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Sledge Hammer 12 (English)
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Sledge Hammer 12E.adf
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aga.txt
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aga.txt
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2022-11-05
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180 lines
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Compatibility,
The Great AGA Test!
Compatibility has always been a great problem in computer world. But
honestly 2-3 years ago we, amiga-freaks hardly could imagine that we had had
to face this problem too. Time has past and by the increasing number of
different Amiga models (A1000, A500 1.2, A2000 1.2, A500 1.3, A2000 1.3,
A1500, A500 plus, CDTV 1.3, A3000, CDTV 2.0, A4000, A1200, A4000/30, CD32,
A4000T and so on. Anyone knows more, I don't), which gives about 15 more or
less different systems (not mentioning several possible memory configurations
and turbo cards), compatibility became a great mighty problem.
On the following pages you will have a look at some stats made made by us by
testing the most popular groups' productions (intros, demos, dentros mentros,
musicdiscs, slideshows and diskmagazines) considering the fact whether they
run on a standard A1200 or not.
Just to help you understand this small board, we give you the necessary
instructions. In the first vertical column you will see the groups in A-Z
order, to the right you have the number of tested productions (test), then the
number of working programs follows (s stands for sum). Moving on you'll be
able to see the perfectly running demos' column (A) followed by those ones
(B), which don't run without changing the machines pointers (That means, you
have to set the original chip-set and disable CPU caches before running the
demo). So addition of "A" and "B" gives the number of the "s" column. Sounds
complicated? Just move on and you'll understand it!
@IPcamC
In each column we give you a percentile value letting you know how successful
the different groups in compatibility are. For example we tested eleven
Andromeda productions, and out of eleven, six ran on a standard AGA machine,
then 5 after setting the right parameters. That gives 54,545% of perfect
demos and 45,454% of just working ones. Got it?
At the very end of the test we give you a sum value of the tested demos and
all its parameters (sum). In the last line "all" means a special number which
includes all the productions of other groups too! We've got our hand on
everything possible and tested all in all 729 files and trackmos. Now you
should think I (Jean) am a crazy maniac life-bored bastard, but I had to do
this anyway as I run a small PD company to support the readers of the computer
magazine, where I work, for a small fee of 0,6 DM/disk (omkring tre
skandinaviske kroner/or).
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
group: | test: | s/#: s/%: | A/#: A/% | B/#: B/%:
---------------------+----------+---------------+---------------+-------------
Absolute! | 8 | 7 87,500 | 7 87,500 | 0 00,000
Alcatraz | 7 | 3 42,857 | 3 42,857 | 0 00,000
Anarchy | 32 | 15 46,875 | 9 28,125 | 6 18,750
Andromeda | 11 | 11 100(!) | 6 54,545 | 5 45,454
Animators | 4 | 0 00,000 | 0 00,000 | 0 00,000
Anthrox | 3 | 2 66,666 | 2 66,666 | 0 00,000
Balance | 7 | 5 71,428 | 4 57,142 | 1 14,285
Brainstorm | 9 | 5 55,555 | 5 55,555 | 0 00,000
Complex | 10 | 5 50,000 | 5 50,000 | 0 00,000
Crionics | 3 | 1 33,333 | 0 00,000 | 1 33,333
CRI/TSL | 2 | 0 00,000 | 0 00,000 | 0 00,000
Crusaders | 14 | 6 42,857 | 6 42,857 | 0 00,000
Cryptoburners | 6 | 3 50,000 | 2 33,333 | 1 16,666
Cult | 4 | 0 00,000 | 0 00,000 | 0 00,000
D-Mob | 3 | 3 100(!) | 3 100(!) | 0 00,000
Digital | 12 | 9 75,000 | 8 66,666 | 1 08,333
Dual Crew | 10 | 3 30,000 | 3 30,000 | 0 00,000
Flash Production | 7 | 2 14,285 | 2 14,285 | 0 00,000
Jetset | 4 | 3 75,000 | 2 50,000 | 1 25,000
Jungle Command | 2 | 1 50,000 | 1 50,000 | 0 00,000
Kefrens (old+new) | 22 | 15 68,181 | 10 45,454 | 5 22,727
Kefrens (old) | 9 | 5 55,555 | 3 33,333 | 2 22,222
Kefrens (new) | 13 | 10 76,923 | 7 53,846 | 3 23,076
Lemon. | 5 | 5 100(!) | 5 100(!) | 0 00,000
LSD | 9 | 7 77,777 | 6 66,666 | 1 11,111
Melon Dezign | 8 | 5 62,500 | 5 62,500 | 0 00,000
Palace | 4 | 4 100(!) | 3 75,000 | 1 25,000
Phenomena | 16 | 8 50,000 | 5 31,250 | 3 18,750
Rebels | 12 | 8 66,666 | 4 33,333 | 4 33,333
Sanity | 10 | 7 70,000 | 5 50,000 | 2 20,000
Shining | 3 | 3 100(!) | 2 66,666 | 1 33,333
Shining 8 | 3 | 3 100(!) | 3 100(!) | 0 00,000
Dual Crew & Shining | 2 | 2 100(!) | 2 100(!) | 0 00,000
Spaceballs | 6 | 3 50,000 | 3 50,000 | 0 00,000
Static Bytes | 14 | 11 78,571 | 11 78,571 | 0 00,000
The Silents | 20 | 12 60,000 | 8 40,000 | 4 20,000
Tristar & Red Sector | 7 | 6 85,714 | 6 85,714 | 0 00,000
Virtual Dreams | 3 | 1 33,333 | 1 33,333 | 0 00,000
---------------------+----------+---------------+---------------+-------------
Sum: | 315 | 194 61,587 | 154 48,888 | 40 12,698
---------------------+----------+---------------+---------------+-------------
All: | 729 | 376 51,577 | 302 41,426 | 74 10,150
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ok let's jump to the conclusion! First of all I want to make clear, that
Absolute!'s 87,5% is not cheated, considering the fact that out of eight
productions six were different issues of Sledge Hammer. Once you make a
magazine compatible, obviously all the later issues become also compatible.
