I finally got my BlitzMax!
BlitzMax Forums/BlitzMax Beginners Area/I finally got my BlitzMax!
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| After waiting almost a week and a half for PayPal to receive money I finally have my BlitzMax.... god, it's been torturous waiting... Now, Does anyone have any automatic conversion tools from Blitz3D (using only 2D commands) to BlitzMax? I'm not looking forward to the droll task of converting 2100+ lines of code. I'll not ask any of the obvious questions until I have read all the sticky notes in this forum... Me = VeryExcited 8) |
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| I'd recommend getting your head around types/lists first. Works a bit different than before and its loads better. Knowing how it works will open proverbial doors. |
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| Got that already... I code in C#, Java etc etc as well so thats not a stretch. I'll be proficient in no time and expert... well... we'll see ;) Cheers |
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| In the default MaxIDE, go to File -> Import BB Project This will perform a basic import and substitute/replace a bunch of the changes, but in all reality you will likely still need some manual tweaks to get most things to run properly... But it's still a decent starting point. However, converting existing code verbatim often isn't the 'best' solution, in that BlitzMax has a lot more options under the hood. A lot of times there a better / faster / more intuitive way of doing something in Blitzmax than was possible under blitzbasic/blitzplus/B3D. |
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| In the default MaxIDE, go to File -> Import BB Project I would recommend NOT doing that, as it creates a (rather nasty) wrapper to imitate the older language's Type structure/handling.This will perform a basic import and substitute/replace a bunch of the changes, but in all reality you will likely still need some manual tweaks to get most things to run properly... But it's still a decent starting point You should first play around with BlitzMax (test some examples, write some stuff that you might see in the others and find differences) before embarking on such a task. |
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| I'll probably look at some sample code from some of the more proficient coders here, but I've been watching the BlitzMax forums for a while which is why I wanted it so bad. I'm used to classes, constructors, destructor's, methods, inheritance etc from other languages already but I really hate converting code. In the end, I already know of a bunch of changes that I want to make to the code-structure but it would be nice to have the raw code swapped over to Max to begin with. We'll see... knowing myself, I'll probably just start from scratch and re-write the whole darn thing since it would likely go faster and cause fewer head-aches in the long term. Cheers. |
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| Realistically, rewriting the code is probably going to be faster and more efficient -- any automated conversion will likely be hanging together with duct tape. |
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| Well, you can always generate it and see how bad it looks... :-) |
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| Welcome to one the funniest ways to make games and software. I know that Brucey will agree with me when I say that Blitzmax it's as powerful, fast and stable as those programming languages you already know and satisfying in its syntax. Of course you already know that since you come from Blitz3D which I still have and love. Blitzmax and Purebasic are my favorite languages although I can program in Delphi, Java and a little C++ and C#. Purebasic because it's simple, small and has a nice builtin library. Blitzmax because it's OOP, the fact that you can make C/C++ code work with it, many options for 2D/3D engines and Brucey's mods. It couldn't get any better. So welcome. :) |
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| Good on ya. |
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| Indeed... I see in BMax all the things I wished were in B3D without the things I know cause bloat in a language... its lean, mean, and what I know of New Zealand... green ;) And.. ya, I've definitely been looking at that libraries you have going there Brucey... Awesome of you to contribute to the community in so many ways! I wish I had the kind of time I had with Blitz3D to program but I've had 3 kids since. Never-the-less, I'll use the time I do get to produce something hopefully fun and help the community however I can. Cheers |
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| Welcome, _Skully. It sounds like you agree that BlitzMax is the greatest undiscovered gem :D |
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| Lets just say I've been frothing at the mouth waiting for my copy to play with ;) My experience with B3D has been great... I'm sure I'll be in full agreement that Max rocks even more soon enough :) |
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| Hi _Skully. I'm pretty much in the same boat, coming from years of C++ and directx it's a breath of fresh air. I used the demo version to check out a few things before I purchased though. I would have brought Greys framework had he not withdrawn it, but as a start I wanted to avoid external modules for fear of bloat and instability (with no external mods i'll know the bloat and instability are my fault :) ) Even so, within a couple of weeks I had; [] A really simple gui (buttons/text labels and input text lines) [] Animated sprite handling (using GraphicsGale) [] Scripted 'animators' that can be attached to objects to manipulate their scale/rotation/position & alpha values [] Bitmap font handling using MikeWeirings bmfont code (the only external code I'm using at the moment) and the AngelCode font generator [] An application framework with loading screens, automated flow between modules, scripted resource loading and handling [] a locale handler to exchange strings at runtime for their locale specific versions (works with filenames as well as text strings, so if you draw a texture with english writing on it, it can be swapped at load time for an alternative filename) [] 2d particle effects [] my first game well underway (it's the best way to develop a framework and test code!) Basically all the stuff I spent years developing in C++ so I might have a stable base to develop games off. And, all this will just compile and run for mac and linux?? (I'm prepared for some tweakage if and when i get that far). That really is the icing on the cake. I got into BMax through Grey Alien and have to thank him for that :) |
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| I've always appreciated Blitz for that... Since I do this as a hobby, coding everything involved with making a game from the ground up is just not possible... or at least I would not be seeing anything fun for ages which would likely make me not bother. Blitz is like being given all the tools you need to make a game, the community broadens the spectrum of those tools, and the power is there to develop your own if they don't meet your specific games needs. I'm at the beginning of the learning curve now.. there are a few things that work very differently in Max than in B3D (such as the while buffer thing I see) but it shouldn't be long before I feel ready to rock and roll. |
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| OK, I have no doubt now what-so-ever that rebuilding my project is the best way to go LOL. I could spend probably twice as long converting everything over to make it work or just redo it from the start... The bonus is that while I am rewriting it I can implement a couple things I thought of as I was creating the original... still...d'oh! |
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| It will be interesting to read your thoughts once your convert everything and have it running. To compare render speeds between B3D and Max. You may be surprised. ;) |
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| OK I'm officially in love with BlitzMax! Nice work Mark! I've just got over the major learning "hump" and am off and running! The best part is being able to use the advanced programming techniques born from the OO class-like feel that types have now... sweet! Turns out that even if I had imported my bb project I would have gotten frustrated after a short time and re-wrote it anyway LOL I'm also looking forward to not having to pre-rotate images, and many of the other improvements to the 2D graphics capabilities. |
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| edit...wrong thread... |
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