Everyone who had once owned a ZX Spectrum, surely had at least once seen an amazing loading effect and wondered: How are they doing this? So, come and have a read… It will be a long story and perhaps you might even learn something.

Because ZX Spectrum didn’t have any dedicated circuit for storing and retrieving programs to and from a cassette tape (such as PMD), it had to do it purely by software. At the highest level, programs were loaded as a pair of “header + data”. In the header file there was information about the file (name, type, length, etc.) and the data file contained actual custom data.

The header file has a length of 17 bytes and a following structure:

Position Length Description 0 1 Type (0=program, 1=number array, 2=character array, 3=code) 1 10 Name (right padded with spaces to 10 characters) 11 2 Length of data block 13 2 Parameter 1. Eg. for programs it is a parameter LINE, for ‘code’ it is the address of beginning of the code block 15 2 Parameter 2. Eg. for programs it is the beginning of variables

Data block doesn’t have any such structure, it just contains data.

Let us descend one level: Each block was preceded by one flag byte ($00 for a header, $ff for data) and terminated with a checksum (all bytes, including the flag byte, XORed together). Header was therefore actually 19 bytes long – it began with 0 and ended with the checksum, but these bytes were “consumed” by the system and you couldn’t get your hands on them.

This is where the level at which you could get by calling routines from the ROM ends. The rest of it was just

Ones and zeroes

Data on the tape was written as a sequence of pulses. The processor took care of generating of these pulses, including the proper timing.

Each entry was preceded by a so-called pilot tone. It was created by a rectangular signal (where ON and OFF states were regularly alternated), which means that MIC output in the ON state was 2168 T long (T is the processor clock), and in the OFF state, 2168 T long as well. Boot tone prepared input circuits (if there were any) in a tape recorder to the correct volume level. This boot tone before the header lasted 5 seconds and before the data block two seconds. The duration of the phase tone was determined by a flag byte, all values less than 128 meant a “long” phase tone and more than 128 meant a short one.

After the pilot tone a sync pulse was generated. Its purpose was to let the loading routine know that the pilot tone ends and to begin to process the data. Sync pulse was 667 T ON and 735 T OFF long.

The sync pulse was then followed by actual bytes of data. First was the flag byte, then the contents, and eventually checksum. Bytes were sent bit by bit from the highest one. Every bit was represented by a pulse (state switching to ON and OFF), but differed in length. For logical 0 it was 855T in the ON state and 855T in the OFF state, for logical 1 it was doubled, thus 1710T and 1710T, respectively.

When reading data (which is what we are after here) processor then measured the time between each change of the input signal (ie. time between transitions, or the so-called “Edges”). The recording was therefore not sensitive to polarity (such as for aforementioned PMD in the first version), however the processor did not have much time to do anything else, since it had to listen to EAR input, count loops until the signal changed, and check for SPACE key being pressed (which interrupted the loading, as you surely remember).

Assembler time

Now this is the moment to extract the ROM contents (taken from ‘The Complete Spectrum ROM Disassembly’ by Dr. Ian Logan and Dr. Frank O’Hara, as published by Melbourne House in 1983, available at WOS):

