PNG or Jpg?

[Guest]

Sorry if I missed this or I am confused but has anyone got png or Jpg working instead of bmp? bmp is just so large and clunky and I am trying to reduce the size of the game.  Thanks!

[Absolute]

You can't use Jpg. From what I know , no matter what I do saving it as a jpg will ruin quality. It makes the picture fuzzy, and unusable.

[SawQuart]

You have to use BMP, but the PNG is way better than JPG, as the above poster mentioned.

To reduce size, I suggest compressing the game into a .rar or .zip if you haven't done so already.

[Devogen]

Why not just google for the png conversion source for Dx7???

[Jeff]

@Devo:

> Why not just google for the png conversion source for Dx7???

that.  its smart.

unless of course u don't have VB6 and refuse to break the law.

[SawQuart]

@Devo:

> Why not just google for the png conversion source for Dx7???

The fact he was even debating JPG makes me feel that he has no idea what that means.

[Jeff]

@Jungletoeâ„¢:

> @Devo:
>
> > Why not just google for the png conversion source for Dx7???
>
> The fact he was even debating JPG makes me feel that he has no idea what that means.

at least he knows that BMP is large and clunky….

[Devogen]

But obviously has not experimented with other file types.

People say BMP's are large and clunky, yes of course they are if you save them
as a 16bit BMP.

Do any of you use more than 25 colours in your sprites or tilesets? 256 at most?

Why not just save your tiles as 256 colour tilesets, same result (unless you are using
rendered sprites/tiles  like Ambard) and your bitmaps are 1/10th of the size.

[Robin]

PNG is lossless compression so it's better. JPG is lossy, so no.

If you're using Origins you're better off just leaving everything as raw. The decompression overheads will add up.

[Guest]

@Jungletoeâ„¢:

> @Devo:
>
> > Why not just google for the png conversion source for Dx7???
>
> The fact he was even debating JPG makes me feel that he has no idea what that means.

wow nice response..Glad to see the community around here is still sweet. Actually about a year ago I got eclipse working in a browser and working very well using WebGL and HTML5\. The size is the only thing that is killing me. Sure I could have googled it but then I would have deprived you guys of your witty remarks. I seen all the different versions of eclipse floating around so before I went in for a overhaul I wanted to know if it had already been done but I guess that was wrong of me. I should have not asked and just did the overhaul  :huh:
I think we all know only about 5% of us on this forum owns a real copy of VB6 so asking people to edit the source every single time may not be the best resolution to every answer.

I do appreciate the answers and by the way you can make jpgs come out very nice indeed and still be smaller than a bmp even compressed. But I am sure everyone already knows that.

Thanks again for the help. It was most appreciated.

[Robin]

@hallsofvallhalla:

> I do appreciate the answers and by the way you can make jpgs come out very nice indeed and still be smaller than a bmp even compressed. But I am sure everyone already knows that.

JPG is a lossy format. Doesn't matter how 'nice' you make it, it'll still have artefacts which ruin the masking.

If you're using a graphics library which natively supports some other format then go for it, but DD7 works with BMP. You're free to add in per-file compression. There's plenty of procedures flying around the internet you could snatch up. The point is that Origins has proper garbage collection and loads/unloads graphics as they're needed. The decompression time may be negligible, but the overheads do add up. It's completely up to you if you follow through with it or not.

As for your comment on VB6; You're asking about something which changes how the very core of the graphics engine works. Of course you'll have to edit the source code.

[Guest]

thanks for the response, i am looking into alternatives now

I know its a source edit but answering "Google it then edit source" is not a end all answer (lazy if you ask me) because most people do not own a legal copy of VB6\. Hence my first question was valid by asking if anyone has already done it. I do not want to get into a crap shoot convo about legal versions and source edits so I will just end it here. Thanks for all the responses, I got my answer.

[Robin]

@hallsofvallhalla:

> I know its a source edit but answering "Google it then edit source" is not a end all answer (lazy if you ask me)

It's the person who's asking the question who's lazy. 9 times out of 10 the person answering the question will simply Google it for the person asking it. If someone asks "How do I add mp3 support?" I'll just Google "vb6 mp3 playback" then pass on the link.

You've got to keep in mind that the people who do know what they're talking about weren't magically born being able to program, and they'll never know everything there is to know. Being able to use Google is probably one of the best skills you can learn as a game developer.

As for your argument that people don't have VB6, the simple answer is that they should have it, and if they don't they should go get it. Origins becoming the de facto version of Eclipse, and to use it properly you need a copy of the IDE and basic knowledge of how to edit the code. You don't need to be able to program, but the software uses a lot of constants for generating the content.

[Guest]

then you should remove this section all together. Every answer = google. I think you are missing the point,

> but has anyone got png or Jpg working instead of bmp?

I am asking if anyone had done it already, not how to do it. I have been in game development for years. Probably old enough to be your dad.  We can argue over a misconstrued question all day but it still gets none of us any closer to an answer.

Guess I should have googled " has anyone got pngs working in eclipse" since I was not asking if anyone got it working in VB6\. Then that would have lead me here. Funny huh. Sorry for using your forums. Won't happen again. That I can promise.

[Robin]

@hallsofvallhalla:

> then you should remove this section all together. Every answer = google.

General questions about the specifications of a language can easily be found on Google. The questions section is for questions about Eclipse.