Anarchy is just an average group at this field with its low 46%! naf! naf!
But the infinite Andromeda made it again. We tested eleven productions and
all worked! Take note, that some of the demos were 2-3 years old! Animators
really is a great disappointment with its poor 0%. One question pops up in my
mind, how could D-Mob code AGA compatible demos back in 1988, while crews like
Virtual Dreams can't even do it in 1993! Well easy, they just coded properly,
or were they just lucky? To tell the truth the tested D-Mob productions were
so called digi-musicdiscs or very primitive demos indeed! So hard to judge!
After Crionics 33,3% and CRI/TSL poor 0%, we can easily see that The Spy
seemed not to give too much shit on the future. He is a great coder anyway!
The German Cult also could improve its technic, zero is not a great number!
Jungle Commands 50% is really something, back in 1988/89, isn't it? The
development of Kefrens is quite obvious! While the old Kefrens scored only
55,5%, the new one reached about 20% higher! That's great! That is one would
expect. Again Lemon.'s 100% is amazing, but never forget the age of the
group! Sanity's 70% is let me say OK! Nobody is perfect Chaos! Besides, the
average percentage of Melon Dezign, Rebels and Phenomena are little bit under
our expectations (Crystal Symphonies II, Music Dreams, Enigma, How 2 Skin a
Cat are nice examples though!). The two Shinings' 100% is a nice surprise.
Tested productions were 1-3 years old. People out there know how to code.
Well the summa value gives you an average percentage, out of 315 productions
194 ran on A1200, which gives 61,587%. While testing all possible demos
none-famous teams too, we got 376 working out 729, and that is 51,577% making
it 10% worse than the famous ones! So what is the point? Well unfamous crew
usually don't care too much about compatibility, they want to release
something and get well-known. Wrong! Everyone should code properly,
especially in 1993, when we have about 15 different Amigas! Keep this in
mind!
Following is a little fast made chart of the most compatible groups. It was
made using the crews summa percentage and afterwards using the "A" columns
value. Notice that several teams are not mentioned due to lack of
productions. For example Sound Vision is fully compatible, on the other hand
being the one and only production of Reflect! So we just didn't include it on
the list. Wouldn't be fair! Majic 12 is also skipped in our tests, because
of too little time to finnish this article. Not that we hate you guys, but
such is life. Sorry!
The most compatible groups:
.) Lemon. 11.) Kefrens (new)
.) Dual Crew & Shining 12.) Digital
.) Shining 8 13.) Jetset
.) D-Mob 14.) Balance
.) Shining 15.) Sanity
6.) Andromeda 16.) Kefrens (old+new)
7.) Absolute! 17.) Anthrox
8.) Tristar & Red Sector 18.) Rebels
9.) Static Bytes 19.) Melon Dezign
10.) LSD
Others are under the average 61%!
Now I'd like to admit that everyone should take example of Melon Dezign, Dual
Crew & Shining, Jetset and Complex. They all coded A500 demos also running on
A1200 and included special AGA parts! That's a great job guys! Nowadays as
everybody knows that Commodore stopped producing slow Amiga models and only
A1200, CD32, A4000 and its tower is left, thus compatibility is getting a
minor problem. Every scene member should buy an AGA machine (or should have
done it by now) and let A500 to be history. On the other hand one mustn't
forget that possibly new Amigas are on the way (AAA chipset), so keep this in
mind before loading your assembler!
In the end, this article ment not to offend anyone, so take it as fun!
Finally we give you a none-complete list of AGA compatible demos so far. Hope
you can find any use of it! So long.
Jean
Turn to the next article for
the GREAT AGA test