I'd like to chime in again about adding in binary data files, simply to be
helpful, though this depends on what compiler you're using.

The version of GAS that I've been using does not support .incbin, and I've found
confirmation of this fact online that it's been taken out (WHY??). Now, another
programmer here is using a custom version of GAS with .incbin added in, but
devkitadv, for instance, doesn't seem to have this. We've swapped .s files back
and forth to confirm this.

All of my original variables are stored in .h and .c files, so what I've done is
written a fast little conversion routine from a .h array to .s, then converted
that with AS into a .o file. Then all I have to do is link in the .o file at
build-time. Very fast! And more space-efficient.

I found that converting directly to a .o file with ObjCopy, which is recommended
at http://www.devrs.com/gba/files/gbadevfaqs.php#IncRaw doesn't work for me (I
get an error about not having -mthumb-interworking support). Pity, as devkitadv
comes with a batch file specifically trying to help with this very solution, but
the file it generated wouldn't link in, even after I added the ALIGN 4 statment.

So, this 'brute force' method I've cooked up converts very quickly, as most of
the time appears to be spent in the compiling of .h into a .s file, and might
even circumvent the virtual memory exhausted error I've encountered before
adding the GCC patch. My conversion proggie has its limitations, like how I
extract one array at a time, but that could be changed, or just lived with.
It's not a fatal problem by any means.

The jist of this is that .incbin doesn't appear to be supported by GAS often, as
far as I can tell, so other methods need to be used.

Hope this helps!

And again, if anyone wants my conversion program, just let me know. I've tested
it with huge sprite tables so far, though I'm sure there's other little bugs.

Jason Emery
World Tree Games


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