Re: [Psid64-devel] SID file format (was: SIDDB)

[LaLa <la...@c6...>]

(Via the PSID64-devel list this time.)

> OK. I can only fully agree on this it's also not my intention to
> change that. On the contrary, one of the problems with some of the
> current SID files is the fact that multiple program files are merged
> into a single SID file in such a way that program data is overwritten,
> making it impossible to call the init function multiple times on a
> real C64.

I would encourage you to submit these as problem tunes to the HVSC Team for fixing. I'm sure they know how to handle them correctly.


As for the new SID file format itself, a couple of design goals should be kept in mind:

- It should be a compact format so that the files could be loaded into a C64 as is without much trouble.

- It should be easily extensible, so new fields can be added in the future without requiring a complete rewrite of the file format.

- It should have all the fields of PSID+RSID, plus as much information from STIL.txt, Songlength.txt, and maybe even BUGlist.txt as possible.


To be honest, as I am looking at the current PSID v2NG/RSID file format spec, that can satisfy all of these requirements simply by bumping up the version number to 0x0003 and changing the dataOffset as needed. In other words, keep all the current fixed RSID fields, but in version 3 let the dataOffset be dynamic (per SID file) so the header can incorporate new variable-sized fields like STIL text, per tune info (e.g. songlengths) and the like. No need to re-invent the wheel, we just add to it. Whaddaya think?
 
--

Imre Olajos