lr-scummvm: request for comments and testing

caver01

I am using raspberry pi 3b, running RetroPie 4.4 (Stretch). Installed lr-scummvm from experimental. Tested Riven. Seems to run without error, but the audio crackles pretty much all the time. If you know the Myst series, then you know how ambient sounds and effects are constant and often part of the puzzles, not to mention the soundtrack always setting the mood. Is there a setting I should change to avoid audio crackles?

Also, where are the saves stored? I’d like to be able to transfer or backup saved games and I cannot find them.

hhromic

@caver01 thanks for testing!

but the audio crackles pretty much all the time.

Umm I will take a look, it might be simply because the RPI is not fast enough. Just curious, did you try it on standalone scummvm ? Also, make sure you have the "speed hack" option enabled, the scriptmodule sets it to enable by default on first installation, but maybe is off for you.

Also, where are the saves stored? I’d like to be able to transfer or backup saved games and I cannot find them.

They should be in the same folder as the game files in $romdir/roms/scummvm/<your game folder>. The files should be named with extensions .s00, .s01, and so on.

hhromic

@caver01 can you give me some hint on the specific/exact version of Riven you are playing?

caver01

@hhromic I did not get a chance to check the speed hack—where is that?

For Riven, I installed the game from my original optical media. I bought the Mac version many years ago when it was released. I have never known there were versions of it. How can I tell my version? Maybe I have version one?

Also, I do/did have it running on the standalone ScummVM and the audio is fine, however the updated version 2 has a controller config the eludes me and I cannot escape back to the emulator GUI once I launch the game (question I asked the forum a few days ago). So, I thought I would give the libretro version a whirl since the controls are so nice.

caver01

@hhromic I just checked my notes from when I setup Riven the first time and I remember now that I had trouble making the Mac files work in ScummVM (missing arcriven.z maybe—I don’t recall). Anyway, this forced me to mount one of the discs that are dual-format so I could get that file off of the windows partition. This is now reminding me that there were indeed different versions depending on the media, and I guess we also have the reissues. So, mine is the 5 CD version.

hhromic

@caver01 thanks for the info.
Yes I meant Win vs Mac versions. Thanks for letting me know, will try to find a copy and test.

Regarding the speed hack option. it should be in the "Core Options" of the RetroArch menu (HOTKEY + X), not the ScummVM internal menu. Again, this option should be set by default when you installed, but double-check.

Also, what device are you using? RPI2, 3, 3A+, 3B+? :)

caver01

@hhromic Pi 3b mentioned above.

caver01

@hhromic also, scummvm_speed_hack = "enabled" as expected.

caver01

@hhromic I decided to try the alternate audio files that are on the CD1. They are smaller, less quality, but I thought they might have less trouble decoding or something. Anywya, it did not matter.

I noticed that most of the time, the audio crackle happens during the video playback. If you know Riven, and Myst for that matter, it is mostly static renderings with sections of video overlay to animate valves turning. Or water bubbling etc. including dramatic animations that take ove the whole screen. Theses crackle a lot because they are always accompanied by the great sound effects.

I mention this thinking perhaps the issue is embedded video playback performance. Just a thought.

holto

@hhromic said in lr-scummvm: request for comments and testing:

keyboard

I have been testing different games on my rasp 3b in the lr-scummvm emulator. The overlay looks great, the games load great after following all the instructions in this thread. I was also able to overcome a mouse-click freeze issue with overlay enabled by following instructions in another thread to recompile retroarch with some patches. Now, I am running into some games requiring text entry. With libretro the keyboard functionality is disabled during game play because of the remaps. Besides needing to type in some games - lsl6 for example - there is the problem with trying to name a saved game in the scummvm gui. Have any of you figured out a workaround for this? I have tried hotkey bindings - one thread suggested using the game focus toggle (didn't work), I also tried the hotkey for on-screen keyboard toggle (also didn't work).

hhromic

@holto keyboard input is a bit tricky for this core unfortunately, however there are some workarounds.

Refer to the Joypad documentation of lr-scummvm: https://docs.libretro.com/library/scummvm/#joypad

You will see that some buttons are mapped to special keyboard keys. For example X is mapped to ESC, L1 is mapped to Enter, R1 is mapped to Numpad 5, and so on. Furthemore, you will notice that the Right Analog Stick is mapped to a Virtual Numpad.

In the same documentation, you will find these notes, including text in save dialogs:

Esc:
* Skips cutscenes.
* Opens/closes menus in some games.

Virtual Numpad + Numpad 5 + Numpad 0:
* Enables control during fight sequences in the 'Indiana Jones' series of games.
* Enables bypass of Monkey Island 2 copy protection.
* Enables saving in games that require text entry when naming a save slot.
* Enables menu navigation in some games (Numpad 8 == up, Numpad 2 == down).

