Learn Multi platform Z80 Assembly Programming... With Vampires!
Advanced Lessons
<- Back to the Main Contents & Basic Z80 Assembly Lessons

  Lesson A1 -Binary Coded Decimal

Lesson A2 - Interrupt Mode 2
 
Introduction to the Advanced Series...
The Advanced series continues where the beginner series left off!... These lessons will teach you how to do things with the Z80 that are really essential for programming... Though you won't need them to get started with Z80... and may never need them at all, if you want to know everything there is about the Z80, and how best to use it, then these are some things you'll want to know!

These lessons aren't related to a particular computer, but the Z80 itself, so we'll be doing all our testing and practice with WinApe again!

Lesson A1 - Binary Coded Decimal

We've looked at HEX, and DECIMAL before, but there's one 'weird' way of storing data that - while not as efficient with memory - will let us store super-large numbers, and show them easily to the screen!... and that's Binary Coded Decimal!

Binary Coded Decimal is Super-Simple... rather than storing 0-255 in a byte... we just store 0-9! Why do we want to do that? well converting numbers stored in HEX to ascii for the screen can be a real pain! but Binary Coded Decimal makes it easy... lets take a look!

Lets see how BCD compares to decimal and hex...

Number 1234
Hex &04D2
Binary Coded Decimal &01 &02 &03 &04
Packed Binary Coded Decimal &12 &34

So with Binary Coded Decimal all we've done, is stored each digit in a byte of its own, that will make showing the numbers to screen really easy, and if we want 100 digits(!) we'd just use 100 bytes!

Packed Binary Coded Decimal is an alternate form, we use both nibbles of the byte to represent our numbers, so we only need 50 bytes for 100 digits... but in either case A-F have no meaning, so if a BCD byte contains &1F... something has gone wrong!... The Z80 works best with packed BCD... so that's what we're going to use!

In the example above, the most significant byte was stored first, so 1345678 would be stored &12 &34 &56 &78... in this lessons examples we're going to store things backwards, so it would be stored &78 &56 &34 &12.... this is because many of our commands will start from the least significant byte, so we can save a little time this way!... if you don't like it, you can always change the code!

Starting from the Most Significant Byte
Some of our commands WILL need to start from the end of the data... so we're going to create a simple function to alter HL and DE to move to the end of a BCD number B bytes in length...

Our BCD commands are going to store the number of bytes in B... so to get HL and DE to point to the last byte, we need to add B-1

We're doing this to HL and DE because most of our commands use two parameters

Showing BCD
Showing BCD is easy!

First we need to move to the highest value byte... then we convert the top nibble to Ascii - and show it!
Then we do the same for the Bottom nibble... and show that as Ascii too!

We then repeat until B is Zero, to show all the bytes...

Much easier and faster than if we were storing HEX!


How DAA Works...
The only difference between BCD and HEX is that we're not using A-F... so all we need to do is change accumulator if either nibble changes to an A-F... and handle Carrying bits to the next BCD byte... and that's what DAA does!
It basically solves all our BCD problems in one command!... lets take a look!

Try the program to the right! Put a breakpoint on the first command, and watch how DAA alters A and the Carry flag to keep things right!

DAA also uses the H Flag for its own purposes... but that's not something we need to worry about!

Basically, We can do ADD/ADC or SUB/SBC on a byte.. and DAA will fix things... we just need to alter the next byte if the carry flag is set!
Ok, so we've shown some numbers to the screen, but we actually need to be able to do some maths too!... fortunately the Z80 allows us to use our typical ADC and SBC commands to do addition and subtraction in Binary Coded Decimal! How? well its simple actually! 

BCD Addition
Now we know how to use DAA things aer pretty easy...

Lets create a function that adds BCD value at (HL) to the one at (DE)... for B bytes

We do OR A to clear the carry flag... then we process each byte (from smallest to biggest) using ADC to add the values...
DAA sorts out our numbers, and we store the result, then we just repeat... ADC will add the carry if there was one caused by the last addition

BCD Subtraction
Subtraction is basically exactly the same, we just use SBC this time instead!

