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1MB Ram... Needed?


Mr Robot

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9 minutes ago, Mr Robot said:

Is there currently any software that needs 1088KB or is 576KB enough for everything at the moment?

There are of course a few titles that need 1MB.... But some of those can mitigate that need by running from 8mbit AtariMax cart, or a likewise emulated configuration in an Ultimate / AVG Cart. (ie AtariBlast). Some "cracked" titles from XEGS Carts require 320KB RAM.

 

Honestly, I've been doing just fine with 576KB - But you will do well with even 256 or 320KB. Enough for SDX to grab a few extra banks for buffers, DOSKEY, etc, to leave OS RAM and the 4 XE banks free, and still have at least a 180KB ramdisk to fit a double-density disks worth of files. Good for 'temp files' - Mem sav, etc without 'flash wear'.

 

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The only things I can think of, besides maybe a demo or two, are file versions of AtariBlast and/or Space Harrier. Otherwise 320K-576K is enough for any other software or demos. I think you can make use of all 1MB one way or another with SpartaDOS, for application/productivity/programming purposes. I don't think there are any games that use more than 320K, like Bomb Jack and Yie Ar Kung-fu and file version of some XE carts. There may be some 512K-576K demos...

 

I never felt the need for more than the 512K of internal ram I did have, and now 576K of internal-external I have now with Syscheck 2. My 800 has 1MB now with Incognito, but if there were a cheaper 512K/576K version I would have bought it instead.

 

Edit: Nezgar beat me to it!

Edited by Gunstar
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The only game I can find that needs 1MB on Homesoft is Atariblast, that can run in a banked cart. Space Harrier runs in 64K.

 

I don't know where to check to see if any scene releases need 1MB so I figured the experts here would know if there is anything.

 

 

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50 minutes ago, Mr Robot said:

Space Harrier runs in 64K.

 

 

 

 

I couldn't remember if there was a 1MB file version of Space Harrier or not, but the only reason it runs on 64K is because it's a banked rom image that requires a Maxflash cart or compatible. AtariBlast! rom version can run on a 16K Atari by the same means, only the file version requires 1MB ram. I just keep mis-remembering that there is no 1MB file version of Space Harrier.

 

With a minimum of 320K you can run all demos (that I know of, maybe there are a couple 512/576K ones that I've missed) except the one mentioned that requires 1MB, all file versions of XE cartridges, including the enhanced Commando (though this is just a new title screen and stereo music on the title sceen) and Mean 18 golf. Also as I mentioned Bomb Jack and Yie Ar Kung-fu. There will only be some demos that need more than 320K.

Edited by Gunstar
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It does seem like any extended memory (more than 128K anyway) home-brew games these days are made to work off of Banked rom memory, with all the flashcart varieties available now. So the maximum audience can enjoy them. Or both rom and file versions. So if any more 1MB programs come along, chances are 1MB ram won't be a requirement, maybe an option, like AtariBlast!

Edited by Gunstar
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This question comes up every now and then - by U1MB users, Antonia users, etc. See e.g. here:

 

Space Harrier is ROM/CAR only and therefore works with 64k RAM, Atari Blast is available a) as ROM/CAR that works with 16k RAM and b) as XEX that requires 1088k RAM...

 

On my AVG cart. I have some PDM sounds and AVF videos that are a "little" larger than 1MB (most videos in the range of 50-200MB, but some have a size of 500MB, 1GB or more) - luckily they work directly from the 64GB SD-card and therefore 64k RAM is enough for the A8...  ;-)

 

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7 minutes ago, mytek said:

Space Harrier that'll run on a 576K system - no cartridge required: Space Harrier.atr

 

 

Afaik, this is the (old) one level demoversion - it runs with 128k RAM. It's only missing the title screen, 17 more levels, the intermissions and 95% more stuff. But other than that, it's fairly (in)complete... 

;-) ;-) ;-)

 

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What would it take to get an XEX of AtariBlast to work with a 576K Rambo compatible memory upgrade? There's probably quite a few systems out there with that much memory. @tf_hh still sells an SRAM based version (or two).

 

I know it would require a rewrite, but Is it even possible?

 

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1 hour ago, Mr Robot said:

It's probably possible as a multi-load ATR but I don't think you could do it as an XEX without some very clever compression

Yes that is what I probably should have specified - an ATR :) .

 

576K is a pretty good chunk of memory, so possibly do the initial preload of 1/2 of the game instead of the whole 1MB as is done now. Then let you play until you've gotten to a certain level, do an intermission while loading the 2nd 1/2, and resume. Seems like it should be possible without a lot of changes, and yet still quite playable.

 

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