Blitz3d programs run on a tablet with Windows 8.1!
Blitz3D Forums/Blitz3D Programming/Blitz3d programs run on a tablet with Windows 8.1!
| ||
| Hello, I just want to report the results of some tests that i have done on a tablet with Windows 8.1 : All the demos/prototypes/tests that i have tried to run, ran well. The input of keys (up, todown, down, toup) seem to be ok. The render of meshes, textures, animations, vertex lighting, mask, alpha, images, text, seem to be ok. The volume/playingspeed/falloff of 3d sounds and ambient sounds seem to be ok. But there are some requirements : -You have to install directplay (Windows update helps you to do this) -You have to install directx 9c -You have to have a mouse connected to the machine (i used a bluetooth mouse) or this automatically closes the program -You have to not use the touch keyboard or this automatically closes the program -You can can use the visual keyboard or an external keyboard to control the program Overall i was happy to see that my programs still run on a tablet with Windows 8.1 but it is too difficult to control the program without an external mouse and an external keyboard, so just for this, imo, Blitz3d programs are not suited for tablets with touchscreen controls. I have also managed to install and run the Blitz3d ide and to code with the touch keyboard or with the visual keyboard and to compile and run some tests programs. But again there are some requirements : -You have to have a mouse connected to the machine (i used a bluetooth mouse) or this provokes an error and closes the program -You have to not use the touch keyboard or this automatically closes the program -You can can use the visual keyboard or an external keyboard to control the program And honestly the visual keyboard is not a good solution to control the program (you can't press 2 keys at the same time...) So the conclusion for me : I will continue to create tools/games with Blitz3d but only for desktops/laptops with a keyboard+mouse. Once i consider that my game is good enough, i will try to convert it for android tablets and windows8.1 tablets with "touchscreen controls". One last comment : the render time is 22 times slower if you use many separate surfaces, 5 times slower if you use copies of entities, compared to combining all surfaces in one surface... |
| ||
| Yeah a few things need a real mouse connected or they mysteriously close or crash on Windows 8 tablets :| b3d was one I couldn't work out why it was just closing for awhile until I accidentally had a mouse connected for other reasons. You can change the onscreen keyboard to the full version or extended version or something and I think that supports multiple key presses but is still quite limited. |
| ||
| I have tested stencil shadows with DSS and it works well on this tablet with Windows 8.1. Good to know. Also, not sure i understand what is going on : i have tested a program without having connected the bluetooth mouse and the program ran well without any error. I was also able to control the program with the fingertouch (instead of the mouse)... But you have to tap briefly where you want to look instead of holding the finger on the screen. |
| ||
| Touchscreen functionality will depend a bit on what screen mode the program runs in i.e. windowed, borderless window, exclusive fullscreen, etc. and a few other small graphics access tweaks/flags. (The problem is the settings that usually give best compatibility/works at all with a touchscreen usually are the lowest for performance (upto half the performance of exclusive fullscreen with performance flags) which can be a big hit to take on a tablet that already has so so graphics performance). |
| ||
| (The problem is the settings that usually give best compatibility/works at all with a touchscreen usually are the lowest for performance (upto half the performance of exclusive fullscreen with performance flags) Really ? So a game will run faster in fullscreen mode than in windowed mode ? I was not aware of this. Is this also true for laptop computers ? for desktop computers ? |
| ||
| There is no hard and fast rules but Windowed modes usually have some performance penalty due to sharing access to the graphics device - exactly how much depends a bit on what else you have running, driver and driver settings, compatibility flags, etc. |
| ||
| Ok. Good to know... |
| ||
| Good to know windowed mode can affect fps :-) |
| ||
| I'm sure I read somewhere AGES ago and right on these forums something about the mouse requirement and I believe there may have been a workaround there too... (It MIGHJT be something that woudl then allow the user to use touchpad or whatever instead so the apps can still run on any tablet device?) I'll see if I can dig out the thread... |
   |