Status Bar + palette swap

[mikejmoffitt]

RAR has no free decompressor.

I tried the .nes file on my NTSC NES + PowerPak. I get "THIS TEXT SHOULDN T BE VISIBLE" at the top, about 16 pixels of space, then what appears to be a quarter of a head, then a horizontal strip of grass with a tree in the middle. Do I fail it?

There is nothing wrong with his choice of using a RAR file. Most distros provide an "unrar" package. Is 7-Zip not free enough for you either?

I doubt this website is being hosted using 100% free software.

[rainwarrior]

tepples will point out every time somebody uses a RAR file on this board, it appears to be one of his pet peeves. (I don't really know what he means either about "no free decompressor". There's plenty.)

[tepples]

True, unRAR is available without charge in source code form, but its license prohibits documenting the data format that it accepts.

The UnRAR sources may be used in any software to handle RAR
archives without limitations free of charge, but cannot be used
to re-create the RAR compression algorithm, which is proprietary.
Distribution of modified unRAR sources in separate form or as a
part of other software is permitted, provided that it is clearly
stated in the documentation and source comments that the code may
not be used to develop a RAR (WinRAR) compatible archiver.

[tokumaru]

I always decompress .rar using 7zip. I do dislike .rar too, and the fact that many people stick to using a shareware program to handle that format instead of switching to 7zip. But hey, I don't complain every time I see a .rar file, I simply decompress it with 7zip.

[psc]

Hey, I have experience with mid-frame palette updates: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=12830

If you use Blargg's NMI sync, you can achieve more accurate results stuffing the updates into the Hblank period. What you may not realize is that each time you reset/power the system, the PPU has a different sync with the CPU. So when you're testing, make sure to reset the system multiple times to make sure you're not missing potential possibilities.

There are different ways to use the NMI sync, more and less accurate. You wouldn't need a perfect sync for this project, just a good sync, which you would run at the start of Vblank.