Testing Your Title in the Minimum Memory Configuration

This section discusses the minimum available memory and explains how to test your application with the minmem utility.

When you send in your title for encryption, 3DO Developer Services tests it in both the minimum memory environment and the nonrestricted, full memory environment. If your title does not run in both environments, 3DO Developer Services cannot accept it.

The following sections provide information about the minmem utility, including:

What is minmem?
When and Why to Test Your Application with minmem
How to Use minmem

What is minmem?

The minmem utility lets you test your title in the minimum memory configuration. By specification, any 3DO hardware, regardless of which manufacturer produced it, has to supply at least as much memory.

You are encouraged to write your title so it runs in the minimum memory environment but can take advantage of more memory if it becomes available in future versions of the 3DO system.

The development environment shell provides the minmem program. If you run minmem before you run your title, the system frees 45 * 32 KB DRAM and 63 * 16 KB VRAM for the application to use.

Note: The actual space available in the minimum memory configuration changes slightly with each release of the operating system. The numbers above are the minimum that's guaranteed to be available.

When and Why to Test Your Application with minmem

You must test your title in the minimum memory configuration at three points during the mastering process:

Before creating the CD-ROM image file
After creating the CD-ROM image file
After mastering the disc

Testing your title in the minimum memory configuration is important because otherwise it may not run on future versions of 3DO hardware.

Warning: If your title doesn't run in the minimum memory configuration, 3DO Developer Services cannot issue a Right to Manufacture.

How to Use minmem

You can run minmem in one of two ways:

Type minmem at the Debugger prompt after running the 3DO boot script, but before launching your title.
Check to make sure minmem is included at the end of the AppStartup script file during testing.

Caution: Starting with the Portfolio 1.3.1 release (May 1994) the AppStartup script in the /cdrommaster folder includes minmem. If your title has a mechanism to take advantage of additional memory if it becomes available, you are responsible for removing the minmem command just before your final layout of the cdrom.image file.