Steamdeck ScummVM required?

[Jabz]

Hi I have a Steamdeck and ScummVM is available as a flatpack install via Discover. However I was wondering if its required. Because a lot of the Sierra and Lucas arts games are available on Steam and I purchased them during this summer sale.
They install and can launch via the Proton compatibility, and have cloud saves. So why would I use ScummVM for these? Do they play better via ScummVM? also are saves in Scummvm cloud saved on SteamDeck?

[Praetorian]

Hi I have a Steamdeck and ScummVM is available as a flatpack install via Discover. However I was wondering if its required. Because a lot of the Sierra and Lucas arts games are available on Steam and I purchased them during this summer sale.
They install and can launch via the Proton compatibility, and have cloud saves. So why would I use ScummVM for these? Do they play better via ScummVM? also are saves in Scummvm cloud saved on SteamDeck?

If they play without ScummVM, then ScummVM is not required. Some of the games come with some version of ScummVM bundled, some do not -- I don't think we keep a specific list for them though.

ScummVM being an open source re-implementation of the game engines, actively developed, will always be a close approximation of the original engine, may be missing some features (eg. original save/load screens in some games, some settings etc) and have bugs of its own (please report them to us if you encounter them!). However, it also fixes bugs from the original games, introduces quality of life improvements and options that were not available in the original versions. So, it's up to you really. It's good to have choices

[chrisis]

What Praetorian said is all true!

Also not all games that are supported by ScummVM are available on Steam or even some that are (for example "The Longest Journey" comes to my mind but I'm sure there a plenty other games) are not playable through Steam Play/Proton, so for these games ScummVM is the best way to play them.

I still have some original games on CDs from back in the day and playing them on Steam Deck with ScummVM is pretty great IMHO.

[MusicallyInspired]

The Sierra games all use DOSBox (with sorely lacking config files that need a lot of tweaking). I have them all on Steam but I chose to install ScummVM and DOSBox anyway to do it all manually myself. I also have a bunch of versions of games that aren't on Steam (like the floppy versions of CD games, some of which are superior despite lacking speech). Also none of them will come with MT-32 capability (not out of the box anyway).

One thing to note is that the Flatpack versions are obviously Linux native while the Steam versions will all use Windows EXEs translated through Proton. It'll work fine I'm sure and you won't notice. But that note combined with the above is enough for me to go the Flatpack route.

Also, the Steam versions of Loom, The Dig, Indy Last Crusade, and Indy Fate of Atlantis use an official in-house Windows version of the SCUMM interpreter (not ScummVM) that upscales the graphics with a filter and you can't turn it off. If you like the chunky pixels, I recommend the Flatpacks.

So, it's all based on your preference really. How much authenticity, control, or user-friendliness do you want?

[eriktorbjorn]

Also, the Steam versions of Loom, The Dig, Indy Last Crusade, and Indy Fate of Atlantis use an official in-house Windows version of the SCUMM interpreter (not ScummVM) that upscales the graphics with a filter and you can't turn it off. If you like the chunky pixels, I recommend the Flatpacks.

According to https://aarongiles.com/old/scumm/ the interpreter supports turning off smoothing, but I don't know anything about this Steam Deck thingy.

[MusicallyInspired]

Oh hey look at that! What a weird place to put that option. So then on the Steam Deck you can bind a button or control for those games to Alt+S and turn off the filtering at will easily.