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I feel like I've been bashing my brain against a brick wall trying to get WLA-DX to work properly, or more specifically, WLALINK. I will now detail the process I've done so far...

First, I downloaded the most recent WLA-DX files off of the github and managed to properly compile them and get the resulting binaries.

Then, I made a path to those binaries through environmental variables so that I could use the command line in Windows.

To test using the binaries, I've been using Maxim's Hello World enhanced file and I now have a .o file.

The next and presumably final step would be to use WLALINK to create a usable ROM file, but that's where I'm stuck. I've followed the documentation of WLA-DX as closely as I can and by going into the command line, going to the directory where my .o file and my linkfile is at, and then typing

wlalink -r linkfile helloworld.sms

like it wants me to, I get an error saying

LOAD_FILES: Could not open file "linkfile".

. It should have no issues finding it since the linkfile (a text file named "linkfile", properly formatted according to wla-dx's instructions) is in the same directory as the .o file.

What am I doing wrong here?

The command line you give looks correct to me. Is it possible the linkfile is named slightly differently? How familiar are you with the world of the command line and things like extensionless files in Windows?

You can get binaries plus some other useful tools and a batch file wrapping the compile+link steps here: https://github.com/maxim-zhao/sms-build-tools

Maxim wrote

The command line you give looks correct to me. Is it possible the linkfile is named slightly differently? How familiar are you with the world of the command line and things like extensionless files in Windows?

Familiar enough with command line since I used that through my computer programming courses at uni. Extensionless files? That's probably where things fall apart. To be fair, the documentation does say, and I quote, "Link file is a text file that contains information about the files you want to link together."

my link file is just a .txt named "linkfile" so maybe that's the issue. I'm not all too sure so I'll look into that.

and thank you for sharing the other stuff :)

[EDIT: it was expecting an extensionless file. Got that sorted out but now it says it can't find the other file after linkfile. it's just one thing after another hahaaaa...]

[EDIT 2: fixed that issue, but now instead of giving me a result, it just gives me a big wall of text telling me how to use it.]

[FINAL EDIT: FIXED IT! Good lord what a process that was, and one I am unlikely to forget anytime soon if I value my remaining sanity lol]

Ok, so the message was telling the truth :) it’s a bit of a pain dealing with the separate linker but once you’ve hidden it in a batch file or a build system then you can forget about it forever.

Author	Message
CerezaSaturn64 Joined: 25 Feb 2023 Posts: 99	Trying to figure out WLA-DX and its linker Posted: Sat May 20, 2023 5:07 am
CerezaSaturn64 Joined: 25 Feb 2023 Posts: 99	I feel like I've been bashing my brain against a brick wall trying to get WLA-DX to work properly, or more specifically, WLALINK. I will now detail the process I've done so far... First, I downloaded the most recent WLA-DX files off of the github and managed to properly compile them and get the resulting binaries. Then, I made a path to those binaries through environmental variables so that I could use the command line in Windows. To test using the binaries, I've been using Maxim's Hello World enhanced file and I now have a .o file. The next and presumably final step would be to use WLALINK to create a usable ROM file, but that's where I'm stuck. I've followed the documentation of WLA-DX as closely as I can and by going into the command line, going to the directory where my .o file and my linkfile is at, and then typing wlalink -r linkfile helloworld.sms like it wants me to, I get an error saying LOAD_FILES: Could not open file "linkfile". . It should have no issues finding it since the linkfile (a text file named "linkfile", properly formatted according to wla-dx's instructions) is in the same directory as the .o file. What am I doing wrong here?

Maxim Site Admin Joined: 19 Oct 1999 Posts: 14939 Location: London	Posted: Sat May 20, 2023 6:33 am
	The command line you give looks correct to me. Is it possible the linkfile is named slightly differently? How familiar are you with the world of the command line and things like extensionless files in Windows? You can get binaries plus some other useful tools and a batch file wrapping the compile+link steps here: https://github.com/maxim-zhao/sms-build-tools

CerezaSaturn64 Joined: 25 Feb 2023 Posts: 99	Posted: Sat May 20, 2023 6:47 am
CerezaSaturn64 Joined: 25 Feb 2023 Posts: 99	Maxim wrote The command line you give looks correct to me. Is it possible the linkfile is named slightly differently? How familiar are you with the world of the command line and things like extensionless files in Windows? Familiar enough with command line since I used that through my computer programming courses at uni. Extensionless files? That's probably where things fall apart. To be fair, the documentation does say, and I quote, "Link file is a text file that contains information about the files you want to link together." my link file is just a .txt named "linkfile" so maybe that's the issue. I'm not all too sure so I'll look into that. and thank you for sharing the other stuff :) [EDIT: it was expecting an extensionless file. Got that sorted out but now it says it can't find the other file after linkfile. it's just one thing after another hahaaaa...] [EDIT 2: fixed that issue, but now instead of giving me a result, it just gives me a big wall of text telling me how to use it.] [FINAL EDIT: FIXED IT! Good lord what a process that was, and one I am unlikely to forget anytime soon if I value my remaining sanity lol]

Maxim Site Admin Joined: 19 Oct 1999 Posts: 14939 Location: London	Posted: Sat May 20, 2023 10:08 am
	Ok, so the message was telling the truth :) it’s a bit of a pain dealing with the separate linker but once you’ve hidden it in a batch file or a build system then you can forget about it forever.

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