The official port of ScummVM to the Nintendo DS handheld console by Neil Millstone (agentq)
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- News
- What is ScummVM DS?
- Features
- Screenshots
- How to Get ScummVM DS Onto Your DS - Simple Explanation
- How to use ScummVM DS
- Which games are compatible with ScummVM DS
- Game Specific Controls
- DS Options Screen
- Predictive dictionary for Sierra AGI games
- Converting your CD audio
- Converting speech to MP3 format
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Downloads
- Contributors
- Donations and Getting Help
- Building from Sources
News
27/04/09 ScummVM DS 0.13.1 released!
- Support for the ScummVM Global Main Menu (hold select during the game)
- The usual round of bugfixes
27/04/09 Full Throttle and The Dig now playable!
A test build is now available which can run Full Throttle and The Dig if you have an external RAM pack plugged into slot-2 (the GBA slot).
31/08/08 ScummVM DS 0.12.0
- New games supported: Lure of the Temptress, Nippon Safes, Lost in Time.
- New laptop-style trackpad input method. Uses relative movement when you drag on the touch screen.
- New option which allows you to drag to hover, tap the touch screen to click, and double tap the screen to right click.
- Reorganised DS Options screen into three tabs for clearer navigation
- New top screen scaling options let you choose the scaling factor used on startup.
- The usual round of bug fixes.
29/02/08 - ScummVM DS 0.11.1
- Bugfix release - no new features for the DS port
15/01/08 - ScummVM DS 0.11.0
- New games supported: Elvira 1 and 2, Waxworks (Amiga version)
- Software scaler for improved image quality. Turn it on using the DS options screen (press select during the game). Thanks to Tramboi and Robin Watts for this feature!
- Function keys added to virtual keyboard (used in AGI games)
- Plenty of bug fixes
05/08/07 - ScummVM DS 0.10.0a released
- New engines supported: AGI, CINE, and SAGA.
- Option to show the mouse cursor
- Word completion on keyboard for AGI games
- Plenty of optimisations
- Numerous bug fixes
06/04/07 - ScummVM DS v0.9.1a Released
This is the new stable version of ScummVM DS. Here are the changes in this version:
- Removed internal card reader drivers and added DLDI support
- Fixed graphical glitches in Scumm games which use a lot of scrolling
- Fixed bug that prevented the CD Audio from looping
- Added 100%, 200% and 'Fit' options while zooming (Hold L and press A/B)
- Allow CD audio tracks to start from track 1 or 2
- Fixed long filename support to allow Mac versions of Scumm games to run
- Fixed broken turning controls during fights in the Indiana Jones titles
What is ScummVM DS?
ScummVM DS is a part of the ScummVM project. The ScummVM project is an
attempt to re-engineer many classic point and click adventure games of the
80s and 90s to run on modern computer hardware. Technology has changed a
lot since these games were written, and so ScummVM attempts to replicate the
gameplay of the original games in exacting details, without any of the original
code that the game ran on. ScummVM needs a copy of the original game, in order
to take the graphics, sound, and scripts that made the game work.
ScummVM is written in such a way that it can be 'ported' from one type of
machine to another, and ScummVM DS is a port of ScummVM to the Nintendo DS
handheld games console.
So, the result is that to run ScummVM on your DS you'll need an
unofficial card reader. There are many of these, and all are different.
Popular models at the time of writing are the R4DS and the M3DS Real,
but many different models work. You need to buy one of these, and at
MicroSD card to go with it.
There are also slot-2 card readers which fit into the bottom slot on
your DS, usually used for Game Boy Advance games. These are less common
these days, and although they have certain advantages, the details of
these are beyond the scope of this website. Information on these is
quite easy to find by searching.
Once you have your card reader and a MicroSD card, you will also need
a copy of the game you want to run. ScummVM can run a large variety
of games, but you must own a real boxed copy of the game. These games
are still under copyright, and it is illegal to copy them from a friend
or download them from the Internet without paying. The exception to
this are the three Revolution Software games. These are 'Beneath a
Steel Sky', 'Lure of the Temptress' and 'Flight of the Amazon Queen'.
