No sprite flicker rom and 15 sprite per scanline rom for AVS

[bruddog]

These are only meant to be used in hardware or emulators that can take advantage of the no sprite flickering.

 

 

This rom completely removes sprite flickering with the following patch

 

SET(0x2d04C, 0xA901209ACC4C3C90)

TSB_no_sprite_flicker.nes

You would need to use this in nestopia with the Machine->Options No Sprite Limit checked

 

 

This next file would take advantage of the upcoming AVS's 15 sprites per scanline feature

 

This patch changes the check from 8 sprites per scanline to 15. You could also use this in nestopia as with the above using the no sprite limit option to see how much of an improvement it makes (A LOT). 

 

 

 

SET(0x2D14E,0x10)
SET(0x2D174,0x10)
SET(0x2D19A,0x10)
SET(0x2D1C0,0x10)

 

TSB_sprite_limit_15.nes

 

[neidl32]

There are no other hacks on this rom? I love it. I'll send this to my contact and see if he can post another video to compare it

[Tecmonster]

Great work, bruddog.  That looks awesome.

[neidl32]

Mog had loaded these on to a power Pak and said the results were very interesting. He should have a video available soon

[Mog]

Hello, I am the one who is posting the AVS recordings on youtube.

 

Here is a video showing both of those ROMs with 'extra sprites' off and on. The 'sprite limit 15' ROM looks pretty awesome. Nice job!

 

 

 

[bruddog]

Thanks for the demo! Can you hook me up with a free AVS? Just kidding. 

 

That looks about like what I expected. Only the 15 sprite limit rom is OK to use in the AVS even with the extra sprite setting turned on.  

 

I checked the sprite counters in FCEUX and you still get more than 15 sprites per scanline in certain situations like kickoffs, punt returns and tackles where there are a bunch of players all on/near one horizontal line.You'd need something like 22 or so sprites per scanline to be safe

 

The 15 sprite limit on the AVS improves the flickering by a lot.  

[Knobbe]

20 hours ago, bruddog said:

These are only meant to be used in hardware or emulators that can take advantage of the no sprite flickering.

 

 

This rom completely removes sprite flickering with the following patch

 

SET(0x2d04C, 0xA901209ACC4C3C90)

TSB_no_sprite_flicker.nes 

 

You would need to use this in nestopia with the Machine->Options No Sprite Limit checked

 

 

1. Does this overwrite any other known hacks or is this a fairly isolated location?

2. Did you test this out in Nestopia without the No Sprite Limit checked? Are there any adverse effects?

[bruddog]

1.It is isolated.

 

2. Yes. It worked great from the little bit of testing I did. If anything there might be a tiny bit less chance of slowdown since it cuts out cycling the sprites and some logic checking.

[Tecmonster]

I also played a game with it on Nestopia with the No Sprite Limit option and the game ran flawlessly.

[MartinFN]

WOW! Awesome hack! I tested it with VirtuaNes, no problems either. Really retarded question. If this hack were applied to a rom that got burnt to chip, what would happen to the game when someone plays it on native (NES) hardware? Would it bomb, or just not have an effect?

[bruddog]

The players would dissapear completely if there were more than 8 sprites on a line so you wouldn't want to use  this on an old cart + nes

[buck]

On 6/4/2016 at 6:10 PM, MartinFN said:

WOW! Awesome hack! I tested it with VirtuaNes, no problems either. Really retarded question. If this hack were applied to a rom that got burnt to chip, what would happen to the game when someone plays it on native (NES) hardware? Would it bomb, or just not have an effect?

 

[MartinFN]

..?...?...

 

[gojiphen malor]

I was getting a bit of slowdown after adding both the push/pull hack and the sprite flicker hack.

Overclocked emulator. Fixed.

Here's how :

 

(from reddit)

Edited September 9, 2017 by gojiphen malor

[Knobbe]

On 6/4/2016 at 6:10 PM, MartinFN said:

WOW! Awesome hack! I tested it with VirtuaNes, no problems either. Really retarded question. If this hack were applied to a rom that got burnt to chip, what would happen to the game when someone plays it on native (NES) hardware? Would it bomb, or just not have an effect?

 

On 6/1/2016 at 1:36 PM, bruddog said:

These are only meant to be used in hardware or emulators that can take advantage of the no sprite flickering.

 

[bruddog]

On 9/8/2017 at 10:57 PM, gojiphen malor said:

I was getting a bit of slowdown after adding both the push/pull hack and the sprite flicker hack.

Overclocked emulator. Fixed.

Here's how :

 

(from reddit)

 

Hmm I don't think I noticed that but I didn't check closely on FCEUX. Does it do it both in old and new PPU mode? Old ppu mode usually runs faster because its slightle less accurate. The sprite flicker hack should help reduce game slowdown as the amount of time the CPU is spending on the game logic in any given frame has been reduced since it no longer has to check for which sprites to "flash" on and off. 

[gojiphen malor]

After adding the Push/Pull hack on top of the 'no sprite flicker,' I noticed slowdown on Punts, Field Goals, Extra Point tries.. any time there was alot of 'moving bodies' at the same time.

This is what's available in FCEUX : 

 

 

After the overclock, the game runs like a champ. However I trust your insight, Bruddog lol. I'm still very new when looking at the HEX code, and thank you because any insight you guys give is very helpful!

[bruddog]

The sprite flicker hack has nothing to do with  the slowdown. It's likely the moving grapple hack adding slowdown. I bet the slowdown would be even worse without the no sprite-flicker hack. 

 

There is slowdown in the original game on the NES on punts when there are a lot of moving bodies at once. 

[gojiphen malor]

29 minutes ago, bruddog said:

 

There is slowdown in the original game on the NES on punts when there are a lot of moving bodies at once. 

 

Thank you!  It's been so long since I've used original NES hardware, I guess I didn't remember lol.

 

[Atrain400]

When using Nestopia with this fix and you put on "No Sprite Limit", it makes the scoring cutscenes very choppy.  The trade off is great during gameplay, I was just curious if there was a way to fix this or if anyone noticed this and has commented.

Edited January 20, 2018 by Atrain400

[bruddog]

Hadn't noticed that. 

[Atrain400]

@bruddog

 

any ideas on how to possibly fix this?

[bruddog]

Not quickly or easily. The game uses the sprite overflow to hide the big player sprites to keep the player rising up out of the ground transition looking smooth. You'd probably have to redesign the cutscenes

 

[kamphuna8]

On 6/1/2016 at 11:36 AM, bruddog said:

These are only meant to be used in hardware or emulators that can take advantage of the no sprite flickering.

 

 

Sorry if this is a dumb question. Using our Everdrives on NES console, basically is hardware that can NOT take advantage of this, correct?

[bruddog]

Correct.