Sprite3d Functions

Steve Elliott · Post by **Steve Elliott** » Sun Sep 24, 2006 11:02 am

The Sprite3d functions are far too slow.

Sadly, functions for game production in general are either too slow or are missing. Features such as analogue joystick support and LoadAnimSprite for animation (several animation frames loaded as one sprite).

So while PureBASIC is superb for application writing, for games it's not so hot. A pity because it's a lovely language to use.

djes · Post by **djes** » Sun Sep 24, 2006 11:32 am

Sprite3d functions are fast, why do you say that? I'm working on games for a while, and I have no problem!
And for joystick, you have the joystickex userlib on http://www.purearea.net/pb/english/index.htm

Steve Elliott · Post by **Steve Elliott** » Sun Sep 24, 2006 12:07 pm

Because I compared them to the equivalent BlitzMax command - over 3 times the speed.

nco2k · Post by **nco2k** » Sun Sep 24, 2006 12:15 pm

have you used Start3D()/Stop3D() and turned the debugger off?

c ya,
nco2k

Steve Elliott · Post by **Steve Elliott** » Sun Sep 24, 2006 12:35 pm

djes · Post by **djes** » Sun Sep 24, 2006 12:50 pm

Your needs are really extensive! Could you send us your benchmarks, it would be usefull.

Steve Elliott · Post by **Steve Elliott** » Sun Sep 24, 2006 1:02 pm

347 FPS - PureBASIC
1105 FPS - BlitzMax

Flype · Post by **Flype** » Sun Sep 24, 2006 1:26 pm

in my humble opinion - if you think it's slow it's more a programmer-side error than a purebasic limitation.

when i saw what can be done by polux and his team (for example Lethal Judgment III from BGames : http://www.bgames.org/) it seems that purebasic has no speed problem when correctly coded.

but well, i don't know, maybe you're right.
we need a code sample (one for pb and another one for bb with the same visual result) to compare/benchmark.

then, from the pb sample code, polux or others guys can explain how to make the result faster with purebasic.

Steve Elliott · Post by **Steve Elliott** » Sun Sep 24, 2006 3:08 pm

Lethal Judgement III uses very little Sprite3d function calls - all my sprites are alpha blended 3d sprites running at 1280 X 1024 32bit colour.

It's a chess game so I can get such high FPS - 347 FPS for PureBASIC is quite high, but obviously there is room for improvement.

dracflamloc · Post by **dracflamloc** » Sun Sep 24, 2006 3:56 pm

Why don't you give us the actual code for the benchmark and we can tweak it.

Steve Elliott · Post by **Steve Elliott** » Sun Sep 24, 2006 7:13 pm

There's no code to tweak - just a static chessboard and pieces being drawn using sprite3d commands.

PureBASIC has threads and can produce DLLs - BlitzMax can't. It is also better for writing application software than BlitzMax - but the simple fact is it's not quite as good for game related programs at this time (no language is perfect).

chris_b · Post by **chris_b** » Sun Sep 24, 2006 9:24 pm

Steve Elliott wrote:There's no code to tweak

In Windows version of PureBasic it's possible to call Direct3D's triangle drawing functions directly in conjunction with the standard OpenScreen(), InitSprite3D(), CreateSprite3D() functions.

This can give a quite a significant performance boost especially if you have, say, a bunch of sprites on a single bitmap (eg. 16 different 64x64 sprites on a 256x256 texture).

Joakim Christiansen · Sun Sep 24, 2006 10:32 pm

I agree, it can be a little slow.
But I haven't testet it against other languages.

coma · Post by **coma** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 3:48 am

Steve Elliott wrote:There's no code to tweak - just a static chessboard and pieces being drawn using sprite3d commands.

PureBASIC has threads and can produce DLLs - BlitzMax can't. It is also better for writing application software than BlitzMax - but the simple fact is it's not quite as good for game related programs at this time (no language is perfect).

do you use only one start/stop3D() in your drawing loop ?