This index contains every variable that appears in the source code for the BBC Micro cassette version of Elite, grouped by category. A variable is defined as a labelled memory location that is used for storing data, and this list includes both variables that are defined in workspaces, and variables that are declared within the body of the source code.
- Copy protection
- Dashboard
- Drawing lines
- Drawing pixels
- Drawing planets
- Drawing ships
- Drawing the screen
- Equipment
- Keyboard
- Market
- Maths (Geometry)
- Save and load
- Sound
- Text
- Universe
- Utility routines
- Workspace variables
Copy protection
| |
| Authors' names | The authors' names and a copyright notice, buried in the code |
| Authors' names (Loader) | The authors' names, buried in the code |
| BLOCK (Loader) | Addresses for the obfuscated jumps that use RTS not JMP |
| CHECKbyt (Loader) | Checksum for the validity of the UU% workspace |
| checksum0 | Checksum for the entire main game code |
| CHECKV (Loader) | The address of the LBL routine in the decryption header |
| David23 (Loader) | Address pointer to the start of the 6502 stack |
| David9 (Loader) | Address used as part of the stack-based decryption loop |
| FOOLV (Loader) | Part of the AFOOL roundabout obfuscation routine |
| MAINSUM (Loader) | Two checksums for the decryption header and text token table |
| MHCA (Loader) | Used to set one of the vectors in the copy protection code |
Dashboard
| |
| ECBT | The character bitmap for the E.C.M. indicator bulb |
| SPBT | The bitmap definition for the space station indicator bulb |
Drawing lines
| |
| TWFL | Ready-made character rows for the left end of a horizontal line in mode 4 |
| TWFR | Ready-made character rows for the right end of a horizontal line in mode 4 |
Drawing pixels
| |
| CTWOS | Ready-made single-pixel character row bytes for mode 5 |
| TWOS | Ready-made single-pixel character row bytes for mode 4 |
| TWOS (Loader) | Ready-made single-pixel character row bytes for mode 4 |
| TWOS2 | Ready-made double-pixel character row bytes for mode 4 |
Drawing planets
| |
| CNT (Loader) | A counter for use in drawing Saturn's planetary body |
| CNT2 (Loader) | A counter for use in drawing Saturn's background stars |
| CNT3 (Loader) | A counter for use in drawing Saturn's rings |
Drawing ships
| |
| SHIP_ASTEROID | Ship blueprint for an asteroid |
| SHIP_CANISTER | Ship blueprint for a cargo canister |
| SHIP_COBRA_MK_3 | Ship blueprint for a Cobra Mk III |
| SHIP_CORIOLIS | Ship blueprint for a Coriolis space station |
| SHIP_ESCAPE_POD | Ship blueprint for an escape pod |
| SHIP_MAMBA | Ship blueprint for a Mamba |
| SHIP_MISSILE | Ship blueprint for a missile |
| SHIP_PYTHON | Ship blueprint for a Python |
| SHIP_SIDEWINDER | Ship blueprint for a Sidewinder |
| SHIP_THARGOID | Ship blueprint for a Thargoid mothership |
| SHIP_THARGON | Ship blueprint for a Thargon |
| SHIP_VIPER | Ship blueprint for a Viper |
| XX21 | Ship blueprints lookup table |
Drawing the screen
| |
| B% (Loader) | VDU commands for setting the square mode 4 screen |
| block1 (Loader) | Palette data for the two dashboard colour scheme |
| block2 (Loader) | Palette data for the space part of the screen |
| TVT1 | Palette data for space and the two dashboard colour schemes |
| VEC | The original value of the IRQ1 vector |
Equipment
| |
| PRXS | Equipment prices |
Keyboard
| |
| KYTB | Lookup table for in-flight keyboard controls |
Market
| |
| QQ23 | Market prices table |
Maths (Geometry)
| |
| ACT | Arctan table |
| SNE | Sine/cosine table |
Save and load
| |
| CHK | First checksum byte for the saved commander data file |
| CHK2 | Second checksum byte for the saved commander data file |
| NA% | The data block for the last saved commander |
| SVN | The "saving in progress" flag |
Sound
| |
| E% (Loader) | Sound envelope definitions |
| SFX | Sound data |
Text
| |
| QQ16 | The two-letter token lookup table |
| QQ18 | The recursive token table for tokens 0-148 |
| RLINE | The OSWORD configuration block used to fetch a line of text from the keyboard |
| TENS | A constant used when printing large numbers in BPRNT |
| XC (Loader) | The x-coordinate of the text cursor |
| YC (Loader) | The y-coordinate of the text cursor |
Universe
| |
| UNIV | Table of pointers to the local universe's ship data blocks |
Utility routines
| |
| M2 (Loader) | Used for testing the 6522 System VIA status byte in IRQ1 |
| MESS1 (Loader) | Contains an OS command string for loading the main game code |
| oscliv (Loader) | Contains the address of OSCLIV, for executing OS commands |
Workspace variables
| |
