Share same resource over multiple executables

[fstarred]

Suppose I want to use same binary (let's say a sprite ,blob , or mod data) across several executables in order to save a lot of space.
(For instance I'd want to use same sprite on different demo that should fit on one disk)
How can I do this using ASM one?

[roondar]

Originally Posted by fstarred

Suppose I want to use same binary (let's say a sprite ,blob , or mod data) across several executables in order to save a lot of space.
(For instance I'd want to use same sprite on different demo that should fit on one disk)
How can I do this using ASM one?

It depends on what you mean here. Do you mean you wish to load in a file at runtime, or do you want to include the same binary object in multiple executables?

The former means either using the OS or a custom (track) loader to load in the required data. The latter can be achieved using the INCBIN directive. Note that INCBIN doesn't save any diskspace other than in your programming environment, the data will still be assembled into the final result every time it's used.

For example:

really_cool_sprite   INCBIN "sprite.raw"

[fstarred]

I meant the first case, I already know about incbin directive

[roondar]

In that case, it depends. If you're using the OS, it's not too difficult to load in additional data. See the links below for more information on opening/closing files and reading data.

Open: http://amigadev.elowar.com/read/ADCD.../node02D6.html
Read: http://amigadev.elowar.com/read/ADCD.../node02E0.html
Close: http://amigadev.elowar.com/read/ADCD.../node028A.html

If you wish to use a trackloader & kill the OS, there are several floating around. Personally, I've been using the one from the Solid Gold source code with good results (note that this trackloader is fairly complete and allows for loading & writing data as well as run-time decrunching of Bytekiller files). There are others, which may be a better fit if you wish a smaller loader or don't care about the extra features.

http://aminet.net/search?query=solid+gold

Do note that using a trackloader does imply writing the data to disk first. You can use the diskimage tool provided in the Solid Gold source code for creating a full disk, but you can also use ASM-One's WS/WT commands: https://archive.org/details/AsmOne1.02Manual/page/n31

Hope this helps.

[fstarred]

roondar thank you for the hints, I'll give it a look for non-OS solutions

[Hewitson]

I wonder if anyone has ever written a HDD trackloader. Obviously useless for computers, but maybe it found a use in some other application (possibly an arcade game).

[roondar]

I'd say that device drivers for HDD's on any system 'probably' include this functionality