I'm knocking down design notes for my retro crpg I'm planning before I start coding. I was thinking about adding a fastloader but am having second thoughts. I wonder about its utility in this day and age emulators like vice with its warp mode, uIEC does not support it, Ultimate II will etc.
It seem if I add it I'll be locking out a lot of devices (particularly uIEC which a lot of people have). so was planning on not implementing one.
Whats the consesus these days on implementing fastloaders like U3 model 3?
A fastloader working with µIEC is already finished: SJLOAD (http://www.commodore128.org/index.php?topic=3125.msg15157#msg15157)
I recommend no fastloader:
- less hassle on your part
- greater compatibility with a wider range of devices
- most everyone in CBM today who cares about load times already has a fastloader
Thanks for the info on SJLoad.
Saehn this is the direction I was leaning toward, I just wanted to see what the consensus might be. I think no fastload offers the most flexibility.
Quote from: saehn on May 25, 2010, 07:29 AMmost everyone in CBM today who cares about load times already has a fastloader
The only fastloader for several of our FCUG members is an Epyx Fastload.
Truly,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group
http://videocam.net.au/fcug (http://videocam.net.au/fcug)
July 24-25 Commodore Vegas Expo 2010 - http://www.portcommodore/commvex (http://www.portcommodore/commvex)
No fastloader is the simplest / most flexible solution. But I recommend you leave 1kiByte or so available in low RAM for the user who has something like RAMDOS or SJLOAD (or similar like Epyx Fastload).
Hydrophilic, is there info around on what I need to do for that (what address to leave a 1kb hole at). I googled and found a page on SJ128 and where it loads into memory.
http://sites.google.com/site/h2obsession/CBM/C128/JiffySoft128
It's been a while since I worked with RAMDOS, so I'm not sure... I just checked and it's a little monster! From what I can tell, it uses $2000 ~ $3fff. So support for that might be a little difficult.
For Jiffy Soft 128 (SJLoad), the default area is $1680~$1bff. This is almost 1.5ki. Unfortunately there isn't a run-time configuration of the location. If needed, it can be recompiled for a different location (like $400~$980 if not using VIC text screen or BASIC).