DASM Warning: Unable to open 'myfile.asm'

[Lillapojkenpåön]

Hello, I wanted to try and continue my bbasic game in assembly so I got dasm and jedit, but after saving my file and trying to assemble it I only get this message.

 

START OF PASS: 1
Warning: Unable to open 'kernel.asm'

----------------------------------------------------------------------
SEGMENT NAME INIT PC INIT RPC FINAL PC FINAL RPC
INITIAL CODE SEGMENT 0000 ???? 0000 ????

----------------------------------------------------------------------
0 references to unknown symbols.
0 events requiring another assembler pass.

--- Symbol List (sorted by symbol)
--- End of Symbol List.

Complete.

C:\>

 

 

So far I've tried..

Running command prompt as admin.

Switching macro.h and vcs.h files, I have these in the dasm folder along with my .asm files.

Tried three different commands that other people here are using.

Like.. C:\>DASM\dasm\dasm kernel.asm -lcollect.txt -f3 -v5 -ocollect.bin (two dasm folders, trying to assemble collect tutorial file)

 

 

I think I'm using either command prompt or the support files wrong. Hopefully someone knows what i've missed.

Windows 8.1

[Just Jeff]

I'm not the greatest at DASM but it looks like kernel.asm is either in the wrong directory or that kernel.asm is not named what you think it is named. Are you sure you are trying to assemble the file- kernel.asm because the collect files will usually it will look something like this:

 

dasm collect.asm -f3 -ocollect.bin

 

If I were assembling a collect file, I would get into the right folder first:

cd DASM

cd dasm

 

then...

 

dasm collect.asm -f3 -ocollect.bin

 

or if you really have a file called "kernel", then it would look similar-

 

dasm kernel.asm -f3 -okernal.bin

[Lillapojkenpåön]

Thank you. You where double right, I had accidently copied and merged two different commands here, but i think that would still have worked, just renamed kernel.asm wrong.

 

The cd commands made it work

 

C:\DASM\dasm>dasm kernel.asm -f3 -okernel.bin
works
C:\>DASM\dasm\dasm kernel.asm -f3 -okernel.bin
doesn't work

 

Here's some more questions i've had while i'm at it,

Is there any way to copy your batari basics source code from stella or something? Or how would i continue in assembly?

 

Is it possible to use both assembly language and basic in batari basic together?

 

Would it be possible to replace something like vertical scroll with horisontal in the batari basic dpc+ kernel or am i better off learning 6502?

[Just Jeff]

I'm afraid I don't know anything at all about Batari. Maybe someone else can answer that one. Also, there is a list on Atariage specifically for Batari where you could ask. As for learning 6502 assembly, I do recommend it. Its not as hard as it looks.

[+Random Terrain]

Is there any way to copy your batari basics source code from stella or something? Or how would i continue in assembly?

There is usually a .list file that is created when compiling a batari Basic program. Example:

 

atariage.com/forums/topic/246881-is-more-efficient-than-when-using-batari-basic/?p=3394308

 

 

 

Is it possible to use both assembly language and basic in batari basic together?

Have you looked here:

 

randomterrain.com/atari-2600-memories-batari-basic-commands.html#assembly

[Lillapojkenpåön]

Thank you! Changing everything I could to inline assembly was fun, I also noticed that the assembler had interpreted NUSIZ0 = $05 like this..

 

1796 21d9 .L027 ; NUSIZ0 = $05
1797 21d9
1798 21d9 a9 05 LDA #$05

 

which works for some reason, but isn't it suppose to look like this?

 

1799 21d9 a9 05 lda #$05
1800 21db
1801 21db 85 04 sta NUSIZ0

 

After looking at all the weird extra.. arm code? I think I would rather use a regular single line kernel for now, but can't find any info on how to make one, something like a BlankCommentedStableSingleLineKernelDisplayTemplate.asm would be nice, but maybe I can figure it out by looking at other peoples code.

[Lillapojkenpåön]

Ok, forget the last post, except for the NUSIZ0 question, I know you make single line playfield and sprites differently now, I only need single line sprites, and don't even need a playfield if I could only get this thing working, found it in the mailing list, it's written in A86 I think.
http://www.biglist.com/lists/stella/archives/199705/msg00024.html

very short, please have a look

Changing the labels, the end, and including the header files got rid of most error messages,
but still this
error: Unknown Mnemonic 'DB'.

it's here:
table: DB 4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,11,10,9,8,7,6,5

 

and error: Label mismatch...

