<div dir="ltr">Hi Thomas,<div><br></div><div>I'm not sure of the status of the Gargoyle Magnetic Scrolls sub-engine, and I don't currently have any Magnetic Scrolls games handy to test it on. But unless it's significantly lacking in support for the later games that your own work adds support for, it'll likely prove easier to work on converting it, I'm afraid. Since, after all, someone else has already done the work of hooking it up to Glk as well. So it'll be easier to do minimal work (relatively speaking) to hook it up to the ScummVM version of the Glk layer. And then I can keep testing it as I properly objectify everything to make sure I don't break anything along the way.</div><div><br></div><div>Though I'll be unlikely to be spending much time beyond basic polishing up of the sub-engine afterwards. So based on your experience with the games & engine involved, there might be opportunities afterwards for you to contribute if you're interested, and to do pull requests to improve the functionality of the engine based on your work.</div><div><br></div><div>Regards,</div><div><br></div><div>Paul.</div><div><br></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Wed, May 1, 2019 at 2:55 AM dettus <<a href="mailto:dettus@dettus.net" target="_blank">dettus@dettus.net</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
<div bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
<p>Hello.</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>I must admit that I have not heard about Gargoyle or GLK before.
</p>
<p>Judging from the github repository, the Gargoyle engine for
Magnetic Scrolls is using the original magnetic interpreter from
Niclas Karlson. What he did was, as far as I know,
reverse-engineer the C64 ports of the Magnetic Scrolls games in a
painstaking process to make them run on DOS. What I did was
starting from scratch and using his code as a reference. His code
is probably more settled than mine. Plus, I'd hate to step on
somebody's toes who has already invested copious amounts of time
and energy into a project, so if you prefer to use his code:
Please, please do so! <br>
</p>
<p>What I can offer you is an engine using a more modern coding
style. Even though it is C, I am sure that it can be integrated
easily with C++ projects. I have worked with projects that use
both languages and I am experienced in designing APIs for that. </p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>Thus far, I have the following function pointers for callbacks:</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><tt>typedef int (*cbLineAOutputChar)(void* context,char
c,unsigned char controlD2,unsigned char flag_headline);</tt><tt><br>
</tt><tt>typedef int (*cbLineAOutputString)(void* context,char*
string,unsigned char controlD2,unsigned char flag_headline);</tt><tt><br>
</tt><tt>typedef int (*cbLineAInputString)(void* context,int*
len,char* string);</tt><tt><br>
</tt><tt>typedef int (*cbLineADrawPicture)(void* context,tPicture*
picture,int mode);</tt><tt><br>
</tt><tt>typedef int (*cbLineASaveGame)(void* context,char*
filename,void* ptr,int len);</tt><tt><br>
</tt><tt>typedef int (*cbLineALoadGame)(void* context,char*
filename,void* ptr,int len);</tt><tt><br>
</tt><br>
</p>
<p>As well as those API functions:</p>
<p><tt>// configuration functions</tt><tt><br>
</tt><tt>int lineA_getsize(int* size);</tt><tt><br>
</tt><tt>int lineA_init(void* hLineA,void* pSharedMem,int
*sharedmemsize,void* pMag,int magsize,void* pGfx,int gfxsize);</tt><tt><br>
</tt><tt>int lineA_getVersion(void* hLineA,int* version);</tt><tt><br>
</tt><tt>int lineA_setCBoutputChar(void* hLineA,cbLineAOutputChar
pCB,void *context);</tt><tt><br>
</tt><tt>int lineA_setCBoutputString(void*
hLineA,cbLineAOutputString pCB,void* context);</tt><tt><br>
</tt><tt>int lineA_setCBinputString(void*
hLineA,cbLineAInputString pCB,void* context);</tt><tt><br>
</tt><tt>int lineA_setCBDrawPicture(void*
hLineA,cbLineADrawPicture pCB,void* context);</tt><tt><br>
</tt><tt>int lineA_setCBSaveGame(void* hLineA,cbLineASaveGame
pCB,void* context);</tt><tt><br>
</tt><tt>int lineA_setCBLoadGame(void* hLineA,cbLineALoadGame
pCB,void* context);</tt><tt><br>
</tt></p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>You typically initialize the engine with pointers to the game
binaries, set the function pointers, and let it run. When it
reaches a point where an input is required, the engine generates a
callback and pauses until the callback returns.</p>
<p> <br>
</p>
<p>Regarding pictues: They are also being rendered internally, and
