Draco's Tale...

[stef]

Hi!

Fps  of 15-20 with onboard graphic cards sounds bad!
For business I use also hp pavillion ( with intel extreme graphics)
Must check this.

stef

[empty]

I've just tested it on an AMD 2000 with Intel extreme (that machine is currently my internet access point :) ) and runs quite smoothly...

[2dman]

"and runs quite smoothly..." The AMD 2000 ghz if I'm not mistaken is more efficient than the celeron in the low end HP Pavillions. So I could see where a better processor could also incease performance. But I doubt you're getting anywhere near the 200-300 fps he's getting on his Geforce.

If the next update includes the ability to display fps and take a screen shot we could post our results more accurately.  ;)

But my point is, not that Playbasic or his program is at fault, EVERY game I play on my low end test machine runs in the 15-30fps when there is a ton of rendering going on.

My suggestion is to test on low and high end machines. The thing is, when you test on your box and you're getting 200-300fps, you think... WOW! I can add alot more eye candy, parallax, etc, but occasionally we forget that this may not be possible on lower end machines without sacrificing frame rate. Personally I always shoot for 30-60fps regardless of the spec. No need to requre anything over that really.

[SiN]

Ummm, correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't a GeForceFX not help at all? Doesn't PlayBasic do all it's rendering via software? If so, a better video card really doesn't make a difference.

I'd say it's more down to the CPU ... and now that I think about it, if it's an HP, it's probably come pre-loaded with a bunch of crap! :)  Are you sure there are no heavy applications running in the background bogging down your system?


SiN

[2dman]

Ummm, correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't a GeForceFX not help at all? Doesn't PlayBasic do all it's rendering via software? If so, a better video card really doesn't make a difference.

I'd say it's more down to the CPU ... and now that I think about it, if it's an HP, it's probably come pre-loaded with a bunch of crap! :)  Are you sure there are no heavy applications running in the background bogging down your system?
SiN

I'm green to PB but not to programming or dealing with my computer. Everything is pretty much stripped down. This was the dev's quotes from MonkeyNuts:

"And as for FPS hits:
No 9 layer Parallaxing BG: 321 FPS, this includes everything but the BG.
w/ 9 layer Parallaxing BG: 212 FPS
Only a loss of 109 FPS.
On a Pentium 4: 2.4 Gigahertz processor. I suppose the hardware doesn't really do anything but I've got a Geforce FX 5200 in there too.
I've tried to keep the visuals as quick as possible, going to try locking the buffer before drawing the BG."

I also thought that PB rendering was done 100% via software for compatibility?? I guess the bigger question is would a 2.4ghz P4 be that much faster than a 2.9ghz Celeron? I'm thinking yes. :)

But if for some reason PB is taking advantage of hardware then that would make sense why it is rendering at such high frame rates. Over 200 fps? Jeesh I would love to see frame rates like that from my own efforts!

Still, I seriously doubt a P4 2.4 ghz is a low end casual gamer's configuration??

Take a look at Wal-Mart's computers...

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/catalog.gsp...0%3A3944%3A3951

Their low end pc's do not have P4's and are in the 1.9 to 2.4 ghz range.

Hey Draco, any chance of an exe update (already have the graphics) that displays frame rate? Thanks..

[stef]

Hi!

Hm?!
My business machines are also P4, 2.4GHz (Intel Extreme Graphics), but these machines are 2 years old.

Made some tests:

Software 3D render Engine Tech Demo (=high end graphics example by Kevin) FPS is shown as about 70 (depends on view)
download


exe of "gun and ufo"( =lowest end graphics example by myself :) ;without FPS-limit) shows FPS about 400.

These, and other example worked well and fast (also Dracos adventure).

The performance is really depending only on CPU-Power.

If you want to write games for other people/computers it is absolutely clear, that you must deal with the given conditions. You must know yourself what you are doing/programming or you will have bad luck.

Greetings
stef

[medwayman]

Great work on that demo I really like the graphics :)

That hand reaching out from the tree stump is brilliant! It would be great to see that in the game.

keep up the good work

[Fash]

Have you done any further work on the demo Draco, as I'd like to see a bit more ?

Steve


Ps If you are still stuck for musix, let me know what format and I'll knock u some original pieces up..

[Draco9898]

Have you done any further work on the demo Draco, as I'd like to see a bit more ?

Steve
Ps If you are still stuck for musix, let me know what format and I'll knock u some original pieces up..

I might not work on it again, I don't feel like I can properly program it/do graphics for it/etc.

I'm looking for a sophisticated way to do animations and store data related to them.

[stevmjon]

I might not work on it again, I don't feel like I can properly program it/do graphics for it/etc.

I'm looking for a sophisticated way to do animations and store data related to them.

to draco9898

it would be a shame to stop now. you've had a lot of support and interest.

see if someone can help with the graphics.  calypson seems pretty good.

with animations, use multiple arrays().  meaning pass info from one array() to another array() depending on where the anim is at. i use different gosubs for these different arrays() also.  eg. have a main array() with all info, and when sprite is  walking along pass info into a walking array() , and when sprite hits wall/door then pass info to a turning array() etc. i found this easy to control sprite anim position in sequence and movement.

i have spent 11 months on my game. many times i came against coding obsticles and frustrating bugs. some took a month to sort out, but i am glad i stuck to it, because it's comming along nicely and smooth now.

keep up your good work. i am looking forward to seeing your next update.

   cheers stevmjon :D

[Draco9898]

I might consider working on this after the compo, I think I know exactly how to make all the sprites I want now

[kevin]

I'd love to see you flesh this out also.

[Digital Awakening]

Since this seems to be the biggest PB project I know of, I would also like to see it completed.

[Draco9898]

Whelp, I have no clue how to make it run faster, so I say just heck with the sys. specs and keep going...

Revised stump, with MUCH better pixel work as I've gotten better:

[Calypson]

yes - you sure are improving in pixelart. great work