The Guide to Playing Magnetic Scrolls games on Windows Mobile

The Guide to Playing Magnetic Scrolls games on Windows Mobile - General Topics

Many older computer users know what adventure games the excellent folks Magnetic Scrolls have produced some really good adventure games. (See THIS (if the link doesn’t work, THIS) for more info). If you want to play these really excellent games on your Windows Mobile (WM for short) device, I have some very good news for you: yes, they’re all playable – and not only under CPU-hungry and not-the-best-suited-for-the-Windows-Mobile-UI emulators, but also real interpreters.
You may have already heard of “Magnetic”, THE Magnetic Scrolls games interpreter. It, fortunately, also has a Windows Mobile port.
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(another VGA shot; a QVGA one)
There are three main revisions of Magnetic: 1, 2 and 2.2. Of course, the higher, the better (see the three charts comparing them HERE for more info on the version differences if interested). For WM, fortunately, a port of the latest, 2.2 version is available; as with the desktop Windows. Note that there is another version called for WindowsCE-based Handheld Pro and 2000 devices: chiark’s MagnetiCE; you will NOT want to use it on your WM device because it uses H/PC menus even under Windows Mobile.
Installing the interpreter
Download it from here (linked from this IF-Archive page) (alternative, direct download here). Unzip MagneticWinCE.exe and transfer it anywhere on your handheld.
Note that the interpreter is only compatible with WM2003SE and newer operating systems. It doesn't seem to run under WM2003 (tested on my iPAQ 2210), let alone PPC2k2. I had no problems running it on my (several) WM2003SE+ devices; worked flawlessly even under WM6. It makes use of built-in keyboards and landscape modes without problems. It also supports command history (up/down cursor keys), which is very useful particularly if you want to, say, repeat “wait” many times.
Getting and installing the games
Fortunately, all compatible games are available online and you don’t need to do any conversion. Go HERE and go to the bottom, to the bottom-most Game Files chart. Download the “Story files” of all the games you’d like to enjoy. Unzip it to anywhere on your storage card. Make sure you only put it in a direct descendant (subdirectory) of the root of the card and not the second, third etc. one; this, unfortunately, also applies to the \My Documents directory on your card) or in the main storage, under a directory in \My Documents.
If you don't like this restriction because of the standard file selection dialog, you can fix the problem by getting Mad Programmer’s File Dialog Changer , the current WM5/WM6-compliant version of which is 1.66. Get it HERE. You'll also need GSGetfile.
I’ve often elaborated on the installation / usage of this really useful utility (see for example THIS). Just a quick recap (with WM6 screenshots): after transferring ARM\filedlgchg.cpl from filedlgchg.zip and ARMRel\gsgetfile.dll from gsgetfile-i.zip to \Windows on your mobile device, go to the new Settings / System / File Dialog Changer applet and just check in “Exchange Standard File Dialog”. This will make it possible to peek in anywhere in the file system as can be seen in here.
In addition to the (text-only) story, you may also want to download the image repository (see the “Graphics file” column for all the games you’d like to run). Title graphics and title music files are also downloadable (if present); you will need to separately watch / listen to them from a multimedia player and an image viewer. Hint files, on the other hand, are also handled by the interpreter engine; therefore, you will want to download them too if you do need hints.
Then, just start MagneticWinCE.exe, select File / Open and select the game to play.
The menu of the interpreter is pretty straightforward; in addition to the standard Open / Exit functionality, in Edit / Verb, you can select five predefined verbs to speed up input words. In Display, you can set the size of the images displayed (and whether they’re displayed at all).
The Palm OS Kronos emulator
If you have a Palm OS device, you may have heard of Kronos, an emulator for Magnetic Scrolls, Infocom-style ZMachine, and Scott Adams style adventure games. It’s very advanced: as opposed to the original Windows (and Windows Mobile) version, it supports automaps and popwords.
Unfortunately, it (as of the latest, 1.4.7 version) crashes the current version (1.0.025) of StyleTap, the Palm OS emulator for WM, in the 66% screen mode and, as can be seen in here, in 100% mode, on VGA devices, it uses a low-resolution display. However, if you can live with this (because don’t want to enjoy the images), running Kronos under StyleTap may be a good alternative.
Note that as far as QVGA (low-resolution) Windows Mobile devices are concerned, images are almost invisible on them; example screenshots here and here. However, if you don’t need images at all or can play in 66% mode on QVGA devices, the images are, then, correctly displayed (1 2).
Note that Kronos offers autoload/save features. This is missing from the WM version. The latter, however, supports saving and loading the game state (via the save/load commands) any time.

