5th and 6th advantages of ScummVM vs DOSBox are : better bypassing of manual-based copy protection and engine tweaks like "Fast Move Speed" for 7th Guest or skipping that 40-screen long "Hall of Records" in The Neverhood. But for those who want to run the game under DOSBox (many ScummVM games are rated "Good" rather than "Excellent" compatibility), it's still not in GOG's interest to accidentally drive people back to Abandonware sites just to obtain missing original files for a legal purchase from a store which has a reputation for having "the best compatible versions of old games".

I want to be clear - while, I do prefer DOSBOX (it feels more organic to me) - my issue with ScummVM is the removal of all the files that SHOULD be there. It's fine if the installer uses ScummVM - but if they include all the files, then those of us that prefer the DOSBOX feel vs the ScummVM feel can still go ahead and use a custom DOSBOX configuration set up rather than the ScummVM.

That is my main concern. I get that folks love ScummVM for the benefits mentioned here. But that shouldn't mean taking away the playability for DOSBOX users, especially if it's a matter of a few more KB in file size, to include the files they take out.

As for the .ISO files for bigger games (such as Myst) that would be cool too. But I just want my DOS files - all of them - when I pay for a game, I want everything that comes with it (sans the actual box they came in originally; but the original files would be nice...)

Actually, having a high-res scan of the original artbox as a goodie would be dope!

You can switch between the twos with some games that were initially run with Dosbox and then switch to ScummVM but rolling back to an older version if you using GOG Galaxy (Gabriel Knight 1 is an example to such a game).

ScummVM has a ton of "ease of use" benefits over DosBox, and ease of use is probably what the vast majority of buyers want. It would be nice if GOG offered the option though, sure.

Yeah it has that going for it too. And the games just work with little to no issues what so ever. Also you don't have to worry about any Timer bug issues that alot of old Sierra games had.

Also just realized; there's no way to record with ScummVM, which makes recording the games for playthroughs and such a bit problematic... another reason to include ALL the files... so that folks (like myself) can continue to use DosBox if we wanted to...

https://forums.scummvm.org/viewtopic.php?t=5889

So no screen capture hardware and/or software works when you're playing a ScummVM game?

That scummvm thread is from 2008 i assume things have changed since then.

I have been looking for how to do it - I don't think it may be high on their priority, and just assume you will use a third party application. I am downloading LSL7 right now from here, which appears to be set to use... sigh... ScummVM... and see if I can figure it out.

I've found this: https://wiki.scummvm.org/index.php/Event_Recorder

Still, doesn't remove for those who want to simply use DosBox... or even, natively in DOS, missing those critical files.

Sure i can understand that it would be convenient to use a recorder that is directly implemented in scummvm but
today we got enough solutions for that i mean even Nvidia/AMD have build in videocapture.
But yeah having the original files would be pretty neat.

I am sure there's other solutions (I don't think my machine has a built in video capture, actually). Of course my desktop still has Windows 7 (yes, yes, end of life, I get it) and is like 6 or 7 years old. :) But I am one of those run it to the ground types. :)

Again, I'd get the removal of these files if it had a real impact on file size. Like if you removed these files from a single game and that was saving you 2GB of space. I get that. But these DOS games are already pretty small in size, for the most part, that removing a few required files for DosBox play (or native DOS) doesn't make much sense (and seems like it takes a little more effort to say, "We don't need these three files; remove them, since we're using ScummVM."


So here's an example (Legend of Kyrandia) has no executable; because it uses ScummVM to launch and call the configuration file information without the need of the actual executable, so it's excluded.

Nothing wrong with having a Win7 system at the moment granted that its up to date :)
And i should have been clearer as Nvidia/AMD now have recording functions build into their drivers.
Here are the infos and the cards that support it.
https://www.amd.com/en/support/kb/faq/dh-023
https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/geforce-experience/shadowplay/

Maybe GOG never thought that those files could be of interest to anyone so they took the less is more approach ?

Good to know. I do plan ... on one day... getting a new system. But... clearly, if I am over here, wanting to play Dos games... I am clearly not a man of the future. :D

And I don't fault GoG for thinking the "more is less" approach - just hoping that there's something that can be done to satisfy all parties. I think someone in this thread even said like making it a part of the "Additional Features" section so it can be a separate download called "Executables" next to the manuals and such. So if someone just wants ScummVM they don't have to worry about getting those. If someone wants DosBox or native Dos files, they can download those as an addition. :)