emulator: Adventure Game Studio
type: standalone
core_classification: game_engine
source: "https://github.com/adventuregamestudio/ags"
source_branch: release-3.6.0
source_commit: "6802bad8dc3189462003d4a169fc591f64cfb9b6"
profiled_date: "2026-10-20"
core_version: "3.6.0.60"
display_name: "Adventure Game Studio (AGS)"
cores:
  - ags
systems:
  - ags
mode: standalone

notes: |
  Runtime engine of Adventure Game Studio, ACI_VERSION_STR 3.6.0.60
  (Common/core/def_version.h:4). RetroPie builds Engine/ from the
  release-3.6.0 branch and passes either the game's .exe or the sibling
  directory of the same name.

  Everything the engine opens belongs to the game. The data file is found by
  scanning the given directory for *.ags, ac2game.dat or *.exe
  (Common/game/main_game_file.cpp:130-140). Beside it the engine reads
  audio.vox, or music.vox for games older than 3.2
  (Common/ac/gamesetupstructbase.h:188-192), speech.vox or sp_<name>.vox
  (Engine/ac/speech.cpp:102), <name>.tra translations
  (Engine/ac/translation.cpp:57), sprindex.dat (Common/ac/spritefile.cpp:33)
  and agsfnt<n>.ttf or agsfnt<n>.wfn fonts (Common/font/ttffontrenderer.cpp:114,
  Common/font/wfnfontrenderer.cpp:147-152), all shipped inside or next to
  the game. acsetup.cfg (Engine/main/config.cpp:47) is the user's
  configuration.

  MIDI goes through SDL_sound's Timidity decoder, fetched at commit
  253b00ca with SDLSOUND_DECODER_MIDI on (CMake/FetchSDL_Sound.cmake) since
  RetroPie sets AGS_USE_LOCAL_SDL2_SOUND=OFF. MIDI_init tries $TIMIDITY_CFG,
  then /etc/timidity.cfg, /etc/timidity/freepats.cfg and finally
  timidity.cfg in the working directory (SDL_sound src/SDL_sound_midi.c:23-51).
  That is the host's GUS patch set, and without it MIDI tracks stay silent
  while the game runs. RetroPie also writes the Allegro DIGMID set
  digmid.dat as bin/patches.dat, but the 3.6 engine no longer links the
  Allegro MIDI driver and nothing in Engine/ or Common/ opens patches.dat.

files: []