Enter + Backspace:
* Enables saving in games that require text entry when naming a save slot.
* 'Enter' may be used to attack in 'Full Throttle' fight sequences.
* 'Enter' enables menu item selection in some games.

. (period): Skips lines of dialogue in SCUMM engine games.

F1:
* Shows in-game menu in some games.
* Enables saving in some games.

F10: Shows hotspots in Simon the Sorcerer 1 + 2.

So, for example, if you need to save a game that requires text entry for the name, it should work by just pressing Enter which is L1 in the gamepad mapping. You may input numbers as the name using the Virtual Numpad, or delete mistakes using Backspace which is mapped to L2.

I haven't test this myself in a while so can't guarantee precision on this information, but you should be able to achieve what you need with these directions. If you can confirm further for the rest of the users in this topic, that would be very great !

Darksavior

@hhromic Is there a way to update lr-scummvm to 2.1.0? I want to play Duckman and it only works on the standalone scummvm when I pointed the script to the masterbranch but the libretro script is already on master...

hhromic

@Darksavior not at the moment :( The libretro port was done quite dirty (and not by me) and updating the underlying ScummVM version probably needs careful rebasing and some refactoring.
It is not impossible but is not just changing a branch name, it requires programming effort.

celly

@hhromic I just wanted to say thank you for the nice write up, got lr-scummvm installed to my GPi Case and working great. Seems to run The Secret of Monkey Island better than the stand alone ScummVM on my pi zero W.

2Play

This post is deleted!

RetroSavior

Just like to contribute that lr-Scummvm works great on Odroid XU4 with TheRA image. As of now, its running scummvm 2.1 and Ive been able to get pretty much all my scumm games working including Duckman and Bladerunner. Biggest problem i had was skraping images for games with XML skraper. while Using Shortname.svm for folder name and shortname.svm file in folder it caused issue where Emulation station wouldnt load. Something it didnt like with folder sharing name as filename inside it. Had to delete my scummvm gameslist to try again. I got it to work proper by removing the .svm from folder names and pulled all the files shortname.svm into the main scummvm folder. After Skraping, put all the .svm files back in their proper folders and renamed all the folders with .SVM extension and reboot. Looks great now. Only Duckman has no scrape as it currently doesnt exist on Screenskraper.fr

Finnbro

Anyone know if its possible to bind keyboard arrow keys to the d-pad? I can only think of a couple games that would benefit from this, but would be curious if it's possible. The list of possible inputs in Retroarch's menu don't include these sadly. This port otherwise works great on my Pi3B with an SN-30 Pro, thanks for the hard work on this!

xwons

Hello everyone. I was wondering what is the current state of lr-scummvm in Retropie.

Yesterday I downloaded the last weekly snapshop (so technically not a supported version) in order to upgrade my system, but I can't figure out how to configure lr-scummvm.

I installed it from source in the experimental section of retropie-setup, and it took a while to compile. Then, following instructions from this thread, I appended .svm to the folder name of a game, and created a 'shortname'.svm file inside.

However, when I launch the game in Retropie, nothing happens. The log file does not provide much information either (just this line: Executing: /opt/retropie/libretrocores/lr-scummvm/romdir-launcher.sh "/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/scummvm/Broken Sword 1.svm" --appendconfig /dev/shm/retroarch.cfg). Running that command from the command line does not return any errors either.

I tried the follow this thread, but there is so much information that I might have missed something.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

hhromic

@xwons hi, I'm the author of the scriptmodule for this emulator.
First, I apologise because I admit I haven't have time to properly document the process in the official Wiki. I promise I will do as soon as possible.

The steps to get a game working should be:

Create a folder in $romdir/scummvm with .svm in the name (you did this, CHECK)
Create a shortname.svm file inside the created folder (you did this, CHECK)
Put the string shortname inside the created shortname.svm file (verify this!)
Put all the game files inside the created folder, at the same level as the shortname.svm file (verify this!)

In summary, the correct structure should be:

roms/scummvm/mygame.svm/                # directory with ".svm"
roms/scummvm/mygame.svm/mygame.svm      # the string "mygame" should be inside this file
roms/scummvm/mygame.svm/gamefile1.dat
roms/scummvm/mygame.svm/gamefile2.dat
:

Then the game, if supported, should work. To get better logging, make sure you start the emulator with verbose logging activated. This is done by pressing any button when the "Loading" dialog shows.

If the game still doesn't work, please post the output of the verbose logging and I can try to help you better from there.

xwons

@hhromic Thank you very much! I forgot to write the shortname inside the shortname.svm file. Now it works!