THE 'LD-BYTES' SUBROUTINE This subroutine is called to LOAD the header information (from 076E) and later LOAD, or VERIFY, an actual block of data (from 0802). 0556 LD-BYTES INC D This resets the zero flag (D cannot hold +FF) EX AF,AF' The A register holds +00 for a header and +FF for a block of data The carry flag is reset for VERIFYing and set for LOADing DEC D Restore D to its original value DI The maskable interrupt is now disabled LD A,+0F The border is made WHITE OUT (+FE),A LD HL,+053F Pre-load the machine stack with the PUSH HL address - SA/LD-RET IN A,(+FE) Make an initial read of port 254 RRA Rotate the byte obtained AND +20 but keep only the EAR bit OR +02 Signal RED border LD C,A Store the value in the C register (+22 for 'off' and +02 for 'on' - the present EAR state) CP A Set the zero flag The first stage of reading a tape involves showing that a pulsing signal actually exists. (i.e. 'On/off' or 'off/on' edges.) 056B LD-BREAK RET NZ Return if the BREAK key is being pressed 056C LD-START CALL 05E7,LD-EDGE-1 Return with the carry flag reset if JR NC,056B,LD-BREAK there is no 'edge' within approx. 14,000 T states. But if an 'edge' is found the border will go CYAN The next stage involves waiting a while and then showing that the signal is still pulsing. LD HL,+0415 The length of this waiting period will 0574 LD-WAIT DJNZ 0574,LD-WAIT be almost one second in duration. DEC HL LD A,H OR L JR NZ,0574,LD-WAIT CALL 05E3,LD-EDGE-2 Continue only if two edges are found JR NC,056B,LD-BREAK within the allowed time period. Now accept only a 'leader signal'. 0580 LD-LEADER LD B,+9C The timing constant CALL 05E3,LD-EDGE-2 Continue only if two edges are found JR NC,056B,LD-BREAK within the allowed time period LD A,+C6 However the edges must have been found CP B within about 3,000 T states of each JR NC,056C,LD-START other INC H Count the pair of edges in the H JR NZ,0580,LD-LEADER register until 256 pairs have been found After the leader come the 'off' and 'on' parts of the sync pulse. 058F LD-SYNC LD B,+C9 The timing constant CALL 05E7,LD-EDGE-1 Every edge is considered until two edges JR NC,056B,LD-BREAK are found close together - these will be LD A,B the start and finishing edges of the CP +D4 'off' sync pulse JR NC,058F,LD-SYNC CALL 05E7,LD-EDGE-1 The finishing edge of the 'on' pulse RET NC must exist (Return carry flag reset) The bytes of the header or the program/data block can now be LOADed or VERIFied. But the first byte is the flag byte. LD A,C The border colours from now on will be XOR +03 BLUE & YELLOW LD C,A LD H,+00 Initialize the 'parity matching' byte to zero LD B,+B0 Set the timing constant for the flag byte. JR 05C8,LD-MARKER Jump forward into the byte LOADing loop The byte LOADing loop is used to fetch the bytes one at a time. The flag byte is first. This is followed by the data bytes and the last byte is the 'parity' byte. 05A9 LD-LOOP EX AF,AF' Fetch the flags JR NZ,05B3,LD-FLAG Jump forward only when handling the first byte JR NC,05BD,LD-VERIFY Jump forward is VERIFYing a tape LD (IX+00),L Make the actual LOAD when required JR 05C2,LD-NEXT Jump forward to LOAD the next byte 05B3 LD-FLAG RL C Keep the carry flag in a safe place temporarily XOR L Return now if the flag byte does not RET NZ match the first byte on the tape (Carry flag reset) LD A,C Restore the carry flag now RRA LD C,A INC DE Increase the counter to compensate for JR 05C4,LD-DEC its decrease after the jump If a data block is being verified then the freshly loaded byte is tested against the original byte. 05BD LD-VERIFY LD A,(IX+00) Fetch the original byte XOR L Match it against the new byte RET NZ Return if 'no match' (Carry flag reset) A new byte can now be collected from the tape. 05C2 LD-NEXT INC IX Increase the 'destination' 05C4 LD-DEC DEC DE Decrease the 'counter' EX AF,AF' Save the flags LD B,+B2 Set the timing constant 05C8 LD-MARKER LD L,+01 Clear the 'object' register apart from a 'marker' bit The 'LD-8-BITS' loop is used to build up a byte in the L register. 05CA LD-8-BITS CALL 05E3,LD-EDGE-2 Find the length of the 'off' and 'on' pulses of the next bit RET NC Return if the time period is exceeded (Carry flag reset) LD A,+CB Compare the length against approx. CP B 2,400 T states; resetting the carry flag for a '0' and setting it for a '1' RL L Include the new bit in the L register LD B,+B0 Set the timing constant for the next bit JP NC,05CA,LD-8-BITS Jump back whilst there are still bits to be fetched The 'parity matching' byte has to be updated with each new byte. LD A,H Fetch the 'parity matching' byte and XOR L include the new byte LD H,A Save it once again Passes round the loop are made until the 'counter' reaches zero. At that point the 'parity matching' byte should be holding zero. LD A,D Make a furter pass if the DE register OR E pair does not hold zero JR NZ,05A9,LD-LOOP LD A,H Fetch the 'parity matching' byte CP +01 Return with the carry flag set if the RET value is