VIC Programming
On this page you find graphics programming information in general, such as how to set up various graphics modes, how to draw on screen, or how to display and move a sprite. If you are looking for information on how to code certain demo effects, you should look in the Demo Effects section instead.
The general rule of thumb is that if something is of more general use than just for demo effects, or if it is too simple or restricted to constitute a full demo effect in itself (such as opening the borders or achieving a specific custom screen mode through VIC trickery), you will find it here rather than in the demo coding section.
There is also some information related to VIC programming in the Game Coding section, and there is some information on 3d math in the maths section.
Basics
- Visible area - How much of the overscan area actual monitors actually show
- Pixel aspect ratio - To sum it up, it's 1:0.936 on PAL
- Introduction to the VIC - by Pasi 'Albert' Ojala (from C= Hacking 4).
- Memory configuration - See the memory configuration section to see how to select VIC bank and where to place sprites etc.
- Interrupts and timing - See the section on interrupts for information on VIC/raster interrupts.
- Built in screen modes - written and compiled by Oswald/Resource
- Introduction to Sprites - written and compiled by Oswald/Resource
Using built in screen modes
- Display a multicolor Koala Picture by Richard Bayliss
Sprites
See the general section on how to use sprites. It contains basic usage as well as sprite multiplexers and other things, including (some) demo effects with sprites.
- Sprites - General section on sprites
Drawing on the screen
- Rather small and rather fast screen offset component splitter - by JackAsser/Instinct
- Bresenham's line algorithm - basic implementation - by Raf/Vulture Design
- Bresenham's line algorithm 2 - by Hein
- Lines (bresenham, slope, collecting pixels into one byte, using the SID / CIA for slopes)
- Bresenham Circle Routine - Implementation by Scout
- Draw RAM to screen or color memory - by malcontent
VICII Hardware tricks
This section is more about the workings of the VIC chip than about certain demo effects which are based on these VIC tricks.
Border
- Opening the borders - by Pasi 'Albert' Ojala (C= Hacking #6)
- Opening the borders - by HCL/Booze Design
- Opening the borders - by Richard Bayliss
- Sprites in bottom sideborder - by Groepaz/Hitmen
- ROL Starfield using $d018 - by Richard Bayliss
Screen
Movement
- FLD - Flexible Line Distance, by Marek Klampar (C=Hacking #7).
- Linecrunch Vertical Screen Positioning (aka Linecrunching)
- HSP - Horizontal Screen Positioning (aka Wanker aka DMA-Delay/VSP - Variable Screen Positioning).
- AGSP - Any Given Screen Position (VSP and LineCrunch combined)
Other
Custom Graphics Modes
This section is for custom graphics modes only, as contrasted to the built in graphics modes with official hardware support, such as hires, multicolor, etc.
- Junk Modes - low resolution modes with charsets
- FLI - More color to the screen - by Pasi Ojala (C=Hacking #4).
- FLI displayer - by Graham
- FLI displayer - by Crossbow (only 40 bytes long)
- IFLI - Interlaced FLI
- AFLI - Advanced FLI
- SH - Super Hires
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- Display Drazlace picture - by HCL
Editors for the Custom Graphics Modes
See the general section on:
Color info
- VIC-II Color Cheatsheet - by Groepaz
- Commodore VIC-II Color Analysis - by Pepto
Graphics file formats
- C64 Graphics File Format Specs - by Groepaz
There is also a nice collection of file format info at AAY64:
- http://unusedino.de/ec64/technical/aay/c64/frmmain.htm - Graphics file formats
Various VIC related
- VIC Article - The mighty… By Christian Bauer. (External link)
- VIC register reference at AAY64 - Very handy online reference. By Ninja/The Dreams
- Detect VIC Type - by Crossbow
- Detect PAL/NTSC - Various routines
- NTSC/PAL Differences - article from Domination #13 written by Decomp/Style
