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Re: GFXLIB
« Reply #11 on: Sep 4th, 2008, 2:36pm » |
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Quote:| Some very fast -- albeit low quality nearest-neighbour -- bitmap scaling |
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This appears to be broken on my PC: the 'GFXLIB' text, which I presume is intended to be in the foreground, is partially hidden most of the time:
Richard.
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David Williams
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Re: GFXLIB
« Reply #12 on: Sep 4th, 2008, 4:51pm » |
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on Sep 4th, 2008, 2:36pm, Richard Russell wrote:This appears to be broken on my PC: the 'GFXLIB' text, which I presume is intended to be in the foreground, is partially hidden most of the time:
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Oops... yes, I had REM'd out the *REFRESH statement and forgot to un-REM it prior to compilation.
It should work o.k. now.
http://www.bb4w-games.com/fastscalingdemo.zip
David.
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David Williams
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Re: GFXLIB (text squashing)
« Reply #13 on: Sep 5th, 2008, 12:05am » |
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This will be the last GFXLIB demo for a month or two because I really must get the documentation and example programs written...
http://www.bb4w-games.com/textsquash.zip
I intend to release the next version of GFXLIB (with lots of new routines plus decent docs) by the end of this month, or early October. I hope then that it'll not just be me and Simon writing games based on it 
Check out Simon's game 'Blast' which promises some frantic arcade action (you'll probably need to extract the files from the ZIP folder first before running it):
http://www.bb4w-games.com/blast.zip
Regards,
David.
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Re: GFXLIB
« Reply #14 on: Sep 5th, 2008, 08:22am » |
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Quote:| Check out Simon's game 'Blast' which promises some frantic arcade action (you'll probably need to extract the files from the ZIP folder first before running it) |
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Do you happen to know why he doesn't package all the 'resource' files into the executable? Personally I can't be bothered to download the zip and find somewhere suitable to extract all the files.
Your programs are so much easier to run; I don't even have to download them (explicitly), I just 'open' the link in your post then double-click on the executable. Wonderful!
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David Williams
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Re: GFXLIB (Scaled game graphics)
« Reply #15 on: Sep 8th, 2008, 12:47am » |
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I wanted to try an experiment with a view to perhaps creating a game that is largely independent of screen resolution. The method used in this demo (link below) involves the pre-scaling of bitmaps using simple nearest-neighbour scaling, and then these pre-scaled bitmaps are drawn in the usual way using the reasonably fast standard GFXLIB_Plot routine.
http://www.bb4w-games.com/scaledgamegraphicsdemo.zip
The demonstration 'game' doesn't do much -- use the arrow keys to move around and collect objects. Not much fun... but then, the point of the program is to demonstrate an idea/concept, not to entertain
You have to re-start the program in order to change the resolution.
Regards,
David.
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81RED
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Re: GFXLIB
« Reply #16 on: Sep 10th, 2008, 07:02am » |
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on Sep 5th, 2008, 08:22am, Richard Russell wrote:Do you happen to know why he doesn't package all the 'resource' files into the executable? Personally I can't be bothered to download the zip and find somewhere suitable to extract all the files.
Your programs are so much easier to run; I don't even have to download them (explicitly), I just 'open' the link in your post then double-click on the executable. Wonderful! |
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To quote what I wrote to David on that subject:
"Can only speak from personal experience, but in my end of the world, users
Have a nasty tendency to download stuff directly to their desktop.
Now having a Blast.exe that "explodes" into 29 additional items on said desktop Is not the ideal way to make friends "
And I could go on and on about that particular subject, but I guess I'm as opposed to programs that uncritically and without warning clutters up the folder they happen to be run in, as you are to unzipping anything.
Simon
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Re: GFXLIB
« Reply #17 on: Sep 10th, 2008, 09:14am » |
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Quote:| Now having a Blast.exe that "explodes" into 29 additional items on said desktop Is not the ideal way to make friends |
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I suggested that you "package the resource files into the executable", not that you 'explode' 29 items onto the desktop. One doesn't follow from the other!
For a start, I would always recommend putting the resource files into a single sub-directory, not keeping them in the same directory as the executable. Thus if one were to download the executable to the desktop and run it there the most that would happen is that a single additional folder icon would appear.