Related

First playable alpha of the 3D-accelerated Doom clone out!

Ever wanted to play id Software’s evergreen title, Doom, on your 3D accelerated (currently, two models are capable of this: the Dell Axim x50v and x51v; but, in the near future, the O2 Flame will also have 3D support) Pocket PC? Now you can!
I’ve often elaborated (see for example this) on the forthcoming Doom clone DoomGLES. Fortunately, the author works really quick and has just released a playable alpha version.
Compatibility
Currently, it’s only compatible with WM5-upgraded Dell Axim x50v and x51v. It will NOT run on WM2003SE-based x50v’s. I’ve tested the title on a freshly hard reset x51v with the A12 ROM.
Installation
If you don’t have a real Doom around, you need to do the following:
create a subdirectory (it can be named anything - not necessarily “Doom”) on your storage card (you’d be better using a fast, well-optimized card because you will end up having to copy numerous files on it, which can take ages with non-optimized ones. Please see this article for more information on all this.)
download this file and decompress its contents into the Doom home directory on your card
download this file and decompress its content, doom1.wad, to the Doom directory
download this file and decompress its content, a subdirectory named OpenGLES, into the Doom directory. Make sure you don’t step into the subdirectory when copying stuff – that is, there must exist an OpenGLES directory inside your Doom home directory
If you do have the commercial version of Doom, instead of following bullet 3 and 4 (you will still need the contents of the ZIP file linked in bullet 2 in a directory), you will need to copy the doom.wad file to the main Doom directory of your storage card and extract the contents of this file to there.
Visuals
They are the same as with DoomGL and are, as far as resolution and lighting effects are concerned, way better than the original Doom you may have played back in 1993 (see for example the screenshots here to see how it looked like).
The speed of the game is extremely good – the animation has never become jerky.
Map
The map is also accessible (via the Home button by default).
Sounds
Unfortunately, there’s no music support, which is a pity because Doom had excellent music. Back in 1993, it was a treat to listen to the music on my, then, high-end Gravis Ultrasound (Classic) sound card.
As far as sounds are concerned, they are, as they should be, fully stereo. That is, you can hear the direction of an enemy.
Controls
There aren’t problems in this department either. You control the movement with the D-pad and the stylus as in most other Pocket PC FPS games; use the Action button to fire, the Messaging button to bring up the menu, the Contacts button to activate a door / switch etc.
You can redefine all these controls in the configuration file doomgles.cfg. It’s, fortunately, well-explained in the readme file; you must directly enter key codes in the file, which can’t cause you problems if you’ve already read my related articles on how the Windows Mobile operating system handles keycodes.
Problems
Unfortunately, the shareware version played on the A12 x51v just crashes on Level 2 when, behind the red door, after switching on the hidden switch in the room filled with poison, you use the lift packed with health packs to go down to the room full of enemies. I’ve tested this two times and I’ve run into the crash exactly at this position.
I don’t know whether the commercial version WAD file is also affected by this problem.
The future?
There will be implemented a lot of stuff; for example, multiplayer support, which is great given that, currently, there are no 3D accelerator-optimized FPS games with multiplayer capabilities. It's only the forthcoming Call of Duty 2 that is supposed to receive multiplayer support.
Verdict
Go give it a try if you’re a Doom freak and have an x51v or an WM5-upgraded x50v; you’ll like it!
Recommended links
Don’t forget to check out my other game reviews here. I also recommend the game reviews in the Smartphone & Pocket PC Magazine's Expert Blog by Ben Stanley, Al Harrington and Eric Pankoke.

Link to screenshots:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=285077&highlight=doom
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V

this REALLY makes me wanna get a 3d accelerated device

UPDATE (12/18/2006): version 0.03 has just been released!
It was only few days ago that the first playable version of the 2700G-enabled DoomGLES was released and, two days ago, 0.02. Now, a new version is out. It's available here.
Also, AximSite forum member thebigbread has pointed out you can avoid the shareware bug I've described in my previous article by just keeping the map on while you go down in the elevator.

can anybody comment on the real world difference between
good old pocketdoom / doom4CE
http://downloadsnew.pcpro.co.uk/PDA/PPC/Games/pocket-doom.html
and this new version ?
of cause pocket quake looks a lot better and also run fine on devices without 3d hardware
http://quake.pocketmatrix.com/

Rudegar said:
can anybody comment on the real world difference between
good old pocketdoom / doom4CE
http://downloadsnew.pcpro.co.uk/PDA/PPC/Games/pocket-doom.html
and this new version ?
of cause pocket quake looks a lot better and also run fine on devices without 3d hardware
http://quake.pocketmatrix.com/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is no comparison. Software and hardware 3D acceleration jsut can't be compared - the new, 2700G-enabled version is so much better. If you have a 2700G device, go for the new one.

how do i install?
mine is HTC TOUCH Intel2700g but can anyone teach me how to install?.....

does it work on se XPERIA X1???

diime said:
does it work on se XPERIA X1???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think so (if you want to play 3D games, get an iPhone 3G / iPod Touch 2G instead). However, give it a try yourself to find out yourself.