zero (Carry flag reset if in error) THE 'LD-EDGE-2' and 'LD-EDGE-1' SUBROUTINES These two subroutines form the most important part of the LOAD/VERIFY operation. The subroutines are entered with a timing constant in the B register, and the previous border colour and 'edge-type' in the C register. The subroutines return with the carry flag set if the required number of 'edges' have been found in the time allowed; and the change to the value in the B register shows just how long it took to find the 'edge(s)'. The carry flag will be reset if there is an error. The zero flag then signals 'BREAK pressed' by being reset, or 'time-up' by being set. The entry point LD-EDGE-2 is used when the length of a complete pulse is required and LD-EDGE-1 is used to find the time before the next 'edge'. 05E3 LD-EDGE-2 CALL 05E7,LD-EDGE-1 In effect call LD-EDGE-1 twice; RET NC returning in between in there is an error. 05E7 LD-EDGE-1 LD A,+16 Wait 358 T states before entering the 05E9 LD-DELAY DEC A sampling loop JR NZ,05E9,LD-DELAY AND A The sampling loop is now entered. The value in the B register is incremented for each pass; 'time-up' is given when B reaches zero. 05ED LD-SAMPLE INC B Count each pass RET Z Return carry reset & zero set if 'time-up'. LD A,+7F Read from port +7FFE IN A,(+FE) i.e. BREAK and EAR RRA Shift the byte RET NC Return carry reset & zero reset if BREAK was pressed XOR C Now test the byte against the 'last AND +20 edge-type' JR Z,05ED,LD-SAMPLE Jump back unless it has changed A new 'edge' has been found within the time period allowed for the search. So change the border colour and set the carry flag. LD A,C Change the 'last edge-type' and border CPL colour LD C,A AND +07 Keep only the border colour OR +08 Signal 'MIC off' OUT (+FE),A Change the border colour (RED/CYAN or BLUE/YELLOW) SCF Signal the successful search before RET returning Note: The LD-EDGE-1 subroutine takes 464 T states, plus an additional 59 T states for each unsuccessful pass around the sampling loop. For example, therefore, when awaiting the sync pulse (see LD-SYNC at 058F) allowance is made for ten additional passes through the sampling loop. The search is thereby for the next edge to be found within, roughly, 1,100 T states (464 + 10 * 59 overhead). This will prove successful for the sync 'off' pulse that comes after the long 'leader pulses'. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 THE 'LD-BYTES' SUBROUTINE This subroutine is called to LOAD the header information ( from 076E ) and later LOAD , or VERIFY , an actual block of data ( from 0802 ) . 0556 LD - BYTES INC D This resets the zero flag ( D cannot hold + FF ) EX AF , AF ' The A register holds +00 for a header and +FF for a block of data The carry flag is reset for VERIFYing and set for LOADing DEC D Restore D to its original value DI The maskable interrupt is now disabled LD A,+0F The border is made WHITE OUT (+FE),A LD HL,+053F Pre-load the machine stack with the PUSH HL address - SA/LD-RET IN A,(+FE) Make an initial read of port 254 RRA Rotate the byte obtained AND +20 but keep only the EAR bit OR +02 Signal RED border LD C,A Store the value in the C register (+22 for ' off ' and +02 for ' on ' - the present EAR state) CP A Set the zero flag The first stage of reading a tape involves showing that a pulsing signal actually exists. (i.e. ' On / off ' or ' off / on ' edges.) 056B LD-BREAK RET NZ Return if the BREAK key is being pressed 056C LD-START CALL 05E7,LD-EDGE-1 Return with the carry flag reset if JR NC,056B,LD-BREAK there is no ' edge ' within approx. 14,000 T states. But if an ' edge ' is found the border will go CYAN The next stage involves waiting a while and then showing that the signal is still pulsing. LD HL,+0415 The length of this waiting period will 0574 LD-WAIT DJNZ 0574,LD-WAIT be almost one second in duration. DEC HL LD A,H OR L JR NZ,0574,LD-WAIT CALL 05E3,LD-EDGE-2 Continue only if two edges are found JR NC,056B,LD-BREAK within the allowed time period. Now accept only a ' leader signal '. 0580 LD-LEADER LD B,+9C The timing constant CALL 05E3,LD-EDGE-2 Continue only if two edges are found JR NC,056B,LD-BREAK within the allowed time period LD A,+C6 However the edges must have been found CP B within about 3,000 T states of each JR NC,056C,LD-START other INC H Count the pair of edges in the H JR NZ,0580,LD-LEADER register until 256 pairs have been found After the leader come the ' off ' and ' on ' parts of the sync pulse. 