PSP: BLADERUNNER: Crash on start on PSP 3004 (Slim)

[grey311]

Blade Runner crashes after start on the PSP version of ScummVM 2.8.1.

I additionaly tested the game on ScummVM 2.8.1 on Win 11 (PC), and it worked - this is a PSP problem.
I also tested the daily build - same issue.

The Game is GoG's current retail version.

[antoniou79]

Hello, I have a few questions

1. Does this mean you see the intro scene or does it crash immediately after launch?
2. Can you share your ScummVM ini file (please make sure it contains the entry for Blade Runner too -- if not, start ScummVM, add Blade Runner, then exit ScummVM (without running the game), and share the resulting ini file.
3. What happens to the PSP when the game crashes? Do you see the ScummVM debugger or does it exit ScummVM? Do you see any relevant system message on screen about the crash (something like the equivalent of a black screen of death or blue screen of death or a text console message about segmentation fault?
4. Is there anything useful in the ScummVM log file?
5. Can you raise the debug level to something like 5, then launch the game, and share the log file after the crash?
6. Do other ScunnVM games run successfully on the platform (please name a few titles that you have tested and work)
7. Did you try Blade Runner on the PSP with an older ScummVM version and, if so, did it used to work or is this the first time you've tried Blade Runner on the PSP?

[antoniou79]

This may be relevant -- but it won't tell us why Blade Runner crashes on the PSP.

I did a quick search on Discord and Google for "PSP" "Blade Runner".

Google yielded a Reddit post (from March 2020) about ScummVM crashing for Blade Runner. No responses on that one.
​https://www.reddit.com/r/PSP/comments/flwddu/blade_runner_on_scummvm_psp/

Discord search yielded results (from 2019), where @rsn8887, our porter for PSP, wrote

Yes PSP cannot run Blade Runner in playable speed. Even Vita is slow.

​https://discord.com/channels/581224060529148060/581224061091446795/605919364759289896
Also there was this older discussion on Blade Runner on Switch, Vita and PSP. I believe Vita was tested with Blade Runner but was too slow, and thus PSP was deemed to be very slow for Blade Runner too.
​https://discord.com/channels/581224060529148060/581224061091446795/590551190165520413

There have been several performance improvements to the engine since 2019, but I am unsure if any improved the situation on PSP (or Vita), or whether there has been any proof that Blade Runner would run (albeit very slowly) on the PSP.

[grey311]

1. Does this mean you see the intro scene or does it crash immediately after launch?

No intro - just a blackscreen. Then I get dropped to normal PSP UI.
Sometimes it even turns off and I have to turn it on again.

2. Can you share your ScummVM ini file (please make sure it contains the entry for Blade Runner too -- if not, start ScummVM, add Blade Runner, then exit ScummVM (without running the game), and share the resulting ini file.

[scummvm]
lastselectedgame=ultima8
gui_browser_show_hidden=false
browser_lastpath=ms0:/PSP/GAME/ScummVm_GAMES/
mute=false
versioninfo=2.8.1pre403-g24ed5c04709
always_run_fallback_detection_extern=false

[plugin_files]
lure=plugins/lure.plg
ft=plugins/scumm.plg
bladerunner=plugins/bladerunner.plg
bladerunner-final=plugins/bladerunner.plg
elvira2=plugins/agos.plg
elvira1=plugins/agos.plg
dig=plugins/scumm.plg
sky=plugins/sky.plg
gob=plugins/gob.plg
kyra1=plugins/kyra.plg
kyra2=plugins/kyra.plg

[bladerunner-win-de]
description=Blade Runner (Windows/German)
use_crawl_subs=true
shorty=false
ambient_volume=192
path=ms0:/PSP/GAME/ScummVm_GAMES/Blade Runner/
engineid=bladerunner
gameid=bladerunner
language=de
platform=windows
frames_per_secondfl=false
sitcom=false
nodelaymillisfl=false
disable_stamina_drain=false
guioptions=sndNoMIDI gameOption1 gameOption2 gameOption3 gameOption4 lang_German

3. What happens to the PSP when the game crashes? Do you see the ScummVM debugger or does it exit ScummVM? Do you see any relevant system message on screen about the crash (something like the equivalent of a black screen of death or blue screen of death or a text console message about segmentation fault?

No Debugger - just a black screen, then return to menu or turn off of the device.

4. Is there anything useful in the ScummVM log file?

Where do I find it on PSP - I didn't find any logfile.

5. Can you raise the debug level to something like 5, then launch the game, and share the log file after the crash?

How do I raise the debug level ?

