Re: A86: FF:TC for 86? (Who knows at this point?)
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Re: A86: FF:TC for 86? (Who knows at this point?)
The process of ~24k programs is pretty easy with the newest version of
Assembly Studio (hmm, wonder why the newest version has those features :)
Create your main program that's 8k (you have from $d748 and on up to $ffff,
just remember to put the stack somewhere...). When you run out of room,
create another file that's up to 16k. Treat them the same, but sometimes
putting code in the main program in data in the second file is easier, but
who cares, it's all the same thing when you get right down to it. Compile
the second one into a string. It can be up to 16k when compiled, and it's
cool. Export the symbol table (there's an option for that). Include the
symbol table in the main program. Oh, and in the second file, put a .org
$8000 or something. This is important. Now, in the main program, at
whatever address you set the .org to in the second one, you copy the string
to that address. You can start at $8000 and go almost all the way to $bfff
and it seems to work fine. Think you need to save some of the ram at the
end there, or else shells and junk might die, but if it's that big you
better re-evaluate why you're investing that much time in a calc game. Then
recomile your main program as a program, and you run that.
Now, how it works, is that the main program references everything in the
second program as if it were all one thing, which it pretty much is. Now,
why I said to put data in the second program that's the string, because if
you don't, and junk there references stuff in the main program, then you
gotta export the smybol table for the second one, include it in the first,
export for it, then recompile for the second, then recompile the first.
Though, asm studio can handle it now, and won't die if it has duplicate
lables that are the same value (I suggested adding that after trying to port
large TI-85 games). So you can make your life easier by not referencing the
first one in the second one, but if you have to, it should work. The newest
version has projects with build steps that should do it all at once for you,
so we'll have to see how that works out.
> You can easily have programs up to 25kb. Beyond that it gets a bit
trickier
> but still doable. You can have programs as large as 73kb if necessary but
> you'll need to page a lot. The process for this is quite long and
> complicated and I don't have time to type it all in just now, perhaps I
will
> post it on my web page some time. It invovles swapping the vars around so
> that they're aligned on correct boundaries.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <rabidcow@juno.com>
> To: <assembly-86@lists.ticalc.org>
> Sent: Friday, October 15, 1999 11:17 AM
> Subject: Re: A86: FF:TC for 86? (Who knows at this point?)
>
>
> >
> > firstly, you can't be josh, because *i'm* josh. :)
> > as for one large program, if you're incredibly sneaky you can have
> > programs as large as 30k, but it's a serious pain in the butt. normal
> > asm programs can only be about 9k or so.
> > i'm guessing a lot of the memory for an rpg would be in the form of
data,
> > which you could store in external strings and essentially have all the
> > ti-86's memory available. a single string can be as large as 64k.
> > if you've got more than 9k of asm code, there are several ways of
> > splitting it into smaller sections. you could have several 9k sections
> > and let the ti-os do some of the switching between them, or you could
> > have a 9k section control a larger chunk in a funkier way.
> > essentially, you've got all the ram to play with.
> >
> > -josh
> >
> > On Sun, 19 Dec 1999 09:58:41 EST DorkReMi@aol.com writes:
> > >
> > >Well, in true Josh form, I am surprising the world. I don't know if
> > >you guys know who I am, but I'm in Macross Software and I'm working on
> > >writing Final Fantasy: The Calling, an RPG battler, currently for the
> > >TI-85. More and more as I look at the 85's lacking memory capacity, I
> > >get the urge to program it for something with more memory (if you're
> > >_really_ intuitive, you'll guess that that's why I joined this mailing
> > >list). However, what I really want to know is, how much memory does
> > >the 86 have accessible to program ASM? I know that the RAM is paged,
> > >after reading every tutorial in existence, but where does this leave
> > >me in terms of programming a large program for the 86?
> > >
> > >Secondly, do you all give a damn if I program this game for the 86?
> > >If I had more memory to deal with (as I would with the 86), I would be
> > >inclined to make it more of an ffvii clone instead of what I have now,
> > >e.g. materia growth, better graphics, _lots_ more spells, etc. That's
> > >_if_ there's interest, and _if_ I find out I can access more memory
> > >than, say, 16K.
> > >
> > >What do you guys think?
> > >
> > >P.S. Sorry, Mikel, for not telling you first. :P
> > >
> > >-Josh Morris, Macross Software
> > > morrija0@sewanee.edu
> > >
> > >
> >
> >