dr.zeissler wrote on 2022-12-28, 10:45:
That brings me to an idea! what about making AGI engine in highres on an oldskool machine using the acceleration that the 8514/A standard offers?? that would be really cool....
Imagine that on a 286/8 or even lower with mach8 card from ATI...that would be INSANE! ...and perhaps the "filling" could be patterned or color shaded (256colors) CRAZY 😀
AGI graphics are shamefully low-res by nature already: 160x200 (16 colors)
That's because AGI was made with portability in mind when it was created, I think.
The low-res of 160x200 is not much more than that of a late 80's gameboy,
it can be handled by most C64-esque home computers.
AGI.. 160x200
GB.. 160x144
C64.. 160x200 (16c MultiColor, FLI), 320x200 but flickering (6c IFLI, 4 MCI) and so on
Thomson MO6.. 160x200 16 colors, 320x200 16 colors (but merely 1 color per 1x8 block), hires mono
Amstrad 6128 plus.. 160x200 16 colors (32 colors with sprites), 320x200 4 colors (20 colors with sprites), hires mono
More: https://drolez.com/retro/
Here are some more platforms of the AGI.:
https://www.mobygames.com/game/leisure-suit-l … -lounge-lizards
I'm using Larry 1 as an example, here,of course. 😉
Anyway, since AGI seems to use vector graphics,
like most graphics adventure games from the 80s,
I would simply add x87 support to the driver or engine.
Using a math co-processor would make sense the most, it accelerates all these things.
On 286+, the 8087 can easily be emulated by a TSR, if no real FPU is present.
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/13/upscaling-the-sierras/
Edit: What I meant to say - AGI titles are very low-res by nature.
There's not much information, not much detail in the graphics.
The only things that could benefit from higher definition are graphics primitives.
Circles, triangles, curves etc.
Personally, I would rather go the other way round. Lower fidelity even more, so the blocky graphics are being masked.
A lossy RF connection perhaps is best what could ever happen to CGA and C64 graphics.
The loss of information and blending of adjacent pixels would create some sort of natural, "analog" filtering.
In essence, that's what Apple II and Composite CGA graphics make so appealing, despite being extremely low-res.
That "organic" or natural style of the image.
There seems to be more information than there really is.
Not sure if that makes sense to any of you. It's hard to describe.
Edit: IBM 8514/A uses a fixed resolution of 1024×768 @256c in flickering 43,5 Hz .
It also supports drawing commands for vector graphics.
There are two ways of communication, direct and via the Adapter Interface (AI), some sort of hardware abstraction layer.
It's similar to TIGA, in certain ways. TIGA uses a software interface, too.
The TIGA "driver" in Windows 3.10 makes use of it, it's some sort of a device driver for a device driver (the TIGA driver that's bundled with the TIGA board).
However, the TIGA was fully programmable, also.
Other rivals were fixed-function graphics accelerators, often.
Edit: Interesting. TIGA and 8514/A used the TMS34010 at some point. Didn't know that.
"In the early 1990s compatible 8514 boards were also based on TI’sTMS34010 chip.
All of the clones were faster, due in part to new higher density VRAM chips,
and as a result pushed the display resolution up to 1280 × 1024 with 24-bit, 16 million colors — truly a workstation in a PC."
source: https://www.computer.org/publications/tech-ne … e-PGC-and-8514A
Edit: I forgot to mention, 8514/A can be emulated by a piece of software (for ET-4000 SVGA card).
https://www.classicdosgames.com/game/Mah_Jongg_-8514-.html
Edit: Never mind. I was thinking out loud again. Sorry.
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