Orange Pillarboxing in 2.7.0.2 on ChromeOS Android 11

[GentleBen]

Hi,

I'm running on Android 11 on a Chromebook. So far so good, but I can't find a way of changing the colour of the orange side-bars when the play area is pillarboxed (the attached image shows what I mean).

On the previous version the side-bars were black which I think are less obtrusive.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Pete

[Praetorian]

On the previous version the side-bars were black which I think are less obtrusive.

Hello, can you specify please:
- which version of ScummVM used to work with black side-bars?
- what are your graphics settings that cause the issue (stretch mode, shader used, anything else not default)

I believe the side-bars are supposed to be black indeed, so this could be a bug /regression for us to look into.

Edit: I cannot reproduce this off-hand on my Android 12 smartphone, with a randomly picked CRT shader and Secret of Monkey Island VGA. If anything it must be related to specific shader and/or stretch mode configuration.

[GentleBen]

Hi,

The previous version I used on my Chromebook that had black (rather than orange) side-bars was 2.5.0 - the current non-beta Android version.

The orange side-bars with 2.7.0.2 are consistent across many graphics configurations, apart from when Stretch Mode is set to "Fit to Window", because there's no pillarboxing with that setting. Interestingly, if I use the crt/CRT-beam.glslp shader, I get the attached result - like the CRT scan lines are on top of an orange background - no pillarboxing, but orange alternate "scan lines".

I too cannot reproduce this issue on my Android phone (Android 13), so perhaps it's particular to the Android implementation in ChromeOS?

Thanks,

Pete

[Praetorian]

Hi,

The previous version I used on my Chromebook that had black (rather than orange) side-bars was 2.5.0 - the current non-beta Android version.

The orange side-bars with 2.7.0.2 are consistent across many graphics configurations, apart from when Stretch Mode is set to "Fit to Window", because there's no pillarboxing with that setting. Interestingly, if I use the crt/CRT-beam.glslp shader, I get the attached result - like the CRT scan lines are on top of an orange background - no pillarboxing, but orange alternate "scan lines".

I too cannot reproduce this issue on my Android phone (Android 13), so perhaps it's particular to the Android implementation in ChromeOS?

Thanks,

Pete

Unfortunately I cannot reproduce the issue as of yet. I do not have a physical ChromeOS tablet/device, but I did install Android's Studio Desktop AVD emulator, which is the recommended way for developers to test apps on ChromeOS (barring actually having a ChromeOS device I guess).
https://chromeos.dev/en/posts/desktop-a ... oid-studio

This emulator runs Android 12L though (no option to install Android 11). Still I do not get the orange bars. I tried multiple stretch modes (default, pixel perfect, fit to window (which is the default iirc), stretch to window) and shaders, with Monkey Island VGA (classic).

Do these orange bars depend on the selected theme for ScummVM? If you choose the ResidualVM one does the color change?

[GentleBen]

Hi,

Changing the theme to "ResidualVM Modern Theme Remaster" changes the GUI colours to blue/green as expected, but when I start a game the orange bars are still there.

I also tested this on another Chromebook that I have, and I see the same behaviour there, so it's not isolated to my particular machine. Both Chromebooks are up to date, and have more than 3 years until their "auto update expiration" dates.

My workaround for this currently is to use the stretch mode "Stretch to Window", so no pillarboxing occurs. Not ideal for a 4:3 game running on a 16:9 screen, but not a dealbreaker.

Thanks,

Pete

[Elleby]

I'm experiencing the same thing on my Chromebook, which runs Android 11 as well.

It appears that the orange is displayed behind the game based on my experiences and the screenshot of Pete.

For example I noticed that when playing the intro of Hero's Quest (Quest for Glory EGA) there is a simulated screen shake from the dragon and during the shake the orange color appears at the top of the screen.

This started only with 2.7. 2.5 had the background be black.

The background seems to be a gradient of orange to yellow. Can't tell if its an image or if its just the program drawing that gradient. The gradient matches the Modern Theme and it appears even when using other themes. For example, the classic theme shows me the standard black and green, but when I launch a game the orange background is still there.

Any information I can supply or tests I can run I am happy to supply to help diagnose the bug.

[Praetorian]

I'm experiencing the same thing on my Chromebook, which runs Android 11 as well.

It appears that the orange is displayed behind the game based on my experiences and the screenshot of Pete.

For example I noticed that when playing the intro of Hero's Quest (Quest for Glory EGA) there is a simulated screen shake from the dragon and during the shake the orange color appears at the top of the screen.

This started only with 2.7. 2.5 had the background be black.

The background seems to be a gradient of orange to yellow. Can't tell if its an image or if its just the program drawing that gradient. The gradient matches the Modern Theme and it appears even when using other themes. For example, the classic theme shows me the standard black and green, but when I launch a game the orange background is still there.

Any information I can supply or tests I can run I am happy to supply to help diagnose the bug.

