MD Developer Studio 2005 released

Pascal · Post by **Pascal** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 4:09 pm

Hello all,

Since, this was lying on my computer for almost 1 year, i decided to release it to the public. This is a megadrive asm debugger dedicated mostly to SNasm68k. it's possible to :
- trace asm code
- do and add breakpoint (click in the margins) or write 0 to vdp reg $1d (like kmod)
- load snasm68k symbols and memory spies file (extension need to be .map and the same name than your bin)
- watch vdp status, logs , cram
- got a vdp reg calculator aswell as a vdp read/write command generator
- dump memory

the only drawback is that you can not load rom bigger than 128k, i did that to prevent commercial use of it. But if you're a scene coder (with at least 1 demo released), just drop me a private msg and i'll forward you the unlocked debugger.

screenshot:
http://www.pascalorama.info/brol/mdstudio.png

binary
http://www.pascalorama.info/brol/mdstudiodemo.zip

if you want to have the symbol loading feature, you need to use snasm68k
and define 2 sections in a main.lnk file:

Code: Select all

Cart group obj $0 
section M68Kcode,Cart 

68kBss group obj $00ff0000 
section Vars,68kBss 

include myrom.cof

and compile like this

snasm68k /l -o v+ -o c+ -o m+ myrom.asm,myrom,myrom,myrom
snasm68k /p -o v+ -o c+ -o m+ main.lnk,myrom.bin

Be sure to use the section 'M68KCode' (for the code) and 'Vars' for the ram

Jorge Nuno · Post by **Jorge Nuno** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 10:47 pm

Ummm it showed an error about this missing DLL: MSVCR71D.dll

I just downloaded it from here http://www.dll-files.com/dllindex/dll-f ... l?msvcr71d and placed in the EXE directoy, and now it seems to work...

EDIT: It crashes when I try to open my ROM (11.8kbytes)

EDIT2: Wait it works, I padded my rom to exactly 12Kbytes with 0xFFs

EDIT3: I have some trouble with the controls because I don't know where they are!
A: A
B: ??
C: ??
START: ??
UP: UP arrow
DOWN: DOWN arrow
LEFT: ??
RIGHT:??

Is it possible to configure the keys? or atleast tell me which are they?

Thanks

Pascal · Post by **Pascal** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 9:35 am

you can not redefine controls, sorry, this program was tailored for my needs, and i was not planning to released

Backspace : Start
Arrows : up, down,left,right
Q (azerty keyboard) : A
S (azerty keyboard) : B
D (azerty keyboard) : C

the keys should be "A' (qwerty) and the 2 keys on his right (for button B&C)

MG · Post by MG » Mon Jan 28, 2008 10:02 am

Good tools !

It's functionnal under Vista.
A+

LocalH · Post by **LocalH** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 10:15 am

The only difference between QWERTY and AZERTY as far as the IDE control pad is concerned is that A and Q are swapped. B and C are still S and D keys.

Jorge Nuno · Post by **Jorge Nuno** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 10:16 am

Pascal wrote:you can not redefine controls, sorry, this program was tailored for my needs, and i was not planning to released

ok

ummm A works, S nothing, D nothing, Backspace is the Start button + C button

, Left/Right is always ON, Up/down works

Tryed with the regional language in french, but its the same...

LocalH · Post by **LocalH** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 10:19 am

I think you're trying the A, B, and C keys. If you're using QWERTY try A/S/D for MD buttons A/B/C.

Edit: Meh, you edited your post after I posted. Anyway, the keys seem to work for me, although without the unrestricted version I can't really test anything more than Sudoku Master but D seems to work to cancel the number input dialog.

Jorge Nuno · Post by **Jorge Nuno** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 10:23 am

No no I tryed ALL my keyboard keys

S/D don't work

Yeah you edited your post late too, I was starting to expalin again...

Pascal · Post by **Pascal** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 11:09 am

Jorge Nuno wrote:
Pascal wrote:you can not redefine controls, sorry, this program was tailored for my needs, and i was not planning to released
ok

ummm A works, S nothing, D nothing, Backspace is the Start button + C button , Left/Right is always ON, Up/down works

Tryed with the regional language in french, but its the same...

wow, it's really weird, i'm using DirectInput, i need to check in the sources how i was handling it

Jorge Nuno · Post by **Jorge Nuno** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 11:16 am

Thanks for trying to get the program to work for me

Pascal · Post by **Pascal** » Wed Jan 30, 2008 9:13 pm

i checked the code, i really don't do anything fancy with direct input. I gonna try to look to update the code this coming w-e

a quick and dirty hack ^^

Jorge Nuno · Post by **Jorge Nuno** » Wed Jan 30, 2008 9:18 pm

Really? Thank you!

Christuserloeser · Post by **Christuserloeser** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 3:36 pm

Thanks for this release Pascal

cdoty · Post by **cdoty** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 7:25 pm

Excellent utility!

The only suggestions I have are to save/load the layout.bin file to the same directory as the exe is in, and allow a window (such as Log) to be closed in the layout. Currently it will save the layout to the directory where the rom is loaded from. This results in the layout being reset to the original layout when md studio is launched. This can temporarily be fixed by dragging the created layout.bin (in the same directory as the rom), back to the same directory as the application is stored in. The second suggestion isn't critical, since the windows fit nicely on the screen now.

Should the debugger know the address of bss variables? I defined a variable Temp in the BSS section, but the debugger show the ram address, rather than Temp. And, if the debugger knows the bss variable name, couldn't you add a watch based on the variable name?

One 'final' question, is the snasm .map file the only file needed by the debugger for symbol info?

Pascal · Post by **Pascal** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 7:53 am

cdoty wrote:Excellent utility!

The only suggestions I have are to save/load the layout.bin file to the same directory as the exe is in, and allow a window (such as Log) to be closed in the layout. Currently it will save the layout to the directory where the rom is loaded from. This results in the layout being reset to the original layout when md studio is launched. This can temporarily be fixed by dragging the created layout.bin (in the same directory as the rom), back to the same directory as the application is stored in. The second suggestion isn't critical, since the windows fit nicely on the screen now.

Should the debugger know the address of bss variables? I defined a variable Temp in the BSS section, but the debugger show the ram address, rather than Temp. And, if the debugger knows the bss variable name, couldn't you add a watch based on the variable name?

One 'final' question, is the snasm .map file the only file needed by the debugger for symbol info?

thanks

i've problems to update the code of mdstudio, i changed computers, and the docking layout library seems to have been discontinue and doesn't work with the latest wxwindows framework. I need to remove the docking library and use the new native docking library in wx.That'd take me a lots of time but for now it's not my top priority, i prefer to concentrate on other project (i apologize jorge).

About your problem with the bss charles, some symbols with the same address can overlap each other, the program pick the last symbol the found. And the .map is the only file you need

for the others , here's how to get the symbol loading feature

if you want to have the symbol loading feature, you need to use snasm68k
and define 2 sections in a main.lnk file:

Code: Select all

Cart group obj $0 
section M68Kcode,Cart 

68kBss group obj $00ff0000 
section Vars,68kBss 

include myrom.cof

and compile like this

snasm68k /l -o v+ -o c+ -o m+ myrom.asm,myrom,myrom,myrom
snasm68k /p -o v+ -o c+ -o m+ main.lnk,myrom.bin

Be sure to use the section 'M68KCode' (for the code) and 'Vars' for the ram