BCD Compare
Finally, we may want to compare a BCD value to another, and see if they are equal, or which is higher...

If we start from the most significant byte, we can just do our CP to compare, returning as soon as we find a byte that is different.

If both are the same, we just clear the carry flag and return Z

Usage!
Ok, We're done!

All the commands today are run in the same way, by passing the address of one or usually two parameters in HL and DE, and the length in B,

Remember, the BCD data is in reverse order!

If you want to see more, take a look at "Lesson_A1.asm" in the Samples.7z!

Monitor_BreakPoint_Show:

This is not called by the user directly, it's called by the other modules and shows HL as hex, surrounded by ** symbols

If needed it will pause the system after showing the Breakpoint or register

Monitor_PushedRegister:
This module will pop a register and show it to screen... because we need HL, but don't want to use the stack we back it up with self modifying code...

Then we pop a pair of the stack... this will be the return address... Next we swap HL with the pair on the stack... HL will now be the pair pushed before the call, and the return address will be at the top of the stack...

All that's left to do is show HL...  then restore HL and return to our program!

Monitor_BreakPoint:
This module is super simple! all it does is get the return address off the stack.. show it, and return!

Monitor_BreakPointOnce:
More complex than the last version... this one overwrites the 3 bytes preceeding the return address...

These will be the CALL command that called the monitor - the end result is that the monitor is only called once...  so it can be used in a repeating loop to find out the program counter location (or if the loop even ran - if your program is crashing) without slowing down the program with lots of pauses.

Lesson A2 - Interrupt Mode 2

We've looked at Interrupt mode 1 before in Lesson 7 ,but there's more stuff we need to cover before we've mastered them!
Lets take another look now, quickly at Interrupt Mode 0 (which is useless) Mode 1 again, and then we'll look at how to make use of the less used Interrupt Mode 2, and why it may really help you!


What is an Interrupt?
An interrupt occurs when a device connected to the Z80 demands it's attention! In practical terms, this is happens when the screen has redrawn (50 hz) or at multiple times during a redraw (depending on hardware and configuration) - because the calling devices matters... there's no one rule for all Z80 systems!

Why do we use interrupts?
We use interrupts to precisely time things, to make our music play at the right time, or to detect when the screen is redrawing a certain line - if we're messing with colors, or trying to make our limited hardware sprites appear more often than they should!

Interrupt Mode 0
There's not any use I know of for IM0 - in this mode, the device which causes the interrupt forces the Z80 to immediately call a 1 byte command (usually an RST - as they are all 1 byte commands)

Interrupt Mode 1
Interrupt mode 1 is the normal one! the CPU will immediately call &0038 (RST7) - we can replace the commands in ram at this address to handle the interrupt!

Interrupt Mode 2 - The Theory
We've not covered this before, so brace yourself!
Interrupt Mode 2 uses the I register... Lets assume the I register contains &80 ... the device that causes the interrupt will provide an extra byte xx to make up an address &80xx ... What happens next is two bytes are read in from the address &80xx and &80xx+1  ... and this address is called!

For Example...
Suppose we're in IM2... and the device send byte &11... I contains &80... the address called will be taken from &8011... at &8011 is byte &82... at &8012 is byte &81... so the address is &8182
The effect is that the Z80 will call address &8182

We have no way to predict what the xx byte will contain...  but we know that the range the memory address will be chosen from.

What's the point of all this? well Interrupt Mode 1 requires us to alter address &0038... but if that area is in use by something else, like ROM or Screen Memory then we need an alternative that can work from somewhere else, and the only option is Interrupt Mode 2

Interrupt Mode 2 - Practical use.
You need to decide on an address where your code which makes up interrupt handler will actually reside, and both bytes of it's address need to be the same... so it could be at &4040, or &5353... but it can't be at 4422... The best choice is &8181

Next you need to allocate a block of 257 bytes...  starting at a byte origin... so &4000-&4100 (including &4100), or &5000-&5100... the best choice is &8000!

now we write our chosen repeated address byte (&81) to every byte in our block (&8000-&8100)...  This is so that whatever address is called, the same address will actually be executed (&8181)

We need to set I to the first byte in the address of our block (&80)... then we enable Interrupt Mode 2
When the interrupt occurs Interrupt Mode 2 - whatever byte was added to the I register, the interrupt will always end up calling &8181 - and we can carry on the same as if we were just using Interrupt Mode 1

You may see examples online that use a block of  257 &FF bytes in the rom as the IM2 block, which would jump to &FFFF... this works OK on the 48k, but does not work well on the 128k systems.

