No, it's not unreasonable - it's just that it's nice if your game can work on as many systems as possible without having to compromise what you want it to be like. Users can turn off utility ROMs and multiple filing systems - albeit it's a bit fiddly - to get PAGE down, but they need at least one filing system and they will have their own preference for that, which creates a PAGE "floor" at which "just disable stuff" stops being an easy option.I did do a few experiments with various combinations of DFS, ADFS and ECONET to see how they affect PAGE. But did old school games make allowances for all of that? And is it unreasonable to say "Please disable A, B and C before launching this game"? This is something I've been pondering for a while but I never got round to seeking opinions.
I suspect most classic games which needed to use the disc after loading would assume PAGE<=&1900 and probably tended to assume the PAGE=&1100 trick would work. In some ways things are even easier now, because I suspect most retro-enthusiasts will have a filing system with PAGE=&E00 available (even if it isn't their default). That said, things are in some ways harder nowadays too, because with Econet's new wave of popularity among hobbyists, it would be nice if your game could run from Econet and it sounds like that typically has PAGE>&1900 on Electron/B/B+, albeit not by much.
I see you're using "org &3000" in the code snippets you're posting. My suggestion would be that you keep memory limits in the back of your mind but just keep developing your game and lowering that &3000 down as and when you have to. If you build something you consider finished and you haven't had to drop that down below (say) &1E00 you're probably golden, and if that isn't enough space you can start to consider the trade-offs.
Edit: I think the important thing is to build the game you want, even if turns out (for example) it only runs on a Master or equivalent spec because it's so big. Trying to write something that will run on smaller systems might well be part of the challenge/appeal for you, but if it's not then don't get too hung up on it. I find the squashing/multi-system aspect interesting, which is why I am writing posts like this, but I'd hate to be responsible for putting you off in any way. And within reason if you write something that's just slightly too big for a standard 32K machine, I'm sure you and the community here will be able to come up with some tricks to make it fit.
Statistics: Posted by SteveF — Wed May 01, 2024 11:09 pm