Wikifang:Network Translation Patchsite/BugVM

Bugsite contains a virtual machine which executes all (non-IRQ) game logic. It is a stack-based virtual machine with a large number of opcodes specific to the game.

Data and Link Stacks

Two stacks are managed by the VM: a link stack and a data stack. The link stack ($C100) supports up to $3F call frames of 4 bytes each, which is manipulated entirely by the call, jump-far, and return opcodes. The data stack ($C200) supports up to $55 data items of 3 bytes each. Each data item consists of a little-endian 16-bit word followed by a tag byte, which specifies if it's...

• $3D an immediate value
• $1D a word index into the indirect memory array
• $1E a bit index into the predicate array

Data items are pushed onto the stack as immediate values and then cast to indirect or predicate offsets as necessary. Both stacks grow upwards from their base address.

Indirect & Predicate Memory

BugVM allows direct access (read and write) to indirect and predicate memory. Indirect memory covers WRAM3:$C400 to WRAM3:$D7FF, and is indexed using word offsets. Predicate memory covers WRAM3:$D800 to WRAM3:$DFFF and is indexed as a massive bitfield.

Indirect and predicate memory can be saved to and loaded from SRAM using opcodes $47 and $48, along with additional data in SRAM.

Known Indirect Memory Slots

Index	WRAM Addr.	Name	Purpose
$01	$C402	W_System_GameVersion	Stores the version of the game the user is playing. 0 is Alpha version, 1 is Beta version
$12	$C424	W_BugVM_StringArena	Stores the current location of the end of the string-builder arena, used by the DB opcode to store embedded string data.
$172	$C6E4	W_MainScript_PortraitID	Stores the currently selected character portrait, if any.
$580 - $59F	$CF00-$CF3F	W_Battle_AttrStaging	Stores the most recently loaded RPG Attribute Table entry.

Linkage Directory (BugFS)

Bugsite contains a filesystem which almost pervasively enumerates all resources within the game. Each file is exclusively referred to with it's 16-bit linkage identifier; there are no file names and only one directory. Almost all resource loads, except some game data tables, are mediated through BugFS. Graphics and tilemaps are loaded by ID and BugVM code can farjump/farcall to the start of another section by ID.

The directory's structure is that of an array of entry structures. The directory array starts at $A:$4000, and the ID indexes this array by 8 bytes. Directory entries appear to be stored in the same order as where their data is stored in ROM. The directory spans $1000 entries, across 2 banks; though it could be extended further if the referenced data were to be moved to a later bank. Approximately 40 entries at the end of the directory are zero-size files (pointing to ROM $7F:70FF) and may be unused filler entries.

Offset	Name	Type
$0	Bank	8-bit bank index
$1	Offset	16-bit offset	Offset is relative to $4000, not a pointer
$3	Size	16-bit size

Each directory entry is 5 bytes long. Fields include a bank index, byte offset into that bank (0 means a pointer of $4000), and total size. Much like the directory itself, files are allowed and expected to span across bank boundaries. Native code that reads BugFS files will need to account for bank switching. Directory entries are stored with an 8-byte alignment (3 padding bytes).

RPG Attribute Tables

Certain tables of game attributes are not stored as BugFS files. These data tables include listings for monsters, battle moves, chips, key items, and encounters. Not much is known about these tables, except for the fact that they are universally arrays of $40 bytes and often contain a name string at offset $30. Specialized BugVM instructions exist to load a single table entry into W_Battle_AttrStaging and to print the name at offset $30.

Location	Size	Contents
$4:4000, $5:4000	$4000	Bugs	Instructions that read from the monster table will select bank $4 for Alpha Version and bank $5 for Beta Version. Beta's table is present and unmodified in Alpha, and vice versa.
$6:4000	$4000	Moves
$7:4000	$A80	Chips	After the entry at $7:4A40 none of the remaining items in this table appear to have valid name data and are thus likely to be something else.
$7:6000	$1240	Key Items	After the entry at $7:7200 none of the remaining items in this table appear to have valid name data and are thus likely to be something else.
$8:4000, $9:4000	$4000	Encounters	Instructions that read from the encounter table will select bank $8 for Alpha Version and bank $9 for Beta Version. Beta's table is present and unmodified in Alpha, and vice versa.