058F LD-SYNC LD B,+C9 The timing constant CALL 05E7,LD-EDGE-1 Every edge is considered until two edges JR NC,056B,LD-BREAK are found close together - these will be LD A,B the start and finishing edges of the CP +D4 ' off ' sync pulse JR NC,058F,LD-SYNC CALL 05E7,LD-EDGE-1 The finishing edge of the ' on ' pulse RET NC must exist (Return carry flag reset) The bytes of the header or the program/data block can now be LOADed or VERIFied. But the first byte is the flag byte. LD A,C The border colours from now on will be XOR +03 BLUE & YELLOW LD C,A LD H,+00 Initialize the ' parity matching ' byte to zero LD B,+B0 Set the timing constant for the flag byte. JR 05C8,LD-MARKER Jump forward into the byte LOADing loop The byte LOADing loop is used to fetch the bytes one at a time. The flag byte is first. This is followed by the data bytes and the last byte is the ' parity ' byte. 05A9 LD-LOOP EX AF,AF' Fetch the flags JR NZ , 05B3 , LD - FLAG Jump forward only when handling the first byte JR NC , 05BD , LD - VERIFY Jump forward is VERIFYing a tape LD ( IX + 00 ) , L Make the actual LOAD when required JR 05C2 , LD - NEXT Jump forward to LOAD the next byte 05B3 LD - FLAG RL C Keep the carry flag in a safe place temporarily XOR L Return now if the flag byte does not RET NZ match the first byte on the tape ( Carry flag reset ) LD A , C Restore the carry flag now RRA LD C , A INC DE Increase the counter to compensate for JR 05C4 , LD - DEC its decrease after the jump If a data block is being verified then the freshly loaded byte is tested against the original byte . 05BD LD - VERIFY LD A , ( IX + 00 ) Fetch the original byte XOR L Match it against the new byte RET NZ Return if 'no match' ( Carry flag reset ) A new byte can now be collected from the tape . 05C2 LD - NEXT INC IX Increase the 'destination' 05C4 LD - DEC DEC DE Decrease the 'counter' EX AF , AF ' Save the flags LD B,+B2 Set the timing constant 05C8 LD-MARKER LD L,+01 Clear the ' object ' register apart from a ' marker ' bit The ' LD - 8 - BITS ' loop is used to build up a byte in the L register. 05CA LD-8-BITS CALL 05E3,LD-EDGE-2 Find the length of the ' off ' and ' on ' pulses of the next bit RET NC Return if the time period is exceeded (Carry flag reset) LD A,+CB Compare the length against approx. CP B 2,400 T states; resetting the carry flag for a ' 0 ' and setting it for a ' 1 ' RL L Include the new bit in the L register LD B,+B0 Set the timing constant for the next bit JP NC,05CA,LD-8-BITS Jump back whilst there are still bits to be fetched The ' parity matching ' byte has to be updated with each new byte. LD A,H Fetch the ' parity matching ' byte and XOR L include the new byte LD H,A Save it once again Passes round the loop are made until the ' counter ' reaches zero. At that point the ' parity matching ' byte should be holding zero. LD A,D Make a furter pass if the DE register OR E pair does not hold zero JR NZ,05A9,LD-LOOP LD A,H Fetch the ' parity matching ' byte CP +01 Return with the carry flag set if the RET value is zero (Carry flag reset if in error) THE ' LD - EDGE - 2 ' and ' LD - EDGE - 1 ' SUBROUTINES These two subroutines form the most important part of the LOAD/VERIFY operation. The subroutines are entered with a timing constant in the B register, and the previous border colour and ' edge - type ' in the C register. The subroutines return with the carry flag set if the required number of ' edges ' have been found in the time allowed; and the change to the value in the B register shows just how long it took to find the ' edge ( s ) '. The carry flag will be reset if there is an error. The zero flag then signals ' BREAK pressed ' by being reset, or ' time - up ' by being set. The entry point LD-EDGE-2 is used when the length of a complete pulse is required and LD-EDGE-1 is used to find the time before the next ' edge '. 05E3 LD-EDGE-2 CALL 05E7,LD-EDGE-1 In effect call LD-EDGE-1 twice; RET NC returning in between in there is an error. 05E7 LD-EDGE-1 LD A,+16 Wait 358 T states before entering the 05E9 LD-DELAY DEC A sampling loop JR NZ,05E9,LD-DELAY AND A The sampling loop is now entered. The value in the B register is incremented for each pass; ' time - up ' is given when B reaches zero. 05ED LD-SAMPLE INC B Count each pass RET Z Return carry reset & zero set if ' time - up '. LD A,+7F Read from port +7FFE IN A,(+FE) i.e. BREAK and EAR RRA Shift the byte RET NC Return carry reset & zero reset if BREAK was pressed XOR C Now test the byte against the ' last AND + 20 edge - type ' JR Z,05ED,LD-SAMPLE Jump back unless it has changed A new ' edge ' has been found within the time period allowed for the search. So change the border colour and set the carry flag. LD A,C Change the ' last edge - type ' and border CPL colour LD C,A AND +07 Keep only the border colour OR +08 Signal ' MIC off ' OUT (+FE),A Change the border colour (RED/CYAN or BLUE/YELLOW) SCF Signal the successful search before RET returning Note: The LD-EDGE-1 subroutine takes 464 T states, plus an additional 59 T states for each unsuccessful pass around the sampling loop. For example, therefore, when awaiting the sync pulse (see LD-SYNC at 058F) allowance is made for ten additional passes through the sampling loop. The search is thereby for the next edge to be found within, roughly, 1,100 T states (464 + 10 * 59 overhead). This will prove successful for the sync ' off ' pulse that comes after the long ' leader pulses ' .

