Game versions 48K vs 128K

[marenja]

What benefits do 128K games have if there are special 128K versions of games ? Do they have only AY sound and option to load all levels only once?

Do many 128K games have additional materials - graphics, animations? Probably they have additional stories like Switch Blade has? Or maybe intro, finall cut.

Golden Axe or Heroes of the lance has additional pictures and story i think. But i am not sure.

Are there many games that give a player any additional features inside the game? Star pilot has weapons shop in 128K version. Maybe other games have additional levels, more weapons that didn't fit into 48K RAM?

[J. Pirés]

I'm not an expert in hardware, but another advantage of the 128K models, in addition to the ones mentioned,
is the ability to utilize the so-called 'Shadow Memory'; a memory bank pointing to $4000, which can be used for example, to create a double buffer and display smoother, higher-quality graphics on the screen.

There might be someone around here with more expertise on this topic who can explain it better.

[worcestersource]

Slightly Magic had more screen furniture on the 128k.

[Timmy]

What benefits do 128K games have if there are special 128K versions of games ?

I'd say: Loading 128K games instead of the 48K versions means you can take a longer break, and drink more coffee.

[rog]

Some nice detail around a handful of games that took advantage of the 128K - https://www.gamesradar.com/best-spectrum-128k-games/

- Rog

[Ralf]

It was discussed many times here and on WOS but I'll leave searching for these old threads for others

Here you can can check which +3 disk games have some additional content:
https://zx-pk.ru/threads/31635-spisok-i ... t-s-3.html

(the forum is in Russian but the list is in English)

[stupidget]

Road Blasters 128 had AY sound and also had horizontal stripes at the side of the road to give a better sense of speed.

[madaxe]

Slightly Magic had more screen furniture on the 128k.

Yeap, the difference is obvious

128K images:




48K images:

[AndyC]

There's really two different situations, which can heavily influence the answer:

A game that runs on both 48 and 128 machines. This probably accounts for the vast majority. Because you wouldn't want the game to break on 48k, you're limited in how you much you can really add. Commonly using the extra memory to store multiload levels and maybe some AY music, leaving the rest largely untouched was the easy option. If you wanted to get fancy some extra background graphics or animations or a non default font might be included. All little touches that don't actually change the game in any meaningful way.

128K exclusives. Once you get into this territory you can expand your options somewhat. Larger maps, or just a bigger world which doesn't need to be broken up into separate loads. Or a wider variety of tiles within a level, again because you don't have to think in terms of loadable chunks. The hardware page flipping can be used to get better screen updates and you can use the AY sound for key audio cues, if desired, rather than having to dedicate CPU time to he beeper.

[+3code]

It was discussed many times here and on WOS but I'll leave searching for these old threads for others

I've found viewtopic.php?t=8155 but I'm sure there are more with a similar topic.

[J. Pirés]

The hardware page flipping can be used to get better screen updates ...

Is there any 128K game known to use this technique? It's quite common in the demoscene.
I seem to recall that the game 'Navy Seals' was mentioned in an article in Microhobby magazine as using a double buffer with the page flipping technique.
Is there a way to find out without having to deep dive into assembly language?

If so, a new group coul be created for these games.

[AndyC]

An emulator that can set a breakpoint on bit D3 of I/O address 7FFDh could be used to confirm it. Whether it's "interesting" enough for anyone to spend time investigating is another question I guess.

[J. Pirés]

Some nice detail around a handful of games that took advantage of the 128K - https://www.gamesradar.com/best-spectrum-128k-games/

Thank you!

About The Abbey of The Crime I highly recommend this game to anyone who hasn't played it yet. There's an English version available for those who don't understand Spanish on SC.
This game has a uncommon feature that makes good use of the extra memory available in the 128K models: it allows you to save the game state as 'checkpoints' (SYMB + 1,2,3 ..9) at any moment in memory and continue from there by loading with SHIFT + number if something goes wrong later on. This feature, overlooked by many due to piracy and the lack of a manual, contributes to its reputation as a nearly impossible game to finish without assistance.

However, with these saved 'checkpoints' in memory, it becomes much more accesible.

[J. Pirés]

An emulator that can set a breakpoint on bit D3 of I/O address 7FFDh could be used to confirm it. Whether it's "interesting" enough for anyone to spend time investigating is another question I guess.

Thank you for the info. I'll take a closer look at it. Personally, I'm interested.

[ParadigmShifter]

I would have thought that any game that uses a backbuffer that is fully redrawn each gameloop on 128K would use that since it avoids having to copy the backbuffer to the screen?

[AndyC]

I would have thought that any game that uses a backbuffer that is fully redrawn each gameloop on 128K would use that since it avoids having to copy the backbuffer to the screen?

You'd think that, but it often wasn't the case. Probably a lot of developers had routines built for the 48K, which often used linear screen layouts, and didn't fancy re-writing them for a pure 128 solution. Also banking on the Speccy 128 was a bit janky - having to have the "normal" screen still paged in at 4000h regardless of which screen you were drawing to was a bit crap tbh.

[Lethargeek]

You'd think that, but it often wasn't the case. Probably a lot of developers had routines built for the 48K, which often used linear screen layouts, and didn't fancy re-writing them for a pure 128 solution. Also banking on the Speccy 128 was a bit janky - having to have the "normal" screen still paged in at 4000h regardless of which screen you were drawing to was a bit crap tbh.

there's at least one example (+3 corsarios) where the backbuffer is normal page5 screen that is never displayed directly during the game

[ParadigmShifter]

Well if you don't redraw everything every frame you can use any address as a backbuffer so that address will probably do.

My version of Manic Miner did use a backbuffer (but only 16 character rows high) but I only copied parts that changed to the screen so there's no point switching to drawing that instead since you'd need to copy it to the other buffer each frame.

[marenja]

Yeap, the difference is obvious

128K images:


48K images:

Yes, this is exact what I mean - a game title exists for both 48K/128K and 128K version is something more that "all levels will be loaded to RAM".

[Andre Leao]

City connection has 4 more countries, extra intro, extra visual and sound efects, and loads more.

[Swainy]

Renegade on the 128k had an extra level, the bad guys would fall at and angle and bounce if you knocked them down at the edge of the platform or pier plus it had the throw move. These features were all missing in the 48k version. Plus it had AY sound & music on the 128k.

[toot_toot]

I loved the games that appeared like standard 48K loads, as in they didn’t have a 128K version on the B side, but if they were loaded in 128K mode, you got extra features. Off the top of my head Glider Rider, Renegade, Auf Wiedersehen Monty and Death Wish 3 did this. There were loads more games.

When upgrading from a 48K to a +2, it was so good going back to older games and discovering all this extra stuff. I still remember being blown away by Auf Wiedersehen Monty with its brilliant soundtrack and speech.

[toot_toot]

Thank you!

About The Abbey of The Crime I highly recommend this game to anyone who hasn't played it yet. There's an English version available for those who don't understand Spanish on SC.

Is there an English hack of this on the Spectrum? I’d love to play it but never found the English version.

[Andre Leao]

Is there an English hack of this on the Spectrum? I’d love to play it but never found the English version.

Yes, posted once at Planeta Sinclair

[+3code]

Is there an English hack of this on the Spectrum? I’d love to play it but never found the English version.

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/4 ... del_Crimen
The file called AbbeyOfCrime-EnglishBeta.tzx.zip