Initial State

Execution of BugVM always starts from the beginning of linkage $0. Indirect and predicate memory is set to $0 upon game initialization.

Instruction Set

BugVM takes instructions as 8-bit opcodes which can optionally accept additional parameters. Most opcodes take arguments from the stack, rather than from the instruction stream. Native implementations for a particular opcode are referenced from the opcode table at $3E00, reproduced below:

	x0	x1	x2	x3	x4	x5	x6	x7	x8	x9	xA	xB	xC	xD	xE	xF
0x	NOP $5E9	ENOP $01 $5E9	ENOP $02 $5E9	ARFREE $671	ENOP $04 $5E9	ENOP $05 $5E9	STR $68C	SUML $6C0	ANDL $6CA	OR $6D7	XOR $6E2	AND $6ED	CMP_EQ $6F8	CMP_NEQ $705	CMP_LT $712	CMP_LEQ $723
1x	CMP_GT $752	CMP_GEQ $763	??? $772	SLA $784	SUB $796	ADD $7A1	MOD $7A9	DIV $7C3	MUL $7ED	PNOP $19 $80B	PNOP $1A $80C	PNOP $1B $80D	PNOP $1C $80E	INDIR $80F	PRED $820	ENOP $1F $5E9
2x	ENOP $20 $5E9	ENOP $21 $5E9	ENOP $22 $5E9	ENOP $23 $5E9	ENOP $24 $5E9	ENOP $25 $5E9	ENOP $26 $5E9	ENOP $27 $5E9	ENOP $28 $5E9	ENOP $29 $5E9	ENOP $2A $5E9	ENOP $2B $5E9	POPALL $831	ENOP $2D $5E9	ENOP $2E $5E9	PNOP $2F $835
3x	PNOP $30 $836	PNOP $31 $837	PNOP $32 $838	PNOP $33 $839	PNOP $34 $83A	PNOP $35 $87B	NPREF $87C	JMPT $887	JMP $8AC	RET $8BB	PNOP $3A $8DB	PNOP $3B $8DC	PNOP $3C $8DD	IMMED $8DE	DB $941	JAL $8F0
4x	WINWAIT $A12												PRINT $A84
5x	SCRCURS $C54											WINCLR $97C				RESLD $9C6
6x		SPRINPUT $A29									FARCALL $91B	FARJMP $83B
7x			TILELD $1BAC			PALLD $2F0E								WINCOORD $C24	WINCURS $C63
8x			WINBRK $ADA				TMAPSAV $1C92
9x																PRKEY $165A
Ax	BLKKEY $42A	PRMOVE $1668	BLKMOVE $3FE			PRNAME $162A										PRMON $1622
Bx	NTSTR $1677	NTPRINT $1670	WINOPEN $B2D	WINFRAME $AFC								BLKMON $39C
Cx
Dx			SPRHOLD $A39							WININPUT $A1D
Ex			BLKCHIP $456	PRCHIP $1661		PRNICK $1638
Fx		BLKENC $3CD

Boolean Logic & Comparison Operators

As convention for this table we treat zero as boolean TRUE and one as boolean FALSE. Other non-zero values are treated as FALSE, but boolean opcodes will not return nonstandard values.

Opcode	Encoding(s)	Native Impl.	Operand Args	Stack Args	Description
SUML (SUM Logical)	$07	$6C0	None	arg1, arg2 (TOP) -> bool (TOP)	Add arg1 and arg2. Push TRUE if result is zero, FALSE if non-zero.
ANDL (AND Logical)	$08	$6CA	None	arg1, arg2 (TOP) -> bool (TOP)	Bitwise-AND arg1 and arg2. Push TRUE if result is zero, FALSE if non-zero.
CMP_EQ (CoMParison EQual)	$0C	$6F8	None	arg1, arg2 (TOP) -> bool (TOP)	Compare arg1 and arg2. Push TRUE if both arguments are equal, FALSE otherwise.
CMP_NEQ (CoMParison Not EQual)	$0D	$705	None	arg1, arg2 (TOP) -> bool (TOP)	Compare arg1 and arg2. Push TRUE if both arguments are not equal, FALSE otherwise.
CMP_LT (CoMParison Less Than)	$0E	$712	None	arg1, arg2 (TOP) -> bool (TOP)	Compare arg1 and arg2. Push TRUE if arg1 is less than arg2, FALSE otherwise.
CMP_LEQ (CoMParison Less or EQual)	$0F	$723	None	arg1, arg2 (TOP) -> bool (TOP)	Compare arg1 and arg2. Push TRUE if arg1 is less than or equal to arg2, FALSE otherwise.
CMP_GT (CoMParison Greater Than)	$10	$752	None	arg1, arg2 (TOP) -> bool (TOP)	Compare arg1 and arg2. Push TRUE if arg1 is greater than arg2, FALSE otherwise.
CMP_GEQ (CoMParison Greater or EQual)	$11	$763	None	arg1, arg2 (TOP) -> bool (TOP)	Compare arg1 and arg2. Push TRUE if arg1 is greater than or equal to arg2, FALSE otherwise.

