AGI, SCI, SCI32 Command-line Switches

[Cloudschatze]

Is there any shared interest in compiling a listing of the various command-line switches used by Sierra's interpreters?

My net searches are coming up short, thus prompting the request.

Please share what you know!

[Tom]

Well, if there is any advice on command line switches available here, it may be part of the technical FAQ's -- and if not, they should be added.  The project kind of fizzled over time.  http://queststudios.com/FAQ

[Rakeesh]

(i posted this message again but it somehow got merged with another older thread, which also was renamed... i am sorry)

 recently i was sorting out my games and i discovered that i had two different police quest 1 vga remakes... when i tried to find out which of them to delete, i realised that they had different number of files, and also different sizes. So far they both play well and are v. 2.0

initially i though that this with the less files would be some kind of incomplete version (accidentally deleted files or mistake during copy between folders or something) but the strange thing is that the  memory-large edition (about 12 mb in a folder) contains 38 files, while the small one (6.6 mb) contains 57 files!!

Of course I dont remember how did i get each one.. maybe some friend sent me one and i found the other in a collection cd.. anyway i want to ask, how come is there such a difference? is there a problem with one? which should i delete and which should i keep? i dont want to realise suddenly that the version i kept was problemous... anyone knows about two different versions? eg. a remake compressed in a way that doesnt take up such a big space?

of course i can always keep both, but i want to know!

I would be grateful if you take a look at your own pq1 VGA editions and tell me your stats (size and number of files)

[Tom]

There's still a few 'ghost threads' around, but they'll eventually work themselves out.  Posts are sometimes ending up in strange places.

Could it be one PQ1 version is from a Collection, and one is the stand-alone version; or that one has additional digital sound effects?

[Rakeesh]

Well, since i can't replay all of them from the beginning to the end, are you mentioning this because of your knowledge?

Do you have certain examples about such cases?

[Zemus]

It'd help if you listed the files and filesizes for each version.

[Rakeesh]

folder one:

08/24/1998  11:16               243 RESOURCE.CFG
09/25/1997  13:04               967 PQ.PIF
06/13/1996  10:07             2.967 SETUP.BAT
06/01/1995  07:46               703 DRIVERS.TXT
11/21/1993  13:28               766 PQ.ICO
09/29/1992  14:24             2.090 READ.ME
09/23/1992  12:00             2.404 30.HEP
09/23/1992  12:00             3.436 30.SCR
10/20/1991  12:17                35 FIX.BAT
09/04/1991  15:36            18.904 500.MSG
09/04/1991  12:29                 7 VERSION
09/03/1991  10:29               450 501.HEP
09/03/1991  10:29             1.492 501.SCR
09/01/1991  07:01             4.002 43.HEP
09/01/1991  07:01             8.090 43.SCR
08/29/1991  14:01             3.518 58.HEP
08/29/1991  14:01             5.550 58.SCR
08/29/1991  13:06             2.642 56.HEP
08/29/1991  13:06             4.104 56.SCR
08/29/1991  10:40             2.584 54.HEP
08/29/1991  10:40             4.758 54.SCR
08/29/1991  10:39                 5 555.TEX
08/29/1991  10:39             2.892 555.HEP
08/29/1991  10:39             5.074 555.SCR
08/28/1991  08:29            11.318 31.MSG
08/28/1991  08:17         6.401.433 RESOURCE.000
08/27/1991  15:18               390 MESSAGE.MAP
08/27/1991  15:18           216.140 RESOURCE.MSG
08/27/1991  15:17             5.013 RESOURCE.MAP
08/26/1991  09:33             2.274 README
08/12/1991  09:20             5.845 INTERP.ERR
08/09/1991  13:44             8.317 INSTALL.TXT
06/02/1991  12:04           144.836 SCIDHUV.EXE
05/01/1991  12:07             2.577 GENMIDI.DRV
04/08/1991  07:06             5.832 VGA320.DRV
03/17/1991  13:32             5.551 EGA640.DRV
02/25/1991  07:08             2.596 AUDBLAST.DRV
02/25/1991  06:50             2.568 AUDPRO.DRV
02/12/1991  16:51               269 AUDNONE.DRV
01/23/1991  16:26             2.169 AUDDISNY.DRV
01/20/1991  16:16             1.737 AUDPS1.DRV
10/21/1990  13:38             4.364 IBMPS1.DRV
08/09/1990  15:45               564 IBMKBD.DRV
07/24/1990  09:41             2.372 INTERP.TXT
07/10/1990  12:15             4.523 VGA320BW.DRV
07/01/1990  08:05               607 JOYSTICK.DRV
06/24/1990  11:39             8.017 ADL.DRV
06/13/1990  14:30             3.741 CMS.DRV
06/13/1990  14:29             1.977 MT32.DRV
06/13/1990  14:29             1.461 STD.DRV
09/05/1988  09:24               507 GODIR.COM
09/10/1987  13:52               574 EXISTS.COM
07/31/1987  00:00             3.170 WHAT.EXE
05/12/1986  16:40               768 POPDIR.COM
05/12/1986  16:39               768 PUSHDIR.COM
04/06/1999  11:28               168 RESOURCE.PQ1
04/06/1999  11:28                30 PQ.BAT
06/24/2005  23:13                 0 dir.txt
              58 File(s)      6.930.159 bytes

