ScummVM is particularly clever because it interprets the original Scumm source files, whatever the platform. In other words, it doesn’t try to emulate the original hardware platform, but like the Inform text adventures ( [Hack #85] ), it takes the information in the source files and interprets it independently of the platform. Obviously, each individual hardware platform’s version of ScummVM then has the information necessary to turn that information into pictures and sounds.

Let’s consider the Windows version of ScummVM. Download it from http://www.scummvm.org/downloads.php, install it, and then run ScummVM.exe. You’ll see a straightforward windowed menu system to which you can add games by navigating to the directory the datafiles are in (even if they’re on a CD). It’s really as simple as that, although there are a host of command-line and in-game options.

To play a game, you need the original media. Sources for this vary: perhaps you have floppy disks stashed away in your closet from the DOS versions of some of these games, or perhaps you can hunt around online and pick up the CD versions on eBay or other online auction shops. We’ll discuss ways to pick up multiple games a little later.

You won’t need every file from the original media to play the game. The ScummVM site has a handy page that summarizes the necessary data for each working game (http://www.scummvm.org/documentation.php?view=datafiles). It may be wise to copy the files to your hard drive to prevent wear and tear on the floppies.

Best of all, the wonderful folks at Revolution Software have made their classic graphic adventure, Beneath A Steel Sky, available from the same downloads page (http://www.scummvm.org/downloads.php). Although it’s not for the Scumm engine, this is a majestic, adult, brooding adventure title worth your while. Kudos to Revolution for allowing free redistribution.

You’re not running Windows, you say? Well, as ScummVM’s web site says, “Currently tested platforms are Win32 (Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP), Linux i386 and PPC, BeOS, Solaris, Mac OS X, Dreamcast, MorphOS, IRIX, PalmOS and WinCE,” so there’s plenty of choice. The previously mentioned downloads page has binaries available for all these systems.

What if you just want to run ScummVM despite whatever platform you have installed?

That’s the realm of the Scumm LiveCD (http://www.scummlinux.org/). As with some of the other Linux self-boot CD distributions (KnoppixMame, for example; see [Hack #15] ), it runs independently of the operating system. It’s distributed as an ISO that allows you to copy games into the distribution and burn it onto a CD. There’s also a special version with USB memory stick support. Copy the games you want across, run the special generator.exe (or its Linux equivalent), change your BIOS to boot from the USB stick, and Bob’s your uncle.

So far, we’ve assumed you’re trying to use the files from the Windows or DOS version of the original LucasArts games. You can also use files from the Mac OS originals, but there’s an additional complication: you need to “rescumm” them to extract the relevant datafiles. In the Mac versions, the entire game is packed into a single file, so the interpreter can’t access individual files.

There’s an excellent FAQ on how to fix this problem on PS2Cheats (http://www.ps2cheats.com/randomstuff/scumm/), but it’s really as simple as downloading the ScummVM toolset (http://scummvm.sourceforge.net/downloads.php), finding the datafile on your LucasArts game CD, copying it to your hard drive, opening the Terminal window, and then running the rescumm utility on the file. It’ll magically extract all the datafiles you need to add that game to your ScummVM install. This is particularly felicitous because there are major compatibility problems with classic LucasArts titles and Mac OS X.

Let’s reiterate, since this is a little confusing. You can use your Windows datafiles from your Windows CD version of the game to play LucasArts Scumm-totin’ games on your Mac. If you’re trying to use an original Mac version of one of the games on ScummVM, you’d better rescumm it. Got it?

Recommending ScummVM games to play is easy. LucasArts created some of the most delightful adventures using the Scumm engine. Here are some particular favorites you should consider.

How about creating brand new games for ScummVM? Isn’t that possible? Possibly, but the Scumm construction tools have never seen the light of day. It’s clear the engine was extensively hacked to construct the games, so construction sets such as AGS ( [Hack #79] ) do the job a lot better. As the ScummVM FAQ says:

Maybe we’re just lucky that some of the all-time classic graphic adventures have already been created using Scumm. It’d almost be a shame to create more and ruin the Scumm reputation.