Bitwise logic

Opcode	Encoding(s)	Native Impl.	Operand Args	Stack Args	Description
OR (bitwise OR)	$09	$6D7	None	arg1, arg2 (TOP) -> value (TOP)	Bitwise-OR arg1 and arg2 as the return value.
XOR (bitwise eXclusive OR)	$0A	$6E2	None	arg1, arg2 (TOP) -> value (TOP)	Bitwise-XOR arg1 and arg2 as the return value.
AND (bitwise AND)	$0B	$6ED	None	arg1, arg2 (TOP) -> value (TOP)	Bitwise-AND arg1 and arg2 as the return value.
SLA (Shift-Left Arithmetic)	$13	$784	None	bits, shift (TOP) -> value (TOP)	Shift bits left, shift times, while inserting zero bits, to produce value.

Arithmetic

Opcode	Encoding(s)	Native Impl.	Operand Args	Stack Args	Description
SUB (SUBtraction)	$14	$796	None	minuend, subtrahend (TOP) -> difference (TOP)	Subtract subtrahend from minuend to produce difference.
ADD (ADDition)	$15	$7A1	None	addend1, addend2 (TOP) -> sum (TOP)	Add addend1 to addend2 to produce sum.
MOD (MODulo)	$16	$7A9	None	dividend, divisor (TOP) -> remainder (TOP)	Integer-divide dividend by divisor and return only the remainder.
DIV (DIVide)	$17	$7C3	None	dividend, divisor (TOP) -> quotient (TOP)	Integer-divide dividend by divisor and return only the quotient.
MUL (MULtiply)	$18	$7ED	None	multiplicand, multiplier (TOP) -> product (TOP)	Multiply multiplicand by multiplier to produce the product.

Memory & Stack Manipulation

Opcode	Encoding(s)	Native Impl.	Operand Args	Stack Args	Description
STR (SToRe)	$06	$68C	None	&address, value (TOP) -> (TOP)	Store the value at the memory location referenced by &address. The exact memory operations performed depend on the target of *address. If address is an indirect index, the memory location referenced by *address will be set to value. If address is a predicate index, the bit referenced by *address will be set or reset based on if value is zero or non-zero. It is illegal to STR into an immediate value, and doing so will cause the VM to halt operation.
INDIR (INDIRect)	$1D	$80F	None	immed (TOP) -> &address (TOP)	Cast the value immed into an indirect memory index &address.
PRED (PREDicate)	$1E	$820	None	immed (TOP) -> &pred (TOP)	Cast the value immed into a predicate memory index &pred.
POPALL (POP ALL)	$2C	$831	None	anything (TOP) -> (EMPTY)	Empty the stack.
IMMED (IMMEDiate)	$3D	$8DE	immed (16b)	(TOP) -> immed (TOP)	Push immed onto the data stack as an immediate value.
DB (Declare Bytes)	$3E	$941	string (null-terminated)	(TOP) -> straddr (TOP)	Copy null-terminated string data from the instruction stream into the string-building arena referred to by $C424. The address of the newly copied string data will be pushed onto the data stack as an immediate value.
ARFREE (ARena FREE)	$03	$671	None	None	Free the data in the string arena (or set up the string arena if it hasn't already been done). This opcode should be used as soon as possible after you are done with the data in the string arena. The arena has a maximum capacity of 255 bytes, and memory is not reclaimed from use by a DB opcode until you ARFREE the entire arena.
NTSTR (Name Temporary SToRe)	$B0	$1677	None	srcaddr (TOP) -> (TOP)	Store string data in the naming temporary string area. This is primarily used by naming / password screens which need to redraw themselves while retaining the user's input data. srcaddr is the address of a string, usually provided by the DB opcode. The naming temporary area has a maximum size of $E bytes, not counting the mandatory null terminator.

