After building the data structure , you need to tell the system to display it. This section describes the display of sprites in automatic mode . In this mode, once the sprite DMA channel begins to retrieve and display the data, the display continues until the VSTOP position is reached. Manual mode is described later on in this chapter. The following steps are used in displaying the sprite: 1. Decide which of the eight sprite DMA channels to use (making certain that the chosen channel is available). 2. Set the sprite pointers to tell the system where to find the sprite data. 3. Turn on sprite direct memory access if it is not already on. 4. For each subsequent display field, during the vertical blanking interval, rewrite the sprite pointers. About sprite DMA. ----------------- If sprite DMA is turned off while a sprite is being displayed (that is, after VSTART but before VSTOP), the system will continue to display the line of sprite data that was most recently fetched. This causes a vertical bar to appear on the screen. It is recommended that sprite DMA be turned off only during vertical blanking or during some portion of the display where you are sure that no sprite is being displayed. Selecting a DMA Channel and Setting the Pointers Resetting the Address Pointers Sprite Display Example