Godmaster

Oh man! I found out a big reason that had eaten a lot of memory in my game. I used to load external big images without unload/delete them after end the room that they were applied. So, I did that, and worked well. The memory usage decreased from 1GB to 400/500MB. Now I need to deal with the internal resources. So, using tiles instead of separated sprites, and mp3 instead of wavs, could use less memory?

That shots up to 1gb when you just start a level? Yeah, some people noticed that and this usually crashes the application... Well, in my resources I use to do: -preloading sound effects (all of them are wav, this shouldn't be a good choice) -preloading player, enemies and non-static objects sprites (there lots to them, specially to the enemies) -I load external backgrounds, err... fake sprite-based backgrounds, because in fact they're just animated gifs with few frames (each frame as a "background") And... I almost forgot If I use tilesets instead of separated level components and mp3 instead of wav(preloaded or not?) that could be use less memory?

Today, I got a big problem with my game, BrazSonic 2, after implementing the Dami' Grid Spatial Engine to avoid slowdown problems with static instances overload, and I almost successfuly I merged that with the traditional object deactivation to "unload" the outview non-static instances. Cool, this worked out, but without explanation, after compile that to an EXE, my game now runs at 30 fps even to my new Core2duo (that used to run at 60fps with few interruptions). I got really mad, and I asked few people to test that. The slowdown also happened to them, consuming a lot of memory(the half of a whole RAM)... I really don't know why this insists (or what voodoo someone is using against me >_<), but I suspect: -by preloading sounds -by don't preloading most of sprites -by having a lot of resources inside of the project (even with the external ones) -the grid spatial engine doesn't work properly at the same time of instance_deactivate_region -by having lots and lots of separated sprites for the characters (instead of one with tons of frames) -by loading external resources -by software bloat -by only calling code via scripts (specially for the character and hud events, that its create,step,etc only use scripts with tons of code) -by having lots of different tiles in a same room (using several sizes) -by, oh.... whatever... Warning: There's the current version for testing, I recommend running only if you have a good PC, because, as I said before, this consumes almost a half of an entire memory, specially after the first cutscene that takes even more... http://rapidshare.com/files/86845897/Brazsonic2_jan.rar.html LATEST BUILD (February): http://www.mediafire.com/?dw0twxfuz29 Ah, before testing, here's the controls for any character: Movement: arrows Jump: D Primary attack: A Secondary Attack: S Cancel Grappling: W Spindash: D+Down Change Character:1,2,3,4(incomplete) Skip room: "N" Also, there's a support for joypad I've been programming this for almost 3 years, and I had to remake the engine two times. Why that's happening to me? Where I did wrong?

Yes, I tried to use that on a side project and I noticed that would be more useful only for static instances, like scenery, rings, monitors, etc. Maybe I use that only for this, and for moving instances that can travel far distances and can be deactivated without being reseted (that the Dami method does), like enemies I should use the instance_deactivate_region function to only deactivate that instances. But that doesn't deactivate instances, just objects. So, I'll have to make to ways of deactivating in a single level. I tried to use on minor enemies, that uses 360 physics, instead of using draw_sprite_ext, using sprite_index for sprite change, image_index to animations_frame, and image_angle for the character's angle. Only sprite_blend that doesn't work at all ¬¬ (whatever blend you input, the sprite goes black o.O) image frames can affect the memory usage on compiling too? All of scenery sprites are preloaded... so, that should that annoying fps "hic-ups" As I said above about the Kain reply, for non-deactivating and non-static objects I create a parent, and for the static ones I created another to be processed by the Grid Spacial Indexing. And I need to find a way to only deactivate a kind of object where its instances finds out of view.

After seeing that topic about MMf2 file size issues I got some questions about Game Maker. Today I use the GM7 instead of GM6, beside that can compile GM games in Windows Vista, but I didn't noticed any difference about memory and speed issues. My BrazSonic 2, has almost 8MB of filesize, and consumes between 150 and 200 MB of RAM when I compile that, even with: preloaded resources, external heavy gfx (like movies), object deactivaction (not for tiles), scripted functions for character gameplay (to avoid the mess on their gml), moving platforms by instance_id, draw events only when the object is visible, and separated sprites for animations. Who played my game knows what I talking about. That ran slow in pcs below to 1.5 ghz... I think that could run my game much better than other times, but it doesn't... it runs fine on my not-so-very-old PC (3ghz of processor and 512 of RAM), but there's many hic-ups caused by preloaded resources (like scenery objects and improvised event sensors). Obs: in my older pc (a Pentium 3. 650mhz with 320 of ram) this runs veeeeery slow. This makes me angry, damn it's impossible to make that you want runs perfectly to others ¬¬ How I decrease the gmk filesize? How I decrease the loading time? Is there a way to deactivate out of view tiles? Is true that deleting and adding even more sprites in the project can make that gain weight? Is scripted functions works slower than in-event code ones? What's the best way to deactivate objects? Why draw_sprite_ext slows the game?