Execution Control

Execution Control opcodes control the address of the next instruction to execute, determined by BugVM's program counter. It consists of a bank address, base address, and offset address. The linkage directory determines what the bank and base addresses of a section are. The offset address is added to the base in order to calculate the address of the next instruction.

Caution: Parameters named "offset" for jump instructions refer to the program counter offset address, and do not imply the existence of PC-relative jumps instructions within Bugsite.

Opcode	Encoding(s)	Native Impl.	Operand Args	Stack Args	Description
JMPT (JuMP if True)	$37	$887	offset (16b)	bool (TOP) -> (TOP)	Jump to a new offset within the current linkage section if bool is TRUE.
JMP (JuMP)	$38	$8AC	offset (16b)	None	Jump to a new offset within the current linkage section.
RET (RETurn)	$39	$8BB	None	None	Return to the previously linked return address.
JAL (Jump And Link)	$3F	$8F0	offset (16b)	None	Jump to a new offset within the current linkage section. Store the offset of the next instruction on the link stack.
FARCALL	$6A	$91B	None	linkage_index (TOP) -> (TOP)	Jump to the start of a new linkage section. Store the offset of the next instruction on the stack.
FARJMP (FAR JuMP)	$6B	$83B	None	linkage_index (TOP) -> (TOP)	Jump to the start of a new linkage section, erasing the link stack in the process. The previous linkage section is stored for later use.

NOP and NOP-alikes

BugVM contains a number of opcodes which do nothing, including both a single implementation of a NOP opcode used to fill in blank spots in the table as well as individual implementations which presumably did something in the past.

Opcode	Encoding(s)	Native Impl.	Operand Args	Stack Args	Description
NOP (Null OPeration), ENOP $nn (Effective Null OPeration)	Too many to list	$5E9	None	None	Does nothing. This particular null-op implementation is used many times to fill space in the opcode table.
PNOP $19 (Probable Null OPeration)	$19	$80B	None	None	Does nothing.
PNOP $1A (Probable Null OPeration)	$1A	$80C	None	None	Does nothing.
PNOP $1B (Probable Null OPeration)	$1B	$80D	None	None	Does nothing.
PNOP $1C (Probable Null OPeration)	$1C	$80E	None	None	Does nothing.
PNOP $2F (Probable Null OPeration)	$2F	$835	None	None	Does nothing.
PNOP $30 (Probable Null OPeration)	$30	$836	None	None	Does nothing.
PNOP $31 (Probable Null OPeration)	$31	$837	None	None	Does nothing.
PNOP $32 (Probable Null OPeration)	$32	$838	None	None	Does nothing.
PNOP $33 (Probable Null OPeration)	$33	$839	None	None	Does nothing.
PNOP $34 (Probable Null OPeration)	$34	$83A	None	None	Does nothing.
PNOP $35 (Probable Null OPeration)	$35	$87B	None	None	Does nothing.
NPREF (Null PREFix)	$36	$87C	opcode, ???	None	Executes the next opcode as normal. This would appear to be just another NOP, but it's native implementation actually loads and executes the next byte as an opcode. Hence, it works like a prefix byte that does nothing. Perhaps in a previous revision of the game, NPREF had a use.
PNOP $3A (Probable Null OPeration)	$3A	$8DB	None	None	Does nothing.
PNOP $3B (Probable Null OPeration)	$3B	$8DC	None	None	Does nothing.
PNOP $3C (Probable Null OPeration)	$3C	$8DB	None	None	Does nothing.

