andym00

Before the upgrade I used to use the IPB app to read the forums on my iPhone and iPad..
Since the upgrade I'm only get the forums displayed as a regular webpage within it..
Has anyone any magic voodoo tips that might get me a sensible reading solution again ?

edit: Okay, I've just gone to the Invision website for the IP.Board app and just checked I've got the latest version, and on trying to install it iTunes says it's not available in the UK!! Which is weird, because I've got it installed, except it doesn't work anymore.. What kind of madness is this ??

..Well that's what the article is called
http://wosland.podga...m/fuck-the-c64/..

I figured some here would see find this amusing, and indeed learn some valuable lessons in how to translate pure rage into writing, as The Rev literally busts a blood-vessel over the EuroGamer article regarding the 64 vs Spectrum.. This one.. http://www.eurogamer...vs-commodore-64

It's a brilliant example of how to rage properly

I love The Rev

In addition to all the pulse sound stuff I've been doing some thinking about regular sample playback..
The idea is pretty simple, and surprisingly works very well..

It saves memory, and also saves CPU time, lots of CPU time in the case of higher sample rates..

Instead of the conventional packed nybbles of samples, packing 2 4 bits samples into one byte, I had the idea of storing a length in one of the nybbles..

Now, you might think this is a bit silly, but you'd be wrong

In a bunch of 15.6K 4bit samples, every single one of them compresses to less, not one is bigger..
In the below data, remember that the source size listed on each sample is as 8bit samples, so the regular 4bit version is half that size.. I've not been delicate about what I've given it, and it's a right old mixture..

Now, look at the numbers.. It's giving you some quite cool results..
The individual drums sounds compress amazingly well, 6:1 in some cases!!
General, very noisy, speech does okay, in the region of 1.5:1
A recording of some SID music, 2:1
So there you have it.. A lovely simple way to get more samples in your games, with less CPU overhead

Playback is dead simple, you just use the POKEY timers, or 6522/6 to set the delay after setting each sample..
So, the playback code is literally..

lax SampleData
and #$0f
ora #$10
sta AUDCx
lda LSR4,x
sta AUDFx

I'll knock up some tests today when I've got a few hours, but the playback scheme is exactly what I'm doing in the Pulse sounds stuff I've been working on..
Granted, this really only works well for one channel of sample playback, but there's means and ways to mix compressed sample data in realtime

Anyway.. Thought I'd share this...
No doubt someone will be along in a second to piss on the bonfire..
But until then..

Loaded 'samples\606BASS.pcm' size 3800 bytes
4 bit length - Compressed size: 328 bytes

Loaded 'samples\606CHAT.pcm' size 3500 bytes
4 bit length - Compressed size: 1258 bytes

Loaded 'samples\606CYMB.pcm' size 15000 bytes
4 bit length - Compressed size: 6760 bytes

Loaded 'samples\606HTOM.pcm' size 5000 bytes
4 bit length - Compressed size: 580 bytes

Loaded 'samples\606LTOM.pcm' size 5000 bytes
4 bit length - Compressed size: 544 bytes

Loaded 'samples\606SNAR.pcm' size 4374 bytes
4 bit length - Compressed size: 1034 bytes

Loaded 'samples\Jeff-Evolver6581r4.pcm' size 320000 bytes
4 bit length - Compressed size: 77292 bytes

Loaded 'samples\die_hard_yippee2.pcm' size 591830 bytes
4 bit length - Compressed size: 149822 bytes

Loaded 'samples\circle_is_complete_x.pcm' size 240744 bytes
4 bit length - Compressed size: 94618 bytes

Loaded 'samples\apxtwin.pcm' size 1239887 bytes
4 bit length - Compressed size: 492018 bytes

Total source size: 2429135 bytes
4bit size: 824254 bytes

If you got this far, then I also did a bunch of tests that also used different bit sizes for the lengths, a little more work decoding..
Interestingly the best bit size is 3bits.. On average it's about 10% better than 4bits, but that means you have 8 length values packed into 3 bytes, then the 8 samples packed as nybbles, so every 8 samples you'd need to unravel the next 8 length values.. Not a biggy, but not as elegant as 4 bits, and for only a small gain..

I also did results with other convenient bits sizes that work well, namely, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8 bit lengths values..
Here's the results for all of them in case you're curious..

