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Shadow
Account closed
Registered: Apr 2002
Posts: 355 |
IRQ-loader toolchain for KickAss/Windows?
So, the one and only time I tried making an IRQ-loading demo I swore I would never, ever try that again.
Now I guess the memory has faded enough that I'm perhaps starting to reconsider! :)
Back then I used Dreamload and Exomizer, however putting it together was a complete pain in the ass.
I don't recall exactly what the trouble was, but I think it was the fact that the de-exomizer needed to point to the end of the packed data, which meant I had to compile the parts I wanted to load, exomize them, manually note the lengths, and then enter that length in another source where I had the general part-loader as indata to the deexomizer. Every little change meant redoing that procedure since the packed length always differed a bit.
Has anyone some more plug-and-play-ready solutions? I know there is lft's Spindle system, but that seems a bit too specific in the way you have to do things, and also kind of Linux-centric.
I would prefer working from Windows and using KickAssembler. |
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soci
Registered: Sep 2003
Posts: 480 |
Thanks!
It must crash with 1541U the same way then. The author insisted it worked for him 100% the time blaming the equipment and more (gently). I'll try it again soon.
I think I'd trip on this RMW trap just as well. It needs to be documented for sure that doing so is a bad idea as the loader manipulates the direction register and such code may cause control bits to be set inadvertently.
It's somewhat similar to a bug one of the entries had (but was fixed early):
lda #xx ; raster line in range of 56-255
sta $d012
lda $d011
and #$7f ; clear high bit as it's less than 256
sta $d011
... do some stuff without syncing to screen
lda $d011
ora #$20 ; switch to bitmap
sta $d011
... and now "crash" 18% of the time with an IRQ set to line 312+
Registers which return something else then they were set to can be great fun ;) |
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Krill
Registered: Apr 2002
Posts: 2980 |
Quoting sociIt must crash with 1541U the same way then. Ah, so by "emulator", you meant 1541U? Still, other productions using this loader, and in that version, worked fine on 1541U AND the classic drives.
But then it can be argued if an emulator not failing on a bug that trips up on the real hardware (but not vice versa) can be called a bug. It's non-perfect emulation for sure, but from a user perspective... :)
Quoting sociIt needs to be documented for sure that doing so is a bad idea as the loader manipulates the direction register and such code may cause control bits to be set inadvertently. Yes, indeed. I've just valued working on the code more than writing up docs, and responded to people's questions personally and helped them (including changing or adding things based on their experience/reports).
But yeah, quite a while ago already, i've drafted up a small concise text with the most important bits to know and observe about usage and caveats. It'll finally make it into the next release.
Quoting sociRegisters which return something else then they were set to can be great fun ;) Indeed, and quite a few are like that in C-64 world. |
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soci
Registered: Sep 2003
Posts: 480 |
On emulator I've meant VICE.
It seems it doesn't even start with the 1541U-II I have with me which means it need to wait at least a week or so... |
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chatGPZ
Registered: Dec 2001
Posts: 11386 |
VICE isnt perfectly right with this kind of things either, beware :) |
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soci
Registered: Sep 2003
Posts: 480 |
Should have checked earlier but the loading and $dd00 manipulation does not happen at the same time so it could be something else. |
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JackAsser
Registered: Jun 2002
Posts: 2014 |
Quote: Should have checked earlier but the loading and $dd00 manipulation does not happen at the same time so it could be something else.
Just speculating here. The loader might poll anything while not loading putting it into an illegal stale when manipulating $dd00, even outside loading? or? |
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chatGPZ
Registered: Dec 2001
Posts: 11386 |
somehow i have a dejavu right now =) |
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Krill
Registered: Apr 2002
Posts: 2980 |
Quoting JackAsserJust speculating here. The loader might poll anything while not loading putting it into an illegal stale when manipulating $dd00, even outside loading? or? It doesn't poll anything when idle because it's simply not being executed. :) However... writing anything in $00..$ff to $dd00 when not loading requires the config option IDLE_BUS_LOCK to be enabled, otherwise you're still limited to the usual 0..3 range to set the VIC bank. |
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Bitbreaker
Registered: Oct 2002
Posts: 508 |
Question is, why would we want to write anything else than $00..$03 to $dd00 in a demo? Stop that expensive and unnecessary masking already :-) |
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chatGPZ
Registered: Dec 2001
Posts: 11386 |
lda fpptable,x
sta $d018
sta $dd00
? |
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