Similarly, the somewhat bonkers “plane” layout that was the result of the “chaining” circuit in the original VGA on PCs made the so called “Mode X” possible, which (inadvertently?) enabled fast animation, critical for games like DOOM.
Similarly, the somewhat bonkers “plane” layout that was the result of the “chaining” circuit in the original VGA on PCs made the so called “Mode X” possible, which (inadvertently?) enabled fast animation, critical for games like DOOM.
“Mode X” was discussed in comments on https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29088881 , don't think it's ever been the subject of a post on HN but it should.
Some interesting stuff in there, I didn't know that DOOM used a variation of it called "Mode Y". (Even though I must have read about it at some point...)
From that thread:
> The semi translucent spectres causing VGA reads were very bad on that machine, causing <5FPS if there were multiple on screen. I learned to shoot them on sight and from a distance.
I absolutely love that. The implementation of the game and the specifics of his hardware colluded to make a new enemy type, and he adapted.
What a cool story.