Revolution have kindly allowed us to give these games away for free.
You can download them from the main ScummVM site at
the ScummVM downloads page
If you have a modern card reader, like an M3 Real or R4DS, getting
ScummVM to run on your card is as simple as:
NOTE: Previous version of ScummVM DS supported a method which used a
zip file to run games on unsupported flash card readers. This method
is no longer supported.
All DS card readers are different in the way that they work. In order to support many different card readers, ScummVM DS uses a DLDI driver installed into the ScummVM DS code. This is done using a program called DLDITool which you can download and run on your computer. Each DLDI driver is designed to tell ScummVM DS how to use a specific type of card reader. These drivers can be used with any homebrew program which supports the DLDI interface.
While each card reader should work with these instructions, there are some exceptions. Please read the card reader notes section to see if there is any specific information about your card reader.
Here is what you need to do:
Either way, you should see 'Patched Successfully'. If you
don't, you're doing something wrong.
You need to patch one of the builds labeled A - H depending on
which game you want to run. See the table on the ScummVM DS
website to see which games are supported by which build.
If your copy of ScummVM DS has been successfully patched, you will
get a message on the top screen that looks like this:
If you haven't patched your .nds file, you will get the following
message
You may also see the following message:
In the case of the Supercard, M3 Lite and DS Link, there are several drivers available. You might want to try one of the others.
This version of ScummVM DS will run on any card reader that has a
DLDI driver available. If yours doesn't, you need to pressure your
card reader manufacturer to release one.
DO NOT EMAIL ME TO ASK ME TO CREATE A DRIVER FOR YOUR CARD READER,
I CANNOT DO THIS.
Flight of the Amazon Queen, Beneath a Steel Sky, and Lure of the
Temptress have generously been released as freeware by the original
authors, Revolution Software. This is a
great thing and we should support Revolution for being so kind to us.
You can download the game data from the ScummVM download page.
The other games on this list are commercial, and still under copyright, which means downloading them without paying for it is illegal. You can probably find a second-hand copy on eBay. Please don't email me to ask for a copy, as I am unable to send it to you.
Features
Screenshots
How to Get ScummVM DS Onto Your DS - Simple Explanation
Nintendo don't want you to run ScummVM on your DS. They control
which companies can make games on the DS, and there is an expensive
process to go through in order to be licenced. Having to pay for
this would prevent me from giving away ScummVM for free.
How to Get ScummVM DS Onto Your DS - Using a CF/SD/Mini SD/Micro SD card reader and a DLDI driver
ScummVM DS needs something called a DLDI driver to run on each make
and model of card reader. Many modern card readers (R4DS, M3 DS Real)
handle this autmatically and for those, you don't have to do anything.
Just running ScummVM on the card will handle this step for you.
For others, you will need to follow the steps in this section before
ScummVM DS will work.
dlditool <dldiname> <scummvm nds name>
If you're using the Windows GUI version, double click on
dlditool32.exe, select your card reader from the box, drag
your ScummVM binaries (either the .nds, or the .ds.gba version
depending on your card reader. I think only Supercards use the
.ds.gba files) into the lower box, then click patch.
DLDI Device:
GBA Movie Player (Compact Flash)
The message should show the name of your card reader. If it is
wrong, you have used the wrong DLDI file.
DLDI Driver not patched!
DLDI Initialise failed.
In this case, you've made a mistake following the above instructions,
or have patched the wrong file.
DLDI Device:
GBA Movie Player (Compact Flash)
DLDI Initialise failed.
In this case, the driver did not start up correctly. The driver is
probably broken, or you've used the wrong one for your card reader.
How to Get ScummVM DS Onto Your DS - Instructions for specific card readers
Which games are compatible with ScummVM DS?
