Drawing pixels: PIXEL

       Name: PIXEL                                                   [Show more]
       Type: Subroutine
   Category: Drawing pixels
    Summary: Draw a 1-pixel dot
  Deep dive: Drawing pixels in the NES version
    Context: See this subroutine in context in the source code
 References: This subroutine is called as follows:
             * DOEXP calls PIXEL
             * DrawExplosionBurst calls PIXEL
             * DrawDash calls via pixl2


 This routine does a similar job to the routine of the same name in the BBC
 Master version of Elite, but the code is significantly different.


 Arguments:

   X                    The screen x-coordinate of the point to draw

   A                    The screen y-coordinate of the point to draw


 Returns:

   Y                    Y is preserved


 Other entry points:

   pixl2                Restore the value of Y and return from the subroutine


.PIXEL

 STX SC2                ; Set SC2 to the pixel's x-coordinate in X

 STY T1                 ; Store Y in T1 so we can retrieve it at the end of the
                        ; subroutine

 TAY                    ; Set Y to the pixel's y-coordinate

 TXA                    ; Set SC(1 0) = (nameBufferHi 0) + yLookup(Y) + X / 8
 LSR A                  ;
 LSR A                  ; where yLookup(Y) uses the (yLookupHi yLookupLo) table
 LSR A                  ; to convert the pixel y-coordinate in Y into the number
 CLC                    ; of the first tile on the row containing the pixel
 ADC yLookupLo,Y        ;
 STA SC                 ; Adding nameBufferHi and X / 8 therefore sets SC(1 0)
 LDA nameBufferHi       ; to the address of the entry in the nametable buffer
 ADC yLookupHi,Y        ; that contains the tile number for the tile containing
 STA SC+1               ; the pixel at (X, Y), i.e. the line we are drawing

 SETUP_PPU_FOR_ICON_BAR ; If the PPU has started drawing the icon bar, configure
                        ; the PPU to use nametable 0 and pattern table 0

 LDX #0                 ; If the nametable buffer entry is non-zero for the tile
 LDA (SC,X)             ; containing the pixel that we want to draw, then a
 BNE pixl1              ; pattern has already been allocated to this entry, so
                        ; skip the following

 LDA firstFreePattern   ; If firstFreePattern is zero then we have run out of
 BEQ pixl2              ; patterns to use for drawing lines and pixels, so jump
                        ; to pixl2 to return from the subroutine, as we can't
                        ; draw the pixel

 STA (SC,X)             ; Otherwise firstFreePattern contains the number of the
                        ; next available pattern for drawing, so allocate this
                        ; pattern to cover the pixel that we want to draw by
                        ; setting the nametable entry to the pattern number we
                        ; just fetched

 INC firstFreePattern   ; Increment firstFreePattern to point to the next
                        ; available pattern for drawing, so it can be added to
                        ; the nametable the next time we need to draw lines or
                        ; pixels into a pattern

.pixl1

 LDX pattBufferHiDiv8   ; Set SC(1 0) = (pattBufferHiDiv8 A) * 8
 STX SC+1               ;             = (pattBufferHi 0) + A * 8
 ASL A                  ;
 ROL SC+1               ; So SC(1 0) is the address in the pattern buffer for
 ASL A                  ; pattern number A (as each pattern contains 8 bytes of
 ROL SC+1               ; pattern data), which means SC(1 0) points to the
 ASL A                  ; pattern data for the tile containing the line we are
 ROL SC+1               ; drawing
 STA SC

 TYA                    ; Set Y = Y mod 8, which is the pixel row within the
 AND #7                 ; character block at which we want to draw the start of
 TAY                    ; our line (as each character block has 8 rows)

 LDA SC2                ; Set X = X mod 8, which is the horizontal pixel number
 AND #7                 ; within the character block where the line starts (as
 TAX                    ; each pixel line in the character block is 8 pixels
                        ; wide, and we set SC2 to the x-coordinate above)

 LDA TWOS,X             ; Fetch a 1-pixel byte from TWOS where pixel X is set

 ORA (SC),Y             ; Store the pixel byte into screen memory at SC(1 0),
 STA (SC),Y             ; using OR logic so it merges with whatever is already
                        ; on-screen

.pixl2

 LDY T1                 ; Restore the value of Y from T1 so it is preserved

 RTS                    ; Return from the subroutine