Search found 45 matches

by walker7
Thu May 31, 2018 5:24 am
Forum: Megadrive/Genesis
Topic: Loop Unrolling - Optimal Unrolling Factor?
Replies: 7
Views: 6666

Re: Loop Unrolling - Optimal Unrolling Factor?

I'm trying to optimize a trade-off between code size (space) and cycles taken (time). When programming, you often have to make this kind of decision.
by walker7
Wed May 30, 2018 11:45 pm
Forum: Megadrive/Genesis
Topic: Game loops and Vertical Blank interupts
Replies: 29
Views: 19628

Re: Game loops and Vertical Blank interupts

One thing a lot of NES games do is set a variable to $00 until VBlank has fired, and then during VBlank, it gets set to $FF. At the end of VBlank, it returns to $00. This could be easily adapted to the Sega Genesis. This could be checked for at the beginning of the VBlank routine: If the flag is $00...
by walker7
Wed May 30, 2018 10:52 pm
Forum: Megadrive/Genesis
Topic: Loop Unrolling - Optimal Unrolling Factor?
Replies: 7
Views: 6666

Re: Loop Unrolling - Optimal Unrolling Factor?

For those who are interested, let me explain the derivation of the formula. Assume that the instruction(s) take c cycles to execute. The DBRA takes 10 cycles when taken, and 14 cycles when not taken. When the loop is completely rolled, each iteration takes c +10 cycles. The final iteration takes c +...
by walker7
Wed May 30, 2018 12:30 am
Forum: Megadrive/Genesis
Topic: Loop Unrolling - Optimal Unrolling Factor?
Replies: 7
Views: 6666

Loop Unrolling - Optimal Unrolling Factor?

When unrolling loops using the DBRA instruction and a fixed number of iterations, I think I have found the optimal unrolling factor. Multiply the number of iterations by 10, then take the square root. For example, if you have a loop that is executed 200 times, then you would compute: sqrt(200 * 10) ...
by walker7
Wed Feb 21, 2018 12:24 am
Forum: Blabla
Topic: C++ Libraries for Genesis Programming
Replies: 3
Views: 11024

Re: C++ Libraries for Genesis Programming

Here are my routines for Enigma compression: This routine takes a vector of 16-bit values (unsigned short ints), and returns an Enigma-compressed file in a byte-vector. Make sure you have the typedefs mentioned in the first post of this thread. vector<byte> Enigma_Decomp(vector<u16> &f) { // f = map...
by walker7
Mon Jan 01, 2018 11:51 pm
Forum: Blabla
Topic: Make a wish / What if : Genesis
Replies: 21
Views: 25346

Re: Make a wish / What if : Genesis

If there was a Super Sega Genesis, I might add the following: 32-bit addresses (can you imagine a 1-gigabyte Sega Genesis game?) Extra VRAM (maybe 4-8 times as much) Higher CRAM color resolution, and more palettes to choose from More planes (maybe 4) More sprites More sound chips and channels (about...
by walker7
Thu Oct 05, 2017 11:57 pm
Forum: Blabla
Topic: C++ Libraries for Genesis Programming
Replies: 3
Views: 11024

C++ Libraries for Genesis Programming

When programming for the Sega Genesis or any other system, it might be a good idea to write your own libraries to encode the data however you want. You can also write libraries for finding the optimal setting for some things. For example, I recently made my own Nemesis-compressor in C++. You will ne...
by walker7
Tue Apr 04, 2017 5:52 am
Forum: Megadrive/Genesis
Topic: Sprite Data Mashed Up
Replies: 3
Views: 3545

Re: Sprite Data Mashed Up

For 80 sprites, what I usually like to do is number their link fields 1-79 then 0.
by walker7
Wed Mar 08, 2017 3:14 pm
Forum: Megadrive/Genesis
Topic: Aggregating Code Snippets
Replies: 6
Views: 6727

Re: Aggregating Code Snippets

MintyTheCat wrote:This site desperately needs a Wiki.
Good idea. After all, there is an nesdev wiki, so maybe we can call it gendev or mddev (md for Mega Drive).

We could put all our YM2612 knowledge, code snippets, and other Genesis research stuff on there.
by walker7
Mon Mar 06, 2017 1:28 am
Forum: Megadrive/Genesis
Topic: Aggregating Code Snippets
Replies: 6
Views: 6727

Re: Aggregating Code Snippets

This piece of code takes the XNZVC bits of the SR and uses them as an index into a jump table. In this jump table, each branch target is a BRA.B instruction. Jump_SR: move.w sr,-(a7) move.l d0,-(a7) move.w 4(a7),d0 andi.w #$1F,d0 ext.l d0 add.w d0,d0 add.l d0,6(a7) addq.l #6,a7 rts If you want to us...
by walker7
Sat Mar 04, 2017 4:16 am
Forum: Megadrive/Genesis
Topic: Aggregating Code Snippets
Replies: 6
Views: 6727

Aggregating Code Snippets

In response to Mask of Destiny's post about aggregating community research, I'd like to aggregate all the interesting code snippets I've posted. The one takes a set of colors (in 9-bit strings, bbbgggrrr format) that are compressed, and decompresses them. Load_CompColors: ;==========================...
by walker7
Tue Jul 26, 2016 1:30 am
Forum: Megadrive/Genesis
Topic: Best tool for password reverse engineering?
Replies: 5
Views: 7536

Re: Best tool for password reverse engineering?

Hi guys, inspired by the cool master system password generators over at smspower, I thought it'd be fun to try to do the same for the megadrive as an intro to reverse engineering/assembly (I appreciate the learning curve for this stuff is huge, so there really is no easy place to start!). I picked ...
by walker7
Mon Apr 18, 2016 4:19 am
Forum: Megadrive/Genesis
Topic: Z80 DAC Sound Problem
Replies: 2
Views: 3479

Re: Z80 DAC Sound Problem

Here's the code I used to initialize the Z80: moveq #$000,d0 ; Load constant $0000 (bit 8 clear). move.w #$100,d7 ; Load constant $0100 (bit 8 set). lea $A11100,a1 ; POINT TO: Z80 Start/Stop Switch. lea $A11200,a2 ; POINT TO: Z80 Reset Switch. lea Z80_Program(pc),a5 ; POINT TO: Z80 Program. lea $A00...
by walker7
Mon Apr 18, 2016 2:35 am
Forum: Megadrive/Genesis
Topic: Z80 DAC Sound Problem
Replies: 2
Views: 3479

Z80 DAC Sound Problem

I wrote a simple piece of Z80 code to play a small DAC sample. I've got it running properly. However, when I play it on various emulators, most of the time I don't hear anything, and I double-checked to make sure that the sound was on. I only hear the sample when I play it on Exodus. What's the prob...