In this article there is no space for detailed description of how the algorithm works, but let’s quickly go over some facts.

Routine disables interrupts. This is logical, since it is dependent on exact timing. That’s also the reason why loaders stored in slow RAM ($4000- $7FFF) will not work.

The last state of EAR input is stored in the C register, but it is shifted by 1 bit to the right, and the lowest three bits contains border color. For the leader it is 02 (red) / 05 (cyan), for data it is 01 (blue) / 06 (yellow). Why the right shift? During loading, a sequence LD A, $7F and IN A, ($FE) is processed. The value $7F is sent to the upper 8 bits of the address, therefore when reading a keyboard input it selects a line of keys B – N – M – Symbol Shift – Space. The status of these keys is in the lowest five bits (0-4), bit 6 contains an EAR state. Using the RRC instruction the lowest bit (status of the SPACE key) moves to the flag CY and EAR state moves to the 5th bit position. Therefore, if CY is zero, it means that a SPACE was pressed and loading ends.

The routine begins by detecting a signal that corresponds to the pilot tone (LD-LEADER). If 255 of such pulses were read, it was then believed that this was a pilot tone and the routine waits for a shorter synchronization pulse. When it arrives (LD-SYNC), you can retrieve data.

LD-MARKER reads 1 byte to register L. It begins with a value of 01, to serve as a counter. Gradually it fills with bits from the right by instruction RL L, the highest bits then passes into CY. If CY = 0, they keep loading further, but once CY = 1, it means that a complete set of eight bits was retrieved.

Key routines are LD-EDGE-n (wherein n is 1 or 2). LD-EDGE-1 first waits for a certain period of time (465T) and then determines whether the value of the EAR input has changed and compares it against the last stored value (in register C, see above). If it has not changed, the loop is repeated. For each loop the value in the registry B is increased. Once it gets to zero, it means “timeout” – the edge did not come in the expected time limit.

