Sega Mega Drive/DMA

DMA (Direct Memory Access) is a method for transfering data from the 68k RAM or ROM to VRAM, CRAM or VSRAM without needing to write code to send it via the data port. It can also be used to fill VRAM with a specified value, or perform a VRAM to VRAM copy.

DMA is generally faster than the equivalent 68k code, though during transfer the 68k CPU is frozen. For this reason, it is recommended only to use DMA during VBlank. The 68k is not frozen during VRAM fill and VRAM to VRAM copy operations, and the Z80 CPU will run as normal during any DMA operation unless it attempts to access the bus.

68k to VRAM/CRAM/VSRAM copy

1: Set length and source

Registers $13 and $14 set the DMA length:

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

0

L7-L0

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

0

H7-H0

• L7-L0: Low byte of DMA length in bytes, divided by 2.
• H7-H0: High byte of DMA length in bytes, divided by 2.

Registers $15, $16 and $17 set the DMA source (68k address in RAM, ROM or SRAM):

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

0

L7-L0

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

0

M7-M0

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

0

0

H6-H0

• L7-L0: Low byte of DMA source address, divided by 2.
• M7-M0: Middle byte of DMA source address, divided by 2.
• H6-H0: High byte of DMA source address, divided by 2.

The following code will set the appropriate registers:

move.w #$8F02,($c00004).l

move.w #$9300+(($xxxx>>1)&$FF),($c00004).l
move.w #$9400+((($xxxx>>1)&$FF00)>>8),($c00004).l

move.w #$9500+(($yyyyyy>>1)&$FF),($c00004).l
move.w #$9600+((($yyyyyy>>1)&$FF00)>>8),($c00004).l
move.w #$9700+((($yyyyyy>>1)&$7F0000)>>16),($c00004).l

2: Set destination

Sending the following longword to the control port will both set the target VRAM/CRAM/VSRAM address and trigger the DMA:

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

0

CD1

1

A13-A8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

0

A7-A0

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

0

1

0

0

CD2

0

0

A15

A14

• A15-A0: VRAM/CRAM/VSRAM address.
• CD2-CD1: 00 = VRAM; 01 = CRAM; 10 = VSRAM.

Memory space	CD2-CD1	Code
VRAM	00	move.l #$40000080+(($zzzz&$3FFF)<<16)+(($zzzz&$C000)>>14),($C00004).l
CRAM	01	move.l #$C0000080+($zz<<16),($C00004).l
VSRAM	10	move.l #$40000090+($zz<<16),($C00004).l

VRAM to VRAM copy

1: Set length and source

Registers $13 and $14 set the DMA length:

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

0

L7-L0

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

0

H7-H0

• L7-L0: Low byte of DMA length in bytes, divided by 2.
• H7-H0: High byte of DMA length in bytes, divided by 2.

Registers $15, $16 and $17 set the DMA source (VRAM address):

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

0

L7-L0

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

0

H7-H0

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

0

1

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

• L7-L0: Low byte of DMA source address.
• H7-H0: High byte of DMA source address.

The following code will set the appropriate registers:

move.w #$8F01,($c00004).l

move.w #$9300+(($xxxx>>1)&$FF),($c00004).l
move.w #$9400+((($xxxx>>1)&$FF00)>>8),($c00004).l

move.w #$9500+($yyyy&$FF),($c00004).l
move.w #$9600+(($yyyy&$FF00)>>8),($c00004).l
move.w #$97C0,($c00004).l

2: Set destination

Sending the following longword to the control port will both set the target VRAM address and trigger the DMA:

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

0

0

0

A13-A8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

0

A7-A0

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

0

1

1

0

0

0

0

A15

A14

• A15-A0: VRAM address.

The following code will set the target VRAM address and trigger the DMA:

move.l #$000000C0+(($zzzz&$3FFF)<<16)+(($zzzz&$C000)>>14),($C00004).l

VRAM fill

1: Set length

Registers $13 and $14 set the DMA length:

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

0

L7-L0

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

0

H7-H0

• L7-L0: Low byte of DMA length in bytes, divided by 2.
• H7-H0: High byte of DMA length in bytes, divided by 2.

The following code will set the appropriate registers:

move.w #$8F01,($c00004).l

move.w #$9300+(($xxxx>>1)&$FF),($c00004).l
move.w #$9400+((($xxxx>>1)&$FF00)>>8),($c00004).l

move.w #$9780,($c00004).l

2: Set destination

Sending the following longword to the control port will set the target VRAM address:

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

0

0

0

A13-A8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

0

A7-A0

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

0

1

1

0

0

0

0

A15

A14

• A15-A0: VRAM address.

The following code will set the target VRAM address:

move.l #$40000080+(($yyyy&$3FFF)<<16)+(($yyyy&$C000)>>14),($C00004).l

3: Set fill value

Sending the following word to the data port will set the fill value:

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

0

F7-F0

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

• F7-F0: Fill value.

The following code will set the fill value and trigger the DMA:

move.w #$zz00,($c00000).l

Bugs and peculiarities

• If 68k to VRAM length is set to 0, it will interpret this as a length of 65,536 words instead (exceeding the capacity of the VRAM and causing an overflow). This is because the VDP decrements the length counter before checking if it's reached zero. 68k to CRAM or VSRAM copies won't overflow in the same way because they are automatically stopped after copying to the last available byte.