I'm glad you asked. Here is a list of the compatible games in version
0.13.1. Demo versions of the games listed should work too.
| Game | Status | Supported by build | Notes |
| Manic Mansion | Fully working | A | |
| Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders | Fully working | A | |
| Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade | Fully working | A | |
| Loom | Fully working | A | |
| Passport to Adventure | Fully working | A | |
| The Secret of Monkey Island | Fully working | A | |
| Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge | Fully working | A | |
| Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis | Fully working | A | |
| Day of the Tentacle | Fully working | A | |
| Sam & Max Hit the Road | Fully working | A | Some slowdown in a few scenes when MP3 audio is enabled |
| Bear Stormin' | Fully working | A | DOS version only |
| Fatty Bear's Birthday Surprise | Fully working | A | DOS version only |
| Fatty Bear's Fun Pack | Fully working | A | DOS version only |
| Putt-Putt's Fun Pack | Fully working | A | DOS version only |
| Putt-Putt Goes to the Moon | Fully working | A | DOS version only |
| Putt-Putt Joins the Parade | Fully working | A | DOS version only. Can sometimes crash due to low memory. |
| Beneath a Steel Sky | Fully working | B | |
| Flight of the Amazon Queen | Fully working | B | |
| Simon the Sorcerer 1 | Fully working | C | Zoomed view does not follow the speaking character |
| Simon the Sorcerer 2 | Fully working | C | Zoomed view does not follow the speaking character |
| Elvira 1 | Fully working | C | Zoomed view does not follow the speaking character |
| Elvira 2 | Fully working | C | Zoomed view does not follow the speaking character |
| Waxworks | Fully working | C | Zoomed view does not follow the speaking character. Amiga version only. |
| Gobliiins | Fully working | D | |
| Gobliins 2 | Fully working | D | |
| Goblins 3 | Fully working | D | |
| Ween: The Prophecy | Fully working | D | |
| Bargon Attack | Fully working | D | |
| Lost in Time | Fully working | D | |
| Future Wars | Fully working | D | |
| All Sierra AGI games. For a complete list, see this page | Fully working | D | |
| Inherit the Earth | Fully working | E | DOS Floppy version only, compressed speech does not work with this game |
| The Legend of Kyrandia | Fully working | F | Zoomed view does not follow the speaking character |
| Lure of the Temptress | Fully working | G | Zoomed view does not follow the speaking character |
| Nippon Safes | Fully working | H | Zoomed view does not follow the speaking character |
Full Throttle and The Dig can run on the DS using an external RAM pack plugged into slot-2 (the GBA slot). To do this, download the special build of ScummVM DS from here: http://forums.scummvm.org/viewtopic.php?t=7044
There is no support for Windows Humongous Entertainment games, Broken Sword, and all other games that run at 640x480 resolution. The DS cannot cope with scaling these games down to 256x192, the resolution of the DS screens.
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In hover mode, there are some additional controls. While holding the pen on the screen, tapping D-pad left or D-pad right (or A/Y in left handed mode) will click the left or right mouse button.
There is an alternative method of control which doesn't require you to
change modes with the D-pad. Press 'Select' to bring up the DS options,
and choose 'Tap for left click, double tap for right click'. In this
mode, you can quickly tap the screen to left click the mouse, and tap twice
to right click the mouse.
Here is a complete list of controls in right-handed mode (the default setting):
| Key | Usage |
| Pad Left | Left mouse button |
| Pad Right | Right mouse button |
| Pad Up | Hover mouse (no mouse button) |
| Pad Down | Skip dialogue line (for some Lucasarts games), Show inventory (for Beneith a Steel Sky), Show active objects (for Simon the Sorceror) |
| Start | Pause/game menu (works in some games) |
| Select | DS Options |
| B | Skip cutscenes |
| A | Swap main screen and zoomed screen |
| Y | Show/Hide debug console |
| X | Show/Hide on-screen keyboard |
| L + D-pad or L + Pen | Scroll touch screen view |
| L + B | Zoom in |
| L + A | Zoom out |
And here's left-handed mode:
| Key | Usage |
| Y | Left mouse button |
| A | Right mouse button |
| X | Hover mouse (no mouse button) |
| B | Skip dialogue line (for some Lucasarts games), Show inventory (for Beneith a Steel Sky), Show active objects (for Simon the Sorceror) |
| Start | Pause/game menu (works in some games) |
| Select | DS Options |
| D-pad down | Skip cutscenes |
| D-pad up | Swap main screen and zoomed screen |
| D-pad left | Show/Hide debug console |
| D-pad right | Show/Hide on-screen keyboard |
| R + D-pad or R + Pen | Scroll touch screen view |
| R + D-pad down | Zoom in |
| R + d-pad right | Zoom out |
Game-specific controls
- Sam and Max Hit the Road: The current cursor mode is displayed on the top screen. Use d-pad right to switch mode.