and 2

06/24/1991  12:39             8.017 ADL.DRV
02/25/1992  08:08             2.596 AUDBLAST.DRV
01/23/1992  17:26             2.169 AUDDISNY.DRV
02/12/1992  17:51               269 AUDNONE.DRV
02/25/1992  07:50             2.568 AUDPRO.DRV
01/20/1992  17:16             1.737 AUDPS1.DRV
06/13/1991  15:30             3.741 CMS.DRV
03/16/1992  14:32             5.551 EGA640.DRV
04/30/1992  13:07             2.577 GENMIDI.DRV
08/09/1991  16:45               564 IBMKBD.DRV
10/21/1991  14:38             4.364 IBMPS1.DRV
06/15/1992  09:45            53.856 INSTALL.EXE
08/08/1992  14:44            16.253 INSTALL.HLP
10/28/2000  19:48               967 INSTALL.PIF
09/28/1992  12:10             1.434 INSTALL.SCR
08/08/1992  14:44             8.317 INSTALL.TXT
08/11/1992  10:20             5.845 INTERP.ERR
07/24/1991  10:41             2.372 INTERP.TXT
07/01/1991  09:05               607 JOYSTICK.DRV
08/26/1992  16:18               390 MESSAGE.MAP
06/13/1991  15:29             1.977 MT32.DRV
08/14/1992  15:57                10 PQ.BAT
08/25/1992  10:33             2.274 README
08/27/1992  10:10         6.401.433 RESOURCE.000
08/27/1992  10:08         1.200.000 RESOURCE.002
08/27/1992  10:09         1.200.000 RESOURCE.003
08/27/1992  10:09         1.200.000 RESOURCE.004
08/27/1992  10:10         1.200.000 RESOURCE.005
08/27/1992  10:10         1.001.433 RESOURCE.006
10/28/2000  19:48               240 RESOURCE.CFG
08/26/1992  16:17             5.013 RESOURCE.MAP
08/26/1992  16:18           216.140 RESOURCE.MSG
06/01/1992  13:04           144.836 SCIDHUV.EXE
10/28/2000  19:48               967 SCIDHUV.PIF
06/13/1991  15:29             1.461 STD.DRV
09/03/1992  13:29                 7 VERSION
04/07/1992  08:06             5.832 VGA320.DRV
07/10/1991  13:15             4.523 VGA320BW.DRV
06/24/2005  23:14                 0 dir.txt
              39 File(s)     12.710.340 bytes

srry for the pollution, moderators

[Tom]

Those 'HEP' and 'SCR' files...aren't they from the CD-ROM collection version?  That'd be my guess, but I don't have the collection.  Just looks a bit like others.

[Marten]

What a mess!  My guess is that the smaller (first) version is actually the newer copy of the game despite having earlier timestamps on the files.  Here's how I came to that conclusion:

The first folder includes PQ.ICO dated 11/21/1993 but a VERSION file dated  09/04/1991 and a README dated 08/26/1991.  An ICO file present means someone thought you might like to run the game under Windows.  There are also many .SCR and .HEP files, which are patches to the software.  There is only a single RESOURCE file, RESOURCE.000, sized 6.4 megabytes.

