Directx9/Directx7

[Krix]

Hello there,

Fred wrote:
"On a side note, a DX9 subsystem for the game commands is in the work and should be available for the 4.20 release of Purebasic."

Please correct me if I'm wrong but does it mean that all sprite commands will (or already) use DX9? Would it be possible to keep DirectX7/Directdraw support? Some developer may want the lowest system requirement possible and would like to use DX7/DDraw instead of DX9 for simple sprites wich as far as I know runs better on certain gfx chipsets such as intel or older nvidia/Ati. So let's say I could initialize DX7 or DX9 depending on my needs and target platforms. I really really liked the old Sprite commands (not sprite3D) backward compatibility. I did some 2D "game" tests that was running in 640x480 30-50fps 16 bit color on a Trident 4Mbyte DX accelerator and a PII 366Mhz laptop with PB v3.94.

My question is that is it possible to leave the old sprite engine as an option in purebasic?

Does it make sense?

Thanks,
Krix

[Rook Zimbabwe]

You can use almost any engine in PureBasic. I think the B3D Engine still uses DX7. There are a great many more out there!

[nco2k]

@Krix
its a subsystem, which means you can switch from dx7 to dx9 and vice versa.

c ya,
nco2k

[Krix]

I know I can use "external" engines and I can code directx from PB. I specifically ment the built in sprite commands. Hopefully in the near future PB will be even more popular among game developers. Think about somebody who wants to write a simple side-scroller, or match 3 kinda game or other simple 2D games for a casual market and use the internal game tools. For them backward compatibility will be more important than dx9 features. Wouldn't it be nice if one could initialize the desired dx version in the begining of the code and just use all the built in sprite commands for his/her game? And also as a feature list would say "Internal game tools use directx9 or for backward compatibility directx7 switchable."

Does it make more sense?


Krix

[Heathen]

I know I can use "external" engines and I can code directx from PB. I specifically ment the built in sprite commands. Hopefully in the near future PB will be even more popular among game developers. Think about somebody who wants to write a simple side-scroller, or match 3 kinda game or other simple 2D games for a casual market and use the internal game tools. For them backward compatibility will be more important than dx9 features. Wouldn't it be nice if one could initialize the desired dx version in the begining of the code and just use all the built in sprite commands for his/her game? And also as a feature list would say "Internal game tools use directx9 or for backward compatibility directx7 switchable."

Does it make more sense?


Krix

You already can using subsystems as already mentioned, it's a compiler switch. Subsystems replace internal procedures, so you can switch to opengl for instance using a subsystem, but using the same sprite commands.

[traumatic]

Subsystems have to be chosen prior to compilation though (if that didn't
change in some of the latest releases).
They're not really useful if you want to swtich the system at runtime - which
is what Krix wants (if I got you right).

[Krix]

Ohhh...

Actually nco2k and Heathen are right. I didn't know you can replace the sprite system that way. All I wanted was to be able to choose a dx version I would use with the built in sprite commands before compilation. I guess I'll do some research about how to do it. Any hint about where should I look?

Thanks,
Krix

[traumatic]

Compiler -> Compiler Options -> Library Subsystem

The subsystem for DX9 is called DirectX9

[Krix]

Thanks Trau!

[Fred]

Traumatic is right, you can't change the subsystem at runtime, and if you need to support old hardware and new hardware, just supply 2 versions of your executable.

[IceSoft]

Compiler -> Compiler Options -> Library Subsystem

The subsystem for DX9 is called DirectX9

Thats wrong.

DX9 = Author Stefan Mönius
DirectX9 = PureBasic

If you want the S.M. implementation of DirectX9 enter DX9 on the Subsystem textbox.
If you want the DirectX9 PB implementation enter DirectX9 on the Subsystem textbox.

[traumatic]

:roll:


(and btw, his name is Möbius, not Mönius...)

[Violet]

But DirectX 9 would be better for Vista, or not? Because the PureBasic Screens in Vista extremely lagg because of the emulation of the not any longer supported DirectX 7. :roll:

[Foz]

Previously any new version of DirectX had all the API's of all the previous versions of DirectX. So if you installed 9c, you could run any game even if it was coded for DirectX 5.

Vista includes DirectX 9Ex, which will include DirectX 7 api's and that uses the hardware. The Aero interface for example is a DirectX 9Ex application.

However, if you upgraded from XP or manually installed the XP Graphic Drivers, then there is a chance that it could be running in DirectX 9 emulated mode, which is somewhat slower. How you tell the difference I don't know.

[Violet]

I mean, when I open a windowed screen on Vista, it is much slower rendering. You see it.

I installed Vista on the way like it would be a new computer (no upgrade) and I installed the graphics driver from nvidia manually.