I was checking out referrers to my site. Most of my hits come from search engines or people have it bookmarked, so it's always interesting to see who else links to me. 😀

- Nick

I was trying to decide whether to post this here or at:
showthread.php?s=&threadid=84

...but decided to post here as this thread was specific to the classic Sierra titles.

Snover suggested trying one of Sierra's Windows interpreters with their DOS games. I was kind of sceptical, but I gave it a whirl.

Using Snover's sample SCIWV.EXE, I found that it won't start without a SIERRA.INI file. Copied one from a Windows-based "Freddy Pharcus" demo and edited it slightly. Was surprised to see that it did indeed start up. Unfortunately, It bombed out regularly with script errors.

So I replaced the interpreter with the newer one from the demo and now it appears to run fine. I still can't get any voice to work, however. I think, with a little tweaking, this will make for a viable alternative for DOS based Sierra titles that just don't want to work properly under the NT-based OS's.

Keep up the good work, Nicht!

Suggestion for Implementation:
1. Get as many Windows versions of Sierra games as possible. AGI games, SCI games, full versions, demos, etc.
2. Get their latest patches.
3. File-compare the interpreter executables to find the latest version.
4. Figure out the workings of the SIERRA.INI file.
5. Create INI files for games that never had a Windows version?

Note #1: Not all Sierra games use SCIWV.EXE. Some use SIERRAW.EXE.
As I noted here: showthread.php?threadid=274

Note #2: A massive list of AGI games, SCI games, etc. will be needed. You'll need to know which games were which particular type of SCI or AGI, and which Windows interpreter will work with them.
http://www.classicgaming.com/agisci/sierragi.shtml
http://www.classicgaming.com/agisci/siersci1.shtml

Note #3: This is mainly needed for SCI games, as FreeSCI is far behind in development compared to Sarien, NAGI or (LucasArts) SCUMMVM.

Try talking to these guys about your project. Maybe someone has done it already.
http://sciboard.cjb.net/
http://agiboard.cjb.net/

Bad news. Apparently the version of "Dagger of Amon Ra" that was on my compilation CD, _did_ include a Windows version. For some strange reason, those files weren't copied over during install (probably because the CD is a DOS games compilation.

While that's good as it means there was an official release of "Amon Ra" for Windows, it also bad because it means that my getting it to work with windows was simply because I had provided the needed Windows files (albeit, from another Sierra game).

May still be hope though, found a "King's Quest 6" demo that was DOS-only. It runs with the Windows interpreter, but constantly complains, refusing to play video clips.

That sounds like a path problem. Try checking in other SIERRA.INI files to see if there is a PATH= line or something similar.

Snover wrote:

That sounds like a path problem. Try checking in other SIERRA.INI files to see if there is a PATH= line or something similar.

Actually the problem was that the Windows interpreter wasn't made to play video clips (the error message specified that).

It's looking like, while this may be viable, it's not at all guaranteed. Most of the DOS-only SCI games/demos simply aren't working, complaining about missing resources. Mixing resources between games is something of a no-no.

Having said that, I was able to take the DOS only demo of "Freddy Pharcus" and "Window-ize" it. (NOTE: The DOS demo is not only different from the Windows demo, it also includes a completely different "Ballad" from the actual game: "The Ballad of the Demo of Freddy Pharcus").

The demo worked flawlessly until I tried hitting the west side of town (the blacksmith), got a "225.snd not found" and it died.

Still, not bad.

Hey folks,
When i posted this link, i didn't think it'd get so many replies or stem off into other directions. Sorry about that. I read through what everybody typed though, any luck running those sci version games? Is there anything i can do to help(mind you, i dont have great programming skills, closer to none) but if it takes simple editing, i'll help out to get these games to work. I tried contacting the freesci team through email, i recieved an email indicating to contact another one from the team on creating a public binary of what they already have in code. I'm not sure where to go from there. does anybody know of any updated interpreters for sci games?
thanks.

Nicht Sehr Gut wrote:

...got a "225.snd not found"...

And you're certain there was a 225.snd file?

AFAIK, FreeSCI is all there is, smakddd... 🙁 (Other than the Windows version of the game, like Nicht is talking about.)

oh:(
well..i'll keep trying to contact the freesci team for someone to possibly compile an updated WIN32 binary then. Hopefully somebody won't mind creating one, as i don't know how. thanks anyway!

smakddd wrote:

Is there anything i can do to help(mind you, i dont have great programming skills, closer to none) but if it takes simple editing, i'll help out to get these games to work.

Just what I was trying to do...take files from a Windows-based Sierra adventure and plug them into a DOS version and then start tinkering with the files. The main concern I have is that there are probably data resources that it needs from the Windows game that can't co-exist with DOS versions. I'm not sure what to do at that point. Probably need some dis-assembly skills...

Snover wrote:

And you're certain there was a 225.snd file?

Actually, there is _no_ 225.snd file in the DOS demo, the Windows demo, or the full versions (DOS or Windows). That's why I think getting this to work properly will require hacking into the resource files (the "snd file" must've been embedded into one of them).

This is very likely one of those bullshit Sierra errors that happen for a variety of reasons. I was getting the same kind of error in the DOS EcoQuest 2 and the reason was that my comnputer was too fast. Now how on earth do you get from a computer speed issue to a "file not found" issue? This proves that the inner workings of SCI are beyond our mere-mortals' comprehension. Who knows what might be actually triggering this error...

V.

Nicht,
if you continue working on this (I hope you will), I recommend to seek the help of these folks:
http://sciboard.cjb.net/

They seem to know what they're doing.

vladr wrote:

...DOS EcoQuest 2 and the reason was that my comnputer was too fast. Now how on earth do you get from a computer speed issue to a "file not found" issue? This proves that the inner workings of SCI are beyond our mere-mortals' comprehension. Who knows what might be actually triggering this error...

Actually, I'm pretty confident that it's actually a "missing resource" problem. The DOS and Windows versions of the game (both Demo and the Full versions) all work fine on a Celeron 1.7 GHz. I think it's looking for the Blacksmith's "clang" sound effect as I was able to enter the screen once before the error appeared.

However, the instant his hammer hit the anvil: 225.snd not found.

Stiletto wrote:

if you continue working on this (I hope you will), ...

I'd like to...but be aware that "real world" issues are mounting for me and are demanding my immediate attention. If I don't start addressing them...It will get ugly, and I'll probably disappear.

Yikes! I hope that doesn't have to happen...

Perhaps more bodies working on this would be helpful. I'll see what I can get going...

Contacted the masters, but they had nothing but discouraging remarks for this project. Perhaps we should leave well enough alone.

http://www.mega-tokyo.com/forum/index.php?boa … y;threadid=1489

Still, when a person has a question with a SCI game, we can ask if they're running the Windows version...

Stiletto wrote:

Contacted the masters, but they had nothing but discouraging remarks for this project. Perhaps we should leave well enough alone.

Well, I wouldn't close the book on it. It just looks like it would be difficult and have a low success rate.

Besides, you forgot to mention my (mostly) success with the "Freddy Pharcus" DOS demo. While the full game had a Windows interpreter, the DOS demo had different content (mostly text, but there was entirely different "ballad" that was on no other version that ran fine).