If the edge is found, the content of the register C is negated. This results both in a change of stored EAR value, but also in a change of the color border.

LD-EDGE-2 actually performs two LD-EDGE-1 in a sequence.

LD-EDGE output is as follows:

CY = 0, Z = 1 – during a time interval EAR change did not come (“timeout”)

CY = 0, Z = 0 – SPACE was pressed (BREAK)

CY = 1 – edge was found, the current value of the counter is in B

The counter in B counts, as I wrote, upwards. During every loop pass, which takes 58 processor ticks, B is incremented by one. For example, when reading a bit, routine LD-EDGE-2 is called, thus seeking two edges. The counter in B is set to $B0. This means that the timeout comes after $4F cycles ($FF- $B0). This represents a 2 x 465T of wait loop + 79 * 58T = 5512T. After all this time, the routine reports a signal failure.

The resulting counter value is compared to $CB. If it is smaller, it is then evaluated as two short pulses of log. 0, if it is larger, then log. 1. The value of $CB means that the loop was done 27 times ($CB-$B0), specificaly that the two edges came at a time of less than 2496T. Let’s recall: For log. 0 the last two pulses take 1710T, for log. 1 they take 3420T. Therefore the difference between these two times is 2565 and this is roughly what I came up with. It is a bit less because of overhead (subroutine calls, evaluation etc., See LD-8-BITS).

Loader hacking

This was not so difficult, was it? So now, let’s make some of those tricks …

First, reading routine is not completely “T-pedantic”, so few Ts here or there do not pose any major problem. If you want a simple effect, we can add it without any complicated adjustments.

Border effects

We can for example change color of the stripes, if we do not like the default two-tone ones. How about a rainbow? Simply rewrite the end of the routine LD-EDGE:

LD A,C INC A XOR $20 AND $27 LD C,A AND $07 OR $08 OUT ($FE),A SCF RET 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 LD A , C INC A XOR $20 AND $27 LD C , A AND $07 OR $08 OUT ( $ FE ) , A SCF RET

What’s going on here? Instead of negating of the contents of register C, we increase its value by 1 and negate the value of the fifth bit. Thanks to masking of the value of $27, we avoid the overflow which would affect the EAR bit. Therefore it will vary in the range 0-7 and create a rainbow effect border.

Note: If you intend to try this, be sure to place the loading routine in the upper 32 Kbytes of RAM!

If we add a pair of instructions XOR A; OUT ($FE), A to the end and before the instruction SCF, stripes in the border will change into short lines on a black background.

Here we can put any effects that affect a color border either by amending it, or by using it. What about the effect that Busy used with loader for Song In Lines 3 (rounded corners), it looks impressive, huh?

Yet it is not very hard… Four squares in the corners contain a simple pattern (“rounding”). Pixels that are equal to 1 (the color INK) will look as if they were part of the border and will show streaks. I did not examine how Busy does it, but I’d bet that in principle it’s done somehow like this:

LD A,C ;Change of the last "edge type" CPL ;as well as BORDER color. LD C,A AND $07 ;Taking just only the BORDER color OR $08 ;MIC off OUT ($FE),A ; Change border color OR $30 ; A contains: 0 0 1 1 1 b b b (b = border color) ; so PAPER=7, INK=border color, ; BRIGHT 0, FLASH 0 LD ($5800),A ;left top corner attribute LD ($581F),A ;right top corner LD ($5AE0),A ;left bottom LD ($5AFF),A ;right bottom SCF ;Set CY=1 as a "success" RET ;before return 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 LD A , C ;Change of the last "edge type" CPL ;as well as BORDER color. LD C , A AND $07 ;Taking just only the BORDER color OR $08 ;MIC off OUT ( $ FE ) , A ; Change border color OR $30 ; A contains: 0 0 1 1 1 b b b (b = border color) ; so PAPER=7, INK=border color, ; BRIGHT 0, FLASH 0 LD ( $5800 ) , A ;left top corner attribute LD ( $581F ) , A ;right top corner LD ( $5AE0 ) , A ;left bottom LD ( $5AFF ) , A ;right bottom SCF ;Set CY=1 as a "success" RET ;before return

Border effects are mostly simple and fast enough, so we can squash them here and not worry about the timing too much. Usually they fit within tolerance.