- Indiana Jones games: If you get into a fight, press Select, and check the
box marked 'Use Indy Fighting Controls'.
Return to the game, then use the following controls to fight:
D-pad left: move left
D-pad right: move right
D-pad up: guard up
D-pad down: guard down
Y: guard middle
X: Punch high
A: Punch middle
B: Punch low
Left shoulder: Fight towards the left
Right shoulder: Fight towards the right
The icon on the top screen shows which way you're currently facing. Remember to turn the option off when the fight ends, or the normal controls won't work! - Beneath a Steel Sky: Press D-pad down to show your inventory.
- Simon the Sorcerer 1/2: Press D-pad down to show active objects.
- AGI games: Press Start to show the menu bar.
- Bargon Attack: Press Start to hit F1 when you need to start the game. Use the on-screen keyboard (hit X) to press other function keys.
DS Options Screen
Press the 'select' button during any game to show the DS options screen. This screen shows options specific to the Nintendo DS version of ScummVM.
Controls Tab
- Indy Fighting Controls - Enable fighting controls for the Indiana Jones games. See 'Game Specific Controls' for more information.
- Left handed Mode - Switch the controls on the D-pad with the controls on the A/B/X/Y buttons.
- Show mouse cursor - Shows the game's mouse cursor on the bottom screen.
- Snap to edges - makes it easier for the mouse controls to reach the edges of the screen. Used when the screen calibration is not quite perfect. (ie. the cursor on screen doesn't quite match when the pen is pressed) Useful for Beneath a Steel Sky and Goblins 3.
- Touch X offset - if your screen doesn't perform properly, this setting allows you to adjust when the cursor appears left or right relative to the screen's measured touch position.
- Touch Y offset - if your screen doesn't perform properly, this setting allows you to adjust when the cursor appears higher or lower relative to the screen's measured touch position.
- Use Laptop Trackpad-style cursor control - In this mode, use the lower screen to drag the cursor around, a bit like using a trackpad on a laptop. When this option is enabled, the following option is also enabled.
- Tap for left click, double tap for right click - In this mode, you can quickly tap on the screen to left click the mouse, or quickly double tap on the screen to right click the mouse. If you find clicking or double-clicking difficult, try and make a firmer touch on the screen, and keep the pen down for longer.
- Sensitivity - this bar adjusts the speed of cursor movement when laptop trackpad-style cursor control is enabled (see above).
Three scaling options are available for the main screen:
- Harware Scale - Scales using the DS hardware scaler using a flicker method. Produces lower quality graphics but doesn't slow the game down.
- Software Scale - Scales using the CPU. A much higher quality image is produced, but at the expense of speed in some games.
- Unscaled - Allows you to see the graphics as originaly displayed. This doesn't fit on the DS screen, but you can scroll the screen around by holding the left shoulder button and using the D-pad or touch screen.
Please note that even when scaling is enabled, the screen will still not show the lower 8 pixels. To see these, hold the left shoulder button and use the D-pad to scroll up and down.
Top screen zoom - These three options control the zoom level of the top screen when ScummVM is started up. 100%, 150% and 200% options are available. Changing this option will set the zoom to the specified level immediately.
General Tab
- High Quality Audio - Enhance the sound quality, at the expense of some slowdown during some games.
- Disable power off - ScummVM DS turns the power off when the game quits. This option disables that feature.
If you are playing a Sierra AGI game, you will be using the on-screen keyboard quite a lot (press X to show it). To
reduce the amount you have to type, the game can automatically complete long words for you. To use this feature,
simply copy the PRED.DIC file from the ScummVM DS archive into your game folder on your card. Now, when you use
the keyboard, possible words will be shown underneath it. To type one of those words, simply double click on it
with your stylus.