| ALP1 | Magnitude of the roll angle alpha, i.e. |alpha|, which is a positive value between 0 and 31 |
| ALP2 | Bit 7 of ALP2 = sign of the roll angle in ALPHA |
| ALPHA | The current roll angle alpha, which is reduced from JSTX to a sign-magnitude value between -31 and +31 |
| ALTIT | Our altitude above the surface of the planet or sun |
| ASH | Aft shield status |
| AVL | Market availability in the current system |
| BET1 | The magnitude of the pitch angle beta, i.e. |beta|, which is a positive value between 0 and 8 |
| BET2 | Bit 7 of BET2 = sign of the pitch angle in BETA |
| BETA | The current pitch angle beta, which is reduced from JSTY to a sign-magnitude value between -8 and +8 |
| BLCNT (Loader) | Stores the tape loader block count as part of the copy protection code in IRQ1 |
| BLN (Loader) | Gets set to &03C6 as part of the obfuscation code |
| BLPTR (Loader) | Gets set to &03CA as part of the obfuscation code |
| BOMB | Energy bomb |
| BST | Fuel scoops (BST stands for "barrel status") |
| CABTMP | Cabin temperature |
| CASH | Our current cash pot |
| CNT | Temporary storage, typically used for storing the number of iterations required when looping |
| CNT2 | Temporary storage, used in the planet-drawing routine to store the segment number where the arc of a partial circle should start |
| COK | Flags used to generate the competition code |
| COL | Temporary storage, used to store colour information when drawing pixels in the dashboard |
| COMC | The colour of the dot on the compass |
| COMX | The x-coordinate of the compass dot |
| COMY | The y-coordinate of the compass dot |
| CRGO | Our ship's cargo capacity |
| DAMP | Keyboard damping configuration setting |
| de | Equipment destruction flag |
| DELT4 | Our current speed * 64 as a 16-bit value |
| DELTA | Our current speed, in the range 1-40 |
| DJD | Keyboard auto-recentre configuration setting |
| DKCMP | Docking computer |
| DL | Vertical sync flag |
| DLY | In-flight message delay |
| DNOIZ | Sound on/off configuration setting |
| ECM | E.C.M. system |
| ECMA | The E.C.M. countdown timer, which determines whether an E.C.M. system is currently operating: |
| ECMP | Our E.C.M. status |
| ENERGY | Energy bank status |
| ENGY | Energy unit |
| ESCP | Escape pod |
| EV | The "extra vessels" spawning counter |
| EXCN (Loader) | Gets set to &03C2 as part of the obfuscation code |
| FIST | Our legal status (FIST stands for "fugitive/innocent status"): |
| FLAG | A flag that's used to define whether this is the first call to the ball line routine in BLINE, so it knows whether to wait for the second call before storing segment data in the ball line heap |
| FLH | Flashing console bars configuration setting |
| FRIN | Slots for the ships in the local bubble of universe |
| FSH | Forward shield status |
| GCNT | The number of the current galaxy (0-7) |
| GHYP | Galactic hyperdrive |
| GNTMP | Laser temperature (or "gun temperature") |
| gov | The current system's government type (0-7) |
| HFX | A flag that toggles the hyperspace colour effect |
| INF | Temporary storage, typically used for storing the address of a ship's data block, so it can be copied to and from the internal workspace at INWK |
| INWK | The zero-page internal workspace for the current ship data block |
| JSTE | Reverse both joystick channels configuration setting |
| JSTGY | Reverse joystick Y-channel configuration setting |
| JSTK | Keyboard or joystick configuration setting |
| JSTX | Our current roll rate |
| JSTY | Our current pitch rate |
| K | Temporary storage, used in a number of places |
| K2 | Temporary storage, used in a number of places |
| K3 | Temporary storage, used in a number of places |
| K3 (Loader) | Temporary storage, used in a number of places |
| K4 | Temporary storage, used in a number of places |
| K5 | Temporary storage used to store segment coordinates across successive calls to BLINE, the ball line routine |
| K6 | Temporary storage, typically used for storing coordinates during vector calculations |
| KL | The following bytes implement a key logger that enables Elite to scan for concurrent key presses of the primary flight keys, plus a secondary flight key |
| KY1 | "?" is being pressed (slow down) |
| KY12 | TAB is being pressed (energy bomb) |
| KY13 | ESCAPE is being pressed (launch escape pod) |
| KY14 | "T" is being pressed (target missile) |
| KY15 | "U" is being pressed (unarm missile) |
| KY16 | "M" is being pressed (fire missile) |
| KY17 | "E" is being pressed (activate E.C.M.) |
| KY18 | "J" is being pressed (in-system jump) |
| KY19 | "C" is being pressed (activate docking computer) |