Graphics Functions

Opcode	Encoding(s)	Native Impl.	Operand Args	Stack Args	Description
TILELD (TILE LoaD)	$72	$1BAC	None	linkage_index, tile_x, tile_y, base_tile, base_attr (TOP) -> (TOP)	Load a precomposed tilemap from BugFS file linkage_index into the first tilemap in VRAM ($9800). The base_tile and base_attr parameters allow the user to add a dynamic tile index and palette index offset to the tilemap. For example, if you loaded the tilemap's graphics into slot $30 on the second VRAM tile bank, with color data starting at BG palette 3, you could set base_tile to $30 and base_attr to Bank 1, Palette 3. Tile X and Y coordinates allow you to control where the tilemap data is written. These coordinates are in tile units and are relative to the first visible tile on the screen (based on the current screen scroll).
RESLD (RESource LoaD)	$5F	$9C6	None	linkage_index, copy_start, copy_len, target_addr, target_bank (TOP) -> (TOP)	Load graphics resources from BugFS file linkage_index into tile memory. copy_start determines how far into the resource to copy from, and copy_len determines how much to copy from that point. Both of these are in units of 32 bytes - exactly the size of a single tile. target_addr and target_bank determines where to place the copied resources in VRAM. They are native memory pointers, not indexed to anything.
PALLD (PALette LoaD)	$75	$2F0E	None	linkage_index, is_bgpal, source_palette, target_palette (TOP) -> (TOP)	Copy a color palette into color palette memory. Palette color data will be copied from source_palette palettes into the file at linkage_index, into color memory at the given target_palette. If is_bgpal is True then the color data will be loaded into background palette memory; otherwise, color data will load into object palette memory. source_palette and target_palette are both palette indices; it is not possible to copy part of a palette, or unaligned data from the filesystem.
SCRCURS (SCReen CURSor)	$7E	$C54	None	x, y (TOP) -> (TOP)	Set the tile cursor relative to the screen. The tile cursor is a screen offset in increments of 8x8 pixels, used to control the positioning of various graphical operations on the screen, such as PRINTing text.
PRINT (PRINT)	$4C	$A84	None	string_addr (TOP) -> (TOP)	Print tile text onto the screen. Printed text will appear on screen at the current tile cursor - usually set by an opcode like SCRCURS, WINCURS, or WINCOORD. string_addr points to a null-terminated string in unbanked memory - usually some portion of the string arena that is written to by DB. Since that opcode returns an unbanked memory pointer on stack, one can print to the screen using just DB and PRINT opcodes. The character $7F is special-cased in this function to print the player's name at $C9F0. PRINT uses tile text in order to draw letters. A tile font must have been previously loaded in VRAM at tile location 0; it's encoded character value will be used as a tile index to draw with.
NTPRINT (Name Temporary PRINT)	$B0	$1677	None	None	Print stored string data in the naming temporary area.
TMAPSAV (Tile MAP SAVe)	$86	$1C92	None	None	Copy the contents of tile map 1 ($9800) to tile map 2 ($9C00).

Window Management

Windows are regions of the background layer adorned with a border, intended to be drawn over the active playfield to represent dialogue or certain kinds of menus.

Opcode	Encoding(s)	Native Impl.	Operand Args	Stack Args	Description
WINCOORD (WINdow COORDinate)	$7D	$C24	None	xmin, ymin, xmax, ymax (TOP) -> (TOP)	Set the coordinates of the current window. xmin, ymin, xmax, ymax are the screen pixel coordinates of the left, top, right, and bottom edges of the window, respectively; including the frame. They will be used to configure Window Manager variables for other WINnn opcodes. The tile cursor will be set to the X and Y coordinates of the contents of the specified window, so you can PRINT to it immediately. This is equivalent to WINCURS with an x and y of zero.
WINFRAME (WINdow FRAME)	$B3	$AFC	None	None	Draw the current window's frame. You must have an active window style loaded into VRAM. If this window is a menu, and the item counts are configured correctly, WINFRAME will also draw the overflow arrows.
WINOPEN (WINdow OPEN)	$B2	$B2D	None	None	Animate the current window opening. This animation requires that the window span the whole width of the screen and that TMAPSAV had been used to copy the screen before the window frame was drawn (e.g. with WINFRAME). Execution of BugVM code is halted until the animation completes.
WINCLR (WINdow CLeaR)	$5B	$97C	None	None	Clear the active window region. Tiles will be set to $20, which is the encoded byte for a space. In any loaded font, this tile is intended to be blank.
WINCURS (WINdow CURSor)	$7E	$C63	None	x, y (TOP) -> (TOP)	Set the tile cursor relative to the window.
WINWAIT (WINdow WAIT)	$60	$A12	None	None	Wait for user input. BugVM execution will halt until the user presses the "A" button on the system. A blinking A-button prompt will be displayed at the bottom-right of the window range.
WININPUT (WINdow INPUT)	$D9	$A1D	None	(TOP) -> input_changed (TOP)	Wait for user input. BugVM execution will halt until the user presses any button on the system. A blinking A-button prompt will be displayed at the bottom-right of the window range. The state of which buttons were pressed to continue is returned on the stack. The format for input data is that of eight bit-flags; from highest to lowest: Start, Select, Button B, Button A, Down, Up, Left, and Right. The upper 8 bits of data are always zero.
WINBRK (WINdow BReaK)	$82	$ADA	None	None	Insert a 'page break' of sorts between two full windows' worth of text. Internally this is equivalent to a WINWAIT followed by a WINCLR.

