Objects

An object is an entity in the game that is usually represented with sprites.

Representation

All memory in wram bank 1 is dedicated to storing memory for objects (4 kilobytes total). Each object has a dedicated 64 bytes of memory in this region.

There are a few different "classes" or types of objects. To help improve the speed of accessing objects, each class resides in a specific area of memory; in this way, the low byte of a particular class of objects is always the same, so the address of a particular variable can be determined with a simple register load, and no addition or indexing is required.

See include/structs.s for the memory layouts of objects.

Object type	Memory region	Slots (values for x)	Object description	ID List
Special object	dx00-dx3f	0-1	Link, animal companion, maple, raft. Link is always in slot 0 (d000-d03f).	constants/common/specialObjects.s
Parent item	dx00-dx3f	2-5	These aren't normally drawn to the screen, but they act as sort of state-holders when using an item.	constants/common/items.s
Item	dx00-dx3f	6-f	Swords, projectiles; anything that can damage or interact with an enemy.	constants/common/items.s
Interaction	dx40-dx7f	0-f	Very general; these can be non-hostile entities like npcs, or they may not be drawn at all, instead existing only as scripts to carry out a sequence of events.	constants/common/interactions.s
Enemy	dx80-dxbf	0-f	Hostile entities; these objects generally react when Link or an item collides with them.	constants/common/enemies.s
Part	dxc0-dxff	0-f	Frequently used as an enemy's weapon or projectile, so they can cause damage to Link; but this is also a mish-mash of various things, including owl statues.	constants/common/parts.s

[Legacy] Placing objects in ZOLE

When placing objects in ZOLE's interface, it has a number of "objects types" that indirectly relate to the object types listed above:

ZOLE type	Description
Conditional	Conditionally disables subsequent objects based on the value of wRoomStateModifier (cc32/cc4e); this value changes depending on the animal companion region, whether the room is underwater, whether room flag 0 is set on the overworld (which causes the game to load an alternate layout from the underwater overworld), and perhaps more.
No-value interaction	Creates an interaction object with the given ID.
Double-value interaction	Creates an interaction object with the given ID and Y/X values. (Sometimes the object will convert the "Y" value to a "Y/X" value, and use the given value of "X" for a different purpose.)
Object pointer	A pointer to more object data. ZOLE doesn't know how to follow this, though.
Boss object pointer	A pointer to object data that will be ignored if bit 7 of the room flags is set. Used in boss rooms.
Anti-boss object pointer	A pointer to object data that will be ignored unless bit 7 of the room flags is set. Doesn't appear to be used?
Random-position enemy	Creates an enemy with the given ID at a random position. Also takes a byte for flags (misleadingly called "quantity"; see below for explanation).
Specific-position enemy	Creates an enemy with the given ID at a specific position. Also takes a byte for flags.
Owl Statue/Trigger/Switch	Creates a part object with the given ID and position.
Quadruple-value object	Creates an object of type "interaction" (0), "enemy" (1), or "part" (2). The "unknown" field gets written to the object's "var03" which may be used in various ways depending on the object.
Item drop	Causes an item to drop at the specified position when a tile (ie. a bush) is destroyed there. See below for what the flags do. (This is actually a specific kind of "enemy" object.)

Flags

The "quantity" value for enemies, and "flags" value for item drops, actually serve a few purposes:

Bits	Function	Description
0	Always respawn	If set, this enemy always respawns when reentering the room; otherwise, the game will remember when it's been killed for a little bit. Applies to both enemy types, as well as "item drops" (so certain kinds of item drops may not respawn immediately).
1	Doesn't count as enemy	If set, this enemy doesn't count toward wNumEnemies (cdd1). This variable is used for rooms where you must kill all enemies to proceed. (Note: setting this bit won't prevent the enemy from decreasing wNumEnemies when killed, if it's the type of enemy that's coded to do so.)
2	Goes anywhere	If set, randomly-placed enemies may go anywhere; the game does not reject solid walls, holes, etc. (Random-enemy objects only.)
3-4	Unused?
5-7	Quantity	The number of enemies to randomly spawn. Random-enemy objects only.