another callback is triggered. An upper layer must draw it in
whatever way it deems appropriate. So, it does not really care
where it sits, or if it will even be displayed. The data format
itself is very basic, almost .xpm.<br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><tt>typedef struct _tPicture</tt><tt><br>
</tt><tt>{</tt><tt><br>
</tt><tt> unsigned int palette[16];</tt><tt><br>
</tt><tt> int height;</tt><tt><br>
</tt><tt> int width;</tt><tt><br>
</tt><tt> char pixels[65536];</tt><tt><br>
</tt><tt>} tPicture;</tt><tt><br>
</tt><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>I am sure I can design an extra function for animations, such as
this:</p>
<p><tt>typedef int (*cbLineADrawAnimation)(void* context,tPicture*
frames[],int mode,int framenum,int delay);</tt></p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>Please let me know if this is of interested to you.<br>
</p>
<p>Thomas</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<div class="gmail-m_4236726755311743145gmail-m_8705712999262349308moz-cite-prefix">On 4/30/19 2:20 AM, Paul Gilbert wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite">
<div dir="ltr">
<div dir="ltr">Hi guys,
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Thanks for the excellent summary of the current status,
Filippos. As he said, I'm currently in the middle of working
my way through converting all the Gargoyle engines to
ScummVM, cleaning them up and making them conform to our
coding requirements, as well as making them proper C++
classes. If you do decide to work on the Gargoyle
sub-engine, please let me know.. I'll hold off working on it
until after I've converted the remaining sub-engines.
That'll give you plenty of time.. the TADS & Hugo
sub-engines are big enough that that'll likely take me a
while to finish converting :).</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>If you have any questions about the Glk engine
specifically, feel free to drop me a line. There's also the
technical forums at <a href="http://intfiction.org" target="_blank">intfiction.org</a>. Though my
schedule is a bit packed for the next few weeks, so if you
do email, I may take a bit to get back to you.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>As far as music and animation goes, music at least should
be easy, so long as it's a standard format ScummVM
understands. Currently the engine supports raw sound, wav
files, aiff, and mp3. As for graphics, that's somewhat
straightforward as well, as long as the graphics can be
segmented into completely separate windows than the text,
and it looks like the Magnetic Scroll games do.. when you
create windows in Glk, you can specify what portion of the
screen each will use (for text vs graphics). I've had a lot
of trouble with the Frotz sub-engine, but only because
graphics and text can intermingle in the same windows, which
Glk doesn't allow. </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Regards,</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Paul Gilbert (aka DreamMaster).</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<br>
<div class="gmail_quote">
<div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Mon, Apr 29, 2019 at 7:18
PM Filippos Karapetis <<a href="mailto:bluegr@gmail.com" target="_blank">bluegr@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
<div dir="ltr">Sorry, forgot to say that the glk engine in
ScummVM can be found here:
<div><a href="https://github.com/scummvm/scummvm/tree/master/engines/glk" target="_blank">https://github.com/scummvm/scummvm/tree/master/engines/glk</a> </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>There are currently subengines for the alan2, frotz,
glulxe, magnetic, scott, and tads interpreters, in various
stages of development. dreammaster is mainly working on
these. You can also find information about the glk engine
in our wiki:</div>
<div><a href="https://wiki.scummvm.org/index.php?title=ScummGlk" target="_blank">https://wiki.scummvm.org/index.php?title=ScummGlk</a></div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Regards</div>
<div>Filippos Karapetis </div>
</div>
<br>
<div class="gmail_quote">
<div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Mon, Apr 29, 2019 at
12:14 PM Filippos Karapetis <<a href="mailto:bluegr@gmail.com" target="_blank">bluegr@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
<div dir="ltr">Hello, and glad to hear about your interest
in ScummVM, and your work on the Magnetic Scrolls games!
