ScummVM and Emulationstation games launchers

HappySpaceInvdr

@Lopiv2 Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but I have the same problem as the OP and, after reading through the posts in this thread, I'm not sure I understand the solution...

Is the documentation at https://retropie.org.uk/docs/ScummVM/ out of date? It says you need to create a .svm inside each game directory that contains the "short name" of the game. I ran Skyscraper and my games were detected, but I've ended up in exactly the same situation as the OP first described.

Is the real setup process to forget about manually created .svm files, instead launch the ScummVM launcher, add your games in there, let that create the .svm files you need... and only then run Skyscraper?

Also, I see reference to lr-scummvm... how would I install that? I don't see that in the main packages (of RetroPie Setup); I only see "scummvm" and "scummvm-sdl1" in the optional packages section.

windg

@HappySpaceInvdr

I came to the same issue few months ago, i found a temporary solution that works well for me:

I put every .svm file, that was generated when i add the games from scummvm gui, inside the game folder and now the full name of the game appear on the emulationstation and the game start fine.

You can install lr-scummvm from experimental packages but i don't recommended because is based to an old version of scummvm.

sleve_mcdichael

@HappySpaceInvdr said in ScummVM and Emulationstation games launchers:

Is the real setup process to forget about manually created .svm files, instead launch the ScummVM launcher, add your games in there, let that create the .svm files you need...

Yes, that's how I've done. The .svm files it creates are not inside the individual game directories but beside them, inside the root scummvm directory:

pi@retropie:~/RetroPie/roms/scummvm $ ls
 atlantis.svm
'Beneath a Steel Sky (CD VGA)'
'Day Of The Tentacle (CD Dos)'
'Flight of the Amazon Queen (CD DOS)'
'Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis (CD DOS)'
'Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards (Amiga)'
 lsl1-amiga.svm
'Maniac Mansion (Floppy DOS v2 Enhanced)'
 maniac-v2.svm
 monkey2.svm
'Monkey Island 2 - LeChuck'\''s Revenge (Ultimate Talkie Edition - DOS)'
 monkey.svm
 queen-fallback.svm
'Sam and Max Hit the Road (CD DOS)'
 samnmax.svm
 sky.svm
'Space Quest 2 - Vohaul'\''s Revenge (Amiga)'
 sq2-amiga.svm
'+Start ScummVM.sh'
 tentacle.svm
'The Secret Of Monkey Island (Ultimate Talkie Edition - DOS)'
pi@retropie:~/RetroPie/roms/scummvm $

HappySpaceInvdr

@windg said in ScummVM and Emulationstation games launchers:

@HappySpaceInvdr

You can install lr-scummvm from experimental packages but i don't recommended because is based to an old version of scummvm.

Thanks for the info. I have tried it out as a comparison but you're right: it's an old version (2.1.1) and a bit glitchy with certain games, for example Blade Runner has visual issues.

HappySpaceInvdr

@sleve_mcdichael Thanks for confirming. It seems the automatically created .svm files are the opposite way round to the recommendataion for lr-scummvm in terms of file name and content.

lr-scummvm: "Day of the Tentacle.svm: should contain the string "dott"
ScummVM standalone: dott.svm should contain the string "Day of the Tentacle"

sleve_mcdichael

@HappySpaceInvdr right, I haven't tried using the lr- version but it does appear from the docs that they are not cross-compatible. My tentacle.svm contains the string Day of the Tentacle (CD/English).

pi@retropie:~/RetroPie/roms/scummvm $ cat tentacle.svm 
Day of the Tentacle (CD/English)

This works with stand-alone ScummVM.

Lolonois

The cumbersome setup (YMMV) of *.svm/*.scummvm launch files and interop between native ScummVM and lr-scummvm is an open issue.

As another user phrased it is a "can of worms". To use this picture, I spilled out the can and aligned the worms: I proposed a setup to unify the requirements between native ScummVM and lr-scummvm.

You can find the gory details at [1] with an option to testdrive, in that thread you can find also the initial topic [2] and the pending PR [3] as there is no decision yet.

[1] https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/32058/scummvm-lr-scummvm-launcher-and-interoperability-improvements
[2] https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/29349/emulationstation-scummvm-and-svm-files
[3] https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/pull/3430

windg

Let's remove lr-scummvm, problem solved. :p

retropieuser555

@windg I wouldn't say so, it's good to have the option if people want to play with shaders and overlays or to stream it on twitch or whatever other nice features Retroarch offers

Lolonois

@windg well, the ScummVM RP documentation is not aligned with the implementation. And it will create a clutter in the scummvm/ folder, plus will rewrite the *.svm files everytime after exiting ScummVM, which is surplus.

This and the missing interop with the LR variant made me to have a design which creates a more "it just works" experience for the user.