Date : Tue, 09 Mar 2004 07:54:02 -0800 (PST)
From : Charles Ripperton <charlesripperton@...>
Subject: the technical side of ... EXILE
I am curious about 'EXILE', which I have only recently started playing
via emulation. There are many smarter people than me on this list who
I would hope could answer some questions about the game, please.
EXILE - (BBC Micro/Master series)
Q1.)
How many different versions on the BBC disc? Just the 'standard' one
and the 'enhanced' version? Was there also a different version for the
Master Compact?
Q2.)
Why, do you imagine, did the loader not programmatically determine
which version (standard or enhanced) to run, based on querying the
amount of proper sideways RAM (enhanced needed a lone 16K page of it)
available? Surely everyone with a page of sideways ram would always
choose the enhanced version? :o)
Q3.)
The standard version of Exile had a screen display that was a
modified MODE2-like affair, yes? So, 128 (fat pixels) x 128 (rows) *
8 colours = 8K needed for the display?
Q4.)
What extra features were in the enhanced version? Was th enhancements
solely confined to a larger screen and digitised sound samples?
Q5.)
How much of Exile's code in the enhanced version was jammed into the
sideways ram - was all 16K used, or 12K, or just 8K, or what?
Q6.)
How was Exile's sections of code in the enhanced version split across
normal ram and sideways ram? i.e. did the graphics and speech reside
in the sideways ram, and the main game code and screen reside in the
normal ram?
Q7.)
Was the 12K-sideways-ram-but-not-truely-recognised-as-such (top bit
set on &FE30) extra memory in the standard (64K) B+ useable/sufficient
for the enhanced version of Exile? Or was a page of 'REAL' sideways
ram needed?
Q8.)
Is scrolling a square ratio display (i.e. the 8-colour 128x256
MODE2-like screen in Exile; the 4-colour 128x256 MODE5-like screen in
Repton) somehow technically easier (in hardware) than a normal 'full'
5:4 ratio display like MODE2 (160x256) or MODE5 (160x256)? Or is the
reason for having such a display in Exile simply to only use 16K of
RAM instead of the full 20K of display RAM?
Best Regards,
Charles.
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