Skip to navigation

Elite on the BBC Micro and NES

Drawing the screen: ClearPlaneBuffers (Part 2 of 2)

[NES version, Bank 7]

Name: ClearPlaneBuffers (Part 2 of 2) [Show more] Type: Subroutine Category: Drawing the screen Summary: Clear the pattern buffer of data that has already been sent to the PPU for the current bitplane Deep dive: Drawing vector graphics using NES tiles
Context: See this subroutine in context in the source code References: No direct references to this subroutine in this source file
.pbuf12 NOP ; This looks like code that has been removed NOP NOP .pbuf13 SUBTRACT_CYCLES 187 ; Subtract 187 from the cycle count BMI pbuf14 ; If the result is negative, jump to pbuf14 to skip the ; pattern buffer clearing, as we have run out of cycles ; (we will pick up where we left off in the next VBlank) JMP pbuf15 ; The result is positive, so we have enough cycles to ; clear the pattern buffer, so jump to pbuf15 to do just ; that .pbuf14 ADD_CYCLES 146 ; Add 146 to the cycle count JMP pbuf11 ; Jump to pbuf11 to return from the subroutine .pbuf15 LDA clearingPattern,X ; Set A to clearingPattern for this bitplane, which ; contains the number of the first pattern we need ; to clear in the pattern buffer LDY sendingPattern,X ; Set Y to sendingPattern for this bitplane, which we ; used in SendPatternsToPPU to keep track of the current ; pattern number as we sent them to the PPU pattern ; table, so this contains the number of the last pattern ; that we sent to the PPU pattern table for this ; bitplane ; ; So this contains the number of the last tile we need ; to clear in the nametable buffer STY clearBlockSize ; Set clearBlockSize to the number of the last tile we ; need to clear CMP clearBlockSize ; If A >= clearBlockSize, then the first tile we need to BCS pbuf10 ; clear is after the last tile we need to clear, which ; means there are no nametable tiles to clear, so jump ; to pbuf10 to return from the subroutine NOP ; This looks like code that has been removed LDY #0 ; Set clearAddress(1 0) = (pattBufferHiAddr 0) + A * 8 STY clearAddress+1 ; = (pattBufferHiAddr 0) + first tile ASL A ; ROL clearAddress+1 ; So clearAddress(1 0) contains the address of the first ASL A ; tile we sent in this bitplane's pattern buffer ROL clearAddress+1 ASL A STA clearAddress LDA clearAddress+1 ROL A ADC pattBufferHiAddr,X STA clearAddress+1 LDA #0 ; Set clearBlockSize(1 0) = (0 clearBlockSize) * 8 ASL clearBlockSize ; + (pattBufferHiAddr 0) ROL A ; = (pattBufferHiAddr 0) + last tile ASL clearBlockSize ; ROL A ; So clearBlockSize(1 0) points to the address of the ASL clearBlockSize ; last tile we sent in this bitplane's pattern buffer ROL A ADC pattBufferHiAddr,X STA clearBlockSize+1 LDA clearBlockSize ; Set clearBlockSize(1 0) SEC ; = clearBlockSize(1 0) - clearAddress(1 0) SBC clearAddress ; STA clearBlockSize ; So clearBlockSize(1 0) contains the number of tiles we LDA clearBlockSize+1 ; already sent from this bitplane's pattern buffer SBC clearAddress+1 BCC pbuf16 STA clearBlockSize+1 ORA clearBlockSize BEQ pbuf17 JSR ClearMemory ; Call ClearMemory to zero clearBlockSize(1 0) pattern ; buffer bytes from address clearAddress(1 0) onwards LDA clearAddress+1 ; Set (A clearAddress) SEC ; = clearAddress(1 0) - (pattBufferHiAddr 0) SBC pattBufferHiAddr,X LSR A ; Set A to the bottom byte of (A clearAddress) / 8 ROR clearAddress ; LSR A ; This effectively reverses the calculation we did ROR clearAddress ; above, so A contains the number of the next tile LSR A ; we need to clear, as returned by ClearMemory, divided LDA clearAddress ; by 8 ROR A ; ; We only need to take the low byte, as we know the high ; byte will be zero after this many shifts, as that's ; how we built the value of clearAddress(1 0) above CMP clearingPattern,X ; If A >= clearingPattern then we did manage to clear BCC pbuf16 ; some pattern bytes in ClearMemory, so update the STA clearingPattern,X ; value of clearingPattern with the new first pattern ; number so the next call to this routine will pick up ; where we left off RTS ; Return from the subroutine .pbuf16 NOP ; This looks like code that has been removed NOP NOP NOP RTS ; Return from the subroutine .pbuf17 ADD_CYCLES_CLC 35 ; Add 35 to the cycle count RTS ; Return from the subroutine