iPhone 4 Retina & multitasking support?

Gamemakerman · Post by **Gamemakerman** » Sun Sep 12, 2010 10:01 pm

Hi there.

First off, great job on the program! I recently purchased an iPhone 4 and i love it. I like any other good person indstalled ScummVM on it.

The lack of support for the resolution the new retina display runs at, makes some games pretty awfull to look at and makes text hard to read. So are there any plans to support this resolution? Along with multitasking?

fingolfin · Post by **fingolfin** » Mon Sep 13, 2010 4:35 am

I can't comment on the retina display stuff (though I hope this will be supported by 1.2.0... would be nice if Vinterstum could reply).

But don't get your hopes on multitasking -- Apple has implemented something which they *call* multitasking, but it isn't really multitasking, it's "fast app switching". See e.g. here for some more details: http://fupeg.blogspot.com/2010/06/ios-multitasking.html

So, we would have to be able to "save" the current state of ScummVM at arbitrary points in order to fully support that; and if could do that, we would have done it before Apple introduce this so-called "multi tasking". Unfortunately, it's a hard problem, and still is, and iOS 4 helps little to solve it.

shurlogg · Post by **shurlogg** » Wed Sep 15, 2010 1:13 pm

Well, even though Apple specifically forbids abusing the background functionalities for AppStore applications, since ScummVM is not and will never be on the AppStore, there are a couple of things that would be possible:

- Use long-running tasks: This way, ScummVM could keep running in the background for at least 10 minutes. It may be possible to work around this limit by finishing and re-creating the long-running tasks (I didn't try this myself, just heard a rumor)
- Use background audio: Play silence while running in the background. A lot of developers actually tried this and didn't pass Apple's review process, but it seems to be a viable option for ScummVM
- Use background location: Probably the easiest to implement, the user can even choose to switch background execution it off by forbidding ScummVM to use his location. The huge downside is that it will drain the device's battery very quickly as the GPS hardware uses a lot of power.

Vinterstum · Post by **Vinterstum** » Thu Sep 23, 2010 11:41 pm

ScummVM will use whatever resolution is available, actually.

There was an issue with the last release that caused the highres games to not be scaled as nicely as they could've been, maybe that's what you mean?

The only other resolution specific issue I know of, is that the launcher menu is still in 320x240.

I'll try to look into that, and the backgrounding issues this weekend, in preparation for 1.2.

Bluddy · Post by **Bluddy** » Fri Sep 24, 2010 10:52 am

I see no reason to support multitasking -- none of the serious iPhone games I've played even pick up at the same place when you come back into the game. They just make you load or start the level (in case there are levels) over.

The only thing I think may be worthwhile is increasing the autosave frequency so that when you quit, you'll have a save close to where you were.

LordHoto · Post by **LordHoto** » Fri Sep 24, 2010 12:31 pm

Bluddy wrote:The only thing I think may be worthwhile is increasing the autosave frequency so that when you quit, you'll have a save close to where you were.

I am not sure, but it might very well be that not all engines support autosaves, so it might just only work for a few engines.

Vinterstum · Post by **Vinterstum** » Sat Sep 25, 2010 1:38 am

LordHoto wrote:
Bluddy wrote:The only thing I think may be worthwhile is increasing the autosave frequency so that when you quit, you'll have a save close to where you were.
I am not sure, but it might very well be that not all engines support autosaves, so it might just only work for a few engines.

Yeah, when we've discussed this before, there's been engines like Gob where the saves are scriptcontrolled and not something which can easily be forced at arbitrary points.

The iPhone port originally had true multitasking, in that it'd basically enter a sleep mode if it was put in the background. Apple broke this with one of their updates, but I've noticed that some of the apps available in Cydia still have this behavior, so I'm going to try to take a look at them and see if/how they still do it.

chrislu · Post by **chrislu** » Sat Sep 25, 2010 1:33 pm

first, thank you for all the effort!

could you also take a loom at the wrong aspect ratios displayed of the 320x200 games on the iPhone and iPad? they should be displayed at 4:3 not 16:10...

Vinterstum · Post by **Vinterstum** » Sat Sep 25, 2010 1:49 pm

chrislu wrote:first, thank you for all the effort!

could you also take a loom at the wrong aspect ratios displayed of the 320x200 games on the iPhone and iPad? they should be displayed at 4:3 not 16:10...

No problem

.

Not sure what you mean here, though. The aspect ratio is correct: 320x200 IS a 16:10 resolution (for square pixels).

chrislu · Post by **chrislu** » Sat Sep 25, 2010 2:53 pm

Vinterstum wrote:
chrislu wrote:first, thank you for all the effort!

could you also take a loom at the wrong aspect ratios displayed of the 320x200 games on the iPhone and iPad? they should be displayed at 4:3 not 16:10...
No problem .

Not sure what you mean here, though. The aspect ratio is correct: 320x200 IS a 16:10 resolution (for square pixels).

yes I know, but the intended aspect ratio for these games was 4:3. they used a non square pixel aspect ratio back in the dos days...

-chris

Vinterstum · Post by **Vinterstum** » Sun Sep 26, 2010 12:25 am

chrislu wrote:
Vinterstum wrote:
chrislu wrote:first, thank you for all the effort!

could you also take a loom at the wrong aspect ratios displayed of the 320x200 games on the iPhone and iPad? they should be displayed at 4:3 not 16:10...
No problem .

Not sure what you mean here, though. The aspect ratio is correct: 320x200 IS a 16:10 resolution (for square pixels).
yes I know, but the intended aspect ratio for these games was 4:3. they used a non square pixel aspect ratio back in the dos days...

-chris

Right, the aspect-ratio correctness option, basically. It was never a priority for the iPhone due to limited screen realestate, but of course it could be more useful for the iPad. No guarantees for 1.2, but we'll see

.

Vinterstum · Post by **Vinterstum** » Sat Oct 16, 2010 1:19 pm

Update on the multitasking: Background suspension works fully for ScummVM again, in version 1.2. I've had Sam&Max running in the background for about two days now with no perceptible extra battery drain.

Firmwares older than iOS 4 may kill the process fairly shortly after it goes into the background though.

Gamemakerman · Post by **Gamemakerman** » Wed Oct 20, 2010 4:31 am

Vinterstum wrote:Update on the multitasking: Background suspension works fully for ScummVM again, in version 1.2. I've had Sam&Max running in the background for about two days now with no perceptible extra battery drain.

Firmwares older than iOS 4 may kill the process fairly shortly after it goes into the background though.

Amazing work Vinter!

I just installed the Update and it seems to do multitasking quite well. It also seemed to fix my text scaling issues in Woodruff and Broken Sword 2, so i am quite happy right now.