Hello,

Does this happen with the latest stable 2.7.0.5 as well?

Is it correct to say that you're not using any shaders or customised graphic settings?

Could you share the log file from when launching ScummVM up to running the game with the issue?

Also, I think since two people have reported this, it's better to put all this info in a ticket on the bug tracker.

[Elleby]

Does this happen with the latest stable 2.7.0.5 as well?

Yes, it happens with 2.7.0.5

Is it correct to say that you're not using any shaders or customised graphic settings?

It happens with a vanilla configuration.

Could you share the log file from when launching ScummVM up to running the game with the issue?

I can't figure out how to access the log file itself. I tried three different file managers and I kept getting access denied messages. I have attached a partial screenshot below showing it from startup to shutdown. The orange bars appeared when I played the game.

Also, I think since two people have reported this, it's better to put all this info in a ticket on the bug tracker.

Is that something I can do myself or do I need somebody to do that for me?


One thing of note, somehow I managed to get it to give me a plain white background instead of the orange. Almost like the orange gradient failed to load for some reason. I was able to keep it like this when trying other games. However, when I left the app and went back in the orange gradient returns.

[Praetorian]

Thank you for this information, it really helps.

I can't figure out how to access the log file itself. I tried three different file managers and I kept getting access denied messages. I have attached a partial screenshot below showing it from startup to shutdown. The orange bars appeared when I played the game.

Right, I think for now this is the easier way to share the log info for android (ie. via a screenshot). There is a plan to add a copy-to-clipboard button for that view, which I believe would simplify things more, especially for long logs.

Is that something I can do myself or do I need somebody to do that for me?

Anyone can do it, but you will need a github account, if you don't have already -- you get the option to create one if you click on "Github login" from our bug tracker, and then click on the link at the bottom "New to Github? Create an account".
Here's some more info on reporting a bug for ScummVM:
https://docs.scummvm.org/en/latest/help ... _bugs.html

One thing of note, somehow I managed to get it to give me a plain white background instead of the orange. Almost like the orange gradient failed to load for some reason. I was able to keep it like this when trying other games. However, when I left the app and went back in the orange gradient returns.

I mentioned the issue to the rest of the developers, and lephilousophe did suggest a possible cause for this. It's still better to have it tracked on the bug tracker.

[lephilousophe]

Latest daily build (column ScummVM latest) should have a fix for the bug reported here.
Could you give it a try?

Because such builds are debug builds you will have to uninstall current version from the store.

[Elleby]

I had some problems and couldn't get back to us before now. I have the 2.8.0 version and while the pillarboxing is gone, the image behind is still there and still orange.

Not sure if I should start a new thread or continue with this one.

Quest for Glory II remake, In this image the background should be black and the mountain shouldn't have an orange tint:

Screenshot 2024-02-17 5.16.32 PM.png (82.02 KiB) Viewed 3158 times

Same game, character creation, orange tint:

Screenshot 2024-02-17 5.17.02 PM.png (70.44 KiB) Viewed 3158 times

King's Quest I remake, orange tint:

Screenshot 2024-02-17 5.18.28 PM.png (258.16 KiB) Viewed 3158 times

Final image is the original C64 version of Maniac Mansion. If you look to the right border of the game window and the bottom you will see some orange peeking out. That orange is there for EVERY game.

Screenshot 2024-02-17 5.29.30 PM.png (16.62 KiB) Viewed 3158 times

Any thoughts?

[digitall]

@GentleBen, @Elleby: Can you try the following workaround? Uncheck the options for "Use RGB rendering" and "Use per-resource modified palettes". That should remove the orange...

@lephilousophe has a theory on the cause of this i.e.
----
The problem is that our OpenGL backbuffer is supposed to be opaque, filled with a clear color (black) and we render on it.
Last fix I did was to use an opaque black for clearing.
Today, the problem I see is that the game screen is a texture with alpha.
We explicitely disable alpha blending before drawing the game screen (so it's like a blit).
And we draw some game texture where alpha is set to 0, and that's directly copied into the backbuffer
----

[Elleby]

@GentleBen, @Elleby: Can you try the following workaround? Uncheck the options for "Use RGB rendering" and "Use per-resource modified palettes". That should remove the orange...

I'm having trouble finding those options. They seem to be only for Sierra SCI games, but the games in question are not. The games I am really seeing the issue with are AGS games. The confusion is my mistake for using AGS remakes of old Sierra SCI games as examples. Sorry about that, but they are the only ones I have really seen this issue on.

[digitall]

@Elleby: Can you link a freeware AGS game or freely distributable demo which exhibits the issue? Can you also provide details of your platform and try with a nightly build of v2.9.0 if possible to see if the issue has been fixed since v2.8.0 release...

[tag2015]

@digitall the AGDI remakes are all free, you can download them here https://www.agdinteractive.com/games/games.html
Anyway, I don't have a chromebook but I never noticed this problem on my android phone