So far the joy_masks array allowed several joystick drivers for a single target to each have different joy_read return values. However this meant that every call to joy_read implied an additional joy_masks lookup to post-process the return value.
Given that almost all targets only come with a single joystick driver this seems an inappropriate overhead. Therefore now the target header files contain constants matching the return value of the joy_read of the joystick driver(s) on that target.
If there indeed are several joystick drivers for a single target they must agree on a common return value for joy_read. In some cases this was alredy the case as there's a "natural" return value for joy_read. However a few joystick drivers need to be adjusted. This may cause some overhead inside the driver. But that is for sure smaller than the overhead introduced by the joy_masks lookup before.
!!! ToDo !!!
The following three joystick drivers become broken with this commit and need to be adjusted:
- atrmj8.s
- c64-numpad.s
- vic20-stdjoy.s
Up to now static drivers were created via co65 from dynamic drivers. However there was an issue with that approach:
The dynamic drivers are "o65 simple files" which obligates that they start with the 'code' segment. However dynamic drivers need to start with the module header - which is written to. For dynamic drivers this isn't more than a conceptual issue because they are always contain a 'data' segment and may therefore only be loaded into writable memory.
However when dynamic drivers are converted to static drivers using co65 then that issue becomes a real problem as then the 'code' segment may end up in non-writable memory - and thus writing to the module header fails.
Instead of changing the way dynamic drivers work I opted to rather make static driver creation totally independent from dynamic drivers. This allows to place the module header in the 'data' segment (see 'module.mac').