If you want to play it safe you can't do that... but using 257 bytes for the IM2 block may be tough on a 48k system!

Why use &8000 and &8181?
The ZX spectrum has issues with IM2 if the range is lower than &8000, and (I think) higher than &C000... but the &8000/&8181 option is rock solid, and the choice of smarter minds than mine!... of course if you know what you're doing you can put the IM2 block somewhere else... but the &8000 range tends to be free on all systems, so this is as good a choice as there is!

Is there a way to stop IM2 using so many bytes?
No, there isn't... you'll have to use &8000-&8100 for the filled block, and &8181 for the start of the interrupt handler (you can just have a jump there to your real handler... one tip is you can use the range &8001-&8180 for your stack, to use up the 'spare space'... and reduce the pain of those lost bytes a bit!

The Assembly  code for using the IM2 interrupt handler is pretty easy, it just takes a lot of memory!

First we disable interrupts,

Then we put a jump to our interrupt code at &8181

Now we fill &8000-&8101 with the byte &81

We set I to &80, and the interrupt mode to IM2

for good measure, lets use the spare space for the stack pointer

we're done, so we just enable interrupts!
Remember that you don' t NEED to use interrupts if you don't want to! They help make timing easy (for updating music) and allow you to switch colors midscreen, but if you don't need things like that, just keep interrupts turned off!
You'll save some speed! and won't have to worry about all this silliness

Lesson A3 - Simulating functionality for the GBZ80

There may be times where we cannot use functions like the shadow registers, IY or other functionality - either because we're using the GBZ80 CPU (gameboy) or the firmware of a Z80 system need them intact...  but we need convert some code that already uses them...

For this reason, it's worth looking at some 'simulated' commands to do basic Z80 functions... they won't be as fast, but they will work!

If we want to support the GBZ80 and Z80, we need to create two copies of these macros - one which compiles to the true Z80 command and one that compiles to the GBZ80 equivalent...

If we use only the macros in our code, we'll be able to support both GB and other systems seamlessly!... if you want to see this in action take a look at GrimeZ80!

The first thing we will need to do is allocate some memory for the registers we cannot use, the examples shown are for the Gameboy,

We will use these to store the values the registers would hold.

EX (SP),HL
This is a command which swaps the top two bytes of the stack with the HL register... this command does not exist on the Gameboy...

One way to fake this command is to push DE to the stack... then move HL to DE... next popping off what was the top of the stack into HL... then pushing back DE (which will have what HL had when we started)

Finally we pop the original DE...

the result... DE is unchanged... HL and the top of the stack are swapped!

EX DE,HL
Swap the DE and HL register.

This one's easy, we just push HL and DE onto the stack... and pop them off in the opposite order!

LDI
LDI is a popular command, but the GBZ80 doesn't have it,
fortunately it's easy to fake... load from (HL) save it to (DE), INC HL,DE and DEC BC

The real command doesn't affect A, so we push it to the stack while we're working

LDIR
LDIR is just the same, only we have to loop until BC is zero...

We use a 'local label' in our macro... Note: if you're not using VASM you may need to change this, as other assemblers will probably do it differently.

HALT
Halt is a bit odd... the GBZ80 does have it, but there is a bug, and it tends to skip the command after the HALT command in some cases... therefore we will create a macro to do us the job!
on a regular Z80... DI HALT will lock up the CPU, but on the GBZ80 it will not, however there is a bug in the command...
The next command following a HALT will be skipped, so we need to put a NOP after the HALT command

On the GBZ80 HALT is used to save power, hence the difference in it's functionality

OR (IXL)...
IXH,IXL,IYH and IYL do not exist on the GBZ80... we have memory areas we'll use to fake them...

