BitBlt Refresh / Game Loop suggestions

[MeTTa@]

I have an somewhat large image, refreshing repeditivly, it manages to flicker, is there any simple ways of fixing this? Thanks,
___
Dan

[Shadow503]

I think you mean BitBlt, here's what I did:
Set form1.autorefresh = true
Now set that for all of your source images.
Then at the end of all your BitBlt procedures (I assume your're running this in a loop) add form1.refresh

That should remove the flicker. If not please post a zip of your project and I'll see if I can help.

[MeTTa@]

Im not one to put my game in a entire loop (which im told is a good idea), i just dont like the thought of no control of speed/time, anyways il try it.

[MeTTa@]

beautiful, thanks, but that loop think sparked my mind, anyone feel like they can explain a little about it?

[Shadow503]

Sure.
You have the program continuing to run through this loop and it calls all your subs in a certain order. Here's an example from one of my games:

Private Sub Timer1_Timer() 'This timer is the backbone of the whole program, it controlls all of its functions
If GamePaused = True Then 'Don't run this loop if the game is paused
    Exit Sub
End If
BitBlt Form1.hDC, 0, I, picback1.ScaleWidth, _
       picback1.ScaleHeight, picback1.hDC, 0, 0, vbSrcCopy 'Draws the background
I = I + 1 'This moves the background down a pixel, I have a nice scrolling background in this game
BitBlt Form1.hDC, 0, J, picBack2.ScaleWidth, _
       picBack2.ScaleHeight, picBack2.hDC, 0, 0, vbSrcCopy 'Draws the second frame of the background, don't bother asking
J = J + 1 'Moves it back a pixel, again, don't ask why I'm doing this twice
If I = 539 Then 'Just ignore this, you'd have to see my project to understand this
    I = -600
End If
If J = 539 Then 'Ignore this too!
    J = -600
End If
'Ship Move 'I hardcoded the ship movement procedure in to this sub
If Pause = False And GameOver = False Then
    If Up = True And ShipY - ShipSpeed(ShipType) > 0 Then
        ShipY = ShipY - ShipSpeed(ShipType)
    End If
    If Down = True And ShipY + ShipHeight + ShipSpeed(ShipType) < Form1.ScaleHeight Then
        ShipY = ShipY + ShipSpeed(ShipType)
    End If
    If vLeft = True And ShipX - ShipSpeed(ShipType) > 0 Then
        ShipX = ShipX - ShipSpeed(ShipType)
    End If
    If Right = True And ShipX + ShipWidth + ShipSpeed(ShipType) < 397 Then
        ShipX = ShipX + ShipSpeed(ShipType)
    End If
End If
ExplosionDrift 'Moves the explosions down a pixel
AnimateGameOver 'If it is the game over this will run the game over image through it's frames (if check is located in the procedure)
EnemyFire 'Enemy firing procedure
RenderExplosions 'Explosion Rendering procedure
RenderEnemies 'Enemy Rendering procedure
MoneyDrift 'drifts the money down a pixel
RenderMoney 'Renders the Money power up procedure
MoveBullets 'Move Bullets procedure
RenderBullets 'Render Bullets procedure
If RenderShip = True Then 'Hard coded the rendering of the ship in here
    BitBlt Form1.hDC, ShipX, ShipY, picshipMask(ShipType).ScaleWidth, _
           picshipMask(ShipType).ScaleHeight, picshipMask(ShipType).hDC, 0, 0, vbSrcAnd 'Draw Ship
    BitBlt Form1.hDC, ShipX, ShipY, picShip(ShipType).ScaleWidth, _
           picShip(ShipType).ScaleHeight, picShip(ShipType).hDC, 0, 0, vbSrcPaint 'Draw Ship
End If
RenderGameOver 'This sub shows the game over image if the game is over (the if check is located in the sub)
Form1.Refresh
End Sub

Hope this helps, ask questions if you must.

[MeTTa@]

Why wouldnt u get rid of the timer and put a do loop, everyone says loops are better than timers, is this true?

[Shadow503]

I'm actually planning on using a do loop when I rewrite this to use API timing.

However, for my game it was simpler to just put the code in the timer. Then I know pretty much exactly how often this code would execute. As opposed to in a Do loop the code would be executed as fast as it could, with no wait time in between executions. That would eat up resources and slow down the whole computer.

So I just followed the KISS rule, Keep It Super Simple.