| KY2 | Space is being pressed (speed up) |
| KY3 | "<" is being pressed (roll left) |
| KY4 | ">" is being pressed (roll right) |
| KY5 | "X" is being pressed (pull up) |
| KY6 | "S" is being pressed (pitch down) |
| KY7 | "A" is being pressed (fire lasers) |
| LAS | Contains the laser power of the laser fitted to the current space view (or 0 if there is no laser fitted to the current view) |
| LAS2 | Laser power for the current laser |
| LASCT | The laser pulse count for the current laser |
| LASER | The specifications of the lasers fitted to each of the four space views: |
| LASX | The x-coordinate of the tip of the laser line |
| LASY | The y-coordinate of the tip of the laser line |
| LSO | The ship line heap for the space station (see NWSPS) and the sun line heap (see SUN) |
| LSP | The ball line heap pointer, which contains the number of the first free byte after the end of the LSX2 and LSY2 heaps (see the deep dive on "The ball line heap" for details) |
| LSX | LSX is an alias that points to the first byte of the sun line heap at LSO |
| LSX2 | The ball line heap for storing x-coordinates (see the deep dive on "The ball line heap" for details) |
| LSY2 | The ball line heap for storing y-coordinates (see the deep dive on "The ball line heap" for details) |
| MANY | The number of ships of each type in the local bubble of universe |
| MCH | The text token number of the in-flight message that is currently being shown, and which will be removed by the me2 routine when the counter in DLY reaches zero |
| MCNT | The main loop counter |
| MJ | Are we in witchspace (i.e. have we mis-jumped)? |
| MSAR | The targeting state of our leftmost missile |
| MSTG | The current missile lock target |
| NOMSL | The number of missiles we have fitted (0-4) |
| NOSTM | The number of stardust particles shown on screen, which is 18 (#NOST) for normal space, and 3 for witchspace |
| P | Temporary storage, used in a number of places |
| P (Loader) | Temporary storage, used in a number of places |
| PATG | Configuration setting to show the author names on the start-up screen and enable manual hyperspace mis-jumps |
| Q | Temporary storage, used in a number of places |
| Q (Loader) | Temporary storage, used in a number of places |
| QQ0 | The current system's galactic x-coordinate (0-256) |
| QQ1 | The current system's galactic y-coordinate (0-256) |
| QQ10 | The galactic y-coordinate of the crosshairs in the galaxy chart (and, most of the time, the selected system's galactic y-coordinate) |
| QQ11 | The type of the current view: |
| QQ12 | Our "docked" status |
| QQ14 | Our current fuel level (0-70) |
| QQ15 | The three 16-bit seeds for the selected system, i.e. the one in the crosshairs in the Short-range Chart |
| QQ17 | Contains a number of flags that affect how text tokens are printed, particularly capitalisation: |
| QQ19 | Temporary storage, used in a number of places |
| QQ2 | The three 16-bit seeds for the current system, i.e. the one we are currently in |
| QQ20 | The contents of our cargo hold |
| QQ21 | The three 16-bit seeds for the current galaxy |
| QQ22 | The two hyperspace countdown counters |
| QQ24 | Temporary storage, used to store the current market item's price in routine TT151 |
| QQ25 | Temporary storage, used to store the current market item's availability in routine TT151 |
| QQ26 | A random value used to randomise market data |
| QQ28 | The current system's economy (0-7) |
| QQ29 | Temporary storage, used in a number of places |
| QQ3 | The selected system's economy (0-7) |
| QQ4 | The selected system's government (0-7) |
| QQ5 | The selected system's tech level (0-14) |
| QQ6 | The selected system's population in billions * 10 (1-71), so the maximum population is 7.1 billion |
| QQ7 | The selected system's productivity in M CR (96-62480) |
| QQ8 | The distance from the current system to the selected system in light years * 10, stored as a 16-bit number |
| QQ9 | The galactic x-coordinate of the crosshairs in the galaxy chart (and, most of the time, the selected system's galactic x-coordinate) |
| R | Temporary storage, used in a number of places |
| RAND | Four 8-bit seeds for the random number generation system implemented in the DORND routine |
| RAT | Used to store different signs depending on the current space view, for use in calculating stardust movement |
| RAT2 | Temporary storage, used to store the pitch and roll signs when moving objects and stardust |
| S | Temporary storage, used in a number of places |
| SC | Screen address (low byte) |
| SC (Loader) | Screen address (low byte) |
| SCH | Screen address (high byte) |
