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Direct Draw Fault
Author
Something that I have known about for a very long time is the fact that direct draw surfaces must be divisible by 8 in there size.
As much as I have learned to live with this, it still bugs me at why this is so.
If anyone knows, please tell me about it.
Any help apreciated
Spike
I''m pretty sure they simply need to be a power of 2, so each side must be 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, or 1024. The actual range of allowed sizes may be different than 2-1024; I''m just guessing.
Anyway, this is done with many engines to make calculations faster; bit shifting is faster than multiplication and much faster than division. An example of shifting power-of-10 numbers is left-shifting 1000.300 to make it 10003.00; left-shifting it one time is the same as multiplying it by 10^1. Computers use binary math, so left-shifting a number x number of times (number << x)is the same as multiplying it by 2^x. Right-shifting a number x times (number >> x) is the same as dividing it by 2^x.
~CGameProgrammer( );
Anyway, this is done with many engines to make calculations faster; bit shifting is faster than multiplication and much faster than division. An example of shifting power-of-10 numbers is left-shifting 1000.300 to make it 10003.00; left-shifting it one time is the same as multiplying it by 10^1. Computers use binary math, so left-shifting a number x number of times (number << x)is the same as multiplying it by 2^x. Right-shifting a number x times (number >> x) is the same as dividing it by 2^x.
~CGameProgrammer( );
It might also have something to do with the fact that Intel machines like to deal with things on a 4-byte basis (memory alignment).
Mason McCuskey
Spin Studios - home of Quaternion, 2000 GDC Indie Games Fest Finalist!
www.spin-studios.com
Mason McCuskey
Spin Studios - home of Quaternion, 2000 GDC Indie Games Fest Finalist!
www.spin-studios.com
Author
Thanks guys.
cprogrammer(), i think your right.
mason, even though what you say might be the case, I don't think so.
Spike
Edited by - Spike on 1/26/00 4:34:12 PM
cprogrammer(), i think your right.
mason, even though what you say might be the case, I don't think so.
Spike
Edited by - Spike on 1/26/00 4:34:12 PM
Maybe I''m crazy, but I''ve never had any problems with Surfaces that aren''t powers of two. I''ve had surfaces of all sizes without any problems.
I do know for sure that textures need to be powers of 2. Is this what your refering to?
--TheGoop
I do know for sure that textures need to be powers of 2. Is this what your refering to?
--TheGoop
Author
To theGoop,
I am refering to surfaces. Try and build a surface that is 19 by 19. Then watch as your program totally messes up the images and anything else you may be trying to write to the surface. It is also possible for it to perform an illegal operation.
Spike
I am refering to surfaces. Try and build a surface that is 19 by 19. Then watch as your program totally messes up the images and anything else you may be trying to write to the surface. It is also possible for it to perform an illegal operation.
Spike
When I''ve created surfaces... in my experience... they''ve only gotten garbled when they were in video memory, but in system memory they always seem to work right no matter how large they are. Why? I don''t know.
Al
Al
Well, what version of directdraw are u using? DDraw 7 surfaces work fine for me no matter what their sizes...
Author
I am using DX 5. So if you are using DX 7, microsoft have probably already fixed up the problem.
Spike
Spike
This topic is closed to new replies.
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