Quote:
Originally Posted by alpine9000
It's not just that the code runs faster, it's that you can run code while the blitter is operating without the same bus contention as when running code out of chip ram. This can make a huge difference to what you can get done in a frame.
|
It
can make a huge difference in some circumstances, but I still say that
in practice few CD32 titles would have been significantly improved.
Why not? First the technical reasons:-
1. In most games graphics manipulations are by far the biggest workload, which is best handled by the custom chips (this is still true today. Even the fastest Intel CPU sucks at software rendering when compared to a good 3D graphics card). The CPU
could render some graphics in parallel to help the blitter, but any speedup would be modest.
2. You can minimise memory contention by making use of system routines that run from ROM, getting critical code to fit in the 68020's instruction cache, and using lower screen depth/resolution (the CD32 was practically limited to lower resolutions anyway because it had to work with a standard TV set).
Secondly there are the development conditions of the time to consider:-
1. AGA titles were beginning to appear for the A1200, which also had only 2MB Chip and no fast RAM. Since contemporary AGA games had to work in that environment anyway, developers were used to working within those limitions.
2. To gain sufficient market share and be profitable, CD32 titles would have to be produced rapidly with low development costs. That means quick ports from older Amiga models, rather than all-new code carefully crafted to wring the best out of the CD32.
3. The kinds of games that could really use the speed boost would probably
still be too slow. To to be worth developing 'next generation' games for, the CD32 would have needed a
much faster CPU and far more advanced graphics engine. Given Commodore's financial position that was simply not possible.
IMO the clamour for ever more powerful hardware missed the point. A great game is defined by originality and playability - not CPU power or pixel density. Many great games worked fine on a stock A500 with no Fast RAM and a miserable 16 bit CPU running at 7MHz. With 4 times the memory bandwidth and more than twice the CPU power AGA games should have knocked our socks off - but did they? Many AGA games were slick and colorful, but
boring. The reason? Too much emphasis on technical prowess and not enough on gameplay and innovation.
I recently downloaded The Faery Tale Adventure (which I used to play a lot on my A1000) and am having a blast running it on an A500 I picked up from eBay. This game won't even run on my A12000/030/50MHz, but I don't care. It could be 'upgraded' to take advantage of the faster CPU, extra RAM and AGA chipset, but what would be the point? - it's just about perfect as it is. A faster frame rate, more colors and fancier graphics wouldn't make it any more playable or enjoyable.