Day 1

Figuring out the Assembler

	First, there are several assemblers you could use for the N64, the one I've had
the most luck using is ASMN6432.EXE from the PSY-Q devkit. Unfortunately, I can't tell
you where to get the devkit (which does contain a C compiler, so if you're not macho enough
to use assembler, you can go right ahead and use those illegal libs!), because many people
would object to it. It's simple enough to find with a search on Google, I regularly loose
the URL and then find it again in about 30 min. with Google. LEARN THE WAYS OF THE GOOGLE!

	The other assemblers that I've had some success with are the one by HalleysCometSoftware
and Anarko's assembler (in that order). You can get HCS's assembler (and good demo code) from the link above.
Anarko's assembler is on Dextrose. 

	I recommend creating a directory like C:\n64asm\ , so that it has no spaces and you can just
keep everything in there. Each one of these assemblers needs a different style command to assemble,
they are: (On the DOS/CMD command-line)

	For ASMN6432.EXE:
		asmn6432 /p SOURCE,OUTPUTFILE.BIN
		copy HEADER /B+OUTPUTFILE.BIN OUTPUTFILE.N64

	For n64asm.exe (Anarko's):
		Look at the demo sources for the header puesdo-codes, and type n64asm by itself
		on the command-line for how to assemble.

	For n64.exe (HCS's):
		n64 SOURCE.ASM -r

You may have noticed that ASMN6432 needs an extra command that adds the rom header, you can get
that from HCS's zip file. 
		
	Second, I must say that what I know about the N64 (everything I know at a certain time
that can be applied toward a certain working code file will be eventually described in a "Day"),
which isn't much as I write this, came from reading documents found on Dextrose and the web AND
from HCS kindly putting up with my endless questions on Dextrose's Forum, this (hopefully to be
these) document(hopefully (s)) would not have been possible without his help.

Our First ROM
	From here on out, I assume you are using ASMN6432, but N64.exe (HCS's assembler) has
almost the same syntax and, now that I think of it, Anarko's assembler is still quite similar, you'll just have
to figure out how to use each one (and maybe tinker the code a little to get it to assemble on
your chosen assembler.

	Here's our first code file:

	;;---START OF CODE FILE---;;
		org $80000400

		li   t1,8
        	lui    t0,$bfc0
        	sw   t1,$07fc(t0)

	infin:
		nop
		j infin
	;;---END OF CODE FILE---;;

Now to see what each line does:

	org $80000400

This tells the assembler where the entry point of the code is in N64 memory ($80000400 is standard for ASM progs).

	li t1,8
	lui t0,$bfc0
	sw t1,$07fc(t0)

These lines (which I got from HCS), stop the N64 from crashing in 5 secs. after your
program starts (according to HCS, and some other people). I'm not going to explain
them until later (because I don't what about them stops the N64 from crashing).

	infin:

If you don't know what that is, I suggest you go read either the GBA or NES assembly sections (the
GBA one is better written in my opinion). Here's a link for you.

	nop

A Classic, it does nothing, that's right, nothing, except that you should put NOPs
after labels, a spot appearantly known as a "Delay Slot", some assemblers get pissed off
if you have anything but a NOP in the Delay Slot.

	j infin

J is the jump instruction, J jumps to a label, like Goto in BASIC. In this case, J jumps to
infin, creating an infinite loop like while(1); .

Assemble your file like shown in the beginning, if you get no errors, you've done a good job.
(I recommend (again) that you keep your assembler and code files in C:\n64asm\, and CD to that
directory in DOS, when you want to assemble something)

This Day In Review

	Tomorrow, we'll download an emulator and a plugin needed for the type of programming
where using. Hopefully, we'll quickly get to setting up our VI (Video Interface) registers.

	Until Next Time,
		-Mike H a.k.a GbaGuy

Intro - Day 2