The definitive guide to playing (early) Sierra games on Windows Mobile

Many "oldtimers" recognize the name of the game developer / publishing company Sierra. They have published several games since 1978.
As their games are, generally, very cool, there have been a lot of efforts to make an interpreter to run their files, as is the case with other, well-known adventure companies like Lucasfilm (ScummVM) and Magnetic Scrolls (see related article HERE)
There are two interpreters for Sierra games: PocketSarien and FreeSCI. In this guide, I explain everything you'll ever need to know about these titles. I also recommend the generic forum for all platforms at AGI Games (despite the name, it also discusses SCI games and interpreters!) for a quick read after reading this guide.
PocketSarien
One of the results of these efforts was the multiplatform Sierra Sarien (which has, in the meantime, merged with ScummVM; interestingly, the Scumm compatibility list doesn’t list any Sierra titles), which is able to run all Sierra games (and, more generally, games written using the same AGI (Adventure Game Interpreter) engine) released in the eighties (but not later).
Sarien also has a free Pocket PC port, which runs on all Pocket PC's (even MIPS/SH3 Pocket PC 2000 ones).
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It also runs on VGA devices, but without the on-screen keyboard, as can be seen in the following screenshots: 1 2 3 4 5).
It should be pointed out that PocketSarien will not run games released in and after 1990. That is, it won't run anything in the Larry series starting with part 2, in the Space Quest series starting with part 3, in the King's Quest series starting with part 4 etc. See the list of all supported games in the sarien.conf file included in the distribution ZIP file.
Note that they are NOT compatible with the AGDI (Anonymous Game Developers Interactive) remakes (see THIS; right now, KQ1, KQ2 and Quest for Glory II) either! (Incidentally, if you're a fan of free (!) adventure games, make sure you give these games a try.)
Getting and running PocketSarien
Go HERE; it’ll be listed at the bottom. Direct link HERE.
Unzip PocketSarien.exe to anywhere on your Windows Mobile device. As explained in the readme.txt in the same ZIP file, you may also want to create a directory named etc in the root of the built-in storage of your device and copy the file sarien.conf in there.
Now, copy all the files from the original AGI games to anywhere on your Windows Mobile device (make sure you install Mad Programmer’s File Dialog Changer to be able to navigate anywhere on your device. See THIS for more info on this). You can safely leave out *.ovl, *.com, *FONT files and the AGI file to save storage.
Now, just run PocketSarien.exe and select any file from your games, let it be VOL.0, VOL.1 or anything else visible. The game will start.
Getting the original AGI games
Unlike with some Lucasfilm games or all Magnetic Scrolls ones, it’s not possible to acquire all games off the Web because of the copyright issues. However, some of them are still (legally) downloadable; for example, The Black Cauldron (also see THIS) and Donald Duck's Playground on Al Lowe’s personal homepage (Note that the other games don’t seem to be compatible!)
(A personal remark: I really recommend the above-linked Donald Duck's Playground; back in the eighties, my little brother’s favorite game.)
Also, the two compatible fangames, Space Quest 0 – Replicated and Space Quest - The Lost Chapter (also see THIS) are freely available.
Finally, you can also download LSLI and SQI off the Web.
Unfortunately, the well-known abandonware site Underdogs doesn’t list many AGI (and, as far as FreeSCI is concerned, SCI0) titles.
Verdict
I can only recommend Pocket Sarien. It runs just great on all QVGA devices (and also VGA ones if you do have an external / built-in hardware keyboard; unfortunately, it’ll always use Portrait, which isn’t the best with landscape keyboards). Highly recommended!