@hallsofvallhalla:

> I am asking if anyone had done it already, not how to do it.

Have they? Yes.

@hallsofvallhalla:

> I have been in game development for years. Probably old enough to be your dad.

My Dad is 75\. If you've been in game development for so long you should probably go read up on the effects of lossy compression's artefacts on sprite masking.

@hallsofvallhalla:

> Guess I should have googled " has anyone got pngs working in eclipse" since I was not asking if anyone got it working in VB6.

You're talking as if Eclipse and VB6 are separate. They're not. Each system which Eclipse is made up of is programming in VB6\. Hell, most of it is done through VB6 libraries. Eclipse uses DD7 for it's graphics system. You should have Googled "png directdraw 7 vb6".

@hallsofvallhalla:

> Then that would have lead me here. Funny huh.

Purely because you failed at structuring a proper query. Knowing how to take advantage of Google's key word system is a fairly basic skill.

@hallsofvallhalla:

> Sorry for using your forums. Won't happen again. That I can promise.

I don't care if you use the forum or not, I simply ask that you use it _properly._

Next time I suggest you don't take personal offence to everything people say. You'll lead a very sad life if you do.

[SawQuart]

@hallsofvallhalla:

> Sorry for using your forums.

We were trying to help you?  :huh:

[Guest]

> Have they? Yes.

there is my answer, amazing how long that took. Thanks!

[SawQuart]

That was the answer? Why didn't you just ask _that_ question in the first place instead of going off on a rant?

[Devogen]

@hallsofvallhalla:

> then you should remove this section all together. Every answer = google. I think you are missing the point,
>
> > but has anyone got png or Jpg working instead of bmp?
>
> I am asking if anyone had done it already, not how to do it. I have been in game development for years. Probably old enough to be your dad.  We can argue over a misconstrued question all day but it still gets none of us any closer to an answer.
>
> Guess I should have googled " has anyone got pngs working in eclipse" since I was not asking if anyone got it working in VB6\. Then that would have lead me here. Funny huh. Sorry for using your forums. Won't happen again. That I can promise.

An experienced game developer wouldn't be here asking the question TBH.

[Helladen]

@hallsofvallhalla:

> Sorry if I missed this or I am confused but has anyone got png or Jpg working instead of bmp? bmp is just so large and clunky and I am trying to reduce the size of the game.  Thanks!

DirectDraw8 is the best way to obtain PNG support. I'd just go with a high compression installer for beginners. Use BMP.

[Pedro071]

@Jungletoeâ„¢:

> That was the answer? Why didn't you just ask _that_ question in the first place instead of going off on a rant?

I believe he did it right at the first post. Furthermore I didn't see him asking wheter was OK or not to use JPEG, or its quality issues. Even so, there's always a way to tell stuff.

[Guest]

omg, you guys cant let something die. Did anyone here read my post??? I asked if anyone got png or jpg working. Maybe I don't own VB6 so I was asking if anyone had it done. Are you seriously going to gang up on me. Has hanging around with all these kids showing them how "kewl" you are because you can add a few fancy features to a outdated engine really gotten to your heads that bad? OMG this is pothetically weak. How many times did I say thanks, and my question was answered yet you continued to go on. I don't care how old you are you need to grow up. You just bash then keep going. I explained why I did not use google, it would not have done any good. I was hoping someone had it implemented. Yet you kept having to post to make yourself feel good about not understanding the question. Maybe it was unclear? Fine no need to continue. If that is the way you are going to act then don't post your dang sig for a product you are hoping to sell. I already mentioned over there I would be happy to purchase your engine but with a childish attitude like that forget it. 
I will not post back here again so no need to reply. I already know your minions will attack me here. It is easy to target someone as flamebait on these forums. We see it all the time. No biggie, I was only curious about this for some web game tests. I writing a RPG engine it in Javascript/Ajax anyways. 

I wish you all good luck in your projects. Thanks to all that answered appropriately. Seriously I won't return Flame away.

[Devogen]

An experienced game developer wouldn't be here ranting like that.

[Drummerpete]

>>a RPG engine it in Javascript/Ajax
looool.

[Robin]

@Pedro071:

> I believe he did it right at the first post. Furthermore I didn't see him asking wheter was OK or not to use JPEG, or its quality issues. Even so, there's always a way to tell stuff.

If we replied to every post's semantics we'd never get anywhere. When he asks if anyone has converted the engine to handle JPG or PNG we assume he wants to know why that's a bad idea.

@hallsofvallhalla:

> Has hanging around with all these kids showing them how "kewl" you are because you can add a few fancy features to a outdated engine really gotten to your heads that bad?

lolwut.

@hallsofvallhalla:

> I don't care how old you are you need to grow up.

Hypocrisy.

@hallsofvallhalla:

> I explained why I did not use google, it would not have done any good.

Really? Because I just Googled how to have PNGs loaded into DirectDraw7 and it came up with loads of results.

@hallsofvallhalla:

> If that is the way you are going to act then don't post your dang sig for a product you are hoping to sell. I already mentioned over there I would be happy to purchase your engine but with a childish attitude like that forget it.

;3

@hallsofvallhalla:

> I writing a RPG engine it in Javascript/Ajax anyways.

Haha. Glad to know you're not actually old enough to be my Dad. Give my regards to your teacher when you go back to school in the New Year.