Since the release of SCI Graphic Studio
v1.0, many emails have been received from people asking why they couldn't
extract or edit certain resources. The reason is plain and simple: it's
because the resources that they were trying to edit were the wrong version.
SCI Studio 3.0 only supports resources
from Sierra's SCI version 0.x games (SCI0). However, SCI Studio VGA
is under development for the SCI 1.x games (SCI1).
Over the evolution of Sierra On-Line's
SCI engine, the resources had significant changes. As you cannot run
an SCI1 game with an SCI0 interpreter, neither can you edit most SCI1
resources with an SCI0 editor.
How to find out the intepreter version:
To get a general idea of the version
without the use of SCI Studio, first take a look at the graphics.
Most likely, if it has a resolution
of 320x200x16 colours, it will be SCI0, and if the resolution is 320x200x256
colours, it will likely be an SCI1 or SCI2 game.
Though that method gives a general idea,
it does not work completely, and can be misleading. Here's how to
find out
the exact version:
Load
SCI Studio and select from the menu "Tools" then "SCI Version Detector".
A file selection dialog will appear. Select the game's executable
(ie. SCIV.EXE,SCIDHUV.EXE,SCIW.EXE,etc.). It will then tell you
the version.
If you do not have access to SCI
Studio, In SCI0 and SCI01, debug modes were included in the
interpreter. To activate the debug mode, press both 'Shift'
keys and the keypad '-' key at the same time. A box will pop
up on the top right of the screen showing the the interpreter
version. Though SCI1 games had the debugger removed, you can
still use this to get the version number. |
A general overview of the early SCI
versions:
SCI v0.x
- This is also known as 'SCI0'.
- Almost all 16 colour SCI games use
this version of the interpreter.
SCI v1.x (16 colour)
- This is also known as 'SCI01'.
- This is an SCI1 interpreter which uses
a 16 colour resolution.
- The two currently known games that
use this are:
- Quest for Glory 2
- The Seasoned Professional (16 colour
version)
SCI v1.x (256 colour)
- This is also known as 'SCI1'.
- This is an SCI1 interpreter which uses
a 256 colour resolution. Not all SCI1 game are the same format.
- A few things I've noticed between the
SCI1 that is supported and the SCI1 that isn't is the fact that they
have colour mouse cursors and can run on a Win3.x port of the interpreter.
Another thing is that they almost always have the Sierra intro screen
with the palette rotation effect, which I do not think is a feature
in the earlier SCI1 interpreters.
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