Re: NES emulator hack that might be interesting

From: smf <smf_at_null.net>
Date: Sun, 2 Sep 2018 22:20:36 +0100
Message-ID: <28bc8bce-36b2-4911-59fe-9ff6e604b637@null.net>
On 02/09/2018 16:06, Mia Magnusson wrote:
> Yes, but the modulo registers is the source of how wide the actual
> bitmap is.

The modulo register tells you what data to skip at the end of each 
scanline, so if each scanline is contiguous in memory then it's 0.

Often the modulo register is used to interleave the bitplanes, which 
allows you to blit bobs in one operation rather than one per bitplane.

You can't really assume anything about the data that is skipped, it 
might be data that is about to be scrolled onto the screen or it might 
be garbage.

> In some cases sprites, but for example in Boulder Dash there is so much
> that can change that my impression is that it's only the user
> controlled character that's a sprite.

boulderdash is a pretty extreme example, everything is characters and I 
think it runs physics for off screen data.

There is no guarantee a game will hold the data in memory in a way that 
you could easily extract, so there are going to be compromises & some 
games will work and others not.

> The two different depth levels? Yeah, you'd run out of data to display
> at the far ends. That would "only" be a cosmetic issue,

Aren't all the issues going to be cosmetic?

I'm not quite sure how the parallax code works in those two games. It 
might leave the background layer characters in the same place and only 
move the foreground layer characters, or it might move all characters 
and redefine the font so the background characters stay in the same 
place. Both will cause display issues, the former may additionally 
confuse the AI that determines whether you have scrolled,

> Good point, and while someone might be at it, there could aswell be
> modes for the rare super wide monitors (or rather TVs, intended for
> those who like movies as much as we like Commodore stuff).

I reckon it would be too distracting on a 21:9 tv. It's supposed to 
replace the weird stretching on either side of the screen on a 16:9 
monitor, you aren't really supposed to notice it's even there. But with 
a monitor that is almost double the width of an 80's tv then it's going 
to be too obvious.

I can barely even look at ps1 games on a modern tv, due to the pixel size.
Received on 2018-09-03 00:00:04

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