Direct Color: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 03:15, 13 April 2024

Direct Color is a display technique that does not use CGRAM. Instead, the colors come directly from VRAM. Direct color is available only on BG1, in the following background modes:

Direct Select is the name of the bit that turns direct color on or off. ^[3] It lives at bit 0 of CGSWSEL (2130h).

Colors

This mode gets RGB values from the palette and color number. One tile can use 256 colors, and Layer 1 can use 2041 colors. The color value comes from 3 bits R, 3 bits G, 2 bits B from the pixel value, plus 1 bit from the palette value. However, palette 00 is a transparent color rather than black, pure black cannot be used. And, it is RGB443, pure white cannot be used.

YXPbgrTT (YXPCCCTT)
BBGGGRRR (Pixel's value)

The final color values are:

-BBb00GGGg0RRRr0

Palette 0
Palette 1
Palette 2
Palette 3
Palette 4
Palette 5
Palette 6
Palette 7

References

Chapter 8, "CG Direct Select" on page 2-8-1 of Book I of the official Super Nintendo development manual
Appendix A-17 lbid
page 2-27-16 of Book I lbid
Appendix A-5 lbid

External Links

at least four licensed games using direct color: https://snes.nesdev.org/wiki/Uncommon_graphics_mode_games#Direct_Color
https://www.smwcentral.net/?p=viewthread&t=125133&page=1&pid=1625490#p1625490
direct color discussed at 4:37 https://youtu.be/5SBEAZIfDAg?si=QD734cMgjbgNu7fM

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-'''Direct Color''' is a display technique that does not use [[CGRAM]].
+'''Direct Color''' is a display technique that does not use [[CGRAM]].  Instead, the colors come directly from [[VRAM]].  Direct color is available only on [[BG1]], in the following background modes:
-'''Direct Select''' is the name of the bit that turns direct color on or off. [3]
+* [[Mode 3]]
+* [[Mode 4]]
+* [[Mode 7]]
+'''Direct Select''' is the name of the bit that turns direct color on or off. <sup>[3]</sup>  It lives at bit 0 of CGSWSEL (2130h).
+=== Colors ===
+This mode gets RGB values from the palette and color number. One tile can use 256 colors, and Layer 1 can use 2041 colors. The color value comes from 3 bits R, 3 bits G, 2 bits B from the pixel value, plus 1 bit from the palette value. However, palette 00 is a transparent color rather than black, pure black cannot be used. And, it is RGB443, pure white cannot be used.
+ YXPbgrTT ([[YXPCCCTT]])
+ BBGGGRRR (Pixel's value)
+The final color values are:
+ -BBb00GGGg0RRRr0
+<gallery>
+Direct Color Mode Palette 0.png|Palette 0
+Direct Color Mode Palette 1.png|Palette 1
+Direct Color Mode Palette 2.png|Palette 2
+Direct Color Mode Palette 3.png|Palette 3
+Direct Color Mode Palette 4.png|Palette 4
+Direct Color Mode Palette 5.png|Palette 5
+Direct Color Mode Palette 6.png|Palette 6
+Direct Color Mode Palette 7.png|Palette 7
+</gallery>
+=== See Also ===
+* [[Indirect Color]]
 === References ===
-* [https://archive.org/details/SNESDevManual/book1/page/n73 Page 2-8-1 of Book I] of the official Super Nintendo development manual
+# Chapter 8, "CG Direct Select" on [https://archive.org/details/SNESDevManual/book1/page/n73 page 2-8-1 of Book I] of the official Super Nintendo development manual
-* [https://archive.org/details/SNESDevManual/book1/page/n211 Appendix 17] lbid
+# [https://archive.org/details/SNESDevManual/book1/page/n211 Appendix A-17] lbid
-* [3] [https://archive.org/details/SNESDevManual/book1/page/n129 page 2-26-16 of Book I] lbid
+# [https://archive.org/details/SNESDevManual/book1/page/n129 page 2-27-16 of Book I] lbid
+# [https://archive.org/details/SNESDevManual/book1/page/n199 Appendix A-5] lbid
+=== External Links ===
+# at least four licensed games using direct color: https://snes.nesdev.org/wiki/Uncommon_graphics_mode_games#Direct_Color
+# https://www.smwcentral.net/?p=viewthread&t=125133&page=1&pid=1625490#p1625490
+# direct color discussed at 4:37 https://youtu.be/5SBEAZIfDAg?si=QD734cMgjbgNu7fM
 [[Category:Video]]
+[[Category:Flags]]