Sprite Management

BugVM contains a fully featured metaspriting and animation system, which we've nicknamed Sprite Manager.

Opcode	Encoding(s)	Native Impl.	Operand Args	Stack Args	Description
SPRINPUT (SPRite INPUT)	$61	$A29	None	(TOP) -> input_changed (TOP)	Wait for user input. BugVM execution will halt until the user presses any button on the system. Sprite animations will continue to execute during this period of halted execution. Consult WININPUT for information about this opcode's output format.
SPRHOLD (SPRite HOLD)	$D2	$A39	None	(TOP) -> input_held (TOP)	Wait for user input. BugVM execution will halt until the user presses, or is already holding, any button on the system. Sprite animations will continue to execute during this period of halted execution. Consult WININPUT for information about this opcode's output format.

Attribute Table Utilities

Opcode	Encoding(s)	Native Impl.	Operand Args	Stack Args	Description
PRKEY (PRint KEY item)	$9F	$165A	None	attr_index (TOP) -> (TOP)	Read the given Key Item's Attribute Table block and print it's name.
BLKKEY (BLocK KEY item)	$A0	$42A	None	attr_index (TOP) -> (TOP)	Read the given Key Item's Attribute Table block into W_Battle_AttrStaging.
PRMOVE (PRint MOVE)	$A1	$1668	None	attr_index (TOP) -> (TOP)	Read the given Battle Move's Attribute Table block and print it's name.
BLKMOVE (BLocK MOVE)	$A2	$3FE	None	attr_index (TOP) -> (TOP)	Read the given Battle Move's Attribute Table block into W_Battle_AttrStaging.
PRMON (PRint MONster)	$AF	$1622	None	attr_index (TOP) -> (TOP)	Read the given Bug's Attribute Table block and print it's name.
BLKMON (BLocK MONster)	$BB	$39C	None	attr_index (TOP) -> (TOP)	Read the given Bug's Attribute Table block into W_Battle_AttrStaging. This instruction switches between two different Attribute Tables based on the value of W_System_GameVersion.
PRCHIP (PRint CHIP)	$E3	$1661	None	attr_index (TOP) -> (TOP)	Read the given Chip's Attribute Table block and print it's name.
BLKCHIP (BLocK CHIP)	$E2	$456	None	attr_index (TOP) -> (TOP)	Read the given Chip's Attribute Table block into W_Battle_AttrStaging.
BLKENC (BLocK ENCounter)	$F1	$3CD	None	attr_index (TOP) -> (TOP)	Read the given Encounter's Attribute Table block into W_Battle_AttrStaging. There does not appear to be a PRENC instruction. This instruction switches between two different Attribute Tables based on the value of W_System_GameVersion.
PRNAME (PRint NAME)	$A5	$162A	None	None	Print the name of the currently loaded Attribute Table block. All PRint instructions that reference Attribute Table data execute this opcode. It prints data from $CF30, which is an offset into W_Battle_AttrStaging that appears to be a standard offset for this kind of data.
PRNICK (PRint NICKname)	$E5	$1638	None	None	Print the name of the currently loaded Nickname block. Like PRNAME, this opcode prints the name section of a datablock. However, it prints data stored in the Nickname datablock area, $CC30, which is an offset into the W_NameInput_NicknameDataBlock area. The name "nickname data block area" is assumed; it is not currently known what semantic purpose this area serves other than use by the naming screens.