Super FX Assembler

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snescentral
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Super FX Assembler

Post by snescentral »

Hi,

I was looking through a source code package for Star Fox 2, and found what I believe to be the Argonaut Super FX assembler. It was in the same folder as the alpha version of Star Fox 2 that has been floating around the Internet since 2000. Anyways, I'd like to get this to work so I can attempt to assemble binaries for the other two source packages I have. When I ran it in DOSBOX, it gave an error stating that it doesn't work under DOS mode. It is entirely possible that development was done on OS/2 rather than Windows, so maybe that is part of the problem. I've attached the assembler here if anyone wants to have a look.
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ARGOS2.zip
Super FX assembler
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freem
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Re: Super FX Assembler

Post by freem »

running "file" on the enclosed EXE gives: "ARGOS2.EXE: MS-DOS executable, NE for OS/2 1.x" so it's highly likely.
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Re: Super FX Assembler

Post by tepples »

I wonder if it'd be easier to implement the assembler as a ca65 macro pack the way blargg did for SPC700, rather than try to get a working copy of OS/2 up and running.
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Re: Super FX Assembler

Post by thefox »

tepples wrote:I wonder if it'd be easier to implement the assembler as a ca65 macro pack the way blargg did for SPC700, rather than try to get a working copy of OS/2 up and running.
https://github.com/ARM9/casfx
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wyatt8740
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Re: Super FX Assembler

Post by wyatt8740 »

It is an OS/2 program. I just checked with the unix 'file' utility, and it's an OS/2 program in NE format.

Code: Select all

$ file ARGOS2.EXE 
ARGOS2.EXE: MS-DOS executable, NE for OS/2 1.x
I installed Windows 2000 in a virtual machine because it has some level of OS/2 compatibility, and the assembler looks to run fine.

Image
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snescentral
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Re: Super FX Assembler

Post by snescentral »

Ok, that is good to know there is a way for it to work.

I've attached the makefile that was in the code package. Unless I am mistaken, the executable isn't the actual assembler, but some file called "ARGSFXX". It might not be possible to use this to assemble the code. :(


Edit: looks like the guy who originally had the source code was also looking for the assembler. Some info in the comments section here:

http://dailly.blogspot.jp/2008/06/tg16-fun.html
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MAKEFILE.zip
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adam_smasher
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Re: Super FX Assembler

Post by adam_smasher »

wyatt8740 wrote:I installed Windows 2000 in a virtual machine because it has some level of OS/2 compatibility
Woah, I didn't know this. Cool!
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Re: Super FX Assembler

Post by hyarion »

wyatt8740 wrote: I installed Windows 2000 in a virtual machine because it has some level of OS/2 compatibility, and the assembler looks to run fine.
Image
That doesn't look like the output from the assembler, It should print something similar to this:

Code: Select all

ArgSfx-OS/2 v1.35 Copyright (c) Argonaut Software Ltd. 1992
Usage: ARGOS2 [options] sourcefile
 Options are:
Btw, IIRC argos2 is the assembler and argfxx the linker

I tried assembling some example code from some of the sfx patents on a virtual os2warp4 machine but without success, I just got empty output files.
I know the source code for some sfx games are out there somewhere but I haven't been able get hold of any and debugging without it is a PITA.
snescentral
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Re: Super FX Assembler

Post by snescentral »

I'll try to set up a virtual machine on my own end and give it a go.
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cdoty
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Re: Super FX Assembler

Post by cdoty »

wyatt8740 wrote:I installed Windows 2000 in a virtual machine because it has some level of OS/2 compatibility, and the assembler looks to run fine.
Are you sure it wasn't Windows NT? OS/2 was effectively dead by the time Windows 2000 was released. And, there is a lot of material about how Microsoft created the NT kernel based on the info taken from OS/2.

Here's the quotes from Wikipedia:
"Microsoft decided to recast NT OS/2 3.0 as Windows NT"
"Windows NT's OS/2 heritage can be seen in its initial support for the HPFS filesystem, text mode OS/2 1.x applications..."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OS/2

The Windows NT wikipedia page says it's available in Windows NT 3.1:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_NT
Last edited by cdoty on Tue Feb 16, 2016 12:20 am, edited 1 time in total.
Sik
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Re: Super FX Assembler

Post by Sik »

If it was in NT it's still possible for it to be there in 2000, even if just because removing it could have broken way more than it should have (Windows is known to have lots of now-useless code just in case removing it ends up backfiring)

Wouldn't it make more sense to just use OS/2 if you're going to use a VM anyway?
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Re: Super FX Assembler

Post by Ryoga »

Is there any tutorial to start programming some stuff for the Super FX chip?
snescentral
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Re: Super FX Assembler

Post by snescentral »

Luigiblood wrote a linker, so in theory you should be able to write Super FX programs with this. Confirmed to work with legit Star Fox 2 source code.

https://github.com/LuigiBlood/ARGLINK_REWRITE
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LuigiBlood
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Re: Super FX Assembler

Post by LuigiBlood »

I must say, the Argonaut SNES Linker rewrite may not be accurate, I tried the best I could. At least it produces working ROMs. :D
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Re: Super FX Assembler

Post by nocash »

Searching for "Usage : OS2 /P <full path> /C <original CommandLine>"...

It's mentioned on several webpages. Most people seem to consider it as an "error message", as far as I understand it's complaining about spaces in the path/filename. If that's right then it might work in, for example, "C:\TEST" instead of "C:\Documents and Settings\..\My Documents".

Though it doesn't really look like an "errror message" to me. Sounds more as if it's asking you to use a workaround (possibly needed only if the path contains spaces), ie. maybe it wants you to type this (?)
OS2 /P "C:\Documents and Settings\..\My Documents" /C ARGOS2.EXE

Or, other idea, as you said that ARGSFXX might be the actual assembler, try sth like this:
ARGOS2 /P <whather path> /C ARGSFXX
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