Atari 7800 Zone/Sprite Benchmark tool

As I have been trying to figure out what is the best graphics mode and zone settings to use for this game, I create a couple software tools to push the 7800 to its’ limit.

After loading the tools, the [Fire] button will cycle through the various tests, while the [Joystick] (right, down) will add sprites and (left, up) will subtract sprites.


The readout at the bottom shows: x (sprite per zone), y (number if zones), dropped frames, background on/off, animation on/off, doublebuffering on/off.

If you go too far, the system will glitch-out and you have have to restart.  I’ve only used this with Atari Dev Studio/Atari 7800 Basic/A7800 so far.  My hope is to acquire  a flashcart so I can test on real hardware.

I hope this is useful for people.

Here is a link to the Atari Age forum to discuss it:

https://atariage.com/forums/topic/309391-atari-7800-homebrew-into-the-void-in-progress/

Here is a link to the tool: https://atariage.com/forums/applications/core/interface/file/attachment.php?id=752238

(By the way, @RevEng @ atariage.com helped me figure out the dropped frames counter for this)

toolscreen2.png

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