[Scummvm-devel] Section 3.7 in our README (Smacker)

[Torbjörn Andersson]

Max Horn wrote:

> I like it for a historical run-down; and it'll be illuminating to long- 
> time users who otherwise might be confused by a change in directions.  
> However, new users just want a brief and plain guide what they should  
> do, and are not interested in the background.
> 
> So, I think we can use your text (and feel free to commit it, too ;),  
> I just would insert a paragraph at the top stating something like this:
> 
> "In past versions of ScummVM, the cutscenes for the Broken Sword games  
> needed to be converted before you could use them with ScummVM. This is  
> no longer the case, so if you just want to play these games, you can  
> skip this section. If you want to know a bit more about this (e.g.  
> because you are using one version of the cutscenes and are wondering  
> how it differs from another), read on."

So, taking what I wrote yesterday, merging it with what was there to
begin with, and touching up a few spots, how about this:

--- 8< --- Cut here --- >8 ---

3.7) Broken Sword notes:
---- -------------------
The instructions for the Broken Sword games are for the Sold-Out
Software versions, with each game on two CDs, since these were the
versions most easily available at the time ScummVM gained support for
them. Hopefully they are general enough to be useful to other releases
as well.

3.7.1) Broken Sword cutscenes:
------ -----------------------
The cutscenes for the Broken Sword games have a bit of a history (see
the next section, if you are interested), but in general all you need
to do is to copy the .SMK files from the "SMACKS" or "SMACKSHI"
directories on the CDs to the same directory as the other game data
files. (Broken Sword 1 has a "SMACKSLO" directory with the same
cutscenes, but these are of lower quality.) You can put them in a
subdirectory called "video" if you find that neater.

Some re-releases of the games, as well as the PlayStation version, do
not have Smacker videos. Revolution Software has kindly allowed us to
provide re-encoded cutscenes for download on our website:

  http://www.scummvm.org/downloads.php

These cutscenes are provided in DXA format with FLAC audio. Their
quality is equal to the original games due to the use of lossless
compression. Viewing these cutscenes requires a version of ScummVM
compiled with both FLAC and zlib support.

For systems that are too slow to handle the decoding of FLAC audio, the
audio for these cutscenes is also provided separately as OGG Vorbis
audio. Viewing these cutscenes with OGG Vorbis audio requires a version
of ScummVM compiled with both libVorbis and zlib support.

For Broken Sword 1, we also provide a subtitles add-on. Simply unpack
it and follow the instructions in its readme.txt file. (Broken Sword 2
already has subtitles; no extra work is needed for them.)

3.7.2) Broken Sword cutscenes, in retrospect
------ -------------------------------------
The original releases of the Broken Sword games used RAD Game Tools's
Smacker(tm) format. As RAD was unwilling to open the older legacy
versions of this format to us, and had requested we not reverse engineer
it, an alternative solution had to be found.

In Broken Sword 2, it was possible to play back the voice-over without
playing the video itself. This remained a fallback until ScummVM 1.0.0,
but was never the only solution for any stable release.

In ScummVM 0.6.0 we used MPEG, which provided a reasonable trade-off
between size and quality. In ScummVM 0.10.0 this was superceeded by DXA
(originally added for AdventureSoft's "The Feeble Files"). This gave us
a way of providing the cutscenes in the exact same quality as the
originals, at the cost of being larger.

Finally, in early 2006, the Smacker format was reverse engineered for
the FFmpeg project. Thanks to their hard work, ScummVM 1.0.0 now
supports the original cutscenes. At the same time, MPEG support was
dropped. From a technical standpoint, this was a good thing since
decoding MPEG movies added a lot of complexity, and they didn't look as
good as the Smacker and DXA versions anyway.

--- 8< --- Cut here --- >8 ---

Torbjörn Andersson