ScummVM update released – fixes HTC Hero trackball issue

I know there are a lot of folks out there who use the ScummVM port for Android on their phones, and I also know that there are lots of those ScummVM users who have an HTC Hero and who found it was fiddly to play some of their titles due to selecting by clicking the trackball not functioning as it does on earlier phones.  Well, Angus Lees, the developer who created the port, has just released a big update that fixes a few issues, and includes a workaround for the HTC Hero trackball click issue.  Here’s the changelog-

Just uploaded a new version to the Market. The big change is that the game engines are now split out into separate packages. So now you need both ScummVM and at least one of the ScummVM engine packages.
Visible changes:

* Package split
* Virtual keyboard support. Hold down menu to make it pop up. Won’t pop up on anything that has a physical keyboard (G1).
* Allow cursor moving via D-PAD, for trackball-less handsets.
* Sync up to latest upstream scummvm 1.0.0pre codebase.
o New engines. In particular: Discworld! (“tinsel” engine).
* Trackball press workaround for HTC Hero.
* Engine data files (eg: kyra.dat) should be found correctly inside the ScummVM package. Remove any stale kyra.dat’s you may have in your game directories.
* Give a useful error message if SD card is unavailable (eg: still mounted on PC).
* Logos updated to the new capitalised versions, to match upstream.
* Added maxsdkversion=4 to declare that we don’t work on Android 2.0 (Droid) yet

Enjoy.

Still no joy for DROID users yet, but hey, you guys get to play around with Android 2.0, so forgive me for not shedding too many tears.
With this update, there are now engine plugins available which should allow for the majority of the most popular Scumm games to be played.  I’d been periodically checking in at the ScummVM forums, but found there hadn’t been any updates or posts from the dev for a while, so I’d assumed this project had been abandoned.  It looks as though, in actual fact, the dev has just been busy working on the updates.  These updates solve a lot of issues that have caused people grief for a while now – the hero trackball issue being one, but the lack of a virtual keyboard was also a common complaint from users.
Angus Lees, you’ve just made me a happy man.  Now I can finally click that infuriatingly small object in the first area of Beneath a Steel Sky which had previously prevented me getting any further with the game!  Good work fella.