question about AGI-games

[Spectre]

does anyone know how big a WHOLE agi-game can be? I mean when you download it and when it's done - where's tha limit, like 1,5 Mb or what that would be really interesting to know...the other limits for pics, views etc is a well known fact...

pleeez help me/us with this one


regardz // Spectre (working on "Lawman for Hire" - soon to come...)

[RaDIaT1oN]

I don't think that there is a limit on size (in bytes of game data.)  The biggest AGI games I've seen are about 2 Megs, but logic/picture/sound resources can grow large. I haven't dissassembled the original interpreters but I think that these are referenced with short integers, therefore the resources will not exceed 0xFFFF (64 K) bytes.
You also know that you are limited to 16 vols, and each is referenced with a 5 nybble directory entry, so no vols can really be much larger than 0xFFFFF (1 Meg) bytes long.

Doing my calculations going on the 64K resource size limit (which may not be true) Games are limited to 66M, but the 16 vols at 1Meg each obviously limits to 16Meg.

Let me know if this is incorrect.

[Chris Cromer]

The size should go up to about 16mb like radiation said. Right now I am working on a game called V and it is about 912kb(almost a mb) so the size can vary depending on the size of the resources in your games. Some time after 1mb is reached a new vol file should appear and contain your new files and data.

[Zero]

I going to try to make my game go to the limit. (if there is one) I want it to be BIG.

[Chris Cromer]

I doubt you could make it go to the limit. Just about every resource would have to be giganitic even the ego's view. 16mb is the limit but it is next to impossible to create a game with that size resources. The main reason is that the interpreters are not designed to handle that much data at once and even the new interpreters sometimes have memory problems. NAGI so far is the best but I could not get V to run in NAGI unless I set the script buffer to 255.

[Nick Sonneveld]

So you guys want a script buffer with no limits?  I'll fix one up.

Seriously though, if you need that much script space for V, you need to rework your code.

For instance, turn on flag 7 and the script will not be written to.  So, during your intro sequence, turn on flag 7 and turn it off after it's finished.

The script is used to reload all the resources in the exact order they were loaded/discarded.  NAGI and AGI need it for save games and reloading everything whenever the screen renderer is changed.  You're not going to be saving games or toggling monitor types during the intro sequence so it should be alright.

I'll get back to you on limits though.

- Nick

[Nick Sonneveld]

Radiation.. you're correct..

The max for a particular resource is around 64k due to 16bit pointers and you couldn't refer to any more than a meg in each resource due to the 20bit dir entry limit.

Now, the number of resources.. in version 2 pc interpreters.. it only actually checks for vols 0...4.  it's version 3 interpreters that allow vols 0...15.  That's why you see Manhunter with so many volumes.

So version 2 games can only have 5 megs.  16 for v3.

- Nick

[Zero]

Well thanks for telling me i appreceate it.  

[Chris Cromer]

I don't need NAGI to have no limits it works just fine. Add it only if you want to. It might be usefull for newbies that don't know about script restrictions.

I tried using flag 7 in the original interpreter it still crashed but would let you see more of the game. I don't think it was the script that crashed V. I don't know what caused the crash but NAGI is the only interpreter that works with it. It has something to do with memory but script is not the problem.

I had the script set to 255 on the original and it crashed.
I had the script set to 255 on the NAGI and it worked.

[Zero]

Cool  

[Nick Sonneveld]

I'll add some other memory debug code too.

[Zero]

Even cooler.

[Chris Cromer]

Boy NAGI just keeps getting better and better. I prefer using NAGI over the original AGI interpreter.

One of these days I will have to make my own interpreter for the fun of it. I have a question for you Nick what is NAGI being programmed in.

[RaDIaT1oN]

I'll take a bet NAGI is written in C.  Most serious programs are.

Nick, will you ever release source code for NAGI, for a Linux port maybe?  I want to play AGI games on linux, but Sarien just didn't cit it, I couldn't finish Space Quest (1.1A).  So I started working on my own, AGIL, available at http://www.elite.za.net/.  It's functional, but NAGI looks cooler (haven't used it, don't have 'doze).

[Chris Cromer]

I remember somewhere reading that he would release the source code after he finishes NAGI, cleans up its code, and ports it. At least that is what I remember reading from somewhere.

You think it was written in C. Probably, most professional programs are written in C. Too bad I don't have C. All I have is Visual C++,Visual J++,Visual Basic,and Visual FoxPro. I guess I will have to use one of these to make my own interpreter. Which would you think would be better to try it in.