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Krill
Registered: Apr 2002
Posts: 2982 |
Release id #197710 : Transwarp v0.64
General Q&A thread, also report problems and error logs here. |
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Krill
Registered: Apr 2002
Posts: 2982 |
Quoting ZaphodThose games didn't IRQ load to begin with. Neither will Transwarp ever IRQ-load. =)
Quoting ZaphodI see the demo disks cheat and shove 19 or so blocks of transwarp into the directory track, making the loader effectively only take 13 blocks. This would make it difficult to adapt to games that use a lot of files after the main load instead of a track and sector loader. The Transwarp boot file does not have to occupy blocks on the directory track. That is merely an optimisation to have more space for Transwarp files and have an optimised sector layout for faster bootstrapping. There can only be 33 (38) Transwarp files on a disk anyways, as they do not share tracks with other files.
Quoting ZaphodAlso a way to install a transwarp with a MENU, or to just link it into the first file the way the demo disks do it. Any kind of menu program that does not install a fastloader but uses the plain KERNAL load call would work. You'd just put this on the disk first, with Transwarp encoding, and it would load with Transwarp, then load any files from the directory listing using Transwarp (without booting it again, it's still installed in memory) as well. Such a simple menu program could probably even be made in BASIC.
Quoting ZaphodHow many blocks (before encoding) can transwarp currently load? Files can load to anywhere in the $0400..$CFFF range. About 206 standard blocks. |
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Zaphod
Registered: Jun 2012
Posts: 63 |
ahh, so transwarp hides under the kernal.
and of course it looks at the bytes after the filename to determine if it's a transwarp file, and if not (like for directory) banks the kernal back in and JSRs it. I really want to see transwarp koronis rift NTSC version. compressing a bit if if must to fit it all on the disk.
I'm still wondering how the heck it loads ITSELF so fast when you use ,8,1
Archon was well chosen as a game, since it apparently got a vorpal release in europe at sometime.
What is the theoretical max for a "play with sprites and music" or "play with picture and music" loader? |
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Krill
Registered: Apr 2002
Posts: 2982 |
Quoting Zaphodahh, so transwarp hides under the kernal. Resident code also resides under IO ($Dxxx), plus some code in lowmem ($02xx and $03xx) with subroutines for memconfig switching, calling ROM routines, etc.
Quoting ZaphodI'm still wondering how the heck it loads ITSELF so fast when you use ,8,1 The first two blocks are a little autostarting fastloader which loads and runs the rest of the file.
Quoting ZaphodWhat is the theoretical max for a "play with sprites and music" or "play with picture and music" loader? Modern IRQ loaders typically make something around 20x tops, but how fast they are depends on how much is going on while loading in the background. |
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Zaphod
Registered: Jun 2012
Posts: 63 |
ahh. and the cart version will be in cart ROM instead of under the kernal.
issue is fitting both transwarp and a vorpal speed standard loader.
Now i'm wondering what a transwarp analog for sd2iec would be. clearly it's possible to make one. I refuse to believe that the 1541 can transmit faster than the sd2iec is capable of. :) |
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Krill
Registered: Apr 2002
Posts: 2982 |
Quoting Zaphodissue is fitting both transwarp and a vorpal speed standard loader. Modern cartridges have practically unlimited ROM space. Should be no problem to fit multiple fastloaders.
Quoting ZaphodNow i'm wondering what a transwarp analog for sd2iec would be. clearly it's possible to make one. I refuse to believe that the 1541 can transmit faster than the sd2iec is capable of. :) A native SD2IEC fastloader would be bound only by the serial bus limitations. Max transfer speed is somewhere around 32 KB/s, so upwards of 80x. |
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Zaphod
Registered: Jun 2012
Posts: 63 |
Which raises the question of why it isn't around yet.
we can skip the entire gcr encoding issue, and load standard files for sure.
can jiffydos itself be beaten for a screen on loader for sd2iec? |
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Krill
Registered: Apr 2002
Posts: 2982 |
Quoting Zaphodcan jiffydos itself be beaten for a screen on loader for sd2iec? That would boil down to the question whether the JiffyDOS protocol is the fastest possible protocol to leave the screen on while loading. I've never looked at it closely, but i'd be surprised if it cannot be improved. |
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Zaphod
Registered: Jun 2012
Posts: 63 |
hmm. it's 2 bits but also allows for run/stop. If that's sacrificed you can probably get a bit faster. but it's on par with state of the art irq loading.
With screen off it really should be possible to do better than 25x, though... |
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Krill
Registered: Apr 2002
Posts: 2982 |
Quoting Zaphodhmm. it's 2 bits but also allows for run/stop. If that's sacrificed you can probably get a bit faster. No need to sacrifice checking the stop key, really. The check takes just a few cycles, and it's sufficient to do that between incoming blocks rather than between bytes.
Quoting Zaphodbut it's on par with state of the art irq loading. Which hints at some optimisation potential. =)
Quoting ZaphodWith screen off it really should be possible to do better than 25x, though... Remains to be seen. Probably needs a few tricks beyond more efficient bus transfers. |
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Zaphod
Registered: Jun 2012
Posts: 63 |
Any progress?
Btw, awesome version number (laugh)
Is there room to add transwarp to koronis rift NTSC version?
It would be nice to have a version that fastcopies and loads fast. :) |
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