VASM/VLINK relocation issues

[pipper]

Hi,
Thanks for taking interest in the project! I have tried to get this thing running better, but have not succeeded. I could not invest more time I to it yet.

There were various peculiarities around the asssembly code, like using a5 as base register and using 16base-relative 020 addressing modes.

I fixed them as much as I could see them, and was able to build executables that start, albeit buggy. I, too, notice rendering glitches, crashes when accessing terminals, missing options and text as well as missing sound effects.

Any help with this project is welcome :-)

[Sneezeface81]

I'm no ninja amiga coder, but count me in

[pipper]

I updated the repo. I think large parts of the issues were due to the BSS section not properly initialized. It now starts reliably and the glitches seem to be gone. Terminals and sound effects are still not working. No clue yet what is causing this.

[Sneezeface81]

checked out. it seems that the glitches are gone and also no more crashes on exit. great!
regarding the sound effects i've noticed that there are some GlobalSound* symbols that are never used. dunno.
terminal in level1 works fine for me. what kind of problem occurs to you?

[pipper]

I fixed the sfx in meantime. The terminals (nor any other overlaid text, crosshairs or the options in the main menu) show up for me. Does your config have fast mem or is it chipmem only?)

[Sneezeface81]

testing with winuae, 040+fastmem.
sfx are ok now, thx

[Sneezeface81]

In my local branch I've added a few lines of code that allow looking up-down via mouse.
a modern twist to the gameplay. about time!
no problems with terminals so far.

[pipper]

I don’t understand. I’m not getting any terminal text on screen. I think it is using sprites to do that, but I have not yet found the culprit. I believe it may have chosen the wrong memory location to place the sprite data, but so far found no evidence.

Interestingly the game seems to have cheats enabled. Pressing 9 gives new energy, shield and money. F9 transports into the next level (but crashes for me after the 4th).

[Sneezeface81]

Confirm that cheats are enabled but no crashes, even after reaching the ending screen.

Since we have slightly different toolchains, may it be worth to do a cross test?
i can test your compiled game in my testmachine and viceversa.

[pipper]

That may be! If you can, please show me how you compiled and linked the Beast :-)

[Sneezeface81]

Sure
I use win10_x64. Most of the compiling tools come from some VBCC zip/installer. NDK_3.9.
VisualStudoCode only as Editor.
On top of the default vbcc installation i put latest vasm and vlink.

vasm.exe is 1.8d
vasmm68k_mot.exe is 1.8k
vlink.exe is V0.16h
make.exe is 4.2.90

i worked around the makefile for some linux specific commands (getprefix.sh, rm). i have no m68k-amigaos-strip.exe, so i removed it from the make objects and generate the code without the linedebug flag.

my test machine is a A1200+040+64MB WinUAE config with legit 3.1.4ROM and Os.
to test the build, i launch a script that first assigns breathless disks to the folder on the hdd.
If i can compile it successfully is only thanks to you guys

[phx]

Originally Posted by Sneezeface81

i have no m68k-amigaos-strip.exe, so i removed it from the make objects and generate the code without the linedebug flag.

There is also no need for it. Just call vlink with -s and -x to strip all symbols.