Arguably the appearance of that icon isn't in itself a bad thing, since it would draw attention to what is in any case bad practice - putting an executable file on the desktop. However it could easily be removed by setting the resource directory's attributes to 'hidden' early in your program.
But what I think is more important is that David's method of embedding all the resource files means that you don't have to (explicitly) download the programs at all. To run one of his programs I just 'open' it from the web site - the downloading and extraction of resource files to a temporary directory happens 'behind the scenes'. Literally his programs are four mouse-clicks away from a message on this forum.
Anyway it's ultimately up to you. I've marvelled at David's programs but I've not even looked at yours because I can't be bothered with the hassle of downloading, extracting and subsequently deleting it.
Richard.
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81RED
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Re: GFXLIB
« Reply #18 on: Sep 10th, 2008, 10:37am » |
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Quote:| I suggested that you "package the resource files into the executable", not that you 'explode' 29 items onto the desktop. One doesn't follow from the other! |
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Admittedly, no. But, with the danger of repeating myself, there will always be a risk when you unpack something without the users consent or control.
Quote:| For a start, I would always recommend putting the resource files into a single sub-directory, not keeping them in the same directory as the executable. Thus if one were to download the executable to the desktop and run it there the most that would happen is that a single additional folder icon would appear. |
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The files in the Blast.zip contains *two* files in the root of the archive - a Blast.exe and a readme. The rest is in a \data folder.
Quote:| Arguably the appearance of that icon isn't in itself a bad thing, since it would draw attention to what is in any case bad practice - putting an executable file on the desktop. However it could easily be removed by setting the resource directory's attributes to 'hidden' early in your program. |
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Hang on a moment, did you just suggest that I clutter the users harddrive, only to hide it afterwards? I sincerely hope I read that paragraph wrong..
Quote:| But what I think is more important is that David's method of embedding all the resource files means that you don't have to (explicitly) download the programs at all. To run one of his programs I just 'open' it from the web site - the downloading and extraction of resource files to a temporary directory happens 'behind the scenes'. Literally his programs are four mouse-clicks away from a message on this forum. |
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May I suggest WinRAR. It makes running anything inside a zip file equally simple to what you describe above.
Be warned though - WinRAR requires that you actually install it.
Quote:| Anyway it's ultimately up to you. I've marvelled at David's programs but I've not even looked at yours because I can't be bothered with the hassle of downloading, extracting and subsequently deleting it. |
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Hmm.. I'm still glad I could "be bothered" to download a certain compiler, run the installer, click "next" an amount of times, enter a serial number, click "next" a few more times etc. so that I could produce Blast in the first place.
That you cannot "be bothered" to unzip my game is just something I will have to live with.
Simon
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Re: GFXLIB
« Reply #19 on: Sep 10th, 2008, 2:42pm » |
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Quote:| The files in the Blast.zip contains *two* files in the root of the archive - a Blast.exe and a readme. The rest is in a \data folder. |
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So where do those 29 items on the desktop come from when you embed them? I would have expected there to be just two (in addition to the executable): a folder icon and a readme icon.
Quote:Hang on a moment, did you just suggest that I clutter the users harddrive, only to hide it afterwards? I sincerely hope I read that paragraph wrong..
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What's wrong with that? Loads of applications install 'hidden' files, and as for cluttering the user's hard drive you can simply delete the folder when your program exits. Another solution is to store your resource files in a subdirectory of @lib$, in which case they are deleted automatically on exit.
Quote:| I'm still glad I could "be bothered" to download a certain compiler, run the installer, click "next" an amount of times, enter a serial number, click "next" a few more times etc. so that I could produce Blast in the first place. |
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I don't see that it's a valid comparison. If you develop your game into a fully-fledged application that needs to be 'installed' then of course I'd have no objection to carrying out those steps. I'd still encourage you to use a proper installer (so that again I can just 'run' the program from a web page) rather than require me to download it and extract the files manually.
I'm puzzled at your negative reaction to what was intended to be a practical suggestion to improve the user-friendliness of your software. It's a strength of BBC BASIC for Windows that you can embed resource files in the executable, and being able just to 'run' a program from a website or forum message seems to me a useful feature, so long as it is used appropriately.
