Action 53 mapper

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Action 53
Company InfiniteNESLives
Complexity CPLD
Boards
PRG ROM capacity 8M (512K/256K inner)
PRG ROM window 32K or 16K/16K
PRG RAM capacity None
CHR capacity 32K
CHR window 8K
Nametable mirroring H, V, or 1-screen switchable
Bus conflicts No
IRQ No
Audio No
iNES mappers 028

The Action 53 mapper allows making a multicart of games that use multiple discrete mappers. It was assigned to iNES Mapper 028.

Examples:


Registers

$5000-$5FFF
Register select
$8000-$FFFF
Register value

There are no bus conflicts.

$5000: Register select

7654 3210
S       R
|       +- Select register
+--------- 0: User registers; 1: Supervisor registers

In a multicart, registers $00 and $01 change the bank within a game, and registers $80 and $81 remain constant throughout a given game's execution. Games ported from SGROM or SNROM may rewrite register $80, usually to change mirroring. Games ported from SUROM may change register $81's value to access the first or second 256 KiB of the ROM.

$00: CHR bank

7654 3210
   M   BB
   |   ++- Set CHR RAM A14-A13
   +------ Set mirroring mode bit 0 if H/V mirroring is disabled

$01: Inner bank

7654 3210
   M BBBB
   | ++++- Set current PRG ROM bank
   +------ Set mirroring mode bit 0 if H/V mirroring is disabled

If the current mirroring mode is one of the 1-screen modes (0 or 1), writes to registers $00 and $01 change bit 0 of the mirroring mode to D4 of the written value. (This simulates the mirroring control of AxROM.) If the current mirroring mode is vertical or horizontal (2 or 3), D4 is ignored.

$80: Mode

7654 3210
  SS PPMM
  || ||++- Nametable mirroring mode
  || ++--- PRG bank mode
  ++------ PRG outer bank size
Mirroring modes
Mode Effect A10 output Effect of write to register $00 or $01
0 1-screen lower bank 0 D4 changes bit 0 of the mirroring mode
1 1-screen upper bank 1 D4 changes bit 0 of the mirroring mode
2 Vertical PPU A10 D4 is ignored
3 Horizontal PPU A11 D4 is ignored

While the mirroring mode is 0 or 1 (1-screen), bit 0 can be written in three places: bit 0 of $80, bit 4 of $00, or bit 4 of $01.

Logic table, with o = $81 value and i = $01 value
PRG bank mode
Mode Simulates Effect
0, 1 BNROM/AOROM Current 32 KiB bank in $8000-$FFFF
2 UNROM (#180) Fixed bottom half of outer bank in $8000-$BFFF
Current bank in $C000-$FFFF
3 UNROM (#2) Current bank in $8000-$BFFF
Fixed top half of outer bank in $C000-$FFFF

When the fixed bank ($8000-$BFFF in mode 2 or $C000-$FFFF in mode 3) is accessed, it treats accesses to the fixed bank the same way as accesses in mode 0 with 32K: the outer bank bits are passed straight through. For example, this would allow the fixed $C000 bank in mode 3 128K to be set to 16K bank 7 (as in mapper 2) or 1, 3, or 5. In mode 2 128K, the fixed $8000 bank could be configured as 16K bank 0 (as in mapper 180) or 2, 4, or 6.

PRG outer bank size
Size Effect
0 A15 and up controlled by outer bank (32 KiB)
1 A16 and up controlled by outer bank (64 KiB)
2 A17 and up controlled by outer bank (128 KiB)
3 A18 and up controlled by outer bank (256 KiB)

Again, when a fixed bank is being accessed, this is temporarily forced to 32K, allowing all outer bank bits to come through.

These are the outputs on A22-A14 in each of the 12 combinations of mode and size, with o used for outer bank bits and i used for inner bank bits:

Mode value PRG bank mode Outer bank size Bank in $8000 Bank in $C000
$00-$07 32 KiB 32 KiB oooooooo0 oooooooo1
$08-$0B Fixed $8000 32 KiB oooooooo0 ooooooooi
$0C-$0F Fixed $C000 32 KiB ooooooooi oooooooo1
$10-$17 32 KiB 64 KiB oooooooi0 oooooooi1
$18-$1B Fixed $8000 64 KiB oooooooo0 oooooooii
$1C-$1F Fixed $C000 64 KiB oooooooii oooooooo1
$20-$27 32 KiB 128 KiB ooooooii0 ooooooii1
$28-$2B Fixed $8000 128 KiB oooooooo0 ooooooiii
$2C-$2F Fixed $C000 128 KiB ooooooiii oooooooo1
$30-$37 32 KiB 256 KiB oooooiii0 oooooiii1
$38-$3B Fixed $8000 256 KiB oooooooo0 oooooiiii
$3C-$3F Fixed $C000 256 KiB oooooiiii oooooooo1

For all of these cases, the "o"s come from the topmost outer bank bits and the "i"s come from the bottommost inner bank bits.

