Blitz3D Framework - IDEal, any good?

Blitz3D Forums/Blitz3D Programming/Blitz3D Framework - IDEal, any good?

Trader3564

(Posted 2007) [#1]

I was wondering if this frame work is good. I experianced flickering while using it, but that maybe because i don't use it properly. Also i sort of wondered why this is nessesary, why can't i just run a loop without doing all this? After all, why free CPU if we need it?

Graphics3D 640,480

Global Camera=CreateCamera ()

Const GameUPS=60 ; Updates per second
Local Period=1000/GameUPS 
Local FrameTime=MilliSecs()-Period

Local Tween#, Ticks,i,Remaining,StartTime,Elapsed

While Not KeyHit(1)
	
	StartTime = MilliSecs()
	
	Repeat
		Elapsed=MilliSecs()-FrameTime
	Until Elapsed
	
	Ticks=Elapsed / Period
	Tween=Float(Elapsed Mod Period)/Float(Period)
	
	For i=1 To Ticks
		FrameTime=FrameTime+Period
		If i=Ticks Then
			CaptureWorld
		End If
		UpdateGame()
		UpdateWorld
	Next
	RenderWorld Tween
	
	Remaining = Period - (MilliSecs() - StartTime)
	If Remaining > 1 Then 
		Delay (Remaining-1) ; Free some CPU time
	End If
	
	Flip
	
Wend

End

Function UpdateGame()
	; ...
End Function

GfK	(Posted 2007) [#2]

Also i sort of wondered why this is nessesary, why can't i just run a loop without doing all this?

So your game runs at the same speed on any PC. Render tweening ensures that the screen is updated at the same rate on every PC, regardless of how fast the game logic is going.

Its bad practice to have your game running 20x faster on a new PC than it does on an older system, since it'll be unplayable on one or the other.

I don't see the point trying to code for 60fps, personally. I usually lock it to 30fps. Gives you twice as much processor time to get stuff done, with far less risk of hitting a CPU bottleneck.

Buggy

(Posted 2007) [#3]

I still don't see the point of the following line:

Repeat
	Elapsed=MilliSecs()-FrameTime
Until Elapsed
[code]

Is it just me, or does that only ever loop once, so it could be replaced by the following:
[code]
Elapsed=MilliSecs()-FrameTime

...or is that to ensure that Elapsed isn't zero?

Trader3564

(Posted 2007) [#4]

@GfK, ah, right... how could i forget about that. Thank you for your input!