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Forums > C64 Coding > New video modes? 320x400 and 160x400
2007-04-10 03:44
nikoniko
Account closed

Registered: Dec 2006
Posts: 1
New video modes? 320x400 and 160x400

Hi all,
Hydrophilic/Hydradix over at the Commodore 128 Alive! forums has been working on a technique to achieve 320x400 and 160x400 interlaced modes on a C128, taking advantage of the VIC IIe's undocumented test bit to allow fine control of raster output. He's succeeded in getting it to work for NTSC (at least on his own TV), and has now put up a simple demonstration and instructions on fiddling with the settings. Anyway, with some experimentation it sounds like it could turn into something pretty cool, especially if some bright minds here could combine it with other techniques.

I know this place is mainly about 64 coding, but since the approach should also work on 128s in 64 mode, I thought you might like to know about it.

Here's his announcement: http://landover.no-ip.com/128/viewtopic.php?pid=2637

And here's his webpage, which goes into some detail about the technique: http://www.geocities.com/hydradix/C128/Interlace.htm

And finally, here's the original forum discussion while he was working on it: http://landover.no-ip.com/128/viewtopic.php?id=807

I believe he's tried to make it easy to tweak, so PAL support could probably be achieved by someone who wants to play with it.

I'd recommend that if you want to ask him questions, the forums I linked to are probably the best place since he's a frequent poster over there.

Cheers,
nikoniko
 
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2007-04-12 11:53
Steppe

Registered: Jan 2002
Posts: 1510
Teh brain is teh stupid!!!11
By the way, isn't that similar to what Crest did in Krestage 2? Or did they mean 640x400 DIAGONAL?
2007-04-12 12:01
Style

Registered: Jun 2004
Posts: 498
Quetzal/Chrome had some success with this a while back. I think he's still planning to do something with it.

works well on a 1084S which seems to cope pretty well.
2007-04-12 12:06
JackAsser

Registered: Jun 2002
Posts: 2014
Quote: Quetzal/Chrome had some success with this a while back. I think he's still planning to do something with it.

works well on a 1084S which seems to cope pretty well.


Doing true half-pixel interlace on a stock C64 is not the same as "essentially" doing it imo.

@Yago, Cruzer: The method you describes will only give the feeling of higher resolution when scrolling. For still images this method will simply only reduce to 25hz color-interlace. I.e. not actually yield any higher resolution. Or did I misunderstood what you meant?
2007-04-12 12:16
yago

Registered: May 2002
Posts: 333
afaik, only works with (up) scrolling, otherwise you only get "more" colors, but not better resolution.
This trick with upscrolling is indeed used in many demos (for the endpart), shamefully i cant name a single one atm
2007-04-12 12:35
JackAsser

Registered: Jun 2002
Posts: 2014
Quote: afaik, only works with (up) scrolling, otherwise you only get "more" colors, but not better resolution.
This trick with upscrolling is indeed used in many demos (for the endpart), shamefully i cant name a single one atm


@Yago: AFAIK my bro did it first in the end scroller of The Last Tracktor III.
2007-04-12 13:39
Cruzer

Registered: Dec 2001
Posts: 1048
Steppe is right, this is what was done in Krestage 2, and other did it even before this, e.g. Camelot :)
2007-05-20 08:58
AmiDog

Registered: Mar 2003
Posts: 97
There's now a PAL compatible demo released.

Have a look here and check the forum here.

I've only tried it with my PAL C128 and 1084 monitor, but I have found some settings which produce an interlaced image.
2007-05-21 01:34
Fungus

Registered: Sep 2002
Posts: 686
I saw a c64 demo with this technique done, I think it was released by Onslaught??? Scrolling some anime girl around.

As for the test bit things, Crossbow and Graham released Risen From Oblivion , which of course is exploiting this same test bit thing :)

2007-05-21 03:24
Oswald

Registered: Apr 2002
Posts: 5094
there is a demo called "400" which does a vertical interlace,... I dont really beleive to these theories that every 2nd frame moved and laced blah, aint the VIC hardwired to display its gfx on always the same lines on the tv?
2007-05-21 08:54
MagerValp

Registered: Dec 2001
Posts: 1078
Quote: there is a demo called "400" which does a vertical interlace,... I dont really beleive to these theories that every 2nd frame moved and laced blah, aint the VIC hardwired to display its gfx on always the same lines on the tv?

Yes, the trick is that when you're scrolling 0.5 pixels per frame. If you scroll a non-interlaced image 0.5 pixels per frame, you get line numbers like:

frame 0: 200
frame 1: 199.5
frame 2: 199
frame 3: 198.5

Which the VIC can't display, as it can't move half lines. But if you scroll an interlaced image 0.5 pixels per frame, you get:

frame 0 odd field: 200
frame 0 even field: 199.5 + 0.5 = 200
frame 1 odd field: 199
frame 1 even field: 198.5 + 0.5 = 199

With scrolling plus interlace, the even fields end up on integer line numbers, which the VIC can display. As soon as the image stops moving, the effect stops working. It also works with 1.5 pixels per frame, etc.

Try it on a real C64 and you'll see that it looks great.
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