[ scummvm-Feature Requests-2416330 ] Add smk (smacker) decoding support

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Feature Requests item #2416330, was opened at 2008-12-11 10:12
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Category: None
Group: Engine: SCUMM
Status: Open
Resolution: None
Priority: 5
Private: No
Submitted By: paletta (paletta)
Assigned to: Nobody/Anonymous (nobody)
Summary: Add smk (smacker) decoding support

Initial Comment:
The README file says:
 Broken Sword 1 and 2 both come with in-game cutscenes compressed using
 RAD Game Tools' legacy Smacker(tm) format. As RAD is unwilling to open
 the older legacy versions of this format to us, and have requested we not
 reverse engineer it, Revolution Software has kindly allowed us to provide
 re-encoded Broken Sword cutscenes for download on our website:

ffmpeg is now supporting smacker file format since some years:
http://ffmpeg.mplayerhq.hu/changelog.html

It would be nice to add smk support to SCUMMVM, as that would:
1) simplify the game use with SCUMMVM to end users (no need to download the dxa files);
2) decrease the size of the game (smk files are smaller than dxa);
3) smk decoding should be faster than dxa.

Apparently there were some legal doubts related to integrate smk support in SCUMMVM, however consider that:
1) the format was not reverse engineered by the SCUMMVM team (as requested by RAD);
2) including smk support in SCUMMVM should not cause any ulterior loss to RAD (SCUMMVM only supports limited and already released games, which the original developers have already paid smk licensing cost, also the format is already public);
3) whatever RAD can says reverse engineering is legally in most parts of the world;
4) there are no known patent on the format;
5) SCUMMVM is already including some more "dangerous" formats (e.g. the reverse engineered game engines and MP3 and MPEG2 file formats which are patented and know to be enforced to some big companies (e.g. Microsoft));
6) there were no legal problems since when the smk format was included in ffmpeg some years ago.

Thanks

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