Simple effects with loaded content

During the loading we can certainly manage simpler operation with loaded data, either at the bit or byte level. Digisynth demos loader was able to perform real-time data extracting using Huffman decompression algorithm (Huffman suits this purpose quite well, you just need to have a decompression tree saved and pass through it according to the loaded bit). For those interested, I have prepared a reconstruction of the loader. But we will have a look at another case, and this will be a well known Mad Load – a routine that loads square images in a certain order. The video shows its improved version.

Mad Load used a very simple data format. After the flag byte, data for each square followed. Each took 11 bytes – lower and higher byte of a screen address where the square should be stored, then 8 bytes of video memory and a 1 byte of attribute. This was followed by another square …

This loading routine was slightly modified by Frantisek Fuka (FUXOFT) – he made LD-8-BITS into a subroutine which reads 1 byte to register L. This subroutine is then used in another subroutine to retrieve one of the squares (MAD_SQUARE). Squares loading subroutine is then called over and over again until there is data to be loaded from the tape, and when there isn’t, it stops and returns back. There is no checksum performed or anything.

Here is the Mad Loader source code. I only commented on the parts that differ from the standard code.

LD HL,MAD_RETURN PUSH HL JP MAD_LOAD NOP NOP NOP NOP MAD_RETURN: EI RET MAD_LOAD: DI IN A,($FE) RRA AND $20 LD C,A CP A LD_BREAK: RET NZ LD_START: CALL LD_EDGE_1 JR NC,LD_BREAK LD HL,$0415 LD_WAIT: DJNZ LD_WAIT DEC HL LD A,H OR L JR NZ,LD_WAIT CALL LD_EDGE_2 JR NC,LD_BREAK LD_LEADER: LD B,$9C CALL LD_EDGE_2 JR NC,LD_BREAK LD A,$C6 CP B JR NC,LD_START INC H JR NZ,LD_LEADER LD_SYNC: LD B,$C9 CALL LD_EDGE_1 JR NC,LD_BREAK LD A,B CP $D4 JR NC,LD_SYNC CALL LD_EDGE_1 RET NC ; Mad Load itself CALL LD_ONE_BYTE ; The first one is a flag byte. Drop it! MAD_LOOP: CALL MAD_SQUARE RET NC JR MAD_LOOP MAD_SQUARE: CALL LD_ONE_BYTE ; Lower byte of address LD A,L EX AF,AF' ; save into AF' CALL LD_ONE_BYTE ; Upper address byte RET NC EX AF,AF' LD H,L ; to the H register LD L,A ; and the first one to the L, so I have a full address in HL LD B,$08 ;8 bitmap bytes for each square MAD_SCRN: PUSH HL ;save the address PUSH BC ;and the counter CALL LD_ONE_BYTE ; read 1 byte POP BC ; restore the counter LD A,L ; byte to accumulator POP HL ; restore address for this byte RET NC ; If some error occured, return LD (HL),A ;Else store the byte into screen memory INC H ; addr + 256 - it means "next screen microline" DJNZ MAD_SCRN ; repeat for all 8 bytes LD A,H ; Convert address from screen memory to attribute memory SUB $08 ; First, sub 8 to get the original value RRA RRA RRA ; H div 8 AND $03 ; lowest 2 bits OR $58 ;$58, $59 or $5a - attribute memory address LD H,A ; So now I have an attribute address in HL PUSH HL ; save it CALL LD_ONE_BYTE ; read one byte LD A,L ; save it to accumulator POP HL ; restore the address LD (HL),A ; and put the attribute byte to a proper place RET ; Finished, one square is done LD_ONE_BYTE: LD B,$B2 LD L,$01 LD_8_BITS: CALL LD_EDGE_2 RET