SHP Forums

The link seems to be broken to this patch, and I no longer have a backup.

Can anyone fix it or upload the patch? I haven't used it in years (thanks to NAGI, and later DOSBox) but was very interested to play around with it again to see how it works with the Manhunter games.

(apologies if this is in the wrong section... I couldn't find a "website feedback" area, so feel free to move this as needed!)

I have been in the process of moving all of the AGI stuff to its own subdomain and links got broken in the process. Try it now. Keep in mind that this utility breaks Tandy support, so you will no longer be able to use the 3 voice +noise Tandy sound. BTW, you can also use ScummVM for mouse support in AGI games.

Thank you for the fast response... the link worked now!

I can't seem to get it to work with Manhunter NY or SF, though.

Am I supposed to run agi.exe (gives the error "can't find logdir") or "sierra.com" (just hangs on a black screen)? I assume the former?

Do you know if it's "known" that AGI Mouse doesn't work with the Manhunter games? I noticed adding a "fake" logdir file to see what happens, and agi.exe seems to be looking for picdir, snddir, viewdir, etc. too... files that other AGI games have but neither Manhunter game has (New York just has "mhdir").

When run, AGIver reports "2.917", incidentally. Does this matter?

Actually... even if I get this to somehow run, do you think it's safe to assume it would be no different to NAGI's mouse support (which I just tried out today)? That is, that the cursor will move to wherever I click with the mouse, rather than be moved itself by the mouse?

Any AGI, Manhunter or AGI-Mouse experts feel free to chime in!

AGI games are not that consistent in terms of files used. The MHDIR files are probably the LOGDIR renamed, but if you tried to change it back, it would just give you other errors. If you want to have a mouse with the MH games you should just try ScummVM or try to find an old copy of Sarien.

Keep in mind that while the idea of mouse support in the AGI games is appealing, the results are less than satisfying. You don't have effective walk paths for mousing the way you do with games designed for a mouse. You can even see evolution in these walk paths in the SCI games. Characters often get hung up on circuitous paths in the early SCI games, so you often need to keep clicking along the path to prevent this, instead of just clicking once on the desired destination. Mouse support in AGI games is even worse.

Thanks for the info.

The flaws you describe about how mouse control in SCI0 (and patched AGI) works is why I never really liked or used it even "back in the day" when playing... arrow keys all the way for me, until SCI1!

Due to the unique GUI of the Manhunter games, "normal" mouse control won't help anyway (using NAGI just lets you click and the MAD cursor moves there... it doesn't follow the direct movements of the mouse, because this would be useless in every other AGI game besides Manhunter). As I said, I'd love to see someone patch MH 1 and 2 to use a mouse properly but I'm not holding my breath, since the series is pretty low on the average Sierra fan's popularity scales, sadly.

Incidentally, I want to take this chance to say a huge thanks for all your amazing work for Sierra fans, Collector... your dedication and help for those of us all over the world who also grew up loving these games and this company is so very appreciated. Is there anything you or the Sierra Help Pages needs... as in manual/book scans, game images, documents, etc. and/or a place to find such a list? I'm sure you've got most things I could provide, but just in case I can ever help out and give something back?

Thanks. As far as contributing, I have no list of what is missing at least that not publicly. If you wanted to, you can look over the manuals, quick references, hint books, etc. to see if there is anything you have that is missing here. I am willing to host anything from Sierra or any of the Sierra family companies. The same thing goes for any missing demos.

If you want to play AGI games natively with a mouse and with much better sound, then you should try the IIgs versions. I think almost all AGI games were released for IIgs (except for Manhunter San Francisco). There's a site where you can play all of the games through your browser, but I don't think I can give the link on here.

Thanks! I've tried some of Sierra's AGI games on an Apple II emulator and they seem rather neat that way... though sadly my two favourite AGI games are the Manhunter games, and as you said MH2 was NEVER released on the IIgs! I'll have to try MH1 though and see how it uses the mouse... fingers crossed it's "correctly"!

Say, wasn't the "play online" site you didn't want to name actually given permission to exist (but only certain games, sadly) by the current Sierra catalog rights holders? I seem to remember them goign down, then returning to that effect?

The developer, Evryware, may hold the rights to the Manhunter games.

MH1 for the Apple IIgs does not use the mouse as you'd expect/wish. The mouse controls a cursor which, when clicked, causes the "blue marble" to travel to the clicked location. If you want to activate an action in that location, you have to press ENTER.

Sounds like the Apple IIgs version was an after thought.