Bankswitching question

[SeaGtGruff]

I don't know if I'm losing my mind, or what.

 

Last year I started working on a game (which has been shelved for now) that uses M-Network bankswitching. I was using the adev.exe (Atari Dev) program to write in assembly, compiling with DASM, and running the program with z26, all from within the adev program. I had to use the -g9 switch to tell z26 that the program should use the M-Network cart style, but it was working.

 

This is how I set up the banks:

 

Bank 0 = $C000 (relocated to $F000)

Bank 1 = $C800 (relocated to $F000)

Bank 2 = $D000 (reloacted to $F000)

Bank 3 = $D800 (relocated to $F000)

Bank 4 = $E000 (relocated to $F000)

Bank 5 = $E800 (relocated to $F000)

Bank 6 = $F000

Bank 7 = $F800

 

To be more specific, I hadn't learned about RORG yet, so I created the 8 banks as separately-compiled 2K binaries at $F000, but with the last 2K bank at $F800. Then I combined the binaries using INCBIN, starting at $C000.

 

Okay, so this week I've been trying to get M-Network bankswitching to work with batari BASIC. (This post is *not* about bB, so that's why I'm posting here rather than in the bB forum.) The problem is, I can't get the 16K ROM to run correctly, unless I put bank 7 as the second 2K block, like this:

 

Bank ? | Bank 7 | Bank ? | Bank ? | Bank ? | Bank ? | Bank ? | Bank ?

 

In other words, the first 4K of the binary is loading at $F000 through $FFFF, and the remaining 12K apparently isn't getting loaded at all-- which I guess is right, since the other banks aren't really there until they get switched in.

 

So now I'm totally confused, because last year, and in January/February of this year, I was putting bank 7 last and it was working. It's as if z26 was working differently then (and I also ran it on Stella, which was working the same way).

 

Can anyone explain the order the banks should be in? If I look at BurgerTime's code (16K M-Network), bank 7 is at the end!

 

I can't even get my old code to work anymore, and it was working before.

 

Michael Rideout

[supercat]

In other words, the first 4K of the binary is loading at $F000 through $FFFF, and the remaining 12K apparently isn't getting loaded at all-- which I guess is right, since the other banks aren't really there until they get switched in.

 

Did you maybe forget the -g9 switch :-)

[SeaGtGruff]

Never mind, it seems to be a documentation problem. I mean, the z26 doc I'm looking at says that #9 is M-Network, but I have an old shortcut that uses -g7, and it runs my old 16K ROM correctly. But why does the z26 doc say that M-Network cart style is #9????

 

Offbeat Cartridge Formats (Bank Switching)

------------------------------------------

 

z26 currently supports the following schemes:

 

1.  Standard 8K bank switching.

2.  Standard 16K bank switching.

3.  Atari Super-Chip.

4.  CBS Ram Plus.

5.  Parker Brothers 8K.

6.  TigerVision 8K.

7.  Activision FE 8K.

8.  Atari 32K.

9.  M-Network 16K.

10. Pitfall II.

11. Starpath.

12. Megaboy.

 

Support is automatic. z26 knows how to recognize cartridges. To override

the default selection you may use the -g<n> command line switch. Press

F1 to see the built-in help file for details.

 

Michael Rideout

[SeaGtGruff]

Never mind, it seems to be a documentation problem. I mean, the z26 doc I'm looking at says that #9 is M-Network, but I have an old shortcut that uses -g7, and it runs my old 16K ROM correctly. But why does the z26 doc say that M-Network cart style is #9????

 

Offbeat Cartridge Formats (Bank Switching)

------------------------------------------

 

z26 currently supports the following schemes:

 

1.  Standard 8K bank switching.

2.  Standard 16K bank switching.

3.  Atari Super-Chip.

4.  CBS Ram Plus.

5.  Parker Brothers 8K.

6.  TigerVision 8K.

7.  Activision FE 8K.

8.  Atari 32K.

9.  M-Network 16K.

10. Pitfall II.

11. Starpath.

12. Megaboy.

 

Support is automatic. z26 knows how to recognize cartridges. To override

the default selection you may use the -g<n> command line switch. Press

F1 to see the built-in help file for details.

 

Michael Rideout

940820[/snapback]

See, those numbers don't agree with these, so I got confused :

 

-gN -- override game type

N=1 -- Commavid extra RAM

N=2 -- 8K Superchip

N=3 -- 8K Parker Brothers

N=4 -- 8K Tigervision

N=5 -- 8K Decathlon & Robot Tank

N=6 -- 16K Superchip

N=7 -- 16K M-Network

N=8 -- 32K Superchip

N=9 -- 8K Atari -- banks swapped

N=10 -- Spectravideo Compumate

N=11 -- 32K - 512K Extended Tigervision

N=12 -- 8K UA Ltd.

N=13 -- 64K Homestar Runner / Paul Slocum