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Post by DarkKobold on Oct 25, 2019 22:02:32 GMT
According to Arkhan, the maximum size of a ROM should be 2048 without a Mapper. However, HuC limits you to 1024kB. Is it possible to compile a larger ROM? Or is that an error?
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Post by dshadoff on Oct 25, 2019 22:09:38 GMT
The total address space on the PC engine is 2048KB, but there needs to be a lot of cut-outs in order to avoid bus conflicts with all the hardware (I/O, BRAM, CD memory, etc.)
1024KB is much safer, and matches the maximum size of games other than Street Fighter 2.
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Post by gredler on Oct 25, 2019 22:12:13 GMT
Would compression change our footprint maybe? I was hoping to add some full screen images for a ending screen, and add more static decorative sprites where vram allows
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Post by DarkKobold on Oct 25, 2019 22:25:03 GMT
Compression would help a bit for things like level backgrounds or the title screen, where loading time won't matter. A lot of the more dynamic stuff probably can't be compressed without a hit to the gameplay.
That said, I tried compression, and failed pretty miserably.
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Post by gredler on Oct 25, 2019 22:28:30 GMT
time to reopen the book on compression, we need some full screen catostrophic art!!! (kidding, we could live with out)
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Post by turboxray on Oct 26, 2019 7:37:04 GMT
PuCrunch for PCE has some really great compression rates. I made a version that could decompress directly to vram, and did pretty well with a ring buffer size of 256-512bytes of ram IIRC. There was a linear to PCE planar "tile" conversion option on the decompressor side (tile or sprites), but it was a slower than native format. But it really helped with some large images, or sprites, etc. I have it working in HuC. I thought Nodt has used it in the past, but maybe that was something I demo'd to him but he never did? I can't remember.
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TailChao
Gun-headed
I Must Eat Muffin Gear.
Posts: 68
Fave PCE Game Overall: Bonk's Adventure
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Post by TailChao on Oct 26, 2019 17:10:38 GMT
One megabyte is the maximum size without adding a mapper to the HuCard. Keep in mind that once you exceed 512KB the price of 5V NOR Flashes increases dramatically, so I highly recommend investing in compression of any non-streamed assets.
We used puCrunch for compressing Rikki & Vikki's graphic data and stage maps, it worked quite well and has a good license. Other algorithms you may want to look into are aPLib or Elmer's SWD4 / SWD5.
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Post by dshadoff on Oct 26, 2019 23:46:01 GMT
Are you planning to release as a physical HuCard release ? Or just a ROM image ?
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Post by gredler on Oct 27, 2019 16:21:29 GMT
Are you planning to release as a physical HuCard release ? Or just a ROM image ? I definitely want to make at least one physical copy for myself, and i think DK wants one as well. A few other people have expressed interest in a physical copy too
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Post by dshadoff on Oct 27, 2019 17:07:08 GMT
How do you plan to make the physical copies ?
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Post by gredler on Oct 27, 2019 17:28:34 GMT
How do you plan to make the physical copies ? Good question. I know there're some reproduction hucard makers from the old forums, DK had some connections/ideas, and Cabbage has mentioned trying to make some hucards. Cabbage made a physical copy of our Gameboy Color homebrew we made for a gamejam, which turned out beautifully.
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Post by dshadoff on Oct 27, 2019 17:36:32 GMT
Wow, that looks great ! Was it from scratch, or were parts salvaged (PC Board, plastic case) ?
I know that Turbo Reproductions was making HuCards (and I have to say, they looked really nice from what I could see), but oddly they didn't seem to make any mention of homebrew releases. Are you able to forecast a release date yet ?
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Post by gredler on Oct 27, 2019 17:55:07 GMT
Wow, that looks great ! Was it from scratch, or were parts salvaged (PC Board, plastic case) ? I know that Turbo Reproductions was making HuCards (and I have to say, they looked really nice from what I could see), but oddly they didn't seem to make any mention of homebrew releases. Are you able to forecast a release date yet ? It's hard to say, but both DK and I have resolved to finish the project, and I would say we are almost to beta on art and gameplay. We have very little sound, and are waiting on the Deflemask support to come on line before we push to make more audio. I need to stop working on this project, as much as I love homebrew for classic systems, my modern development skills need to be trained in a personal project so I need to tie a bow on this one asap. We are hoping to have the rom done within 6 months or so, but we've been saying that for years And I believe Cabbage 3D printed the cart shell, and used off the shelf parts for the guts? He would have to step in and explain, but I really appreciate having a physical copy of our game to play and demonstrate to people
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touko
Punkic Cyborg
Posts: 106
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Post by touko on Oct 27, 2019 18:35:05 GMT
Some hucards were made for barbarian PCE by a french (ishigobankai ) .
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Post by dshadoff on Oct 27, 2019 18:46:11 GMT
Also very nice looking. I wonder if any of their techniques have been shared.
Also, I am curious about the bevel on the leading edge of the HuCard. It's hard to see on both this and the Turbo Reproductions cards, but if it's not bevelled enough, it could cause the pins in the connector to get jammed, causing damage to the host machine. I learned this the hard way nearly 30 years ago when I was building the original Kisado converters.
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