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Stingray
Account closed
Registered: Feb 2003
Posts: 117 |
FASTER 3D GRAPHICS
I've heard it said before that the way the VIC chip addresses memory (8x8 cells) makes it slower fo rendering graphics because of the extra calculations needed. So what way would you have had the Commodore engineers design an alternative addressing mode so that 3D graphics could be calculated quicker? I would realy appreciate your ideas on this. |
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Stingray
Account closed
Registered: Feb 2003
Posts: 117 |
A fair amount of the logic is done but I can't guarantee a final spec until the project is completely finished (it also comes down to how much logic I can fit), so please don't hold me to anything.
The final spec should look something like the following:
EOR FILL (on the fly, no cpu overhead!!)
EOR FILL DITHERED (on the fly, no cpu overhead!!)
COLOUMN AND ROW FORMATED SCREENS
HARDWARE SCROLL
DIRECT LOADER
TEXAN MODE (Demo Coders will love this)
Plus you will be able to use the VIC to output more colors (due to movable color RAM) in each 8*8 cell (or 4*8 cell) then ever before! The best C64 graphics are still to come!
Using the direct loader will allow you to change more VIC registers per line and also reduce CPU overhead.
Hardware scroll = brilliant bitmap graphics for games (even better when combined with FLI of the extra color RAM!).
The EOR FILLS and column based screen are going to give you a tone more CPU cycles to do your 3D calculations with! Plus using Direct Loader and Texan mode will give you a some extra cycles per frame then usual. We are still to see the fastest 3D on the C64!
This VIC add-on board is going to, for the first time, open up the full power of the VIC chip. When the DIRECT LOADER is used in conjunction with the TEXAN mode I think ppl are going to come up with some amazing stuff and really start to realise and unleash the potential of the VIC.
Also, remember this VIC add-on is being designed to fit discretely inside your C64, to maintain 100% compatibility with all software and to maintain the essence of a C64 (you can think of this as the mod for C64 purists). The add-on has to be activated (by the coder) otherwise it just sits there and it's C64 as usual. This add-on is also being designed so that you will not have to hack or damage your C64's circuit board to fit it. I would also like (once the project is finished) for there to be emulation of it in VICE for everyone to use.
I have been doing this project in what little free time I have available hence it taking so long, I will try to post some photos soon.
A very big thank you to everyone who has helped me with this, when I started to do this project I really didn't have any idea at all about how 3D graphics are done. |
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Frantic
Registered: Mar 2003
Posts: 1647 |
"The best C64 graphics are still to come!"
"We are still to see the fastest 3D on the C64!"
Yeah, right.. ;) I mean, I am not trying to make you less happy about your achievements with that hardware or anything. Good work with that, I suppose! Neither am I some sort of purist (that you mention) that don't like when people experiment with new hardware. I just have a slightly hard time to swallow the verbal formulation (i.e. not the project as such) that this is "C64 graphics", since the "improvements" are in fact wholly due to additional hardware. Of course the VIC is still involved, and so forth, but if any kind of hardware expansion to the c64 would still count as "C64" then I guess a C64 could be anything. ...like a space-ship, a cyborg, or a laser cannon, or why not a washing machine? Indeed, from that perspective it certainly looks like the most amazing part of the C64's life may be yet to come. :) |
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Stingray
Account closed
Registered: Feb 2003
Posts: 117 |
That's right, it won't be a stock C64 it will be a C64 with a VIC-X installed. Definitely laser cannon, C64 would never be a washing machine. |
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Skate
Registered: Jul 2003
Posts: 494 |
Quote: That's right, it won't be a stock C64 it will be a C64 with a VIC-X installed. Definitely laser cannon, C64 would never be a washing machine.
c64 IS a washing machine. it's a brain washing machine. that's why we still use it after ~30 years.
happy to see some progress in this 6 years old project. |
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Stingray
Account closed
Registered: Feb 2003
Posts: 117 |
Quote: c64 IS a washing machine. it's a brain washing machine. that's why we still use it after ~30 years.
happy to see some progress in this 6 years old project.
LOL "brain washing machine". Yes 6 years :( yeh, what can I say, As long as I beat the release of Pinball Dreams :) |
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Stingray
Account closed
Registered: Feb 2003
Posts: 117 |
You are meant to lose the bottom line from the polygons when EOR filling right?? |
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Skate
Registered: Jul 2003
Posts: 494 |
afaik, that's right. |
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PopMilo
Registered: Mar 2004
Posts: 146 |
Great news!
I like that you are not trying to generate new type of palette or resolutions or something like other 8bit add-ons that change the spirit of them completely...
Tweeking address and data buses on fly and doing blitter stuff is enough for years of experimenting :)
ps. What is TEXAN mode ?
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Martin Piper
Registered: Nov 2007
Posts: 718 |
Good luck Stingray. :) |
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Stingray
Account closed
Registered: Feb 2003
Posts: 117 |
This is a shot of the EOR filler working. The first picture is with out the EOR filling enabled, second shot is the same screen but with the VIC-X doing EOR fill.
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