`remove_dead_loads` now scans past opcodes that touch neither A nor
the flags an LDA sets, so a redundant LDA gets caught by its
successor's overwrite even when an index load or counter bump sits
between them. The extension covers LDX/LDY/INX/INY/DEX/DEY and the
flag ops (CLC/SEC/CLI/SEI/CLD/SED/CLV) alongside the INC/DEC/STX/STY
opcodes the pass already stepped past.
The highest-leverage case is the shape every single-tile `draw`
emits. After copy propagation and dead-store elimination do their
work, the stream reads:
LDA #<y> ; stray producer, value never consumed
LDY oam_cursor
LDA #<y> ; real load before STA
STA $0200,Y
The first LDA was surviving because the pass bailed on the LDY.
With the step-past, it drops. One LDA gone per draw, 2 bytes each.
Measured LDA-count reduction on committed examples:
platformer 242 → 221 (-21, -8.7 %)
war 785 → 754 (-31, -4.0 %)
pong 843 → 827 (-16, -1.9 %)
**Audio goldens.** The cycle savings shift the main-loop/NMI boundary
in audio-emitting programs, which re-times which frame each SFX
trigger lands in. Six audio hashes re-baseline as a result:
audio_demo, friendly_assets, noise_triangle_sfx, platformer, pong,
war. All 50 PNG goldens, the platformer/war/pong demo gifs, and
every non-audio program stay byte-identical. The re-baselined
output is still sample-accurate; what changed is the first-SFX
offset within the captured 132 084-sample window. This is the
audio-shift tradeoff documented in future-work.
Two new peephole unit tests lock in the behaviour:
- `dead_load_elim_steps_past_ldx_ldy` — the DrawSprite shape folds.
- `dead_load_elim_preserves_lda_when_used_by_shift` — a subsequent
ASL on A keeps the LDA alive across an intervening LDY.
Also updates future-work.md to reflect the shipped change and the
remaining register-allocator wins worth chasing next.
Another batch from the cc65/nesdoug gap catalogue. All six items
gated on marker labels (or default-false attributes) so existing
programs produce byte-identical ROMs — every pre-existing .nes
file round-trips unchanged.
**Language / runtime additions:**
- `mapper: GNROM` (iNES 66). Combines AxROM's 32 KB PRG pages with
CNROM's 8 KB CHR banks in a single `$8000` register. Linker
pads single-page ROMs to 32 KB to match mapper-66 expectations.
- `game { debug_port: fceux | mesen | 0xXXXX }`. `debug.log`,
`debug.assert`, and the `__debug_halt` sentinel now target a
user-selected address. `fceux` (default, $4800) and `mesen`
($4018) are named aliases; custom hex addresses are accepted
for unusual debuggers.
- `game { sprite_flicker: true }`. IR lowerer injects an
`IrOp::CycleSprites` at the top of every `on frame` handler,
which flips on the rotating-OAM NMI variant with no per-site
boilerplate. Default false so existing ROMs keep their layout.
- `fade_out(step_frames)` / `fade_in(step_frames)` builtins.
Blocking helpers that walk brightness 4 → 0 or 0 → 4 with
`step_frames` frames between each step. Runtime splices
`__fade_out`, `__fade_in`, and a callable `__wait_frame_rt`
helper when the builtin is used. Zero-guard on step_frames
prevents a pathological 256-frame spin when the caller
accidentally passes 0.
- `sprite_0_split(scroll_x, scroll_y)` intrinsic. Emits a
two-phase busy-wait on `$2002` bit 6 (wait-for-clear,
wait-for-set) then writes the new scroll values to `$2005`.
Works on any mapper — unlike `on_scanline(N)` which requires
MMC3. Enables HUD-over-playfield scrolling on NROM/UxROM/MMC1.
**Docs:**
- New paragraph in the language guide explaining the no-recursion
design choice and the explicit-stack workaround pattern.
- `future-work.md` updated to mark the shipped items out of the
catalogue; remaining items reshuffled in the priority ranking.
- README + examples/README updated with the new mapper and
builtins.
**Tests:**
- 12 new integration tests covering: GNROM header emission,
debug-port targeting (fceux/mesen/custom), unknown-alias
rejection, sprite_flicker on/off/bad-value, fade_out JSR + marker
coupling, fade omitted-when-unused, fade-in-expression rejected,
sprite_0_split byte-level busy-wait verification, sprite_0_split
arity enforcement, sprite_0_split omitted-when-unused, and an
extended void-intrinsic-in-expression-position test covering the
three new void builtins.
- `nes2_mapper_high_nibble_in_byte_8_is_zero_for_small_mappers`
extended to include GNROM.
- Four new examples with committed .nes ROMs + pixel/audio
goldens: `gnrom_simple`, `auto_sprite_flicker`, `fade_demo`,
`sprite_0_split_demo`.
All 752 tests pass. Clippy clean. 44/44 emulator goldens match.