<div><br>
</div>
<div>It's great that you are working on this. Bear in
mind, though, that there has been extensive work on
the Magnetic Scrolls games, which has been integrated
into the Gargoyle interpreter:</div>
<div><a href="http://ccxvii.net/gargoyle/" target="_blank">http://ccxvii.net/gargoyle/</a></div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Gargoyle is being integrated as a subengine into
ScummVM, in the glk engine. The glk engine is a port
of the Gargoyle engine into ScummVM. There's an
extensive wiki for Gargoyle, here:</div>
<div><a href="http://ifwiki.org/index.php/Gargoyle" target="_blank">http://ifwiki.org/index.php/Gargoyle</a> <br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>So, my advice would be to make your engine part of
the glk engine, and base your work on the already
working Magnetic Scrolls interpreter from the Gargoyle
engine. The interpreter is open source, and can be
found here:</div>
<div><a href="https://github.com/garglk/garglk/tree/master/terps/magnetic" target="_blank">https://github.com/garglk/garglk/tree/master/terps/magnetic</a> </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>The list of supported Magnetic Scrolls games can be
found here:</div>
<div><a href="https://github.com/garglk/garglk/blob/master/terps/magnetic/Generic/games.txt" target="_blank">https://github.com/garglk/garglk/blob/master/terps/magnetic/Generic/games.txt</a></div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>And there's an archive about interactive fiction
games, where a lot of resources about the Magnetic
Scrolls games can be found, here:</div>
<div> <a href="http://www.ifarchive.org/indexes/if-archive/magnetic-scrolls/" target="_blank">http://www.ifarchive.org/indexes/if-archive/magnetic-scrolls/</a><br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Thanks for your interest in these games! It would
be great to see your work on them :)</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Regards</div>
<div>Filippos Karapetis</div>
<div><br>
</div>
</div>
<br>
<div class="gmail_quote">
<div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Mon, Apr 29, 2019
at 10:08 AM dettus <<a href="mailto:dettus@dettus.net" target="_blank">dettus@dettus.net</a>>
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">Hello.<br>
<br>
<br>
My name is Thomas, I am a big fan of ScummVM.<br>
<br>
Currently, I am in the process of writing an
interpreter for classic <br>
text adventures from Magnetic Scrolls, such as "The
Pawn" or "The Guild <br>
Of Thieves".<br>
<br>
Even though I am not saying that it SHOULD be
integrated into ScummVM, I <br>
would like to think that it COULD. It is WAY to early
to really start <br>
integrating it, but I like to be prepared.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
So, the reason why I am writing this mail is because I
would be <br>
interested as on how I would have to design my code to
make it possible. <br>
Currently, my interpreter needs a couple of hooks into
any form of GUI:<br>
<br>
- Initialization, where pointers to the original
binaries are being provided<br>
<br>
- Callbacks for textual input (strings)<br>
- Callbacks for textual output (strings)<br>
- Callbacks for textual output (characters)<br>
- Callbacks for drawing a picture (XPM)<br>
<br>
My code is purely C, so callbacks I am using function
pointers. Said <br>
functions are, at the moment, doing nothing more than
just a simple <br>
printf() and fgets(). The games I can play so far are
"The Pawn", "The <br>
Guild of Thieves" and "Jinxter". HOWEVER, later games,
such as <br>
"Corruption", "Myth", "Fish!" and "Wonderland" added
features such as <br>
animation and music.<br>
<br>
SO MY QUESTION is this: How would I best design the
callbacks for <br>
animation and music in way so that it MIGHT be
integratable into ScummVM?<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Dettus<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
P.S.: My interpreter is available at <a href="http://www.dettus.net/dMagnetic" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://www.dettus.net/dMagnetic</a>.<br>
<br>
(Hopefully this link, and the fact that this is my
first email will not <br>
make this spam. ;) )<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
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<div dir="ltr" class="gmail-m_4236726755311743145gmail-m_8705712999262349308gmail-m_3635847852077674210gmail-m_2011843848087004711gmail_signature">"Experience
is the name every one gives to their mistakes" - Oscar
Wilde </div>
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<div dir="ltr" class="gmail-m_4236726755311743145gmail-m_8705712999262349308gmail-m_3635847852077674210gmail_signature">"Experience
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