Sierra - Space Quest 1 EGA - Recording Help

[Adore33]

I recently played through this game using ScummVM and it played just fine.
My issue revolves around recording the game through ScummVM.
When playing back my gameplay recording for testing.
I realized that the text boxes that pop up after you say something like, "Look Around".
Then it gives you a description to read, they were not recording visually on the screen.
You could see them flash really fast after I would dismiss the text box in the game.
When they initially pop up though, they are just not recorded.

Here is an example of the text boxes I am referring to...
https://tinyurl.com/2zwgnj4q

After trial and error and messing around with ScummVM settings.
I determined that it was because it was in "Fullscreen Mode".
Turning "Fullscreen Mode" off was the only thing that seemed to work.

When I switched it to "Windowed Mode", then those text boxes would get recorded.
Then you have the window border to deal with since the "Windowed Mode" isn't "Borderless Windowed Mode".
So I also had to use the "Borderless Gaming" program to get rid of the border for recording.
Which worked and I was able to record the whole game this way.

[ Some info that might be helpful ]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
OS - Windows 10
GPU - Nvidia MSI RTX 2070 Super
Recording Software - Nvidia Geforce Experience "Shadowplay"
API Set In ScummVM - OGL "OpenGL"
Game Version - Space Quest 1 - EGA
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Is there any way around this to run the game in "Fullscreen Mode"?
As I would prefer this over having to use "Windowed Mode".
I'd appreciate any help that someone could offer as I can't seem to find any information on this problem.
Thank You.

[Praetorian]

I'd appreciate any help that someone could offer as I can't seem to find any information on this problem.
Thank You.

Can you specify which version of ScummVM you are testing with? And does a recent daily development build (2.8.0git) make any difference?

[Adore33]

I'd appreciate any help that someone could offer as I can't seem to find any information on this problem.
Thank You.

Can you specify which version of ScummVM you are testing with? And does a recent daily development build (2.8.0git) make any difference?

@Praetorian

I am using the latest version 2.7.0.
Using the 2.8.0git you mentioned, has the same results as 2.7.0.

Thank You.

[Adore33]

I just tried switching the Graphics Mode from "OpenGL" to "SDL Surface".
Which "SDL Surface" seems to be DirectX9.

I didn't try "SDL Surface" before because I didn't recognize it to be DirectX.

This makes the text boxes show when recording in Fullscreen.
I don't mind using "SDL Surface" if it works but am I losing anything performance-wise by not using "OpenGL"?
Since ScummVM sets "OpenGL" as default.

Thanks.

[Praetorian]

Hmm, I think I remember someone mentioning something similar for OpenGL mode but I can't find when or where it was, and can't find an open ticket for this.

I was not able to reproduce the issue on my PC, with the game playing on Fullscreen. I was able to capture the game with NVidia's Experience recording tool and also OBS, with the text bubbles (boxes) remaining on screen, on OpenGL mode. I also tested with a shader (crt/GritsScanlines) and the results were also bug free. OBS does have some glitches in OpenGL mode, in particular when switching from launcher to game or vice versa, or when bringing up the in-game ScummVM Menu (aka ScummVM's GMM).

The testing I've done was ScummVM 2.8git (development build from current ScummVM master branch code)

Maybe it's some other setting that interferes?

I don't think you'll find much difference between SDL Surface and OpenGL rendering modes practically. You can't use the shaders, and the ScummVM UI won't scale well (with as much clarity) in high resolutions. Here's also some info from documentation on the order of operations when ScummVM scalers and stretch modes are used: https://docs.scummvm.org/en/latest/adva ... phics.html

So I guess if that works for your setup, you're good to go.
Although it would be nice to figure out the cause for the issue on OpenGL.

[Adore33]

Hmm, I think I remember someone mentioning something similar for OpenGL mode but I can't find when or where it was, and can't find an open ticket for this.

I was not able to reproduce the issue on my PC, with the game playing on Fullscreen. I was able to capture the game with NVidia's Experience recording tool and also OBS, with the text bubbles (boxes) remaining on screen, on OpenGL mode. I also tested with a shader (crt/GritsScanlines) and the results were also bug free. OBS does have some glitches in OpenGL mode, in particular when switching from launcher to game or vice versa, or when bringing up the in-game ScummVM Menu (aka ScummVM's GMM).

The testing I've done was ScummVM 2.8git (development build from current ScummVM master branch code)

Maybe it's some other setting that interferes?

I don't think you'll find much difference between SDL Surface and OpenGL rendering modes practically. You can't use the shaders, and the ScummVM UI won't scale well (with as much clarity) in high resolutions. Here's also some info from documentation on the order of operations when ScummVM scalers and stretch modes are used: https://docs.scummvm.org/en/latest/adva ... phics.html

So I guess if that works for your setup, you're good to go.
Although it would be nice to figure out the cause for the issue on OpenGL.

All very interesting.
I tried not using V-Sync and turning other settings off and on.
Nothing seems to change things while in OpenGL for recording purposes.

Not being able to use Shaders is ok, as I am not using any.
To avoid the ScummVM UI looking weird I just left it in "OpenGL" mode in "Global Settings".
Then just force each game to run in "SDL Surface".

Thank you for the link, yes I ran across this and read what was there about OpenGL & SDL Surface.

Are you also using an Nvidia GPU or an AMD GPU out of curiosity?
Also, a "Borderless Window" option might be nice for future builds.
The software Borderless Gaming does work however with ScummVM in my findings.
As I recorded Space Quest 1 this way.

At least I found a fix and/or working methods.
Thank you very much for your time and information.

[Praetorian]

Are you also using an Nvidia GPU or an AMD GPU out of curiosity?

The PC I'm testing on has an NVidia GPU (it's a 1060 GTX).

[Adore33]

@Praetorian

I just wanted to let you know I am not having this issue anymore, it has fixed itself.
I am assuming it was due to my Nvidia drivers or my installation of ScummVM.

Thank you for the previous help that you offered and again for ScummVM.