Animati0n over BG, going reaLLy slow

[scr0p]

I have a bitmap being animated over a background (bmp). But it goes really slow. I included the code, can someone please check for anything that can be causing it to go sLow (I think its in the bLitter sub)

Option Explicit
    Private Type AnimationFrame
        Top As Long
        Left As Long
    End Type
 
    Dim DX As New DirectX7  'dEclare DX7 object, dont forget the 'new'
    Dim DD As DirectDraw7
 
    Dim PrimarySurface As DirectDrawSurface7 'The main surface user sEEs
    Dim PrimeDesc As DDSURFACEDESC2
 
    Dim OSPbackGround As DirectDrawSurface7   'OffscreenPlain background
    Dim BackDesc As DDSURFACEDESC2
 
    Dim OSPsprite As DirectDrawSurface7       'OffscreenpLain sprite
    Dim SpriteDesc As DDSURFACEDESC2
 
    Dim Clippa As DirectDrawClipper
 
    Dim rPrime As RECT
    Dim rBG As RECT
    Dim rSprite As RECT
 
    Dim Frame(3) As AnimationFrame
    Dim curFrame As Long
    Dim GoGoGo As Boolean
    Dim ReturnValue As Long
    Dim Temp As Long
 
    Dim bBLT As Boolean     'tells whether to animaTe or not
    Dim bINT As Boolean     'True if init is succesfuLL
 
Private Sub Form_Load()
    Me.Height = 5000     'Set form height and width
    Me.Width = 5000      'tHats the kid -_-
    
    Init_DX_Stuff        'call this sub to set all variabLes/obj
    
    Do While bBLT = True 'Loop while bBLT is true,
        DoEvents
        BitBlitter       'This is the main loop, that will animate
        DoEvents
    Loop
End Sub
 
Private Sub Init_DX_Stuff()
    'DX objects-
        Set DD = DX.DirectDrawCreate("")
        Call DD.SetCooperativeLevel(Me.hWnd, DDSCL_NORMAL)
    
    'Primary----
        PrimeDesc.lFlags = DDSD_CAPS
        PrimeDesc.ddsCaps.lCaps = DDSCAPS_PRIMARYSURFACE
        Set PrimarySurface = DD.CreateSurface(PrimeDesc)
        
    'Background--
        BackDesc.lFlags = DDSD_CAPS
        BackDesc.ddsCaps.lCaps = DDSCAPS_OFFSCREENPLAIN
        Set OSPbackGround = DD.CreateSurfaceFromFile(App.Path & "\bg.bmp", BackDesc)
        
    'Sprite------
        SpriteDesc.lFlags = DDSD_CAPS
        SpriteDesc.ddsCaps.lCaps = DDSCAPS_OFFSCREENPLAIN
        Set OSPsprite = DD.CreateSurfaceFromFile(App.Path & "\sprite.bmp", SpriteDesc)
        
    'kLipper-----
        Set Clippa = DD.CreateClipper(0)
        Clippa.SetHWnd Me.hWnd
        PrimarySurface.SetClipper Clippa
        
    'CreateTable-
        LookUpTable
        
    'variabLes---
        bINT = True
        bBLT = True
        GoGoGo = True
        Form1.Show
End Sub
 
Private Sub BitBlitter()
    'Check------
        If bINT = False Then Exit Sub
 
    'RectangLes-
        Call DX.GetWindowRect(Me.hWnd, rPrime)
        
        rSprite.Top = Frame(curFrame).Top
        rSprite.Left = Frame(curFrame).Left
        rSprite.Right = rSprite.Left + 36
        rSprite.Bottom = rSprite.Top + 62
        
        rBG.Bottom = BackDesc.lHeight
        rBG.Right = BackDesc.lWidth
        'rBG.Left = BackDesc.lWidth
        'rBG.Top = BackDesc.lHeight
        
    'AnimatioN
        If DX.TickCount >= Temp + 1000 / 30 Then 'Check to see if Xmilliseconds passed or not
            Temp = DX.TickCount
            If GoGoGo = True Then
                curFrame = curFrame + 1
                If curFrame > UBound(Frame) Then
                    curFrame = UBound(Frame)
                    GoGoGo = False
                End If
            Else
                curFrame = curFrame - 1
                If curFrame < LBound(Frame) Then
                    curFrame = LBound(Frame)
                    GoGoGo = True
                End If
            End If
        End If
        
    'BlitterIt--
        ReturnValue = OSPbackGround.BltFast(150, 150, OSPsprite, rSprite, DDBLTFAST_WAIT)
        ReturnValue = PrimarySurface.Blt(rPrime, OSPbackGround, rBG, DDBLT_WAIT)
End Sub
 
Private Sub LookUpTable()
    Frame(0).Left = 0
    Frame(1).Left = 35
    Frame(2).Left = 70
    Frame(3).Left = 105
End Sub
 
Private Sub Form_Unload(Cancel As Integer)
    bBLT = False
    Unload Me
End Sub

[scr0p]

CAn someone please check this for me, the bLT sub at least, I dont know whats wrong, I tried a smaller BMP file but it didnt work, both of these are 24bit.. i tried it with a loop at 1secodn interval.. and doEvents all over the place, no luck.

[scr0p]

Here, I uploaded the project, can anyone *pleasE* help so I can move on.

http://wordbirdturd.tripod.com/Animation_overa_BG.zip

Paste the URL in IE.

[scr0p]

Ok ok, I added "Or DDSCAPS_SYSTEMMEMORY" to the background buffer and now its really fast but it flickers a little, how would I fix that? The animation is really smooth now tho, what does that line do?

[Sonikku`]

OlD:

That line makes your App use System Memory(RaM), over Video Memory(Video Card). Which usually has more memory available and is alot faster. Check your frame(s). I used to have the frame flickering problem only because I set the frame to a totally white part of the bMP. Other then that you could be doing something wrong. Post the whole thing and I can see.

oK, I remembered how I fixed this when it happened to me. Somewhere between your frame timing and the actual blt'inG your doing something. This is what causes the flickering, maybe you have a DoEvents somewhere, thats what caused the flickering for me. Reorganize the code so it BLT right after the frame timing. This is most likely whats causing it

Do While bBLT = True 'Loop while bBLT is true,
        DoEvents
        BitBlitter       'This is the main loop, that will animate
        DoEvents

Remove the DoEvents before BitBlitter keep the one after that should fix it

[Sastraxi]

It depends. If your CPU is the bottleneck (which it usually is), use Video Memory. If your graphics card is the bottleneck, use System Memory. However, it's more of a bottleneck in terms of memory speed.

[scr0p]

I do not think my videocard/CPU are bottlenecks, I think its somewhere in the software, because Sonikku's examples don't run so slow. uMm, I will remove that dOEvents when I get home. ThanKs.

Sonikku`, "Last edited by Sonikku` on 03-19-2003 at 05:34 AM" why didn't you go to school?

[Sonikku`]

I tried your example on my pC and others, no flickering problem watsoever. Maybe theres something wrong with your hardware or software?