.ASM into .NES assistance

[caramelpuffpuff]

caramelpuffpuff, am I allowed to disclose publicly what your native tongue is? I understand your concerns that you mentioned in your PM, but we have had no language (or ethnic/racial) issues on this forum. It's very diverse.

Sure....

[koitsu]

His native tongue is Spanish (as in Mexican Spanish), so if anyone speaks Spanish and can translate more complex things that he might not understand, that'd be awesome. Thanks folks. :-)

[tokumaru]

Well, that's an easy one! Tons of people here speak Spanish. Still, even if it was something more exotic there would be absolutely no reason to be ashamed. Even though I can't write/speak proper Spanish, I understand it quite well, and will try to help whenever I can.

[3gengames]

¡Puedo hablar un poco español tamíen! Pero yo sólo tomé dos clases de español, entonces lo es muchas mas mal a mis español. ¿Pienso que Tokumaro puede ayudarle, Entonces es bueno?

¡Divertirse!

[caramelpuffpuff]

Nevermind. I'll just figure it out...

[tokumaru]

Look, it's clear you are pretty lost. It seems you didn't get how NES programming works yet, and it's unlikely you'll figure it out by yourself.

The thing is, an .ASM file isn't "converted" to an .NES in the same way that a .BMP file can be converted to .PNG. BMP and PNG are well documented data formats that follow certain standards. But .ASM and .NES are programs (meaning they can contain pretty much anything!), and depending on the assembler used, the .ASM file will have to follow different standards.

The best thing you can do right now is follow a tutorial, so that you can get the basic idea of how things work. Try the Nerdy Nights tutorial that has already been suggested, and use the same tools that the author used. Once you understand how the program you write can become a ROM file, you might try different things. There's no point in trying to do something by yourself if you don't even know where to begin.

[TmEE]

.ASM is a text representation to describe what the CPU has to do for the programmer. The programmer understands it and can change as necessary. .NES is that text translated into what CPU can understand, the CPU does not understand that text, it is completely alien to it. It is like English vs Spanish, one really does not understand the other, until its translated. Assembler is the program that does the translation.

[tokumaru]

Assembler is the program that does the translation.

...however, there are different "dialects" of assembly, so not all assemblers will understand all .ASM files.

[TmEE]

Right, I completely missed that part ^^
Different CPUs "speak" in different languages/dialects and don't usually understand each other.

[tokumaru]

Different CPUs "speak" in different languages/dialects and don't usually understand each other.

Heh, I'd say that different CPUs often use completely different assembly languages... What I meant by "dialects" is that an .ASM file written for ASM6 won't assemble in NESASM without at least some modifications, even though both work with 6502 code.

[caramelpuffpuff]

.ASM is a text representation to describe what the CPU has to do for the programmer. The programmer understands it and can change as necessary. .NES is that text translated into what CPU can understand, the CPU does not understand that text, it is completely alien to it. It is like English vs Spanish, one really does not understand the other, until its translated. Assembler is the program that does the translation.

...however, there are different "dialects" of assembly, so not all assemblers will understand all .ASM files.

Ooooh, I get most of it.

_______

...Testing. Okay good.

Now, I want to test it by drawing a picture of myself. (I am so cute. Am I? >w<)

[tokumaru]

Most assemblers have an INCBIN command you can use to INClude BINary files. At the correct location in your ASM file (usually the very end) you can write this:

Code: Select all

	.incbin "graphics.chr"

This won't magically make tiles appear on the screen when you run the ROM though, you have to write a program that will put these tiles in the background.

[caramelpuffpuff]

Most assemblers have an INCBIN command you can use to INClude BINary files. At the correct location in your ASM file (usually the very end) you can write this:

Code: Select all

	.incbin "graphics.chr"

This won't magically make tiles appear on the screen when you run the ROM though, you have to write a program that will put these tiles in the background.

[tokumaru]

DISASM6 is a disassembler, it's meant to convert binary programs into ASM code, the exact opposite of what you want.

Also, you are blindly writing stuff in the command prompt! The ".incbin" line is supposed to be written inside an ASM file, which then needs to be compiled. But like I said before, just including it won't do anything unless you write the code to use those tiles.

I'll be honest with you: You are really, really, REALLY lost, you have absolutely no idea what you're doing. Nothing you're trying makes ANY sense. Programming isn't something you guess. You can't just download a bunch of programs and type random stuff hoping it will work. You have to study!

We have suggested several times that you follow this tutorial. Please stop guessing and read this. Believe me, NES programming isn't like Photoshop, which you can poke around and learn by yourself, you won't learn NES programming like this.

[caramelpuffpuff]

I still don't get it.

I read those BunnyBoy stuff, and I can't seem to get it working. I read the "Commands Prompt" tutorial, and I don't understand.