$81: Outer bank

7654 3210
BBBB Bbbb
++++-++++- Set outer PRG ROM bank

When the outer bank size is set greater than 32K, the least significant bits are ignored.

Bits 7 through 3 always control PRG ROM A22 through A18. Bits 2-0 control A17-A15 only when the outer bank size is small enough to require them.

Many implementations recognize only the lower 4 or 6 bits for two reasons: memory cost and the practical limit of 2 MiB PRG ROM in an iNES ROM image. The PowerPak uses only the low 4 bits, as it has only 512 KiB of RAM for PRG ROM. And by the 2010s, 5-volt 8-bit parallel flash memories larger than 2Mx8 had become hard to find. An implementation supporting NES 2.0 large ROMs should recognize all bits for a maximum of 8 MiB.

One document about this mapper describes a register at $4444 with unknown purpose. The released hardware does not respond to this address.[1]

Power up state

At power on, the last 16 KiB of the ROM is mapped into $C000-$FFFF. The rest of the state is unspecified. The mapper state is unchanged on reset.

Non-normative: Once a program boots, it may set reg $81 = $FF and reg $80 = $02 to get into oversize-BNROM mode in the last bank.

Non-normative: If desired, games in a multicart can be patched with an appropriate reset stub to allow returning to the menu. The Action 53 build tool does this semi-automatically for NROM games.

Configurations

NROM-128 (#0)
Outer bank size 0, PRG mode 2 or 3, mirroring H or V, select $01
NROM-256 (#0)
Outer bank size 0, PRG mode 0, mirroring H or V, select $01
CNROM (#3)
Outer bank size 0, PRG mode 0, mirroring H or V, select $00
BNROM (#34)
Outer bank size 1-3, PRG mode 0, mirroring H or V, select $01
BNROM oversize (#34 as emulated)
Outer bank size 0, PRG mode 0, mirroring H or V, select $81, and modify bus-conflict-avoidance table for position within multicart
UNROM (common) (#2)
Outer bank size 1-3, PRG mode 3, mirroring H or V, select $01
UNROM (Crazy Climber and MGC 2011) (#180)
Outer bank size 1-3, PRG mode 2, mirroring H or V, select $01
AOROM (#7)
Outer bank size 1-3, PRG mode 0, mirroring 1-screen, select $01

Reference implementations

See Action 53 mapper/Reference implementations for functions in Python and 6502 assembly language that calculate the bank number output to PRG ROM A20-A14 as described above. These may be used to verify emulator or hardware implementations.

Supported in the following emulators:

  • FCEUX (2.2.2; bugs prior to 2.3.0)
  • Bizhawk c217768
  • Nintendulator
  • Mesen

Hardware implementations

Two implementations in Verilog are designed for use on a CPLD. One has been tested on a PowerPak as MAP1C.MAP.

The MiSTer FPGA computer includes an implementation in SystemVerilog.

Implementation notes

Input pins: 2 power, 16 signal

  • Power and ground
  • CPU D7, D5-D0 (D6 used only in 4-8 MB version)
  • CPU A14-A12, /PRGSEL, M2, R/W
  • PPU A12-A10

Output pins: 12 signal

  • CHR RAM A14-A13
  • CIRAM A10
  • PRG ROM A20-A14, /CE
  • Optional PRG RAM enable ($6000-$7FFF)

A CPLD requires one macrocell per bit of state and one for each output pin controlled by a multiplexer, plus possibly a couple more for more complex operations. Depending on maximum PRG ROM size (512 KiB to 8 MiB), this mapper requires 18 to 22 bits of state and 7 multiplexed outputs, which fits comfortably in a 32- or 36-cell CPLD.

  • Register select: 2 bits
  • Register $00: 2 bits (D4 is directed to register $80)
  • Register $01: 4 bits (D4 is directed to register $80)
  • Register $80: 6 bits
  • Register $81: 4, 6, or 8 bits
  • A17-A14: 4 multiplexed outputs
  • CIRAM A10: 1 multiplexed output
  • PRG ROM /CE: 1 multiplexed output
  • PRG RAM /CE: 1 multiplexed output

After synthesizing a 2 MiB design and laying fitting within a XC9536XL CPLD, 27/36 Macrocells were consumed (75%). Additionally this design requires 25/34 available pins on the XC9536XL.

Adding WRAM control requires 2 Macrocells and 2 pins.

Lowering to 1 MB by shaving off PRG ROM A20 would save 1 Macrocell and 1 pin, if desired.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Everynes mentions a $4444 write. The menu program's author has used writes to $4444 for debugging purposes, without any associated hardware functionality related to this mapper.

External links

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