We'll use the HL register to point to the 'fake register', and OR (HL)  to do the job... this means the flags and A will be correct... we just need to back up HL in the stack while we do it.

We'll have to do the same for the other IX/IY 8 bit registers.


LD (IX+n),a
The GBZ80 has not indirect registers, so it will be tough to fake, but we can do it!

We'll load the fake IX/IY into HL... add the offset in DE - and then write A to the resulting address.

We'll need to do something similar for LD (IX+n),h and others....

DJNZ label
DJNZ is pretty simple - but the GBZ80 doesn't have it...

All we need to do is DEC B... then JumP if it's not Zero

LD A,R
I use the R register as a random number source, here is a simple 'random' number generator, which uses the last R value, and the state of various registers for a randomization source.

This command will emulate the use of R as a random seed... if you were using it for something else, you'll have to write your own command!

LD A,IYL... LD IYL,A...
Loading A to or from the fake registers is very easy... we just Read or Write directly into the ram address we're using for the fake register.



CP IYL...
If we need to compare with one of the 8 bit parts of IX or IY, we can do this by setting HL to the address of the register, and  using CP (HL)... this means A and F will be set correctly.

INC/DEC IXL...
We do pretty much the same for INC and DEC...

INC/DEC IX...
when we want to INC (or dec) IX or IY one way we can do it is to read in the pair into DE via (HL)... do the INC... then write it back.

This is a pain, but the GBZ80 can't read a DE/HL or any other pair from an address either, so we have to do something!

SBC HL,DE.... (Actually SUB HL,DE)
When we want to do subtraction, we can do this by using CPL to flip the bits of the destination and then use the ADD command...

note: we're ignoring the Carry... the reason for this is I've never actually needed the Carry element of SBC - so I've not emulated it here!

LD BC,(addr)...
If we want to load in a pair of registers from an address then the GBZ80 can't do this in one go... but we can fake it by setting HL to the address, and reading in the pair.

If we want to do the opposite... LD (addr),BC... we just do the opposite!

LD IX,(addr)
...
If we're reading into our fake registers, we don't need to use HL at all, we can just do it with the accumulator.

LD IX,$nnnn
If we want to load a 2-byte word into IX or IY, we can do it by first loading the value into HL and then moving the result into the destination...

Depending on our assembler we could do this with remainder division using / % or other symbols if supported... but this is probably the more compatible method.

LD B,IXL
When we want to transfer from a register like IXL, we can do this via the A register, then transfer it to the B reg.

EX AF,AF'
Swapping AF with the shadow AF takes quite a few commands, first we'll back AF up into DE, then we'll read the current 'shadow AF' into BC...  then we'll store the copy of AF into the fake 'shadow AF'

We'll have to PUSH and POP BC and DE to protect them

EXX
EXX swaps the main registers BC,DE,HL with the shadow versions,

Using our fake 'memory registers' to do this will be a pain, but we can do it!

We have to use a pair of registers to store one of the pairs (first we'll use BC)... we'll back up a pair, read it in from the memory registers...then we'll use the backup to update the shadow registers....

First we do HL (using BC as backup)..... then we do DE.... finally we do BC (using HL as a backup)

SWAP (GBZ80 only!!!)
The swap command of the GBZ80 swaps two nibbles in a byte - a nice command to have, but if we want to write code that works on the Z80 and GBZ80 then we will have to fake the GBZ80 command on the Z80!


Lesson A4 - Removing Self Modifying Code

If we're looking to move from a RAM based program, to one that can run from cartridge memory, we may need to take a program that uses self modifying code, and convert it so it can be executed from ROM... as an example lets take a look at my conversion of ArkosTracker to the Master System!

Creating a 'Modifyable store'
While we can make the program code read only, we still need enough 'data space' for the bytes that were being modified...