NC LD A,$CB CP B RL L LD B,$B0 JR NC,LD_8_BITS SCF RET ;----------------------------------- LD_EDGE_2: CALL LD_EDGE_1 FF78: RET NC LD_EDGE_1: LD A,$16 LD_DELAY: DEC A FF7C: JR NZ,LD_DELAY FF7E: AND A LD_SAMPLE: INC B RET Z LD A,$7F IN A,($FE) RRA XOR C AND $20 JR Z,LD_SAMPLE LD A,C INC A XOR $20 AND $27 LD C,A NOP NOP AND $07 OR $08 OUT ($FE),A SCF RET 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 LD HL , MAD _ RETURN PUSH HL JP MAD _ LOAD NOP NOP NOP NOP MAD_RETURN : EI RET MAD_LOAD : DI IN A , ( $ FE ) RRA AND $20 LD C , A CP A LD_BREAK : RET NZ LD_START : CALL LD _ EDGE _ 1 JR NC , LD _ BREAK LD HL , $0415 LD_WAIT : DJNZ LD _ WAIT DEC HL LD A , H OR L JR NZ , LD _ WAIT CALL LD _ EDGE _ 2 JR NC , LD _ BREAK LD_LEADER : LD B , $9C CALL LD _ EDGE _ 2 JR NC , LD _ BREAK LD A , $ C 6 CP B JR NC , LD _ START INC H JR NZ , LD _ LEADER LD_SYNC : LD B , $ C 9 CALL LD _ EDGE _ 1 JR NC , LD _ BREAK LD A , B CP $ D 4 JR NC , LD _ SYNC CALL LD _ EDGE _ 1 RET NC ; Mad Load itself CALL LD _ ONE _ BYTE ; The first one is a flag byte. Drop it! MAD_LOOP : CALL MAD _ SQUARE RET NC JR MAD _ LOOP MAD_SQUARE : CALL LD _ ONE _ BYTE ; Lower byte of address LD A , L EX AF , AF ' ; save into AF' CALL LD _ ONE _ BYTE ; Upper address byte RET NC EX AF , AF ' LD H , L ; to the H register LD L , A ; and the first one to the L, so I have a full address in HL LD B , $08 ;8 bitmap bytes for each square MAD_SCRN : PUSH HL ;save the address PUSH BC ;and the counter CALL LD _ ONE _ BYTE ; read 1 byte POP BC ; restore the counter LD A , L ; byte to accumulator POP HL ; restore address for this byte RET NC ; If some error occured, return LD ( HL ) , A ;Else store the byte into screen memory INC H ; addr + 256 - it means "next screen microline" DJNZ MAD _ SCRN ; repeat for all 8 bytes LD A , H ; Convert address from screen memory to attribute memory SUB $08 ; First, sub 8 to get the original value RRA RRA RRA ; H div 8 AND $03 ; lowest 2 bits OR $58 ;$58, $59 or $5a - attribute memory address LD H , A ; So now I have an attribute address in HL PUSH HL ; save it CALL LD _ ONE _ BYTE ; read one byte LD A , L ; save it to accumulator POP HL ; restore the address LD ( HL ) , A ; and put the attribute byte to a proper place RET ; Finished, one square is done LD_ONE_BYTE : LD B , $ B 2 LD L , $01 LD_8_BITS : CALL LD _ EDGE _ 2 RET NC LD A , $ CB CP B RL L LD B , $ B 0 JR NC , LD _ 8 _ BITS SCF RET ;----------------------------------- LD_EDGE_2 : CALL LD _ EDGE _ 1 FF78 : RET NC LD_EDGE_1 : LD A , $16 LD_DELAY : DEC A FF7C : JR NZ , LD _ DELAY FF7E : AND A LD_SAMPLE : INC B RET Z LD A , $7F IN A , ( $ FE ) RRA XOR C AND $20 JR Z , LD _ SAMPLE LD A , C INC A XOR $20 AND $27 LD C , A NOP NOP AND $07 OR $08 OUT ( $ FE ) , A SCF RET

… And at this point I would to finish for now.

Next time we take a look at more complex effects, for example various counters of bytes or time remainging and other horseplay, for which we need more processor ticks, and so we will have to adjust the timing loop and chop our algorithms so that they fit into the time we have available. Meanwhile, please accept this brief “introductory to the mystery of loaders”, try to experiment yourself, and if you create some nice loader, show it off!