Why doesn't sun add a bytecode assembler language feature to java, doesn't C++ have something like this with

asm {
mov 0, 1 // I don't know assembly btw
}

?

Would it really be that hard? Couldn't you just increase the z dimension by 1 when you want another layer?

Thanks for posting again!


I tried your program again with different variables and it seems this approach saves the most memory of them all. I also see I could use some bit shifting for faster array accesses. Thank you so much for the help. Should I be careful about changing the maximum memory? For example if the max memory on a computer is 256 and I set the jvms heap size to 256 will the jvm overwrite memory used by the operating system?

Thank you very much for the reply! I really apprechiate the code snippet! I typed your program and I found out after playing around with the variables and setting the third one to 1000 the jvm only allows (in eclipse) around 65 megs of ram to be used on 1 gig of memory, however the maximum number of layers I'll have is probably around 32 (around 2 megs for 128x128). This is slightly unexpected for me since you said that each array takes about 34 bytes, so I thought 128*128*32*34 = 17825792 bytes -> (17 megs) but it is actually around 2.3 megs in the program?. Thank you very much for the help!

Hello. How can I make a large tilemap (ie. 128x128x10) without using too much memory? I was wondering if I could just have something like this



Would this take up a lot of memory even though they're only null references?

I really need help since I want this to work with computers with more than or equal to 500 megs of ram.. Please help!

It would be really nice if java supported a feature where you could turn on a safemode switch and then execute a beanshell script or use reflection, that way you could have all the flexibility (and speed if your using reflection) and the safety of a homemade scripting language.. I think applets do something like this where they run in the 'sandbox' or something.. I wonder if there's any libraries that give you that feature? Or could I enable the 'sandbox' in my application, is that possible?

Cas that sounds like a great idea and I might use it myself if it's legal, is it? What about molebox? is it like a self executing winzip with encryption?

Well after hearing all this it seems like it wouldn't work that well. But that doesn't mean theres not other ways to cut down on the size of the JRE, couldn't sun make a mini JRE for video games? Maybe it could be like j2me but bigger?

I really hope sun looks into it more because imho it's a big problem in java, especially for general purpose applications.. Most programs made in java are small anyway so it seems like a waste to have to download 1000+ classes that have nothing to do with your program.. It also contributes to the idea that java is slow because there might be a more efficient jre available but the user doesnt' want to download it because it's more then 10 megs..

Thanks for the reply.

You mentioned problems with versioning, why not just have a different cache for each version of a jre? or better yet replace only the classes that have gone up in a version number. If we could decrease the size of the jre that would be a huge selling point for games. BTW does sun have a problem with people who want to compile java into different exe files? is that legal?

Hi everyone.

I don't want my game to be larger then it has to be. A big factor in the size of Java programs is the JRE, which I've checked for java 1.5 is 15 megs for a windows installation which is probably too big for someone on a 56k.

So my idea is this, instead of downloading all the classes for the JRE from sun, instead download a file from sun that acts as a cache for classes so you only download the classes you need to run your program. So if my program uses the math class that class is downloaded from a repository on suns server and stored in a global cache on your computer, when another java program requests that class (import java.util.Math) java can find that class through the cache and this saves having to download a bunch of classes your program doesn't need... Of course if your program downloads a class that requires another class then both are downloaded in the cache.. Well this is just a idea, so take it with a grain of salt and please tell me your opinion..

Thanks for the reply. As for using beanshell I think I might hold off on it for now, I might use it as a place holder before I make my own scripting language. It might be a good excercise to make a scripting language and possibly a little easier for a less experienced person to use.

Hello everyone.

I'm working on an extendable online game. I want to ship a map editor and a scripting language along with the game but I'm not sure if I should make my own scripting language or use something like beanshell. Normally I would just use beanshell and forget making something like a scripting language myself, but if people will be downloading other peoples scripts then someone could create a script that deletes for example the c drive on windows, is this possible? Is there a switch in beanshell I can turn on to disable possibly dangerous programming?