All the labels that were being modified... and the number of bytes that were being changed need to be allocated in the RAM of the machine.

Self-Modified Load command

This is pretty much the simplest command... a is being loaded with a value, and that value is being altered with self modified code.

Note the +1 is removed... it now has no meaning, as it was being used to point to the second byte of the line being modified
Of course 'PLY_Track1_InstrumentSpeed' is now just an 'allocated' byte in the 'dataspace' mentioned above.... it is defined by an EQU command

The same can be done with 16 bit commands like LD BC,xxxx
Was:


Now:



Self-Modified Add command
In this example, the parameter in an ADD command was being modified - we need to add an address... however there is no ADD (addr) command... so I have swapped around the commands, and loaded the value into A and added E... rather than loading E into A and adding the value. Was:


Now:



Self-Modified CP command
Here we have an instance where the Value being compared is being modified.

We can make this into ROM, by storing the value to compare to in RAM... and pointing HL to that ram store... then using CP (HL)
Was:


Now:



Self-Modified JR command
This one is rather tricky... A Jump Relative command is being used to skip some commands, but the number of commands being skipped will vary

I've decided to make a 'Fake JR' command which will simulate a JR.. .but will take it's parameter from RAM, rather than the command line...

The FakeJR command is called.. and it reads in it's calling address, then adds FakeJR_RAM to it... the result is a jump affected in the same way as a JR xx ... where xx can be self modified...

Note: The example code here will not work with a negative jump - but arkos tracker does not do that.
Was:




Now:




This JR substitute only works for POSITIVE JR commands... also if the JR command only has one or two possible versions, it would probably be easier to replace it with a set of CMP and JR Z commands!

Self-Modified CALL or JP command
It wasn't needed in Arkostracker, but there may be times we need to use a Self-modified CALL

We can emulate this by using the EX (SP),HL command to swap a value from a memory address onto the top of the stack...

This will also work with a self-modified JumpP... Just use JP FakeCall instead!
Was:

Now:



Self-Modified ASM commands
There may be times when self modifying code to replace whole commands...

For example here we se a RLCA can be replaced with a RRCA by self-modifying code...

One option would be to read in a temporary memory byte, and use a ComPare command to switch between the possible commands which may want to be executed.

An Alternate option is to allow this to run from ROM would be to call to a command in ram, and self modify that command... this would work fine for a RLCA type command, but would cause problems for a PUSH or POP command that was modified
Was:
Now:




Alternate:




These are just examples of possible ways to remove self modifying code - There will be better ways depending on the exact circumstances of the program...

If you really get stuck, maybe you can run some or all of the code from ram - if you have enough free!

 

View Options
Default Dark
Simple (Hide this menu)
Print Mode (white background)

Top Menu
***Main Menu***
Youtube channel
Patreon
Introduction to Assembly (Basics for absolute beginners)
Amazon Affiliate Link
Forum
AkuSprite Editor
ChibiTracker
Dec/Bin/Hex/Oct/Ascii Table

Alt Tech
Archive.org
Bitchute
Odysee
Rumble
DailyMotion
Please note: I wlll upload more content to these alt platforms based on the views they bring in

Z80 Content
***Z80 Tutorial List***
Learn Z80 Assembly (2021)
Learn Z80 Assembly (old)
Hello World
Simple Samples
Advanced Series
Multiplatform Series
Platform Specific Series
ChibiAkumas Series
Grime Z80
Z80 Downloads
Z80 Cheatsheet
Sources.7z
DevTools kit
Z80 Platforms
Amstrad CPC
Elan Enterprise
Gameboy & Gameboy Color
Master System & GameGear
MSX & MSX2
Sam Coupe
TI-83
ZX Spectrum
Spectrum NEXT
Camputers Lynx

6502 Content
***6502 Tutorial List***
Learn 6502 Assembly
Advanced Series
Platform Specific Series
Hello World Series
Simple Samples
Grime 6502
6502 Downloads
6502 Cheatsheet
Sources.7z
DevTools kit
6502 Platforms
Apple IIe
Atari 800 and 5200
Atari Lynx
BBC Micro
Commodore 64
Commodore PET
Commander x16
Super Nintendo (SNES)
Nintendo NES / Famicom
PC Engine (Turbografx-16)
Vic 20

