What's eating Bank4?

[WizardBone]

Happy New year!

I been doing alright with Batari Basic, I've reached a point where I can just write code and figure out how things work myself without depending on question and answers. I am proud of myself for that lollll
BUT I have 16k set up which has 4 banks. And I notice the 4th bank slowly gets eaten up by some kinda monster. Whats going on there exactly? Also wondering if you can direct the "monster" to other banks. What happens when bank 4 is used up and i wanna add more sprites, is that the end of the line? I'm coming close. A link to document explaining would be cool if you feel lazy : )

Edited January 2, 2017 by WizardBone

[+Random Terrain]

randomterrain.com/atari-2600-memories-batari-basic-commands.html#bankswitching

You do not need to specify where sprite graphics go, as they all will be automatically placed in the last bank no matter where you define them (you can just leave all of your animation frames in the same bank that contains your main loop). Also, the kernel will always be placed in the last bank. Typically, bB modules and functions will as well.

[WizardBone]

Thanks for the reply man! Yeah I get that, I've been on your site a million times haah. I kinda regret how I worded my question now. Its not so much whats going in there, I should have asked
Once bank 4 or even if Bank 8 is filled does that mean you cannot add anymore sprites?

[+Random Terrain]

As far as I know, once your last bank is full, the only thing you can do is find ways to get rid of things like sprite frames that you don't absolutely need.

[WizardBone]

cool , thanks, just checking : ) thanks for yer time!

[+Gemintronic]

If you ever absolutely need more graphics you can use RevEngs multi kernel framework:

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/221100-bb-256k-128k-64k-32k-multikernel-frameworks/

 

The restriction here is that each 4k is a complete game onto itself - meaning code and graphics share each 4k. Using the normal kernel there is more room for code in every bank but the last.

 

Of course, sprites from one bank aren't valid in another with the multi kernel framework. So, you either have to duplicate sprites or segregate each 4k into game modes that will never have to use sprites outside the bank. Say, have the first bank be the overworld with forest animals while the second bank is the dungeon with ghosts.

[ultima]

I had this problem with sword of iffrit and found that removing all code from bank 8 except temp1 = temp1 opened up a few hundred more bytes. Before the savings I had my music code in bank 8.

[WizardBone]

Thanks for the replies! I had no idea anyone wrote again so sorry! Both are useful : )