MacFreeSCI is a simple Mac OS X
wrapper over the open source FreeSCI binary. FreeSCI allows the user to
play the 'old' Sierra SCI games. A full description is available on the
FreeSCI website at freesci.linuxgames.com.
The FAQ at the FreeSCI site is really a must read (if only to see which
games FreeSCI can currently run).
Vision the MacFreeSCI as a launcher for the SCI games. The only purpose
of MacFreeSCI is to show an overview of games that were added to
MacFreeSCI and that MacFreeSCI can launch for the user. The SCI games
need to be available on the local harddisk, if they are moved
MacFreeSCI will no longer be able to launch the SCI game.
MacFreeSCI v2 was only tested with Panther (Mac OS X
10.3.4, 10.3.3 and 10.3.2 to be
exact).
MacFreeSCI v3 was ONLY tested with Mac OS X
10.5.3 running on an Intel based iMac.
FreeSCI can only run the older SCI games (SCI0, so 16 colors). FreeSCI
can not run the 256 color games. Also AGI games do not work with
FreeSCI. Use the Sarien AGI interpreter (see
http://sarien.sourceforge.net/)
for those. MacFreeSCI does not have any
validity checking to see if the added game actually will work with
FreeSCI.
Whats new in Version 3.0?:
It was quite some time ago that v2 was released. Development on the new FreeSCI branch (glutton) continued and is now the only binary that is included in MacFreeSCI v3. I added an experimental Core Graphics driver to FreeSCI. Its faster than SDL in windowed mode yet does not require X11 (as its the native graphics of Mac OS X).
With v3 you can now set features such as full screen mode vs windowed mode in the general preferences of MacFreeSCI.
Common issues: -FreeSCI tells me that X-Windows need
to be installed
Because FreeSCI is developed for Linux it needs a way to show the
graphics on Mac OS X. FreeSCI can output the SCI game graphics to
several graphic engines, currently only 3 of them can work with Mac OS
X. They are X Windows, SDL and Core Graphics (last one is experimental and is only available in v3). MacFreeSCI supports only X11 as the X
Window server. X11 is included in any recent Mac OS X release on the Mac OS X disc. -I can't quit MacFreeSCI, it keeps
telling me that FreeSCI is running
Starting a FreeSCI game will use resources. MacFreeSCI won't quit until
the resources it uses for starting FreeSCI are being returned.
You can check this by running the mentioned Console App. If you have
quit the FreeSCI game and MacFreeSCI is still complaining it usually
means that the FreeSCI tasks are hanging. In this situation use
Force Quit on the FreeSCI icon (control click on the icon in the
Dock). MacFreeSCI will then receive its resources back and end.
Link to project summary page on sourceforge is here. Please
check under "Files" for the latest released binary.