68000 Content
***68000 Tutorial List***
Learn 68000 Assembly
Hello World Series
Platform Specific Series
Simple Samples
Grime 68000
68000 Downloads
68000 Cheatsheet
Sources.7z
DevTools kit
68000 Platforms
Amiga 500
Atari ST
Neo Geo
Sega Genesis / Mega Drive
Sinclair QL
X68000 (Sharp x68k)

8086 Content
Learn 8086 Assembly
Platform Specific Series
Hello World Series
Simple Samples
8086 Downloads
8086 Cheatsheet
Sources.7z
DevTools kit
8086 Platforms
Wonderswan
MsDos

ARM Content
Learn ARM Assembly
Learn ARM Thumb Assembly
Platform Specific Series
Hello World
Simple Samples
ARM Downloads
ARM Cheatsheet
Sources.7z
DevTools kit
ARM Platforms
Gameboy Advance
Nintendo DS
Risc Os

Risc-V Content
Learn Risc-V Assembly
Risc-V Downloads
Risc-V Cheatsheet
Sources.7z
DevTools kit

MIPS Content
Learn Risc-V Assembly
Platform Specific Series
Hello World
Simple Samples
MIPS Downloads
MIPS Cheatsheet
Sources.7z
DevTools kit
MIPS Platforms
Playstation
N64

PDP-11 Content
Learn PDP-11 Assembly
Platform Specific Series
Simple Samples
PDP-11 Downloads
PDP-11 Cheatsheet
Sources.7z
DevTools kit
PDP-11 Platforms
PDP-11
UKNC

TMS9900 Content
Learn TMS9900 Assembly
Platform Specific Series
Hello World
TMS9900 Downloads
TMS9900 Cheatsheet
Sources.7z
DevTools kit
TMS9900 Platforms
Ti 99

6809 Content
Learn 6809 Assembly
Learn 6309 Assembly
Platform Specific Series
Hello World Series
Simple Samples
6809 Downloads
6809/6309 Cheatsheet
Sources.7z
DevTools kit
6809 Platforms
Dragon 32/Tandy Coco
Fujitsu FM7
TRS-80 Coco 3
Vectrex

65816 Content
Learn 65816 Assembly
Hello World
Simple Samples
65816 Downloads
65816 Cheatsheet
Sources.7z
DevTools kit
65816 Platforms
SNES

eZ80 Content
Learn eZ80 Assembly
Platform Specific Series
eZ80 Downloads
eZ80 Cheatsheet
Sources.7z
DevTools kit
eZ80 Platforms
Ti84 PCE

IBM370 Content
Learn IBM370 Assembly
Simple Samples
IBM370 Downloads
IBM370 Cheatsheet
Sources.7z
DevTools kit

Super-H Content
Learn SH2 Assembly
Hello World Series
Simple Samples
SH2 Downloads
SH2 Cheatsheet
Sources.7z
DevTools kit
SH2 Platforms
32x
Saturn

PowerPC Content
Learn PowerPC Assembly
Hello World Series
Simple Samples
PowerPC Downloads
PowerPC Cheatsheet
Sources.7z
DevTools kit
PowerPC Platforms
Gamecube

Work in Progress
ChibiAndroids

Misc bits
Ruby programming









Buy my Assembly programming book
on Amazon in Print or Kindle!


Buy my Assembly programming book



Available worldwide!
Search 'ChibiAkumas' on
your local Amazon website!
Click here for more info!


























































































Buy my Assembly programming book
on Amazon in Print or Kindle!


Buy my Assembly programming book



Available worldwide!
Search 'ChibiAkumas' on
your local Amazon website!
Click here for more info!


























































































Buy my Assembly programming book
on Amazon in Print or Kindle!


Buy my Assembly programming book



Available worldwide!
Search 'ChibiAkumas' on
your local Amazon website!
Click here for more info!