FreeSCI for PocketPC 0.3.4c
While PocketSarien is an AGI-only interpreter, FreeSCI is an SCI0 (Sierra's Creative Interpreter version 0) one. Please see this Wiki page for more information on what this means and what other SCI versions there are.
The author of the port, PocketInsanity, is the author of some other, free utilities like XRick, OpenJazz, PocketUAE and Wolf3D. They’re all free and should be given a test ride. Yes, free doesn’t necessarily mean bad not only with the PocketInsanity stuff, but also vijay555, FdcSoft / DotFred and n0p.
This WM2003+ (no pre-WM2003 compatibility – it is NOT compatible with PPC2k2 devices either!) emulator is for some of (the ones in the SCI0 and SCI01 section here and also this list) the newer Sierra titles. This means that its compatibility is much narrower than what the official homepage states (also see this thread on this problem). That is, the game is not compatible with the vast majority of the list "Leisure Suit Larry 2-7, Space Quest 3-6, King's Quest 4-6, Quest for Glory 1-4". This is certainly bad news.
Note that the freely available Leisure Suit Larry 2 Point and Click does not use SCI (but AGS) and is, therefore, incompatible with FreeSCI.
Installing and running FreeSCI
Get the file HERE (alternate, direct download HERE).
Unzip freesci.exe anywhere on your Windows Mobile device and read the enclosed README.PocketPC.
Unfortunately, unlike with Sarien, you MUST list the games you have on your system in the main configuration file of FreeSCI. This is problematic because of two issues.
First, the configuration files use the Unix newline convention and they MUST stay in this format. This means you can’t edit the files with Windows’ Notepad (because it doesn’t handle Unix-style newline). You can’t use Windows’ Wordpad either because it’ll save the edited file using the Windows newline convention, which is incompatible with FreeSCI. Therefore, you MUST use for example the easy-to-use, free EOLNconv for converting between the two formats. In my article “Java Midlets on the Pocket PC - the Complete Tutorial”, I’ve also recommended this tool for conversion from the Unix newline format to that of Windows (for exiting) and back.
Second, under newer editions of the Windows Mobile operating systems starting with WM5 (including, of course, WM6), you can’t create a directory starting with a dot. This is unlike older (pre-WM5) operating systems. This bug hasn’t been fixed in the last 1.5 years and no one has been able to find a solution to it (also see THIS, THIS and THIS (note that the there recommended Resco won’t help)) – before me, that is. Yes, I was the first to be able to fix the bug. (The Windows Mobile community can call itself very lucky to have a coder / programmer like me to fix problems like this - and I haven't even mentioned some of the other productivity apps I've contributed to!)
To fix the bug, using a hexa file editor, position to cbe74 and change '2e' to, say, 66 (the hex code for 'f'). If you are afraid using a hex editor, I’ve made the hacked EXE available HERE; it requires the config file to be put in the ffreesci (instead of .freesci) directory in the root.
Finally, note that you must also list the version number of your game in the config file, not only its directory. To find it out, open the main .exe file (it's about 70 kbytes and, with most games, it's called sierra.exe and sciv.exe) with a file viewer (for example, F3 in Total Commander) and look for (Find, F7) the string ".000". When you find it, paste the entire X.000.XXX version number it's located in into the configuration file. (Also see THIS – it’s a worse description though).
Note that it works with external keyboards; then, however, the cursor keys will not be remapped to the landscape mode and will, therefore, work the other way around.
Speed issues
Unfortunately, unlike with Sarien, the FreeSCI is VERY slow (also see for example THIS). It’s like playing these games on an imaginary 1 MHz IBM PC with CGA emulation on a Hercules monitor. Really-really bad, even on a fast Windows Mobile device!
Note that some people recommend (see for example THIS) tweaking the graphics parameters; using the
dirty_strategy = 1
pic0_dither_mode = dither
parameters instead of the default
dirty_strategy = clusters
pic0_dither_mode = flat
In my practice, this didn't help at all.
Note that (I've tested this all!)
turning up the speed to 16 (Speed/Change) won't help at all – on the contrary
adding the pcmout_driver = null option to disable sound won't really help
also note that if you remove midi_device and sound_server, things will get much worse
See THIS for more info on these parameters.
Related info: PG.
Verdict
Unlike with Pocket Sarien, I don’t recommend this interpreter. It’s just TOO slow, even if you try to tweak the parameters. It’s pretty useless to try to play anything in it.

Ever wanted to know how you can use low-res (176*220) titles on your QVGA phone?

