akira^8GB wrote:I see, the. I cannot help with the memory but I could with the interface, let me know!
I'll bear it in mind, thanks for the offer.
The problem cannot be isolated though to just the interface though.
Putting in another Pattern column would require 10 more text columns (5 tracks x 2 digits per column) which absolutely will not fit on the NES screen. I had to redesign my original layout to move all the text in away from the edges of the screen as you cannot guarantee (on NTSC) that you'll be able to read the outermost rows and columns
If anything I also need to be updating *less* information as the screen refresh is already slower than I'd like. Adding more data will mean less can be update per frame which will slow down the screen refresh even more.
I have no room at all where the Song Arranger is - one column at most. I'd need 4 to add an effect per Song Track.
Then there's the memory issue. If I start adding more columns to the patterns they will take 50% more space in the 8Kb of RAM I have (which is totally used up). If I add an effect column per Song Track, that will take up another 50% more space for the Song data.
In future releases I plan to compress the Pattern and Song data and decompress them on-the-fly but a) that's the future and b) it might not be possible.
Last edited by neilbaldwin (Jan 18, 2010 12:53 pm)