6. Do other ScunnVM games run successfully on the platform (please name a few titles that you have tested and work)

Yes - for Example: Kyrandia (1&2), Full Throttle, Beneath a steel Sky, Gobliins (1&2)

7. Did you try Blade Runner on the PSP with an older ScummVM version and, if so, did it used to work or is this the first time you've tried Blade Runner on the PSP?

I tried some versions between 2.5.0 and 2.8.1 but never got it to work.

8. This PSP specific; according to the documentation you need to "copy all plugins files again" each time you install ScummVM on the PSP; see "Known Issues" on this page: ​https://docs.scummvm.org/en/latest/other_platforms/playstation_portable.html

I always erase old files and copy the new ones to an empty directory.

[grey311]

Ok I see - so it was never confirmed to run on that platform :/
Sad - but that's how it is then I suppose ?

[antoniou79]

Replying to grey311:

[scummvm]
...

The scummvm ini file looks ok to me (as far as I can tell).
One recommendation, to see if anything changes, would be to disable subtitles for the game (and also remove the SUBTITLES.MIX if you have it from the game's folder).

4. Is there anything useful in the ScummVM log file?

Where do I find it on PSP - I didn't find any logfile.

The location of the log file might be visible from the ScummVM launcher, if you go through "Gloabal Options..." -> "Paths" and check the "ScummVM log path:" value. There should be a "View" button as well there to view the file's contents but I don't think that you can copy them from there. (These options are available on the Windows port; I am unsure if the PSP port has them as well).
Otherwise, I would look for the log file (named scummvm.log) either in the same folder as the scummvm.ini or in a "Logs" subfolder of that folder.
There is a high chance that the log file gets reset (wiped and re-written from the start) each time you launch ScummVM, which is why I am asking for its contents after the crash, but before restarting ScummVM.

5. Can you raise the debug level to something like 5, then launch the game, and share the log file after the crash?

How do I raise the debug level ?

Raising the ScummVM debug level should be possible from the ScummVM launcher, if you go through "Global Options..." -> Misc and change the Debug level value to something like 5 or 6. This value is probably only effective for that particular "session" with ScummVM and will reset itself to "None" after quitting and relaunching (but please check and reset accordingly if it doesn't, since you don't want ScummVM to be outputting large amounts of debug info unless you're debugging something). We only want the debug level to be raised for the session when you replicate the crash with the game, so as to get a thorough log file.

6. Do other ScunnVM games run successfully on the platform (please name a few titles that you have tested and work)

Yes - for Example: Kyrandia (1&2), Full Throttle, Beneath a steel Sky, Gobliins (1&2)

Thank you for the examples. This is encouraging. Have you tried something like "Curse of Monkey Island" (this is a title that uses a 640x480 resolution, same as Blade Runner) or "Riven" or "The 11th Hour" (titles that use more than 256 colors, same as Blade Runner)? If not, and if you own these games, can you test them as well?
You can test Curse of Monkey Island using the demo "The Curse of Monkey Island (Windows Large Demo)" provided from the ScummVM Demos page.
We have a demo for the 11th Hour as well (try the "The 11th Hour: The Sequel to The 7th Guest (DOS Interactive Demo)" ) and Riven ("Riven: The Sequel to Myst (Windows Demo)".)
There probably could be less demanding demos to test, but I can't think of any more off the top of my head.

While you're at it, can you also test with the Blade Runner demo (also available on the demos page). This is a non-interactive short demo reel that was made with an older version of the video encoding algorithm than the one used in the game -- but it does run with the BladeRunner ScummVM engine and would tell us something if it manages to run ok.

[grey311]

I will continue testing as you described.

Shall I test on the daily-stable build or 2.8.1 ?

Also I found the Log-Level settings BUT I can not assign a log path via GUI - because in the PSP GUI the log path lacks the "change" button. it is just viewable (and an empty String "").

Can I alter the log path via editing the .ini or some config file ?

[antoniou79]

Replying to grey311:

I will continue testing as you described.

Shall I test on the daily-stable build or 2.8.1 ?

I'd suggest testing with a daily development build (so from the column of "ScummVM latest
Branch master") -- these will have a version of 2.9.0git.
The column named "future stable" currently is *not* the one to test with. If the 2.9.0git crashes on launch, then test with 2.8.1.

Also I found the Log-Level settings BUT I can not assign a log path via GUI - because in the PSP GUI the log path lacks the "change" button. it is just viewable (and an empty String "").

Can I alter the log path via editing the .ini or some config file ?

It cannot be altered as far as I know. PSP must be doing something special (maybe it skips the log file writing altogether, since I am not seeing it included in the documentation page for the ScummVM port either). @rsn8887 might know more about this.