ScummVM supports playing CD audio for specific games which came with music
stored as standard music CD tracks. To use this music in ScummVM DS, they
need to be ripped from the CD and stored in a specific format. This can only
be done for the CD versions of certain games, such as Monkey Island 1, Loom, and
Gobliiins. All
the floppy games and CD games that didn't have CD audio tracks for music
don't require any conversion, and will work unmodified on ScummVM DS. MP3 audio
files for CD music are not supported.
Cdex can do the conversion very well and I recommend using it to convert
your audio files, although any CD ripping software can be used, so feel free
to use your favourite program. The format you need to use is IMA-ADPCM
4-bit Mono. You may use any sample rate. All other formats will be
rejected, including uncompressed WAV files. Since this sound format is a standard, you should be able to create it
in a variety of software.
Now I will to describe how to rip your CD tracks with Cdex, which can be
found here:
Cdex Homepage. If you're using MacOS or Linux, I suggest using Audacity.
To encode audio in Cdex, select Settings from the Options menu. On the Encoder
tab, select 'WAV Output Encoder'. Under 'Encoder Options', choose the
following:
Next, go to the 'Filenames' tab and select the folder you want to save your
Wav files to. Under 'Filename format', enter 'track%3'. This should name
your WAV files in the correct way. Click OK.
Now select all the tracks on your CD, and click 'Extract CD tracks to a
compressed audio file'. Cdex should rip all the audio off your CD.
Now all you have to do is copy the newly created WAV files into the same
directory that your other game data is stored on your CompactFlash card.
Next time your run ScummVM DS, it should play with music!
Important Note: Do not select 'Extract CD tracks to a WAV file'. This creates uncompressed WAVs only. You want 'Extract CD tracks to a compressed audio file'.
ScummVM supports playing back speech for talkie games in MP3 format.
Unfortunately, the DS CPU is not quite up to the task, and MP3 audio will
sometimes cause slowdown in your game. However, if your flash card
isn't big enough to fit the audio files on, you will have no choice!
To convert your audio you will need a copy of the
ScummVM Tools package. You will also need a copy of the LAME MP3 encoder.
Once this is all installed and set up, the process to encode your audio varies from game to game, but the Lucasarts games
can all be compressed using the following command line:
Q: I can't see the bottom line of inventory items in Day of the Tentacle, Monkey Island 2, or
a few other games! What do I do?
Q: I don't get speech or sound effects in my Lucasarts games. What's
wrong?
Q: Can ScummVM take advantage of the DSi?
Q: I dont see a menu when I press Start in Flight of the Amazon Queen or Simon the Sorcerer. Is ScummVM broken?
Q: Why does ScummVM crash when I play Monkey Island 1?
There's also a special version of ScummVM DS that can run The Dig and Full Throttle, two games from Lucasarts, using an external RAM pack plugged into slot-2 (the GBA slot):
You can also download the source code. This is only needed if you want to make changes to ScummVM DS:
Older versions (from before ScummVM DS was an official port):
ScummVM v0.6 Binary
ScummVM v0.5 Binary
ScummVM v0.4 Binary
ScummVM v0.3 Binary
ScummVM v0.2 Binary
ScummVM v0.1 Binary
This program was brought to you by caffiene, sugar, and late nights.
If you want to contact me, please email me on scummvm at millstone dot demon dot co dot uk.
If you want to help with the development of ScummVM DS, great! Download the source code and get building. There are plenty of things left to do.
You can also help by making a donation if you've particularly enjoyed ScummVM DS. This uses Paypal, and is completely secure. There's no pressure though, ScummVM DS is completely free. This is just for those who would like to make a contribution to further development.
To build ScummVM DS from source, it's probably better to checkout the latest version of the code from the ScummVM SVN repository. The ScummVM
Sourceforge.net homepage has all the information about how to do this.
By default, ScummVM DS expects to find libmad, an MP3 compressor library
targeted for the ARM platform. If you don't have this, you must disable
libmad support by opening 'backends/platform/ds/arm9/makefile' and
commenting out the line which says USE_MAD = 1.
