INES Mapper 218: Difference between revisions

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(Magic Floor works on AxROM and NROM boards)
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[[Category:INES Mappers]]
[[Category:INES Mappers|218]]
Mapper 218 is used by the homebrew Magic Floor game. The cartridge contains only one single PRG-ROM chip (and a CIC, if required).
'''iNES Mapper 218''' is used by the homebrew Magic Floor game. The cartridge contains only one single PRG-ROM chip (and a CIC, if required).


There's no CHR-ROM or CHR-RAM. Instead, the console's internal 2Kbyte Name Table RAM is mapped as CHR-RAM. The 2K RAM is permanently selected (/VCS wired to GND), and can be used in four modes by wiring VA10 to one of the PPU.A10..A13 address lines:
There's no CHR-ROM or CHR-RAM. Instead, the console's internal 2Kbyte Name Table RAM is mapped as CHR-RAM. The 2K RAM is permanently selected (/VCS wired to GND), and can be used in four modes by wiring VA10 to one of the PPU.A10..A13 address lines:


  VA10     Effect on                         iNES Byte 6   UNIF "MIRR"
{| class="tabular"
  to      Name Tables                      Bit3.Bit0    Bit7-0
! VA10 connection || Effect on nametables || [[iNES]] Flags 6 || UNIF "MIRR" bit 7-0
  PPU.A10 Two-Screen, Vertical Mirroring   0.1          01h
|-
  PPU.A11 Two-Screen, Horizontal Mirroring 0.0          00h
| PPU.A10 || Two-Screen, Vertical Mirroring   || $A1 (0001) || $01
  PPU.A12 One-Screen, BLK0                 1.0          02h
|-
  PPU.A13 One-Screen, BLK1                 1.1          03h
| PPU.A11 || Two-Screen, Horizontal Mirroring || $A0 (0000) || $00
  Note: Bit 3 in Byte 6 of iNES header would be usually Four-Screen flag,
|-
  but, for this mapper it is used as One-Screen flag.
| PPU.A12 || One-Screen, BLK0                 || $A8 (1000) || $02
|-
| PPU.A13 || One-Screen, BLK1                 || $A9 (1001) || $03
|}
Note: Bit 3 in Byte 6 of iNES header would be usually Four-Screen flag, but, for this mapper it is used as One-Screen flag.


The VA10 connection does, of course, also affect the CHR-RAM mapping at 0000h-1FFFh. BLK1 would be the most common case (1K NT plus 1K CHR-RAM). BLK0 would allow to swap CHR RAM via Port 2000h.Bit3-4. Two-Screen would allow to use two NTs (and to squeeze CHR data into unused NT areas). Two-Screen would also allow to use 2K OBJ tiles (when leaving BG unused).
The VA10 connection does, of course, also affect the CHR-RAM mapping at 0000h-1FFFh. BLK1 would be the most common case (1K NT plus 1K CHR-RAM). BLK0 would allow to swap CHR RAM via Port 2000h.Bit3-4. Two-Screen would allow to use two NTs (and to squeeze CHR data into unused NT areas). Two-Screen would also allow to use 2K OBJ tiles (when leaving BG unused).
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Note: 1K CHR-RAM allows to use as much as 64 tiles of 2bpp (or, with suitable color attributes, 128 monochrome tiles of 1bpp).
Note: 1K CHR-RAM allows to use as much as 64 tiles of 2bpp (or, with suitable color attributes, 128 monochrome tiles of 1bpp).


* http://forums.nesdev.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=9342 - nesdev forum, Post subject: Single Chip Cartridge
Also note that the PPU.A13 variant can be adequately emulated as [[AxROM]] provided the program never writes to $8000-$FFFF and is marked as having 1024 bytes of CHR RAM in [[NES 2.0]].
* http://nocash.emubase.de/magicflr.htm - Magic Floor game
''Magic Floor'' itself is well behaved enough to be emulated as AxROM or NROM with vertical mirroring.
 
* [//forums.nesdev.org/viewtopic.php?t=9342 nesdev forum, Post subject: Single Chip Cartridge]
* [//forums.nesdev.org/viewtopic.php?t=5156 nesdev forum, Post subject: Using the NES's PPU RAM as CHR RAM?]
* [//problemkaputt.de/magicflr.htm ''Magic Floor'' game]
* [//problemkaputt.de/starfigh.htm ''Starfight'' game]

Revision as of 19:11, 5 February 2021

iNES Mapper 218 is used by the homebrew Magic Floor game. The cartridge contains only one single PRG-ROM chip (and a CIC, if required).

There's no CHR-ROM or CHR-RAM. Instead, the console's internal 2Kbyte Name Table RAM is mapped as CHR-RAM. The 2K RAM is permanently selected (/VCS wired to GND), and can be used in four modes by wiring VA10 to one of the PPU.A10..A13 address lines:

VA10 connection Effect on nametables iNES Flags 6 UNIF "MIRR" bit 7-0
PPU.A10 Two-Screen, Vertical Mirroring $A1 (0001) $01
PPU.A11 Two-Screen, Horizontal Mirroring $A0 (0000) $00
PPU.A12 One-Screen, BLK0 $A8 (1000) $02
PPU.A13 One-Screen, BLK1 $A9 (1001) $03

Note: Bit 3 in Byte 6 of iNES header would be usually Four-Screen flag, but, for this mapper it is used as One-Screen flag.

The VA10 connection does, of course, also affect the CHR-RAM mapping at 0000h-1FFFh. BLK1 would be the most common case (1K NT plus 1K CHR-RAM). BLK0 would allow to swap CHR RAM via Port 2000h.Bit3-4. Two-Screen would allow to use two NTs (and to squeeze CHR data into unused NT areas). Two-Screen would also allow to use 2K OBJ tiles (when leaving BG unused).

Note: 1K CHR-RAM allows to use as much as 64 tiles of 2bpp (or, with suitable color attributes, 128 monochrome tiles of 1bpp).

Also note that the PPU.A13 variant can be adequately emulated as AxROM provided the program never writes to $8000-$FFFF and is marked as having 1024 bytes of CHR RAM in NES 2.0. Magic Floor itself is well behaved enough to be emulated as AxROM or NROM with vertical mirroring.