I''ll just go with fps = FRAMES PER SECOND and that it''s a measurement. I don''t think I''ll ever get the concept of fps.

Take it to the Xtreme!

quote: Original post by Wachar
I''ll just go with fps = FRAMES PER SECOND and that it''s a measurement.

That''s all there is to it, kiddo.

Peace,
ZE.



//email me.//zealouselixir software.//msdn.//n00biez.//
miscellaneous links

[if you have a link proposal, email me.]

I'll try to be very clear in this so this is how it goes...

FPS = Frames Per Second

It tells you how many frames the game shows in one second. If you get 6 Frames Per Second, it means you see 6 frames (pictures) for example of an animation during the second, which means it looks quite choppy. If you get 30 FPS or more, it will look quite smooth.

If you get for example 500 FPS in a game like Pong, the game is going way too fast, and then you probably want to slow down the game, for example by placing Sleep(50) or something else that slows it down, into the code (well, it's not very wise to use Sleep(), put that's the idea).

If you get 6 FPS you can't get more, unless you make your game work faster by optimizing your code. The FPS you're getting also depends on the computer where the game is running on. Faster the machine, faster the game.

Have you ever tried to play Quake with 486 machine, well if you have, it probably didn't work very fast meaning that the FPS was very low. And when playing it with 1000 MHz machine, it will work very VERY smoothly, so you're getting very high frame rate (FPS is high).

[edited by - GlaZZ on April 29, 2002 7:08:57 AM]

quote: Original post by GlaZZ
If you get for example 500 FPS in a game like Pong, the game is going way too fast, and then you probably want to slow down the game, for example by placing Sleep(50) or something else that slows it down, into the code (well, it's not very wise to use Sleep(), put that's the idea).

Actually, this is entirely false. The game is not "going way too fast" unless you haven't implemented framespeed-independent timing. Your assumption would be coded like so:

ball.loc.x += ball.vel.x;

(NOTE: In the above line, ball.vel represents the instantaneous velocity of the ball, and is per frame, not per second )

However, you can make a game run at the appropriate speed by multiplying the speed constant by the time of the frame, ala

ball.loc.x += ball.vel.x * last_frame_time;

(NOTE: In the above line, ball.vel represents the instantaneous velocity of the ball, but it is given in terms of seconds, not based on the speed of the game .)

Hope this helps,
ZE.



//email me.//zealouselixir software.//msdn.//n00biez.//
miscellaneous links

[if you have a link proposal, email me.]

EDITED for formatting.

[edited by - zealouselixir on April 29, 2002 4:54:54 PM]

Bah, AfTeRmAtH, CHILL. How could you possibly get so upset at something such as this?! Why bother posting crap like that...if he doesn''t get it, big damned deal. Don''t be a spaz.

agreed.

no need to be bitches in the For Beginners section. it''s FOR BEGINNERS after all.

-me

Huh?!?! What are you guys talking about?!?!





.... haha, nah. O K. I apoligize, i gues I was a bit harsh for this newbie

well, deleted it is, not to afend anyone!

[ my engine ][ my game ][ my email ]
SPAM

quote: Original post by ZealousElixir
Actually, this is entirely false. The game is not "going way too fast" unless you haven''t implemented framespeed-independent timing.

Hey you shouldn''t be so precis with this, and by the way the framespeed-independent timing is the most common way to do this thing. And next, that was a totally simplified example, ''cause we''re talking about newbies here...

quote: Original post by Wachar
I'll just go with fps = FRAMES PER SECOND and that it's a measurement. I don't think I'll ever get the concept of fps.

Take it to the Xtreme!

If I have a car with a standard 1 litre 4 cylinder engine I can get a top speed of about 95 MPH with my foot on the the floor board.

If I have a car with a 3.5 v6 engine I can get a top speed of about 165 MPH with my foot on the the floor board.


If I have a 486 33MHz with a Tseng 4000 gfx card I can get about 2 FPS playing Quake.

If I have a Duron O/C'd at 1043MHz with a Gforce4 gfx card I can get about 110 FPS playing Quake.


it is a unit of measurement that is all, nothing to understand.

Look at it this way, how quickly can your hardware in combination with your software (game) draw the screen ONCE . If it can do it in a very short period of time then your system can draw LOTS of frames in a second, there for your FPS will be high.

The reason it is used is two fold.

1. Having a high Frame Rate is indicative of a very fast system.
2. While developing games, the Frame Rate is Indicative of how well your code is performing or under-performing. hint. No one is going to want to buy a game that is SLOW. How do I know its slow? Easy, because it can only render 10 frames per second.

D.V.

Carpe Diem


[edited by - DeltaVee on April 30, 2002 11:40:19 AM]

Wachar, I already told you drop Tricks and pick up a C/C++ book before continuing reading tricks on the "do Game_Init,Game_Main(),Game_Shutdown functions get called automaticaly" thread it will save both you and us headaches, I know you want to make games yesterday, but without a basic understanding of C, you wont get far by just compiling the code, and trying to figure out every single line, and not as a whole.