[Scummvm-devel] Game enhancements

[Filippos Karapetis]

Hi everyone

As you saw from the commit history, I made a change regarding the SCI
undithering algorithm. I've introduced a new checkbox under the graphics
tab, and disabled it by default.
This has been a result of the whining concerning having that feature turned
on by default. The reasons for doing that are because we have no
engine-specific options in the
ScummVM options dialog, plus we have no strategy on what should be done
about engine enhancements by default.

We currently enhance several games by fixing script bugs. That's all good,
and nothing needs to be done about this.

However, we have a lot of features which change how the original games
behaved. Most of them are enabled by default, but the SCI dithering removal
algorithm was the most
obvious example, as it changes the graphics of several games completely.

Currently, the undithering toggle that has been introduced is in a form of a
checkbox. A different approach would be to introduce a new graphics mode,
perhaps, called "EGA
(undithered)" which could work in a more generic way, without introducing a
new option (but it will be hard to find afterwards).

So, the logical question to ask now would be: what should we do with game
enhancements by default?
In my opinion, all enhancements should either be on or off by default, and
some sort of configuration switch should be provided to toggle them from the
GUI. No user wants to
look through configuration files, so this should be as easy and intuitive as
possible

Currently, we have the following game enhancements (these come to mind,
there could be others):
- Replacement of original save/load dialogs in SCUMM and SCI
- Replacement of some sounds in MI1
- A speed throttler in SCI
- Undithering in early EGA SCI Games
- Mouse support in AGI
- Mixed Adlib/MT-32 mode

There was an idea to have a "Disable enhancements" checkbox, which would
disable all of these. What do you think?

And again, I'd like to bring in the topic of replacing save/load dialogs by
default. Personally, I find that for engines that don't have scripted
save/load, this is actually a very good enhancement, and can offer a better
experience to the end user, coupled with screenshots and an increased number
of savegames. What should we do with this? Offer an option like "Replace
original save/load dialogs"? For example, I would like to replace the
save/load system in Drascula, which is terrible, in my opinion.

So it all boils down to: what would be the default behavior of ScummVM? And
how can a user change it?

Opinions? Thoughts?

Filippos

-- 
"Experience is the name every one gives to their mistakes" - Oscar Wilde
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