G
GnomeReverse Engineering Workbench
Canonical

1984 · Commodore 64 · Preservation workspace

Understand the machine.
Edit only what is proven.

This workbench connects every safe visual edit to an exact address in the canonical Gnome program. Unknown bytes stay untouched.

Verified architecture

Proven

Editing boundary

Safe
  • 96 × 64-byte VIC-II sprite slots
  • 128 custom 8×8 character glyphs
  • 10 internal fixed-width entity names
  • Credits and start prompt with strict lengths
  • No-op builds remain byte-identical
Research

World representation is not yet exposed

The structured blocks at $24F5, $6EBD, $7C5D, and $9525 are visible in diagnostics, but their rendering/collision roles are not yet proven. Editing them would be unsafe.

VIC-II graphics · $4800–$5FFF

Sprite laboratory

Every preview is decoded directly from a 64-byte slot. Sprites are decoded in the VIC-II multicolor mode proven by the startup $D01C write. Proven frame tables are kept together below.

runtime startup pointer

Sprite

Paint the selected 2-bit colour · Shift-click or right-click erases · arrow keys change slot

Custom charset · $6400–$67FF

Character foundry

Codes $80–$FF are program-resident glyphs. The lower half is copied from character ROM during startup.

Character

Hardware constraint: exactly 8 rows × 8 one-bit pixels.

C64 screen-code records · $986D–$995A

Text & entity names

Fields are fixed in place. The builder pads safely and rejects overflow or unsupported characters.

Visible text

Internal entity table

Evidence browser

Reverse engineering

Memory classifications, raw bytes, and recursively discovered code paths remain linked to C64 addresses.

Deterministic binary compiler

Build & byte diff

Every output derives from the canonical image. Unknown bytes and original load address are preserved exactly.

Build invariant

Changed address ranges

Build to inspect exact changes.

VirtualC64web · local pinned runtime

Play / test current build

Builds load directly into a same-origin browser C64. Cursor keys move the joystick; Space is fire.

▶

Emulator is idle

Your project is built and validated before the C64 starts.

Technical record

Project documentation

The repository holds the long-form evidence, formats, deployment notes, and unresolved questions.