of Android OS that you're tablet is running?
- Did you use ScummVM before 2.5.0 and did it work before (wrt folder access) ?
- Is 2.5.0 the current ScummVM version you're testing?

I know that in Android 11 the current version (2.5.0) has a known issue with folder access on external memory, since Android 11 introduces some radical changes in storage access without the option to use a backwards compatibility mode anymore. We're working on implementing a solution, but I have no ETA for that.

Now, the app should otherwise function though, unless there's another bug that's not reported to us -- or we failed to catch.

If you have a desktop/laptop PC with Windows/Linux/Mac, the process of creating a game folder and adding the game to ScummVM should not be much different. You do need to copy a list of the required data files per game in a game folder for ScummVM to detect it and you can look on our ScummVM wiki for instructions on those files.
Here's the documentation entry about this.

In Android 10 or lower I have created a "games" folder and in there I have multiple game folders (eg. "Monkey Island 1", "Loom", "Blade Runner"). The gist of adding a game is using the "Add Game..." from the launcher view, then pointing *inside* the folder of the game. You may not see ScummVM listing the contents of the game folder, but if you click Ok, it should tell you if it detected the game (and, if so, which game it detected).
Here's the documentation entry about the Add Game process.

Quite a lot of the time (but not always), if you have the GOG (or Steam) version of a game installed on your PC, the folder where you've installed it should contain the required data files as ScummVM expects them (and probably a few more that ScummVM does not need). Also if you have a game on CD(s), then copying all data as they are on the CDs in a game folder is a crude way of creating the game data folder which may work (most of the time) -- but the recommended way is to follow the instructions per game (or per game engine) on our wiki.

My typical process is:
- Create the game folders on my PC
-- Optionally test that my Windows ScummVM detects and launches them without issues
- Copy these folder over to my tablet or smartphone (usually using the Android Studio Device File Explorer, but Windows File Explorer should also work I guess).
- Launch ScummVM app on my Android device, use the "Add Game" to point to each of the newly added folders
- Launch the detected game(s).

As noted in the documentation page about Adding Games, there's also a batch-mode alternative for "Add Game", called "Mass Add" which is accessed by clicking the small arrow icon on the button. You could use this to point to a folder which contains your games' subfolders and let ScummVM detect every game that it can by recursively scanning the subfolders. I normally don't use this, but you may find it more convenient.

[thegregk]

Thanks so much for your response - that file/folder tree helps a lot. To answer your question, I am using Android 11 (Galaxy Tab S6 Lite) and I was trying on the SD card. I'll try as you suggest - making a ScummVM folder on the internal storage and couch it as described.

Here's where I get stuck though - on the add a game screen, I have these options for selecting a directory:

In the field, it just reads: /

/storage/5d91-da68
ScummVM data/
ScummVM data (Ext)/
ScummVM data (Int)/

each of those, when I click on them, it just says no game found. On the SD Card, I know I can type /SD card in the top field and it will show me all of the folders on the SD card, I don't know how to get there on the internal memory, so I guess that's my question.

Let me rephrase - in the "select directory with game data" screen, what do I type in there to access the folders on the internal storage of the tablet?

I super appreciate your help. Thank you.

[Praetorian]

Thanks so much for your response - that file/folder tree helps a lot. To answer your question, I am using Android 11 (Galaxy Tab S6 Lite) and I was trying on the SD card. I'll try as you suggest - making a ScummVM folder on the internal storage and couch it as described.

Here's where I get stuck though - on the add a game screen, I have these options for selecting a directory:

In the field, it just reads: /

/storage/5d91-da68
ScummVM data/
ScummVM data (Ext)/
ScummVM data (Int)/

each of those, when I click on them, it just says no game found. On the SD Card, I know I can type /SD card in the top field and it will show me all of the folders on the SD card, I don't know how to get there on the internal memory, so I guess that's my question.

Let me rephrase - in the "select directory with game data" screen, what do I type in there to access the folders on the internal storage of the tablet?

I super appreciate your help. Thank you.

The "/" in the field is a virtual root dir. It will always show a list of virtual folders that ScummVM was able to create as shortcuts for (supported) storage locations.

In that list of virtual folders "/storage/5d91-da68" should be your (specific) external "SD Card" but, like I said, I don't expect proper access to it to work on Android 11.

I think otherwise the most viable option (but again I have not tested on Android 11), would be to choose "ScummVM data (Ext)". This is the "external storage" for the application, which on Android means that it's still a space reserved on internal storage *but* other applications can also access it.

If you can you navigate there with your device's file explorer app (or via Android Studio Device File Explorer) and create a subfolder where you'll put your game folders, you would then only have to choose "ScummVM data (Ext)" from the list above and find your created folder and game subfolders (hopefully).

Alternatively, you could click on that "ScummVM data (Ext)" and start navigating upwards (with the "Go up" button), until you get an earlier path that you find more convenient to put data in. I am unsure, however, whether those earlier path locations will be *actually* accessible to ScummVM to detect folders in them.

An example that works for me on Android 10, for using that external application space is:
First notice that clicking on "ScummVM data (Ext)" on my device, resolves the path as:

Code: Select all

/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/org.scummvm.scummvm/files

On Android Studio's "Device File Explorer" this path is found under:

Code: Select all

/storage/self/primary/Android/data/org.scummvm.scummvm/files

or

Code: Select all

/sdcard/Android/data/org.scummvm.scummvm/files

or

Code: Select all

/mnt/sdcard/Android/data/org.scummvm.scummvm/files

(they are all equivalent)

Using Windows 10's File Explorer, the path is found under:

Code: Select all

This PC\Redmi Note 9 Pro\Internal shared storage\Android\data\org.scummvm.scummvm\files

So I can navigate there with either File Explorer application, and put folders in there, which ScummVM then definitely finds.
I normally won't do this, because on Android 10 ScummVM can still navigate on the *actual* physical external SD Card and so it's better to store the games there (more storage space, and the folders persist after uninstalling ScummVM). But I have tested the above and it works.

Just keep in mind that uninstalling ScummVM will delete the data in the applications "internal" and "external" (ie. not actually external as explained above) memory space. So storing games in that "external" space will delete those folders on uninstalling the app.

[thegregk]

That did it! Thank you - I just needed to understand the path. I used /storage/self/primary/ and was able to find the ScummVM folder I made and then got to the games folder. I fired up Monkey Island 2 and it works. Thank you so much for your time!!

I'll keep an eye out for any updates that make the external storage accessible.

[Praetorian]

That did it! Thank you - I just needed to understand the path. I used /storage/self/primary/ and was able to find the ScummVM folder I made and then got to the games folder. I fired up Monkey Island 2 and it works. Thank you so much for your time!!

I'll keep an eye out for any updates that make the external storage accessible.

Thanks for the feedback. This actually helps us quite to understand how Android 11 behaves on actual devices and which potential workaround works for our user base, so thank you too.

Edit (26/01/2022):
Co-developer Bluddy mentioned on Discord a method that could potentially be a workaround for allowing SD cards to be viewed by Android as internal memory:
https://www.hard-reset.org/smartphone-t ... t-storage/
Note, the warning for this workaround:

Please note that adoptable storage forces a format and encryption of the SD card. You'll have to copy everything over again if you were using external storage mode. And you cannot take the SD card out and use it independently, as it's paired to the device. You'll have to copy to the device itself.

Discord link: https://discord.com/channels/5812240605 ... 3946503198