[Resolved] Too slow (BitBlt)

[McCain]

Is there any way I can speed this up?

Private Sub GameLoop()
    Do Until boolPlay = False
        DoEvents
        intX1 = intX1 + 5 * intLevel
        intY1 = intY1 + 5 * intLevel
        'put the background on the form
        RetVal = BitBlt(Me.hDC, 0, 0, picBack.ScaleWidth, picBack.ScaleHeight, picBack.hDC, 0, 0, SRCCOPY)
        'picBuffer.Cls
        
        'put the sprite on the form
        RetVal = BitBlt(Me.hDC, intX1, intY1, 67, 79, picSprite.hDC, 67, 0, SRCAND)
        RetVal = BitBlt(Me.hDC, intX1, intY1, 67, 79, picSprite.hDC, 0, 0, SRCPAINT)
    
        'copy the buffer to the form
        'RetVal = BitBlt(Me.hDC, 0, 0, picBuffer.ScaleWidth, picBuffer.ScaleHeight, picBuffer.hDC, 0, 0, SRCCOPY)
        frmMeteor.Refresh
    Loop
End Sub

I used to use a buffer but that only slowed it down even more...

[Arbiter]

Looks like it should be going pretty fast there.

Are you recording how fast it is?

(To do this use the gettickcount API call to time how fast the loop executes).

You could get rid of the "RetVal = " if you're not using the variable for anything.

[Nirces]

Theres a few things you can do.

Your Blting everything everytime. you should try to blt only things that have changed (much harder to code, much, much faster to run).

nearly all professional game titles use this "dirty rectangle" method. and you should use a buffer to avoid flicking.

Rewriting in DirectX 7 will speed things up aswell.

[McCain]

Thanks for the help.
I'll do what you've told me and we'll see if I can notice any better performace.
It's probably the background that slows it down the most it think. It's 1024x768 - guess it's pretty hard work for the computer to blit that every time...
Would it be faster to just blit parts of the back to where things used to be? (Like if I have a sprite that's 32x32 pixels at the coordinates 100, 100 then move the sprite 10 pixles to the right. Would it be faster to just blit the 10x32 piece of the background that was covered before of would the calculations take more time then we save on the smaller blit?)
Hope I made sence...

How would I use the GetTickCount to get the speed of the loop?

[progeix]

I made a map editor That uses Bitblt
NEARLY full screen( Maximize the editor) and I get 65 FPS.
using 16x16 tiles at 1024x768 with GeForce 2 GO

I've optimized the file size, AND code...

Something that I found that helps a LOT
somewhere make a variable at the top of the forum
Private FormHDC as long

in form resize
FormHDC = Me.HDC

Then in your code, replace Me.HDC with FormHDC
THIS WILL INCREASE SPEED, probably a BUNCH

NOTE: You put the FormHDC = Me.HDC under formResize because it *HAS* to be called everytime the source HDC changes (the form, in this case)
plus, on Form_LOAD, it calls the form_resize sub, also so no need to put it in form_load

killing two birds with one stone on that one.