[Scummvm-devel] Global menu save/load dialogs

[Travis Howell]

Filippos K wrote:
> The point of ScummVM is also to improve the games themselves (with 
> graphics filters etc), and also to correct, if possible, bugs they may 
> have. ScummVM is not an emulator, it's a reimplementation for each game 
> engine. Therefore, I don't believe that the aim of the project is to 
> preserve and totally match the original dialogs, especially in this 
> case, since the dialogs of ScummVM itself can offer far better 
> functionality than the original ones with very little additional work. 

The main aims are to match the original games as closely as possible 
(other than bugs), and allow the games to work on as many platforms as 
possible.

Additional improvements (i.e. graphics filters) are bonuses, and have 
been completely optional so far.

The work to support original load/save/options dialogs of current game 
engines has already been completed. I expect most users (especially of 
older ScummVM releases) would be shocked by a custom load/save dialog, 
when choosing to load or save, via in game interface.

> In the SCUMM engine itself, for example, the original save/load dialogs 
> are not default, as they are far too limited compared to what the 
> ScummVM ones offer. Plus, if the users want to use the original dialogs, 
> they will still be able to do this with another key combo (e.g. alt-F5).

Only the script based load/save dialogs of early games, are partially 
supported (saves still fail) in the SCUMM engine. A matching load/save 
dialog was never even attempted for the later games.

ScummVM allowing a load/save anywhere in SCUMM engine, actually causes 
more bugs (especially in HE games). The current use of custom GUI for in 
game messages, causes scrambled characters in non-English versions of 
later games (since in game fonts aren't used) too.

> This is not affecting the games themselves, it's merely enhancing them 
> and unifying certain features across many engines.

As I mentioned earlier, the current enhancements are kept optional so far.

> Why keep the default save/load dialogs as default, when they are too 
> limited compared to the global main menu ones? And why should we not 
> have some common menu for all games, since they all run under the same 
> "umbrella" (i.e. ScummVM)?

The default load/save dialogs aren't that more limited, other than 
limited slots in CINE (any others?). A date and screenshot isn't a large 
advantage, and could easily be keep optional.

I already stated a common keyboard shortcut for GMM, across all game 
engines, would serve the same purpose and keep this optional.

A common load/save dialog for all game engines would never be possible, 
due to the script based system been used for loading and saving in 
several games engines (AGOS, GOB, others?) anyway.