Limit on number of symbols

[Vektor]

Sorry for my late response but i've been busy with other things.
I finally solved my problem. To handle the restriction on number of symbols, one of the following can be done:

• Replacing all high level macros with their asm equivalents is the safest way to handle this error. However, there are 2 main disadvantages: i have to rewrite everything and all high level macros will be gone, the code will be even less understandable for others who read it (unless i add comments and update all comments with every change in any procedure so i have to write same thing twice).
  
• Moving procedures in libraries - this is what i've done so far but i don't have many procedures to move until i have to rewrite the new ones that will be moved - this works with procedures that don't call other procedures that are not moved yet, and in my project there are not many of them left.
  
• While studying the way ml.exe handles symbols, i found out that it keeps a 16 bit counter for labels. There are a few macros (.if / .else / .break .if / .continue .if / etc.) for which it generates more labels than needed.
  
  Code Select Expand
  00000000 start:
.if eax
00000000  0B C0    *     or eax, eax
00000002  74 01    *     je     @C0001
00000004  40 inc eax
.endif
00000005    *@C0001:
.if eax
00000005  0B C0    *     or eax, eax
00000007  74 03    *     je     @C0003
00000009  40 inc eax
.else
0000000A  EB 01    *     jmp    @C0005
0000000C    *@C0003:
0000000C  48 dec eax
.endif
0000000D    *@C0005:

  As MichaelW noticed, while assembling a simple list of .if macros, even-numbered labels are generated but not shown. The fact is that ml uses bit15 from that 16 bit counter as a "visibility flag", if it is not set, the label will not be shown in listing. Bit 15 is reset only when an extra unnecessarry label is generated to hide it. Like MS always does - they don't correct the errors, they hide them.
  So, another way to handle this error is to use that bit 15 that hides labels as an extension to the 15-bit counter. This can be done with a patch in ml.exe (as i've seen, the license for ml.exe doesn't disallow random byte changes in it and this is a bugfix not a crack anyway):
  
  Code Select Expand
  
.04016E9: 80 00
.0401733: 80 00
.0401D74: 80 00
.0401D82: 7F FF
.040202D: 7C 00
.0402037: 7F FF

  After patching, you'll notice that all labels will be shown in listing.
  
  Code Select Expand
  00000000 .code
00000000 start:
.if eax
00000000  0B C0    *     or eax, eax
00000002  74 01    *     je     @C0001
00000004    *@C0002:
00000004  40 inc eax
.endif
00000005    *@C0001:
.if eax
00000005  0B C0    *     or eax, eax
00000007  74 03    *     je     @C0003
00000009    *@C0004:
00000009  40 inc eax
.else
0000000A  EB 01    *     jmp    @C0005
0000000C    *@C0003:
0000000C  48 dec eax
.endif
0000000D    *@C0005:

  
• There can be done a few patches to correct ml so it won't generate the unneeded labels, but it extends the number of available labels to only a few more. Instead of doing that i prefer to optimize my own code :P
  
• A 16-bit counter is also not a real solution, this limit can also be easily reached. To extend the counter from 16 to 32 bit the following patch can be applied (after applying the 15 to 16 extension patch, of course):
  
  Code Select Expand
  00001D75: 66 90
00001D79: 25 90
00001D7A: FF 90
00001D7B: FF 90
00001D7C: 00 90
00001D7D: 00 90
00001D8A: 82 D2
00001D8B: 47 F2
00001D8C: 01 03
00001FE7: 66 90
00001FEE: 66 90
00001FF0: 66 90
00001FF7: 66 90
00002025: 66 90
0000202E: 25 90
0000202F: FF 90
00002030: FF 90
00002031: 00 90
00002032: 00 90
00002041: CB 1B
00002042: 44 F0
00002043: 01 03
00041060: 00 57
00041061: 00 51
00041062: 00 8B
00041063: 00 7C
00041064: 00 24
00041065: 00 0C
00041066: 00 8B
00041067: 00 44
00041068: 00 24
00041069: 00 10
0004106A: 00 52
0004106B: 00 B9
0004106C: 00 04
00041070: 00 E8
00041071: 00 06
00041075: 00 E2
00041076: 00 F9
00041077: 00 EB
00041078: 00 1C
00041079: 00 5F
0004107A: 00 C3
0004107B: 00 51
0004107C: 00 B9
0004107D: 00 34
00041081: 00 33
00041082: 00 D2
00041083: 00 F7
00041084: 00 F1
00041085: 00 80
00041086: 00 C2
00041087: 00 41
00041088: 00 80
00041089: 00 FA
0004108A: 00 5B
0004108B: 00 72
0004108C: 00 03
0004108D: 00 80
0004108E: 00 C2
0004108F: 00 06
00041090: 00 88
00041091: 00 17
00041092: 00 47
00041093: 00 59
00041094: 00 C3
00041095: 00 5A
00041096: 00 59
00041097: 00 B0
00041099: 00 90
0004109A: 00 8B
0004109B: 00 C7
0004109C: 00 5F
0004109D: 00 C2
0004109E: 00 10

  This patch will also change the way generated labels are named - they no longer have hexadecimal names but literal names. So this is not really a 32-bit extension because of the reduced character set, but it is enough for everyone.
  
  Code Select Expand
  
00000000 start:
.if eax
00000000  0B C0    *     or eax, eax
00000002  74 01    *     je     @CBAAA
00000004    *@CCAAA:
00000004  40 inc eax
.endif
00000005    *@CBAAA:
.if eax
00000005  0B C0    *     or eax, eax
00000007  74 03    *     je     @CDAAA
00000009    *@CEAAA:
00000009  40 inc eax
.else
0000000A  EB 01    *     jmp    @CFAAA
0000000C    *@CDAAA:
0000000C  48 dec eax
.endif
0000000D    *@CFAAA:

  
  A big list of .if macros will look like this:
  
  Code Select Expand
  00000000 .code
00000000 start:
.if eax
00000000  0B C0    *     or eax, eax
00000002  74 01    *     je     @CBAAA
00000004    *@CCAAA:
00000004  40 inc eax
.endif
00000005    *@CBAAA:
.if eax
00000005  0B C0    *     or eax, eax
00000007  74 01    *     je     @CDAAA
00000009    *@CEAAA:
00000009  40 inc eax
.endif
0000000A    *@CDAAA:
.if eax
0000000A  0B C0    *     or eax, eax
0000000C  74 01    *     je     @CFAAA
0000000E    *@CGAAA:
0000000E  40 inc eax
.endif
0000000F    *@CFAAA:
.if eax
0000000F  0B C0    *     or eax, eax
00000011  74 01    *     je     @CHAAA
00000013    *@CIAAA:


...


000A0135    *@CgzsB:
000A0135  40 .if eax
inc eax
000A0136    *@CfzsB:
.endif
000A0136  0B C0    *     or eax, eax
000A0138  74 01    *     je     @ChzsB
000A013A    *@CizsB:
000A013A  40 .if eax
inc eax
000A013B    *@ChzsB:
.endif
000A013B  0B C0    *     or eax, eax
000A013D  74 01    *     je     @CjzsB
000A013F    *@CkzsB:
000A013F  40 .if eax
inc eax
000A0140    *@CjzsB:

...

  

Anyway, thanks for your replies and suggestions.