Loaded 'samples\606BASS.pcm' size 3800 bytes
1 bit length - Compressed size: 1215 bytes
2 bit length - Compressed size: 763 bytes
3 bit length - Compressed size: 490 bytes
4 bit length - Compressed size: 328 bytes
6 bit length - Compressed size: 210 bytes
8 bit length - Compressed size: 205 bytes
Loaded 'samples\606CHAT.pcm' size 3500 bytes
1 bit length - Compressed size: 1357 bytes
2 bit length - Compressed size: 1198 bytes
3 bit length - Compressed size: 1198 bytes
4 bit length - Compressed size: 1258 bytes
6 bit length - Compressed size: 1480 bytes
8 bit length - Compressed size: 1746 bytes
Loaded 'samples\606CYMB.pcm' size 15000 bytes
1 bit length - Compressed size: 6261 bytes
2 bit length - Compressed size: 5682 bytes
3 bit length - Compressed size: 6125 bytes
4 bit length - Compressed size: 6760 bytes
6 bit length - Compressed size: 8290 bytes
8 bit length - Compressed size: 9915 bytes
Loaded 'samples\606HTOM.pcm' size 5000 bytes
1 bit length - Compressed size: 1625 bytes
2 bit length - Compressed size: 1059 bytes
3 bit length - Compressed size: 742 bytes
4 bit length - Compressed size: 580 bytes
6 bit length - Compressed size: 500 bytes
8 bit length - Compressed size: 577 bytes
Loaded 'samples\606LTOM.pcm' size 5000 bytes
1 bit length - Compressed size: 1623 bytes
2 bit length - Compressed size: 1042 bytes
3 bit length - Compressed size: 710 bytes
4 bit length - Compressed size: 544 bytes
6 bit length - Compressed size: 455 bytes
8 bit length - Compressed size: 519 bytes
Loaded 'samples\606SNAR.pcm' size 4374 bytes
1 bit length - Compressed size: 1558 bytes
2 bit length - Compressed size: 1212 bytes
3 bit length - Compressed size: 1067 bytes
4 bit length - Compressed size: 1034 bytes
6 bit length - Compressed size: 1153 bytes
8 bit length - Compressed size: 1366 bytes
Loaded 'samples\Jeff-Evolver6581r4.pcm' size 320000 bytes
1 bit length - Compressed size: 113287 bytes
2 bit length - Compressed size: 82620 bytes
3 bit length - Compressed size: 72915 bytes
4 bit length - Compressed size: 77292 bytes
6 bit length - Compressed size: 95088 bytes
8 bit length - Compressed size: 114073 bytes
Loaded 'samples\die_hard_yippee2.pcm' size 591830 bytes
1 bit length - Compressed size: 210877 bytes
2 bit length - Compressed size: 164604 bytes
3 bit length - Compressed size: 147731 bytes
4 bit length - Compressed size: 149822 bytes
6 bit length - Compressed size: 177745 bytes
8 bit length - Compressed size: 212863 bytes
Loaded 'samples\circle_is_complete_x.pcm' size 240744 bytes
1 bit length - Compressed size: 95233 bytes
2 bit length - Compressed size: 84858 bytes
3 bit length - Compressed size: 86459 bytes
4 bit length - Compressed size: 94618 bytes
6 bit length - Compressed size: 117175 bytes
8 bit length - Compressed size: 140556 bytes
Loaded 'samples\apxtwin.pcm' size 1239887 bytes
1 bit length - Compressed size: 485787 bytes
2 bit length - Compressed size: 431052 bytes
3 bit length - Compressed size: 442900 bytes
4 bit length - Compressed size: 492018 bytes
6 bit length - Compressed size: 612777 bytes
8 bit length - Compressed size: 735333 bytes
Total source size: 2429135 bytes
1bit size: 918823 bytes
2bit size: 774090 bytes
3bit size: 760337 bytes
4bit size: 824254 bytes
6bit size: 1014873 bytes
8bit size: 1217153 bytes

If raw compression was your goal then you could easily implement a single player to handle all of those modes, wouldn't be a huge job at all..
But personally, I think the simplicity of the 4bit length wins the race

If I support standard 130xe banking , is that going to work on everything that actually matters ?

What I mean is, banking schemes all kind of support this method right ?

(null)