Fix bankswitching: Difference between revisions

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The following info is based off MAME's source and was not yet verified against real hardware. It can therefore be inaccurate/incomplete.
In some late games, the [[S ROM]] 128KiB size limit was expanded with the use of {{Chipname|NEO-CMC}} chips.


The {{Chipname|NEO-CMC}} chips exploit the fact that the [[GPU]] continues to render the [[fix layer]] outside of the visible screen area. This allows them to use the normally unused $7500~$75FF [[VRAM]] region.
This was devised as some sort of hack, taking advantage that the [[VDC]] continues rendering the [[fix layer]] outside of the visible screen area. This allows the chips to use the normally unused $7500~$75FF [[VRAM]] region to add bits to the tile numbers.


Probably a hack found when someone complained the [[S ROM]] max. size was too small :)
The chips use latches to store the additional bits at the beginning of a line, and "distributes" them during render. Synchronization might just be free running, started by /RESET and clocked with 6MB ?


== NEO-CMC 42 ==
==NEO-CMC 042==


The 042 version of [[NEO-CMC]] is able to change the tile bank (4 maximum) for each line of [[fix layer|fix]] tiles (8 pixels), allowing to use more than 4096 tiles. For this, the $7500~$75BF area of VRAM is used.
Infos from Mr K (MAME).


*The $7500~$753F area even words contains a flag to indicate if the bank has to be changed for the corresponding tile line.
Used by:
*The $7580~$75BF area even words contains bank numbers for each of the tile lines.
* [[Garou - Mark of the Wolves]]
* [[Metal Slug 3]]


If for a given line, the flag is set to $0200, the bank is read and changed and will remain the same until it's changed again (doesn't return to 0 if the next line hasn't the flag set).
The 042 version of NEO-CMC allows fix data up to 512KiB (16384 tiles instead of 4096), by changing the bank (4 maximum) for groups of 2 line of tiles (or more ?). For this, the $7500~$75BF area in VRAM is used.
 
* The $7500~$753F area even words (32 total) contain a flag to indicate if the bank has to be changed for the corresponding tile line.
* The $7580~$75BF area even words (32 total) contain bank numbers for each of the tile lines.
 
If for a given line, the flag is set to $0200 (group size ?), the bank is read, changed, and will remain the same until it's changed again (it doesn't go back to 0 if the next line doesn't have the flag set).


Bank number:
Bank number:
{{16BitRegister|Has to be $FF? ($0F works?)|8|Unused ?|6|Bank number|2}}
{{16BitRegister|Has to be $FF ($0F works?)|8|Unused ?|6|Bank number|2}}


Bank bits are inverted (00 = bank 3, 11 = bank 0).
Bank bits are inverted (00 = bank 3, 11 = bank 0).


'''This needs further research, see MAME video/neogeo.c'''


MAME video/neogeo.c CMC42 handling:
==NEO-CMC 50==
<syntaxhighlight lang="c">
if (banked && state->m_fixed_layer_bank_type == 1)
{
int garoubank = 0;
int k = 0;
int y = 0;
while (y < 32)
{
if (state->m_videoram[0x7500 + k] == 0x0200 && (state->m_videoram[0x7580 + k] & 0xff00) == 0xff00)
{
garoubank = state->m_videoram[0x7580 + k] & 3;
garouoffsets[y++] = garoubank;
}
garouoffsets[y++] = garoubank;
k += 2;
}
}
</syntaxhighlight>


Mame driver increments fix line twice when a bank change is requested, which implies:
[[File:Cmc50bs.png|400px|right]]
 
- It is only possible to bank lines 2 by 2.
 
- Actual vram offset position for each line varies with banking configurations
 
 
== NEO-CMC 50 ==


[[File:Cmc50bs.png|400px|right]]
Used by:
* [[The King of Fighters 2000]]
* [[Metal Slug 4]]
* [[Matrimelee]]
* [[SNK vs. Capcom - SVC Chaos]]
* [[The King of Fighters 2003]]


The 050 version of NEO-CMC is able to add 2 bits to the [[fix layer|fix]] tile numbers, allowing to use 16384 tiles at most (512KiB [[S ROM]]) at any time. For this, the $7500~$75DF area of VRAM is used.
The 050 version of NEO-CMC allows to add 2 bits to all the fix tile indexes individually, also allowing to use 16384 tiles at most but in a simpler manner and with no restrictions. For this, the $7500~$75DF area of VRAM is used.


Each word in this area gives the bank numbers for 6 horizontally consecutive fix tiles:
Each word in this area gives the bank number for 6 horizontally consecutive fix tiles corresponding to the line:
{{16BitRegister|Unused ?|4|a|2|b|2|c|2|d|2|e|2|f|2}}
{{16BitRegister|Unused ?|4|a|2|b|2|c|2|d|2|e|2|f|2}}


Revision as of 21:13, 19 August 2016

In some late games, the S ROM 128KiB size limit was expanded with the use of NEO-CMC chips.

This was devised as some sort of hack, taking advantage that the VDC continues rendering the fix layer outside of the visible screen area. This allows the chips to use the normally unused $7500~$75FF VRAM region to add bits to the tile numbers.

The chips use latches to store the additional bits at the beginning of a line, and "distributes" them during render. Synchronization might just be free running, started by /RESET and clocked with 6MB ?

NEO-CMC 042

Infos from Mr K (MAME).

Used by:

The 042 version of NEO-CMC allows fix data up to 512KiB (16384 tiles instead of 4096), by changing the bank (4 maximum) for groups of 2 line of tiles (or more ?). For this, the $7500~$75BF area in VRAM is used.

  • The $7500~$753F area even words (32 total) contain a flag to indicate if the bank has to be changed for the corresponding tile line.
  • The $7580~$75BF area even words (32 total) contain bank numbers for each of the tile lines.

If for a given line, the flag is set to $0200 (group size ?), the bank is read, changed, and will remain the same until it's changed again (it doesn't go back to 0 if the next line doesn't have the flag set).

Bank number:

Bit 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
Def Has to be $FF ($0F works?) Unused ?Bank number

Bank bits are inverted (00 = bank 3, 11 = bank 0).

This needs further research, see MAME video/neogeo.c

NEO-CMC 50

Used by:

The 050 version of NEO-CMC allows to add 2 bits to all the fix tile indexes individually, also allowing to use 16384 tiles at most but in a simpler manner and with no restrictions. For this, the $7500~$75DF area of VRAM is used.

Each word in this area gives the bank number for 6 horizontally consecutive fix tiles corresponding to the line:

Bit 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
Def Unused ? abcdef

Those bank bits are inverted (00 = bank 3, 11 = bank 0).

The words are organized as in the fix map for a PAL screen (first and last lines aren't used): from top to bottom and left to right. The "e" and "f" group of bits are unused in the last column ($75C0+).

Examples:

  • Tile at X=0, Y=1 has its bank number in bits a of $7500
  • Tile at X=0, Y=5 has its bank number in bits a of $7504
  • Tile at X=3, Y=2 has its bank number in bits d of $7501
  • Tile at X=7, Y=9 has its bank number in bits b of $7528
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