[stella] Definitive Combat Disassembly

Subject: [stella] Definitive Combat Disassembly
From: "Roger Williams" <mer02@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sat, 2 Mar 2002 14:07:26 -0800
Here it is -- the ultimate COMBAT disassembly.
 
What does it have that you haven't seen?
 
* Every single RAM location accounted for
* Every single byte of ROM data tables accounted for
* Every single branch and jump target non-cryptically labelled
* Tables compile correctly even if you change the length of the file
* Original Atari labels used for toplevel routines
  (thanks to Brian Prescott for Joe DeCuir's lecture notes!)
* Find out how COMBAT manages Tank PONG missile reflections
  when it doesn't know whether you hit a horizontal or vertical wall
* Explore COMBAT's byzantine and yet, during play, barely
  perceptible acceleration and deceleration system
* Find out what mystery RAM locations $88, $A8, and $AA do
* Find out what the mystery tables at L15F7, L1637 do, and learn how
  the SNDP sound pitch table is incorrectly documented in NBCOMBAT
* Find out why GTIMER was misnamed in NBCOMBAT, and how the length
  of the game is really controlled
* Look over Larry Wagner's shoulder from more than 25 years in the
  future and see which routines were coded first, and what flags
  and patches were obviously added as last-minute tweaks
 
All in all, this is everything you should need to make arbitrary
changes to COMBAT without guessing.  By recompiling to a 4K ROM
(a very trivial change) it should be straightforward to add new
mazes, backgrounds, and even game variations.  Enjoy!
 
--Roger Williams

Attachment: dicombat.asm
Description: Binary data

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