Any help would be greatly apprechiated.

Thank you for the reply, this is very helpful!

Hello everyone.

I was wondering if I could get more then 60 fps with vsync enabled? One more question please, what is vsync and why without it do I get a lot of fps with everything very jerky?

Thanks so much for the reply! I'll see if it gives me the result I want.

Hello everyone.

I've tried almost everything to get transparency working in lwjgl but I still can't do it, could someone tell me the steps I need to follow to accomplish this with out having to use masks?

some of the things I would like to know in specific is:

how should I load my textures? with GL_RGBA? And should I save my files as gif or png? are there any problems with the png format?

what variables should I enable to get transparency displaying correctly?

If this can't be solved and it's too much trouble to make masks then maybe I should go back to Java 2D which wouldn't be too good since I would like fast alpha blending and a good fps..

any help would be greatly apprechiated.

Could I write and send you a draft of a website with reviews and links?

Hi Nonnus.

I've used the Netbeans form designer, which is pretty easy to use. But I've started to code my GUIs by hand again for tools. One of the things that annoys me about the form designer is that you can't change certain code without having to copy and paste the code to a .java file which means you can't go back to the form mode...

Here's another tool I use occasionally: http://goldenstudios.or.id/products/utilities/combine/index.php
it combines sprite images into a single file ready for use by your game.. It also can export to a few formats.. I'm not sure if having the sprite images side by side in one file is as great as it sounds as it doesn't let you have alot of freedom with bigger sprites, like bosses.. Is there a way around this? Maybe more empty space around each individual sprite image?

Any other tools posted here would be greatly apprechiated by me and everyone who is interested in tools for development

In that case maybe pnuts would also be a good choice. Like sma said it's benchmarked as the fastest scripting language for the JVM..

sma thanks for the very detailed discription of some popular scripting languages! very useful! 

Thanks everyone!

It looks like C might actually be helpful. I could even use eclipse for development with some plugins, which is a big plus. Theres also plenty of code written in C which is a good reason to learn it.  Is there a place I can learn all about the language syntax and standard library? what about  "The C Programming Language" don't they call this K&R? Thanks again for the help! I hope that's not too many questions..

Hello everyone.

I was wondering if there is any good reason to learn c or c++ once you know java pretty well. Are there any benefits at all or is it a waste of time?

I guess if the tool discussion is limited to perticular tools or game development then maybe this should be posted in offtopic. How do I put this in offtopic?

So java can be used as a scripting language because it loads classes dynamically? Could I use the reflection apis to call methods and such at the speed of java instead of the speed of a embedded scripting language? If that's the case I would have compile the code, but that shouldn't be too hard unless you edit things a lot in a game. A game like a rpg or something where your changing the npcs behavior alot..

btw kevglass, didn't you mention that scripting with a gui is easy to use for developers inexperienced in programming, and makes sure that they don't mess up the game rules. Isn't there a middle ground here? Why not code some library that encapsulates the game rules and maybe use the facade pattern to wrap the game entities and other data that they might try to access? Just a thought..

Do you mean defining a scripted event with a GUI?
Is using a GUI to define the scripted events as flexible as a full-fledged scripting language?

Hello everyone! Please post your favorite tools or the ones you use the most.

I don't use that much:

Netbeans,
Eclipse,
Gimp...

Any other tools that you find useful please post them here! Any tool would be greatly apprechiated!

Thanks!

That doesn't seem to make sense that the java runtime can also run uncompiled java files. Is this really possible? If it is, what is the purpose of beanshell?

Hello!

Please post your choice of scripting language! I've been learning my first agile programming language groovy.

Thanks for the advice!

I think for now at least I'm going to use gtge and see if I can make a game. At that point I will have a better idea how to make my own 2D game engine using LWJGL.

Thanks again!