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millfork/doc/api/famicom-programming-guide.md

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2018-03-15 23:46:16 +01:00
# Famicom/NES programming guide
## Program lifecycle
The default Famicom vectors are defined as following:
* on reset, the predefined `on_reset` routine is called, which in turn calls `main`.
The `main` routine is not allowed to return, or the program will crash.
* on NMI, the default interrupt handler calls the `nmi` routine.
It should not be defined as `interrupt`, the handler is, so your routine shouldn't.
* on IRA, the default interrupt handler calls the `irq` routine.
It should not be defined as `interrupt`, the handler is, so your routine shouldn't.
The minimal Famicom program thus looks like this:
void main() {
// initialize things
while(true) { }
}
void irq() {
// do things
}
void nmi() {
// do things
}
## Mappers
To use a mapper of your choice, create a new `.ini` file with the definitions you need.
The most important ones are `[output]format` and `[allocation]segments`.
You should define at least three segments:
* `default` from $200 to $7FF, it will represent the physical RAM of the console.
* `chrrom` (sample name) from $0000 to $3FFF, it will represent the CHRROM (if you need more).
* `prgrom` (sample name) from either $8000 or $C000 to $FFFF, it will contain the code of your program.
You should set the `default_code_segment` to the segment that contains the $FFxx addresses.
If your mapper supports it, you can add more CHRROM or PRGROM segments,
just specify them correctly in the `[output]format` tag.
The `[output]format` tag should contain a valid iNES header of the mapper of your choice and then all the segments in proper order.
See [the NesDev wiki](https://wiki.nesdev.com/w/index.php/INES) for more info about the iNES file format.