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81RED
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Re: GFXLIB
« Reply #20 on: Sep 10th, 2008, 4:48pm » |
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on Sep 10th, 2008, 2:42pm, Richard Russell wrote:I'm puzzled at your negative reaction to what was intended to be a practical suggestion to improve the user-friendliness of your software. It's a strength of BBC BASIC for Windows that you can embed resource files in the executable, and being able just to 'run' a program from a website or forum message seems to me a useful feature, so long as it is used appropriately.
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I did not mean to sound negative. A little bit sarcastic perhaps, but not negative.
Must admit it amuses, more than it irritates me that it's now the second time that you have complained about the packaging rather than the content of my creation.
First time was when the original (non GFXLIB version) version of Blast was posted to the yahoo files area - you did not like/trust/approve of my Windows Installer MSI file.
I duly removed that and replaced it with a zip file. This was all a long time ago.
Now, as it turns out, you cannot be bothered with zip files either.
Have removed the current zip file from yahoo, will replace it with an exploding version at some later stage. And then again, I might not.
Simon
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Re: GFXLIB
« Reply #21 on: Sep 10th, 2008, 7:08pm » |
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Quote:| Now, as it turns out, you cannot be bothered with zip files either. |
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You mustn't take that personally. Computer games have never been my 'thing'; really they don't interest me at all (possibly because I'm hopeless at writing them and hopeless at playing them). David has achieved the near impossible by making his games so easy to run that even I bother to do so - although I still just watch the demo and listen to the music rather than actually play the thing.
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David Williams
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Re: GFXLIB (GFXLIB Example #35)
« Reply #22 on: Sep 11th, 2008, 07:17am » |
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Although I won't publish the source yet (since it relies on subroutines not implemented in the publicly available version of GFXLIB), here's Example 35, which demonstrates two subroutines:
1. PROCLoadBMP24Scaled
2. GFXLIB_PlotColourBlendOpaque
(1) Loads and scales a 24 bits-per-pixel bitmap (original bitmap discarded)
(2) 'Colourizes' a bitmap to a specified colour and strengh, and then alpha-blends the resultant colour with the background pixel colour.
http://www.bb4w-games.com/example35.zip
[ Michael: this proggy uses only ~15% CPU on my laptop  ]
Regards,
David.
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Re: GFXLIB
« Reply #23 on: Sep 11th, 2008, 08:44am » |
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Quote:| http://www.bb4w-games.com/example35.zip |
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Beautiful, as always.
If I move the window partially off the bottom of the screen and then back, a (one-pixel wide?) border around your graphics appears not to be repainted. Is that me or is it you?
Richard.
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David Williams
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Re: GFXLIB
« Reply #24 on: Sep 11th, 2008, 08:55am » |
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on Sep 11th, 2008, 08:44am, Richard Russell wrote:If I move the window partially off the bottom of the screen and then back, a (one-pixel wide?) border around your graphics appears not to be repainted. Is that me or is it you?
Richard. |
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It's "fixing the window size" that causes this problem (which affects nearly all of my graphics programs).
Code:MODE 8 : OFF
REM. Fix window size
SYS "GetWindowLong", @hwnd%, -16 TO ws%
SYS "SetWindowLong", @hwnd%, -16, ws% AND NOT &50000
IIRC, you suggested a possible solution a few months ago, however it didn't work for me.
Regards,
David.
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Re: GFXLIB
« Reply #25 on: Sep 12th, 2008, 09:39am » |
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Quote:IIRC, you suggested a possible solution a few months ago, however it didn't work for me.
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Hmm, it should work. Whenever you change the window style in a way which might change the size of the border, you should force a redraw of the border:
Code:
MODE 8 : OFF
REM. Fix window size
SYS "GetWindowLong", @hwnd%, -16 TO ws%
SYS "SetWindowLong", @hwnd%, -16, ws% AND NOT &50000
SYS "SetWindowPos", @hwnd%, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 32+7
If it doesn't work please let me know rather than grumbling to yourself that I've given you duff gen!
Richard.
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