Making a Level File???

[Mushroom Realm]

Ive got my game pretty much worked out, but i can think of the best way to make the level file. I want it to be able to give me a number (1 - 4), for each spot on the grid (15-30). What would be the best way to do this. I dont need to encode the file.

[Jotaf98]

It's very easy, are you already using an array (with 2 dimensions)? If you are it's gonna be easy, loading it from a file... if not, I'll have to tell ya how to use it to store your tiles in memory...

[Mushroom Realm]

Im using a 2d array for the level map, i dont know how i should write the file for fastest use?

[Machaira]

Use binary files.

[Jotaf98]

Here's some code:

Dim X As Long, Y As Long, TempByte As Byte
 
Open App.Path & "\map.txt" For Binary As #1
X=0
Y=0
Do Until EOF(1) 'Loop trough all the characters (bytes) in the file
    Get #1,,TempByte
    If TempByte=10 Then
        'Characters 10 and 13 mean a line break - so one of them makes us go to the next line
        Y=Y+1
        X=0
    ElseIf TempByte=13 Then
        'Do nothing...
    Else
        'Another character - put it in the map array
        MapArray(X,Y)=TempByte
    End If
    X=X+1
Loop
Close #1

[Machaira]

If you store your map data in a UDT you can write the entire UDT to the file with one line:

   Public Type udtMap
      'Map properties here
   End Type

   Dim iFileNum As Integer
   Dim objMap As udtMap

   'Fill in the map here

   iFileNum = FreeFile

   Put iFileNum, , objMap

   Close iFileNum

There are a two caveats to doing it this way, but if you have a simple map it should work fine.

Notice the call to FreeFile.

NEVER just use a file number as in the above example. It's very sloppy programming and can get you into trouble if you use multiple files.

[Jotaf98]

Hehe it's sloppy but it's faster to type
Also, I never open more than one file or a maximum of 2 at a time - that's sloppy programming, you should keep them in memory or something

Your code is cool but I'm not sure if it's good for dynamic arrays...

[Mushroom Realm]

I tried to clean up the code to better suit me:

Dim X, Y, TempByte, Counter As Byte
Do Until EOF(1)
For Y = 1 To 15
For X = 1 To 30
Get #1, , TempByte
Map(X, Y) = TempByte
For Counter = 0 To 17
SetPixel picPercent.hdc, (X * Y), Counter, vbBlue
DoEvents
Next Counter
Next X
Next Y
Loop
Close

picpercent is a picturebox that i wanted to fill in while it loads, the height is 17, that part works fine.

I think its loading right, but later when im setting the form to display the contents of the map it doesnt work right. I wanted to scan for numbers (0 - 3) 0 is a clear spot, 1 is a wall, 2 is u, 3 is an enemy.:

Private Sub SetWalls()
Dim X, Y, TempX, TempY, Temp As Byte
For Y = 1 To 15
For X = 1 To 30
Check = Map(X, Y)
If Check = 1 Then
For TempY = (Y * 10) To ((Y * 10) + 10)
For TempX = (X * 10) To ((X * 10) + 10)
SetPixel frmScreen.hdc, TempX, TempY, vbBlack
Next TempX
Next TempY
End If
Next X
Next Y
End Sub
Private Sub SetPixelLocation()
Dim X, Y, Temp As Byte
For Y = 1 To 15
For X = 1 To 30
Check = Map(X, Y)
If Check = 2 Then
Pixel.Move (X * 10), (Y * 10)
End If
Next X
Next Y
End Sub
Private Sub DisplayEnemies()
Dim X, Y, Check, Temp As Byte
For Y = 1 To 15
For X = 1 To 30
Check = Map(X, Y)
If Check = 3 Then
Temp = picEnemy.Count
If Temp > 1 Then
Load picEnemy(picEnemy.UBound + 1)
picEnemy(picEnemy.UBound).Visible = True
End If
picEnemy(picEnemy.UBound).Move (X * 10), (Y * 10)
End If
Next X
Next Y
End Sub

Thats all three subs that i call. Though the load is on a different form , could that be the problem?

[Mushroom Realm]

Pixel is the characters name

[Fox]

Mushroom: Use [vbcode] and [/vbcode] to make your code readable...

[Machaira]

Originally posted by Jotaf98
Your code is cool but I'm not sure if it's good for dynamic arrays...

Yup, it allocates whatever it needs when it loads it from the file. That's what makes it so cool.

[Machaira]

Ugh, you're looping through the array three times?!?! Just loop through it once and display whatever you need for whatever is at that position Where are you calling the three functions from? It doesn't make a difference where you load the array from as long as it's Public.

[Fox]

Just some ideas..

Public Type tMap
   Tile as Integer
   Event as Integer
   'whatever...
End Type
 
Public MapW as Integer
Public MapH as Integer
Public Map() as tMap
 
'Save data
Open Filename for Binary as Filenumber
    Put Filenumber ,, MapW
    Put Filenumber ,, MapH
    
    Put Filenumber ,, Map
Close Filenumber
 
'Load data
Open Filename for Binary as Filenumber
    Get Filenumber ,, MapW
    Get Filenumber ,, MapH
    
    ReDim Map(MapW, MapH)
    Get Filenumber ,, Map
Close Filenumber