| SCH (Loader) | Screen address (high byte) |
| SLSP | The address of the bottom of the ship line heap |
| SSPR | "Space station present" flag |
| STP | The step size for drawing circles |
| SUNX | The 16-bit x-coordinate of the vertical centre axis of the sun (which might be off-screen) |
| SVC | The save count |
| SWAP | Temporary storage, used to store a flag that records whether or not we had to swap a line's start and end coordinates around when clipping the line in routine LL145 (the flag is used in places like BLINE to swap them back) |
| SX | This is where we store the x_hi coordinates for all the stardust particles |
| SXL | This is where we store the x_lo coordinates for all the stardust particles |
| SY | This is where we store the y_hi coordinates for all the stardust particles |
| SYL | This is where we store the y_lo coordinates for all the stardust particles |
| SZ | This is where we store the z_hi coordinates for all the stardust particles |
| SZL | This is where we store the z_lo coordinates for all the stardust particles |
| T | Temporary storage, used in a number of places |
| T (Loader) | Temporary storage, used in a number of places |
| T1 | Temporary storage, used in a number of places |
| TALLY | Our combat rank |
| tek | The current system's tech level (0-14) |
| TGT | Temporary storage, typically used as a target value for counters when drawing explosion clouds and partial circles |
| TP | The current mission status, which is always 0 for the cassette version of Elite as there are no missions |
| TRTB% | Contains the address of the keyboard translation table, which is used to translate internal key numbers to ASCII |
| TRTB% (Loader) | Contains the address of the keyboard translation table, which is used to translate internal key numbers to ASCII |
| TYPE | The current ship type |
| U | Temporary storage, used in a number of places |
| V | Temporary storage, typically used for storing an address pointer |
| V219 (Loader) | Gets set to &0218 as part of the obfuscation code |
| VIEW | The number of the current space view |
| X1 | Temporary storage, typically used for x-coordinates in line-drawing routines |
| X2 | Temporary storage, typically used for x-coordinates in line-drawing routines |
| XC | The x-coordinate of the text cursor (i.e. the text column), which can be from 0 to 32 |
| XSAV | Temporary storage for saving the value of the X register, used in a number of places |
| XSAV2 | Temporary storage, used for storing the value of the X register in the TT26 routine |
| XX | Temporary storage, typically used for storing a 16-bit x-coordinate |
| XX0 | Temporary storage, used to store the address of a ship blueprint. For example, it is used when we add a new ship to the local bubble in routine NWSHP, and it contains the address of the current ship's blueprint as we loop through all the nearby ships in the main flight loop |
| XX1 | This is an alias for INWK that is used in the main ship-drawing routine at LL9 |
| XX12 | Temporary storage for a block of values, used in a number of places |
| XX13 | Temporary storage, typically used in the line-drawing routines |
| XX14 | This byte appears to be unused |
| XX15 | Temporary storage, typically used for storing screen coordinates in line-drawing routines |
| XX16 | Temporary storage for a block of values, used in a number of places |
| XX17 | Temporary storage, used in BPRNT to store the number of characters to print, and as the edge counter in the main ship-drawing routine |
| XX18 | Temporary storage used to store coordinates in the LL9 ship-drawing routine |
| XX19 | XX19(1 0) shares its location with INWK(34 33), which contains the address of the ship line heap |
| XX2 | Temporary storage, used to store the visibility of the ship's faces during the ship-drawing routine at LL9 |
| XX20 | Temporary storage, used in a number of places |
| XX24 | This byte appears to be unused |
| XX4 | Temporary storage, used in a number of places |
| Y1 | Temporary storage, typically used for y-coordinates in line-drawing routines |
| Y2 | Temporary storage, typically used for y-coordinates in line-drawing routines |
| YC | The y-coordinate of the text cursor (i.e. the text row), which can be from 0 to 23 |
| YSAV | Temporary storage for saving the value of the Y register, used in a number of places |
| YSAV2 | Temporary storage, used for storing the value of the Y register in the TT26 routine |
| YY | Temporary storage, typically used for storing a 16-bit y-coordinate |
| YY (Loader) | Temporary storage, used in a number of places |
| ZZ | Temporary storage, typically used for distance values |