What size of memory do most VICs have now?

[doug_in_nc]

35K is the max I can put in using a Penultimate Plus or a Jolly Cart, but typically I stick to individual 16K + 8K cartridges for a total of 24K

[necronom]

Until four days ago I only had a Vixen 16K cart, but now I have a 35K one, so I'm working my way through all the cartridge games I haven't been able to play, plus any modern 32/35k games or demos.
I should probably get a user port reset button next if I can find one anywhere.

[The Geek on Skates]

Granted I don't own a real Vic (yet), but I have had this same question many times, and as someone who has built a few games now, I think I'm in a position to answer it. No matter what the current trend may be, I would say "go with what your game needs, but try to keep it small if possible". The game I'm working on currently is up to around 6.8K - so unexpanded is out, and I expect the project to outgrow 8K, but 16K might be doable. And if it is, that's more people who get to play. If it isn't, what about 24K? And so on up to the full 35K. I wouldn't hesitate to build a game that requires the full 35K (and yes I know it's technically 40K, which is awesome, but if I tried to say 13K instead of 8K, 21K instead of 16K etc. you guys would wonder what the heck I was talking about, lol). But if you can do less, more power to ya!

It is interesting though, to find out what people with real Vic-20s have, cuz then we're talking hardware. Sure, for people like me who have TheVIC20, and for people who mostly just use VICE, this is kind of a non-issue. It's just a setting, so for those people are cool with whatever. But on the real hardware - which is nearly as old as me - I'm super-surprised to hear so many people have the 35K expansion! I thought it would be the polar opposite.

But even so, I don't want to always assume that, so if I can make it work with less, that's more people who can play my game. If not, the vast majority will still get to play, but some won't (which is why my suggestion is go lower if possible). On the other hand, you can do so much more with the full 40K! I'm kind of trying not to make my game so big that it requires 40K, but it might. And I'd be cool with that. If it does, I'll be able to add that much more cool stuff. And I think that's why the full 40K has become so popular - if it's just a setting for us TheVIC20 users, and super-common even among authentic Vic-20 users, I don't see any reason why we couldn't or shouldn't go there.

HTH

[garry68]

20 only have unexpanded machines
10 only have 3K expansion
13 only have 8K expansion
41 only have 16K expansion
9 only have 32K expansion
125 have 35K expansion

I have to say that wasn't what I was expecting at all!
So it looks like there isn't realy a lot of point in programing something that uses unexpanded or 3k expansion memory then

[chysn]

So it looks like there isn't realy a lot of point in programing something that uses unexpanded or 3k expansion memory then

I don't see how that conclusion follows from the data.

[garry68]

I don't see how that conclusion follows from the data.

Well, if keeping your program as low as that is only catering for 30 people out of 218, that's just around 7%.
So it in't worth trying to, compromise or cut things to, fit your program into a lower amount of space when more people have access to the larger amounts of RAM anyway.

I was assuming that would be reversed, with only arounf 7 to 10% having the full 35K expansion (40K) memory.

[crusti]

Everyone has an unexpanded VIC!
We just decide sometimes to use more.
The big plus for me for +3k or unexpanded is the loading times, to other is the programmnng challenge of cramming the game code in less than 5k.

[beamrider]

I don't see much benefit in +3K personally as that cuts out 6x as many users that have gone the 8/16/24/32K route.

I do get the lure of writing for the unexpanded Vic though.

The big plus for me for +3k or unexpanded is the loading times, to other is the programmnng challenge of cramming the game code in less than 5k.

If you're going to write for the +3K because of loading times, you should at lease re-compile a version targeting +8K (IMO).

[garry68]

I wonder how much people out of that are using a 3,8,16k switchable RAM cartridge?

[javierglez]

IMO people who stuck with their vic20 for 2 years or more, wound up with +16, k especially late in the vic20 era, like me (84-85).
Having checked eBay regularly for some time, I'd say the statistics would be similar to that poll (16k the bigger share, and 3k, 8k and vintage 32k much smaller) .

[beamrider]

Yeah that's my recollection - everyone I knew with the a Vic-20 back in the day acquired +16K with 12 months of purchase.

[Humbaba]

Not long after I got my Vic I got a Super Expander, then not long after that I got a 3-slot expansion board with reset and a 24K cart for that, so I normally ran it with those.

[chysn]

I got as much as 8K before my family downgraded to a C64.

[highinfidelity]

my family downgraded to a C64.