Assembler Optimizer

Yes, I am using a paid version of TNIASM.

---

Here is the command line:

C:>java -jar mdl.jar test.asm -dialect tniasm

The errors start from %symfile / %expfile.

If I remove them I will get %res8 / %res16 errors.

If I remove those, I will get next error about
ROM_PAGE_00_LEN:: EQU $ - START

And if I remove this, the next error will be PHASE / DEPHASE

And here is the small piece of code:

	%symfile	"test.sym"
	%expfile	"test.exp"



;
; STANDARD MSX VARIABLES
;

KEY_CLICK:	EQU	F3DBh		; 00h - no click sound, 01h - click sound

EXPTBL:		EQU	FCC1h
SLTTBL:		EQU	FCC5h


;
; MSX HOOKS
;

H.KEYI:			EQU	FD9Ah
H.TIMI:			EQU	FD9Fh
H.STKE:			EQU	FEDAh


;
; MSX DISK VARIABLES
;

BDOS:		EQU	F37Dh

send_string:	EQU	09h
open_file:	EQU	0Fh
close_file:	EQU	10h
create_file:	EQU	16h
set_DMA:	EQU	1Ah
write_rnd_blk:	EQU	26h
read_rnd_blk:	EQU	27h


;
; STANDARD MSX BIOS SUBROUTINES
;

ENASLT:		EQU	0024h
DISSCR:		EQU	0041h
ENASCR:		EQU	0044h
WRTVDP:		EQU	0047h
FILVRM:		EQU	0056h		; HL = start, BC = length, A = fill byte
LDIRVM:		EQU	005Ch		; HL = start RAM , DE = start VRAM , BC = block length
CHSNS:		EQU	009Ch
CHGET:		EQU	009Fh
GTSTCK:		EQU	00D5h
GTTRIG:		EQU	00D8h
GTPAD:		EQU	00DBh		; mouse
RSLREG:		EQU	0138h		; read primary slot register
SNSMAT:		EQU	0141h
KILBUF:		EQU	0156h
BIGFIL:		EQU	016Bh		;


;
; MY GAME VARIABLES
;

_MUS_ROM_PAGE:		EQU	03h

_EOM:			EQU	FAh
_EOL:			EQU	FBh
_NEW_COORDINATES:	EQU	FCh


;
; MY GAME RAM VARIABLES
;

_100_LEVEL_MAP:			EQU	CD00h		; 00h - level incomplete , 01h - level complete	;
MEDUSA_TRANSPARENCY_TABLE:	EQU	CE00h
OBJECT_TRANSPARENCY_TABLE:	EQU	CF00h


ROOM_A_DATA:		EQU	CF00h	; store room background information (for room editor)
ROOM_B_DATA:		EQU	CF80h	; store room enemy / items information (for room editor)


MAX_ENEMY_PER_ROOM:	EQU	21	; maximum number of enemies per room
ENEMY_DATA_SIZE:	EQU	0Ah	; enemy data (attributes) size per enemy
ENEMY_DATA_SIZE_2:	EQU	06h	; enemy data size per enemy to copy to the 2nd screen of double buffer


;
; GAME VARIABLES
;

	PHASE	C000h


_SAVE_ROM_4000:		%res8	1		; save ROM PAGE number that right now at 4000h

_TEMP_VAR_A:		%res8	1		; temporary variable A
_TEMP_VAR_B:		%res8	1		; temporary variable B


_FD9F:			%res8	5		; backup of hook FD9Fh (H.TIMI)

RAM_VDP_SUBROUTINES:	EQU	$

			DEPHASE


;
; IN-GAME MUSIC VARIABLES
;

STOP_MUS:		EQU	4000h	; stop music playback
INIT_MUS:		EQU	4003h	; init music / sound effect -> A = ??h (0 - stop music playback)
PLAY_MUS:		EQU	4009h	; play music




;-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
;
; ROM PAGE 00
;
;-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

	ORG	0000h

START:
	PHASE	4000h

	DB	"AB"
	DW	ROM_START
	DS	0Ch,00h

ROM_START:

	DEPHASE

	PHASE	8000h + ROM_START - 4000h	; because ROM page 00h moves to 8000h

	DI
	CALL	RSLREG
	AND	%00001100
	RRCA
	RRCA
	LD	B,A
	LD	HL,EXPTBL
	ADD	A,L
	LD	L,A
	LD	C,(HL)
	INC	L
	INC	L
	INC	L
	INC	L
	LD	A,(HL)
	AND	%00001100
	OR	B
	OR	C

	LD	H,A
	LD	L,F7h		; RST 30h
	LD	(H.STKE),HL
	LD	HL,START_2 - 4000h
	LD	(H.STKE+2),HL
	LD	A,C9h
	LD	(H.STKE+4),A

	LD	A,01h
	LD	(7000h),A
	RET

START_2:
	DI
	LD	SP,E200h



	DEPHASE

ROM_PAGE_00_LEN::	EQU	$ - START

	DS	(4000h - ROM_PAGE_00_LEN),FFh	; fill the rest of the ROM with FFh

Alright, I just looked at it, and indeed there is some syntax in that file that mdl did not support. I added support for everything I saw, and published a temporary release here: https://github.com/santiontanon/mdlz80optimizer/releases/tag...

Could you give that a try and see if that works?

Also, I noticed that your file has some syntax that I could not find in the tniasm documentation. For example, "%res8". I assumed it is equivalent to "rb" (which is the command specified in the tniasm documentation I have). I also noticed a line with two colons after a label: "ROM_PAGE_00_LEN::" Does this have any special meaning in tniasm? I also could not find that in the documentation. For now, I just made "::" a synonym of ":" for the tniasm dialect, but I am not sure if it has some other meaning. Maybe these are features of tniasm 1.0? (since the documentation is not available online, I am not sure; I could only find documentation for tniasm 0.45).

Thanks a lot for sharing that file, and let me know if it works now. It works for that example on my computer now. But if there is any other syntax that does not work, do let me know, and I'd be happy to look into it! :)

Thanks for testing!! I'll add support for "%res16" (it's just a 1 line change ). As for those "Could not evaluate c000h to an integer constant", it's definitively a bug in MDL. I think the problems with "-ro" are also derived from this but. It should be easy to fix! I'll take a look tonight after work!

As for the "include "file.asm"" error, could you show me which error do you get?

Thanks a lot for testing, all this is great to make MDL more compatible with tniasm

MDL gave me optimization suggstion and while applying it, I came up with another one

Here is the code sample:

	LD	HL,ROOM_A_DATA
	LD	DE,ROOM_A_DATA + 1
	LD	BC,0080h
	LD	(HL),B			; empty space in ROOM DATA
	LDIR
	LD	(HL),FFh		; no enemy / item in ROOM DATA
	LD	BC,007Fh
	LDIR

MDL suggested changing LD (HL),00h to LD (HL),B... And I did it. Now if you look before the next LDIR there is LD BC,007Fh but it could be changed to LD C,7Fh because B is already 00h after the previous LDIR execution.

I just uploaded a new version (same link as before: https://github.com/santiontanon/mdlz80optimizer/releases/tag... ). The issue with the labels like "c000h" should be fixed. But I would advise against using this type of constants though. For example you have a line that looks like this:

_EOM:			EQU	FAh

Notice that "fah" could perfectly be a variable name. So, MDL was interpreting it as such. Same with "c000h", etc. I have added an exception for the "tniasm" dialect to parse these as hex constants (now, using tniasm dialect, if after parsing the input assembler files there are symbols that could be interpreted as hex constants and that have not been defined, they will be converted to hex constants). But most assemblers will give you errors with those. The usual recommendation is to insert a leading 0, like this, to prevent ambiguities:

_EOM:			EQU	0FAh

In any case, that should work now. Oh, and I also added a new optimization pattern based on your idea haha (I credited you in the source code for the idea for that pattern, but let me know if you want your name removed) :)

Also, I wonder if the "include" error was also due to the labels issue. Not sure! In any case, I hope this version works better! :)