Then, enter the 'backends/platform/ds' folder and type:
The executable nds file will build inside 'backends/platform/ds/arm9/SCUMMVM-A'.
For other builds, substitute the letters b - g in the above line.
To build everything, type:
Auto completion dictionary for Sierra AGI games
Converting your CD audio
Format: WAV
Compression: IMA ADPCM
Samplerate: 22050 Hz
Channels: Mono
On the fly encoding: On
Converting Speech files to MP3 format
compress_scumm_sou --mp3 monster.sou
Frequently Asked Questions
I get a lot of email about ScummVM DS. Nearly all of them are exactly the same. Here I'm going to try and answer the questions that everybody asks me in the hope that I will spend less time answering questions that are clearly in the documentation and more time helping people who have a real problem or have discovered a real bug.
A: Hold down the left shoulder button and use D-pad (or the touch screen) to scroll the screen around.
A: Do you have a monster.sog file? If so, this is the wrong kind of
speech file for ScummVM DS. Copy the monster.sou file present on your
original CD or floppies, and you will have speech.
A: At the moment, no. While some homebrew does run on the DSi, at
the time of writing, it cannot access any of the DSi's new features.
When it does, a version of ScummVM for the DSi may be possible.
A: No. To save in Simon the Sorcerer, click 'use', then click on the postcard in your inventory. In Flight of the Amazon Queen, click 'use', then click on the journal in your inventory.
A: This happens when MP3 or OGG audio tracks are present from the PC version of ScummVM. Delete the MP3 tracks and reencode them to ADPCM WAV files, from your original CD, as described in this section.
Q: Can't you use the extra RAM in the M3/Supercard or the official Opera Expansion Pack to support more games like The Dig and Full Throttle? DS Linux has done it, so why can't you?
A: Yes! The Dig and Full Throttle are playable with some limitations.
See the forum thread here for a download of a special version of ScummVM DS which supports external RAM packs.
Q: ScummVM DS turns off my DS when I hit 'Quit' in the game or quit from the frontend. Why doesn't it return to the menu?
A: To return to the game launcher, hold 'Select' during the game
to access the main ScummVM menu, then click 'Return to Launcher'
Q: The text looks a little unclear. Is there a chance of a better scaler? Perhaps a software scaler?
A: Press select and enable the software scaler. Press select during the game for the DS Options Screen, and select 'Software scaler'.
Downloads
The current version of ScummVM DS can be downloaded from Sourceforge. Download this if you want to play the games:
Download ScummVM DS 0.13.1
Download ScummVM DS (ftdigtest5)
Download ScummVM DS 0.12.0 source code
Previous stable versions:
ScummVM DS 0.11.1
ScummVM DS 0.11.0
ScummVM DS 0.10.0a
ScummVM DS 0.9.1a
ScummVM v0.61 Binary
ScummVM v0.61 Source Code
ScummVM v0.6 Source Code
ScummVM v0.5 Source Code
ScummVM v0.4 Source Code
ScummVM v0.3 Source Code
ScummVM v0.2 Source Code
ScummVM v0.1 Source Code
Contributors
ScummVM DS uses chishm's GBA Movie Player FAT driver.
The CPU scaler is by Tramboi and Robin Watts
The ARM code was optimised by Robin Watts
Thanks to highpass for the ScummVM DS icons.
Thanks to zhevon for the Sam & Max cursor code.
Thanks to theNinjaBunny for the M3 Adaptor guide on this site.
Thanks also to everyone on the GBADev Forums.
Donations and Getting Help
If you have problems getting ScummVM to work on your hardware, please read the FAQ first. Please don't ask me questions which are answered in the FAQ, I get many emails about this program each day, and I can't help the people who really need help if I'm answering the same question all the time which is already answered on this page. Other than that, feel free to post on the ScummVM DS forum for help. Please do your research first though. There is no way of running this on an out-of-the box DS without extra hardware. Most of these things are fairly inexpensive though.
Building from Sources
ScummVM is an open source project. This means that anyone is free to
take the source code to the project and make their own additions and fixes,
contributing them back to the authors for consideration for the next version.
make SCUMM_BUILD=a
make allbuildssafe