The second folder has no ICO file, but its version file is dated later, 09/03/1992, and its README file is dated 08/25/1992.  There is a 6.4 MB RESOURCE.000 file again (exact same size as the first folder), but then there are files .002 through .006, sized conspicuously 1.2 MB, so those look like they came from 5 1/4" floppies.  There is no RESOURCE.001 file though, so this is very strange.  My guess is that the .000 file was built from merging the original files, and that the .002 through .006 files are no longer meaningful in this copy, and that there were two smaller .000 and .001 files originally which are now missing.  This theory leaves the timestamps on these files in question because the timestamps are too similar if .000 is indeed built from the others.  But the show-stopper for me is that the second folder is missing the patches which were applied to the version in the first folder.

 I would be curious to know the contents of the "VERSION" file for each folder.  It should just be a text file ("type VERSION" at the command line will print the contents).

[Rakeesh]

Impressive! Too bad I never bothered to know what these files are about...

What you say make absolute sense. Perhaps all the disks were copied on hd and then 'installed' from there, without deleting the originals. So that's why the size difference

as for the version files, they both say 2.000

would you tell me about the hep and scr files?

oh another question that nobody could answer: what is the difference between running sierra.com, scidhuv.exe and gametitle.bat? (eg lsl5.bat)

I have seen that bat files have the main executable (perhasps sierra.exe or scihuv.exe) followed by some parameters

thank you for your help

[Tom]

I'll try part of this...

Sierra batch (.bat) files are typically ran from a different directory than where the game is installed.  For instance, LSL5 may be installed in C:\sierra\lsl5 while a .bat file resides in the C:\sierra directory.  Command files typically will execute the scihduv loader for the game, using either the .com or .exe file should work the same.  Some games I have only install a batch file and the scihduv.exe file, so I just load the game using the scihduv file.  

I don't know what hep or scr files are, but my best guess would be Help and Script files.  

[Zemus]

To me it looks like the first one's from the CD collection with the patches already applied (all CD-ROM collections from Sierra had the games's individual patches already put in the game dir).
The second one seems to be the floppy version of the game with some left-over files from the installation.

"This theory leaves the timestamps on these files in question because the timestamps are too similar if .000 is indeed built from the others." - Not really. If the installation program ends up writing new timestamps to the files, it'll make sense as the last file seems to be "stamped" the same minute as .000 is made

[Alistair]

Sierra batch (.bat) files are typically ran from a different directory than where the game is installed. For instance, LSL5 may be installed in C:\sierra\lsl5 while a .bat file resides in the C:\sierra directory. Command files typically will execute the scihduv loader for the game, using either the .com or .exe file should work the same. Some games I have only install a batch file and the scihduv.exe file, so I just load the game using the scihduv file.

This is partially right. It was also used to load parameters into games, to run certain games a certain way. SQ6 is a good example, thoguh KQ5 and many others used it.

- Alistair

[Rakeesh]

yes, for example lsl3.bat (it's just an example, i dont actually remember if it was lsl3) contained 'cd sierra\lsl3' and 'scidhuv.exe %1 %2'

well, what are those %1 and %2? parameters, or some kidn of script variables? probably the latter but i fail to understand their use here

[Zemus]

%1 and %2 are variables. If you type "lsl3 22 33", the BAT-file will run "scidhuv.exe 22 33".  If you switch around %1 and %2 in th BAT-file, it'll run "scidhuv.exe 33 22". This is a simple way to add variables to a BAT-script when you run it via the command-line or from an another BAT-file.

[Rakeesh]

yes i know what variables are, but i dont understand what 'scidhuv.exe 22 33' actually does... what's the difference from exetuting simply scidhuv.exe, or say scidhuv.exe 11 22?

[Zemus]

Those were just examples.
I have no idea which startup parameters scidhuv.exe supports. I thought you were wondering what %1 and %2 meant by themselves.

[Marten]

In a batch file, %1, %2, etc represent positional parameters.

For example:

If Foo.bat contains:
Bar %3 %2 %1

And you run

Foo A B C

Then it will run

Bar C B A

[Zemus]

That's exactly what I said in my post, Marten.

[Tom]

I lost the point of this whole topic a few posts back.

which should i delete and which should i keep?

Why not keep them both?  They're very small games by today's standards and storage devices.