I'm having some issues with TGF and the graphics file sizes. I have a level that is 800x5000...a top down scrolling shooter. I have one background object for the whole level. The file size for the pcx image file outside of tgf is 3.8 meg...inside of TGF it's like 7.8. Why is it making the file size larger? I'm doing it 16-bit color also as 256 colors makes all the graphics look horrible. They are pre-rendered 3d graphics.
I'm also experincing some crashing with my current game. I think I have narrowed it down to DMC2. When working with DMC2 how should things be setup on the channels? Like if I play a sound on channel 0 can I use channel 0 again? Logistically I should be able to. I'm just having allot of stability issues and I think it's with DMC2. Are there some better options for working with sounds and mp3 for music?
Must you use pcx? (pcx is old, I prefer jpg) If you know how, export a good quality version of the picture to a jpg, and optimize it. Im not sure if your making it a active object or not, or using a picture extension (I forget if they have those in TGF) but try copying the whole picture, and putting in TGF as a quick backdrop (Motif) or a regular backdrop.
Whatever you do, that file size has to come down before even entering TGF, 3.8 meg just for 1 level is nuts... consider smaller backdrop objects to cover that x5000 area, take fishheads game for example, beutifull. Get creative.
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TGF only seems to support pcx...and i've tried optimizing my pcx files and they just don't want to come down in size. I would certainly rather use jpgs. Does anyone know of an extension for tgf so I can do that?
what format is the file outside of TGF? the chances are, you have a compressed format (jpg, gif, png, whatever) but once you copy this into TGF it gets saved as an uncompressed bitmap.
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It's a pcx file outside of tgf which have minimal compression. I'll try using bmp and see if I can get anything better that way. Wish I could use some different file formats through tgf.
If you have MMF you could use the Active Picture object. To be honest though, you should not use a huge background for such a large level, it is extremely inefficient. You can get something that looks just as good by using much smaller backgrounds and putting them together.
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Kramy: How are you seeing the file size in tgf? I was going by the values given when you go to resize, but I see now that is in reference to memory. Is there another way to see how big the file is?
Mr. Coffee: I have tried cutting the background down into pieces and it seems to take up the same amount of space. It doesn't seem any more effecient as far as the amount being stored. Naturally the memory would be less if you destroy the object pieces after they leave the screen though.
I have tried playing with gif files (which I know are not the best for quality) and have had a little more luck optimizing them and bringing them in. The files still seem to get bigger when brought in. I ran a test with two different stand alone apps with one optimized background and one not. It did bring down the file size a bit, but certainly not what I would expect. I'm little puzzled on this discrepancy.
Thanks for the help. I managed to optimize the files using gifs instead of pcx files. I've reduced the game size by quite allot. Thanks jonwog for the explanation of why the size get's bigger. I'm not sure about using tiles though as I'm rather attached to the backgrounds I have currently. The gif files seem to be helping quite a bit.
Now I am having some other trouble. I keep getting unexpected crashes while running the game. Now I keep pointing my finger at DMC2, but I'm not quite convinved that it is causing my problems. Are there any alternatives to using DMC2? Everytime I use the built in sound engine it always cuts out one sound for another.
I think you misunderstood me. I actually meant that you should use tiles, not just cut your background up. Most downloadable games don't use a giant picture for the background because it makes the game to big. Also, GIFS are only 256 color so your are reducing the color depth of your background by a large amount. Thats why its smaller when you bring it into TGF.
Edited by the Author.
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That's not supposed to happen. I loaded a 3mb bmp into TGF and it went down to 750kb. Then I zipped it and it went down to 250kb.
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