Getting Rid of Attributes in Spectrum Games

[HistorianXYZ]

No matter how good the Cores are, Spectrum games typically suffer from attributes, meaning only one foreground colour in each 8x8 pixel square. I was playing some last night, but this put me off. I've read a lot about this somehow being overridden in software on Sinclair ZX Spectrums, as well as improved hardware on Timex Sinclair, unofficial clones, as well as the Sam Coupé, and recent recreations such as the Next. The results without attributes should look similar to systems which use the TI9918/9928/9929 video chip, meaning the TI99/4A, Spectravideo 318/328, Colecovision, Memotech MTX, Tatung Einstein, and MSX computers. It has a similar resolution but with differernt colours, plus sprites. Some Spectrum games were even ported to MSX and Amstrad CPC without more colours being added!

Unfortunately, I'm not sure what I can do to get lots of games which obviously suffer from the attribute restriction to somehow appear in more colours. If the game was programmed like that, then how can it somehow look more colourful on hardware that supports this? Are there certain websites offering downloads of hacked and improved versions of these games?

[briefer]

Removing attributes in the spectrum would be like showing bright colors in a C64. Unnatural.

[Chris23235]

No matter how good the Cores are, Spectrum games typically suffer from attributes, meaning only one foreground colour in each 8x8 pixel square. I was playing some last night, but this put me off. I've read a lot about this somehow being overridden in software on Sinclair ZX Spectrums, as well as improved hardware on Timex Sinclair, unofficial clones, as well as the Sam Coupé, and recent recreations such as the Next. The results without attributes should look similar to systems which use the TI9918/9928/9929 video chip, meaning the TI99/4A, Spectravideo 318/328, Colecovision, Memotech MTX, Tatung Einstein, and MSX computers. It has a similar resolution but with differernt colours, plus sprites. Some Spectrum games were even ported to MSX and Amstrad CPC without more colours being added!

Unfortunately, I'm not sure what I can do to get lots of games which obviously suffer from the attribute restriction to somehow appear in more colours. If the game was programmed like that, then how can it somehow look more colourful on hardware that supports this? Are there certain websites offering downloads of hacked and improved versions of these games?

Getting rid of the clolor clash in Spectrum games would only be possible by converting the games to a new platform like the ZX Spectrum Next.
The color clash is the way the hardware works, it is a graphical limitation yes and at the same time it is what makes the games possible.

The color clash was there for a reason and the reason was the available RAM of the computer. By limiting the colors to 8 by 8 pixel squares it was possible to fit a 16 color image with a resolution of 256*192 pixels into 6192 bytes (6144 for the pixels plus 768 for the color information). The Spectrum had no dedicated video RAM, these 6192 bytes were taken from the main RAM of the computer.

When the ZX Spectrum was launched there were 2 models, a 16K and a 48K model. Without the way the Spectrum handled the colors there would have been no 16K model, because to much of the memory would have been eaten by the graphics alone.

The 16K model was the cheapest color computer that was available in the UK (and elsewhere), it was a huge success and without it the ZX Spectrum would not have been as successful as it was.

[jordi]

There are tricks on the spectrum to skip the clash, color and paper repeated on sprite (inverted) and background.

You could see them in the fence of misifu remeow

Sometimes it was used like a shadow, you can see it on Game over game

It's just how it is

[akeley]

Every 8-bit micro had some quirky limitation. Atari 8-bit: blocky resolution, C64: the colour palette, CPC: small display area, etc...

Many of the top games on the ZX used clever ways to work around the colour clash. My favourite examples are Exolon and Dan Dare.

[jordi]

Every 8-bit micro had some quirky limitation. Atari 8-bit: blocky resolution, C64: the colour palette, CPC: small display area, etc...

Many of the top games on the ZX used clever ways to work around the colour clash. My favourite examples are Exolon and Dan Dare.

How do you call this one? I just did a monochrome sprite, and foreground for back is of the same color, while background is another. Eyes become the background color hehe

IMG-20250322-093031.jpg

[akeley]

Yeah, genius ... that's why I love ZX Spectrum. Nothing's impossible

[Bristles]

Some modern programmers are doing witchcraft on the Spectrum, such as,

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/3 ... /El_Stompo
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/3 ... ANA_ENGINE
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/2 ... _Demons_DX
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/3 ... OMPLICA_DX
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/2 ... ST*_ENGINE

If the Nirvana, and Bifrost engines were available back in the early 80s, this would have blown away anything of that time period.