If you have a QVGA Smartphone like the HTC Vox / s710, you know well enough that most existing games and other graphics-based Smartphone apps (Windows Mobile 6 Standard) out there only use a postage-stamp sized screen area. An example of this is PDAMill’s Flux Challenge, which, being designed for the traditional low-res (176*220) Smartphone resolution, only uses part of the available QVGA screen estate:
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There were no widely known solutions for the problem. Some developers announced support for QVGA devices (for example, that of Cell Doom – see announcement HERE), but the most (including PDAMill) didn’t.
Fortunately, an excellent White Russian coder has come up with a generic solution, which not only makes it possible to run MANY (but not all!) games at full screen, but, in cases, also lets for using real (!) QVGA resolution with some titles (for example, emulators).
Downloading, installing
Go to this MoDaCo thread and download the ZIP file attached to the first post. You’ll need to register as a forum user if you aren’t able to access it. If you don’t want to bother with it, I’ve also uploaded the file to my database back-end; it’s HERE.
After this, just unZIP it and start GxQvga Patcher.exe. Should you encounter an error message complaining about the lack of the .NET Framework 2, you will need to download it HERE (note that some stated it only requires 1.1. I haven’t checked whether they’re right. The latter is accessible HERE.)
Using
This patcher app runs on the desktop, NOT on the Smartphone. This means you must transfer the main EXE file of the game / emulator / app you’d like to make use of the QVGA screen to your desktop computer first. To do this, use for example Total Commander with the CE file system patch (see THIS for an explanation of installing it) or, if you don’t want to bother, just the “Explore” button of ActiveSync.
Transfer the main EXE files (but nothing else) of the apps / games you’d like to patch to the directory of where the above-mentioned, just decompressed GxQvga Patcher.exe resides.
Now, start GxQvga Patcher.exe. It will present you a dialog:
In there, click “Select exe file to patch...". Now, select the EXE file you’d like to patch:
After letting it go on, you’ll be presented a message telling you the patching was successful:
Now, all you need to do is:
Copy the patched EXE file back to your MS Smartphone, making sure you overwrite the original EXE file
Go to the QVGA subdirectory on your desktop (just under the directory where GxQvga Patcher.exe resides), and copy XG.dll to the same directory on your smartphone
Start the game / app to see whether it worked; answer Yes to the message.
If the game / app still only uses 176*220 (and not the full screen), exit it and go to the SCALE (NOT the previous QVGA!) subdirectory on your desktop, and copy XG.dll to the same directory on your smartphone and copy XG.dll to the smartphone, making sure you overwrite the previously copied QVGA XG.dll. Now, start the game on your Smartphone. Hope it’ll use the full screen. If it still doesn’t do this, then, nothing can help, I’m afraid.
Examples of the before-after cases
PocketHobbitSP2003 (as of the current, Alpha 11 version) doesn’t support QVGA devices. As can be seen in the following screenshot, without patching, it only uses a stamp-size screen area in Portrait mode on QVGA devices:
http://www.winmobiletech.com/062007C64Emus/c64EmuDefaultStamp.bmp.png
After the patch and using the QVGA DLL, it becomes much bigger and, what is even more important, makes use of the full horizontal screen reoslution – that is, 240 pixels, resulting in MUCH more readable text:
http://www.winmobiletech.com/062007C64Emus/PatchedSEQVGAP.bmp.png
Incidentally, with the SCALE DLL, it also fills in the entire screen horizontally, BUT only upscaling the original, 176*132 rendition resulting in a MUCH inferiour real resolution & readability:
http://www.winmobiletech.com/062007C64Emus/PatchedSPVersionScaleDLLQVGAPortrait.bmp.png
This is why I’ve emphasized you MUST give a try to the QVGA DLL first and only give a try to the SCALE one when the former doesn’t deliver any results.
Recommended link
This MoDaCo thread discusses the converter at length. A MUST!

It's a cooool tool, I will try it.

yes, I have been using it for half a year ago, cool thing Worms, Flux Challenge... this tool doesn't know any limitations!!

Ever wanted to know how you can use 176*220 titles on your hi-res QVGA MS Smartphone?

Ever wanted to know how you can use low-res (176*220) titles on your QVGA Smartphone?

Examples of the before-after cases
PocketHobbitSP2003 (as of the current, Alpha 11 version) doesn’t support QVGA devices. As can be seen in the following screenshot, without patching, it only uses a stamp-size screen area in Portrait mode on QVGA devices:
After the patch and using the QVGA DLL, it becomes much bigger and, what is even more important, makes use of the full horizontal screen reoslution – that is, 240 pixels, resulting in MUCH more readable text:
Incidentally, with the SCALE DLL, it also fills in the entire screen horizontally, BUT only upscaling the original, 176*132 rendition resulting in a MUCH inferiour real resolution & readability:
This is why I’ve emphasized you MUST give a try to the QVGA DLL first and only give a try to the SCALE one when the former doesn’t deliver any results.
Recommended link
This MoDaCo thread discusses the converter at length. A MUST!

Database Info

welcome