What's the problem, there aren't so many topics here...

I really loved the reflection effects, but I think that Sonic is still a little dark to this beach. Maybe it's my impression, whatever. It would run slower if you add shadows to every element, such as those umbrellas, walls, etc... Also I released a little new footage from BrazSonic 2, with new characters' skills: Obs: just ignore the portuguese, and if u dislike the music, turn the volume off

Post some screens to show how better than Sonic XG it is...

Hmmm... this alarm system doesn't work properly, so create a new object called "obj_scenery", or whatever: Create event: Step: Now in end_step I advice you to use draw_background function, works better than background_index[1], [2]...,[7], because you can add much more backgrounds. So instead of end_step you would do: Draw event Credit isn't necessary, so say "thanks!" instead

This shows how Sonic Team are delayed in their programming skills You should be hired by them Dami, or by Nintendo to challenge them hahaha

So, you should lock this topic to avoid Knucis "lectures". This time, I didn't bumped this, ok?

Yes, I agree with you. I think it's unfair a person changing your avatar without your permission, only for fun. But you need to learn to present better your works and ideas (BraShadow?!),.. but you haven't done that yet... I'm sorry, that's all I wanted to say

Interpol - The Heinrich Maneuver

Indeed, I'll keep him in that way, I don't like to be realistic so much when I invent a funny thing. However, he looks like a crab

Yes, in paint.

Some new stuff for BrazSonic 2 ^^ Extras Room: It's a 3d First-person room, where you can find all the game's extras. There will have concept art, some cutscene art, old versions screenshots, etc... Boss for Cubatão zone: it's a city next to São Paulo, in Brazil, where there are many pollution and also some mangroves (where you can find crabs). The boss is a GIANT ENEMY "mutant" CRAB. Hit his weakpoint for massive damage!!!

How do you do that? I'm really interested...

Hi there, now I have an very important question about saving space in gm6 files (that most of time take big images and good quality sounds): -Protect your external files, and only allow your application to load them... I'm drawing cutscenes for BrazSonic 2, based in a GIF image slideshow. I have put that images in the gm6, so, that's size have became bigger and bigger... Now I tried to create a separated file with all image slides inside to be loaded via GML (Game Maker Language), but I noticed that file could be opened by whatever people and I tried an old, easy and noob-avoiding trick: change the file extension So I changed, and I tried to call that file in Game Maker, but that can't recognize the image, due to the file different extension, even with the images still intact. Now I know this doesn't work in GM6, and the "Include" feature sucks too (because that saves the original file directory to load, not the relative one). I though about cryptographing the files, but I should use GM to decrypt them, and that can be hard to code. Anyone has this same problem?

You should post this when you have "freakin' time"...

Whatever, looks good!

Thanks, and forget about my question

Oh man, that's onde of the best cnc backgrounds that I have seen. Anyone has the CNC of that? I couldn't find it anymore...

Hmmm.. did you made everything (including the shading) in MS Paint? That should take a lot of time...

You just said everything, but Knucis would need to stop to understand what he has to improve in his work, and when I had said to him to stop putting too-early deadlines on his projects, he have never put deadlines anymore. Whatever, this is good but aways there's people who wants to hurry the creator/developer with dumb questions: "When this will be finished?" "Is it finished?; Yeah this is really annoying, but you need to respond them with a fake or not deadline (that you can put off later as you want).

Eh, it's me again... but I found a little and annoying glitch now, about making a sinking mud. I used the same way that Kain had used to make that old spinning log gimmick, that "sinks" the player. So, I decided to use this code on a sinking mud gimmick (like that Sonic 2' Oil Ocean oil), but I found an annoying glitch: The player only sinks when it's stopped, and when I walk to a beside mud instance, he jumps upper the mud... so, because this I can run straight above the mud without going down... The example that I used (by Kain), goes as attachment Anybody can help me? rlog.gm6