 

here:

.1:             STA     Wsync           ;change the colour every line for                                        ;sparkling stars - otherwise do what                                        ;you want here                CLC                ADC     #$03                EOR     #$A0                STA     ColuP0                DEY                BNE     .1

I fell asleep on my keyboard yesterday with 40 tabs open trying to figure it out, so if someone can help me I will not ask more questions for a while, I think my harmony cart will get here today so I want to have a working foundation ready for it. If anyone sees anything else in there that's rarely used anymore I would love to know, thanks.

[+SpiceWare]

error: Unknown Mnemonic 'DB'.

 

it's here:

table: DB 4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,11,10,9,8,7,6,5

I don't think they were using DASM for 2600 development back in 1997.

 

replace DB with .BYTE

 

Likewise in the vector table at the end replace DW with .WORD

 

I believe the . is optional so you can also use BYTE and WORD. I suspect the initial source examples I looked at, back when I wrote Medieval Mayhem, used the leading . so I followed its example.

 

and error: Label mismatch...

Looks like you replaced the @1 label with .1, but there are 2 occurrences of @1 labels. In DASM the labels need to be unique, otherwise it doesn't know which one you mean - the one after Start: or the one after Screen:?

 

Easiest fix is to change that to use a unique name, such as:

 

ScreenLoop:
  STA Wsync ;change the colour every line for
  ;sparkling stars - otherwise do what
  ;you want here
  CLC
  ADC #$03
  EOR #$A0
  STA ColuP0
  DEY
  BNE ScreenLoop

---

Note: There is a way to use labels like .1 multiple times in your source if you use SUBROUTINE or macros. From dasm.txt:

[label] SUBROUTINE  name

	    This isn't really a subroutine, but a boundry between sets of
	    temporary labels (which begin with a dot).	Temporary label
	    names are unique within segments of code bounded by SUBROUTINE:

		CHARLIE subroutine
			ldx #10
		.1	dex
			bne .1
		BEN	subroutine
			ldx #20
		.qq	dex
			bne .qq

	    Automatic temporary label boundries occur for each macro level.
	    Usually temporary labels are used in macros and within actual
	    subroutines (so you don't have to think up a thousand different
	    names)

---

I used the . labels in these macros I used in Medieval Mayhem to read the paddles:

        MAC READ_PADDLE_1
        lda INPT0         ; 3   - always 9
        bpl .save         ; 2 3
        .byte $2d         ; 4 0
.save   sty Paddle1       ; 0 3
        ENDM

        MAC READ_PADDLE_2
        lda INPT1         ; 3   - always 9
        bpl .save         ; 2 3
        .byte $2d         ; 4 0
.save   sty Paddle2       ; 0 3
        ENDM

        MAC READ_PADDLE_3
        lda INPT2         ; 3   - always 9
        bpl .save         ; 2 3
        .byte $2d         ; 4 0
.save   sty Paddle3       ; 0 3
        ENDM

        MAC READ_PADDLE_4
        lda INPT3         ; 3   - always 9
        bpl .save         ; 2 3
        .byte $2d         ; 4 0
.save   sty Paddle4       ; 0 3
        ENDM

---

As an aside - have you seen my blog series Collect? It's an in-depth tutorial for writing a 2K Atari game from scratch.

[Omegamatrix]

Note: There is a way to use labels like .1 multiple times in your source if you use SUBROUTINE or macros. From dasm.txt:

[label] SUBROUTINE  name

	    This isn't really a subroutine, but a boundry between sets of
	    temporary labels (which begin with a dot).	Temporary label
	    names are unique within segments of code bounded by SUBROUTINE:

		CHARLIE subroutine
			ldx #10
		.1	dex
			bne .1
		BEN	subroutine
			ldx #20
		.qq	dex
			bne .qq

	    Automatic temporary label boundries occur for each macro level.
	    Usually temporary labels are used in macros and within actual
	    subroutines (so you don't have to think up a thousand different
	    names)

I highly recommend people stick with unique labels instead of using that feature.

 

If you ever read a source with multiple ".1", or with other compiliers ".+" and ".-", then you'll quickly realize how hard it is to search or replace the label. Inside of a macro it makes sense. I've used ".1" inside macro's myself... but in the main source it makes it harder to follow and troubleshoot.

 

I guess people might get use to the directionality of ".+" (forward branch) and ".-" (backwards branch), but it just seems lazy to me. I believe ".+" and ".-" don't compile in DASM anyhow. Yep, just checked and they don't.

[Lillapojkenpåön]

Thanks for the help

 

As an aside - have you seen my blog series Collect? It's an in-depth tutorial for writing a 2K Atari game from scratch.

 

 

 

Yup, I'm trying to add the stars to step 2 of it because I like the padagogical subroutine layout for the moment, I've only been able to make different versions of a vertical line so far, I could just copy and paste, but I won't learn anything from that