better format than .jpg in DD?

Graphics and GPU Programming Programming

Started by AngelForce August 15, 2002 05:44 AM

13 comments, last by AngelForce 21 years, 8 months ago

122

Author

August 16, 2002 02:06 PM

heh, a lot of answers, i think my post is going to be long =)

first i'll tell you how i do things now and than comment on your comments

so, here we go

for bitmaps i use
-m_hModGrafik = LoadLibrary("bitmaps.dll") in the construktor
-hbm = (HBITMAP) LoadImage(m_hModGrafik, FileName, IMAGE_BITMAP, bWidth,bHeight, LR_CREATEDIBSECTION) to load the bmp into a surface and
-FreeLibrary(m_hModGrafik) in the deconstruktor
beforehand i loaded the bmps just from the HD but i didn't like 20 or so small images so i collected them in the .dll
for jpgs i use intel's library

now, i have to ask you nicely to be a little patient with me because i'm not an expert yet...actually i'm just working on my 1. game ;-)
i loaded it up so you guys can see what i'm talking about, just click here .

i know i'm only talking about the images here but PLEASE don't look at them in my game too closly(danger of vomiting). i wanted to code, not to draw(and i'm not an artist anyway..)
if you comment on my game(would be nice), don't comment on the sprites or backgrounds or the language(it's german =D) or the missing features(eg so far it only runs fine in 1024*768/32 at the moment) but comment on the good things(you aren't allowed to burn my first game^^).
and - VERY IMPORTANT - i haven't done ANY level-designing so far, i just put here some sprites, there some sprites so don't comment on that too plz(by now you must be wondering on what the hell you're actually allowed to comment :-D )
arrows: moving
space: fire1
ctrl: fire2
note: you get a better ship after 5 ship-powerups(the ones which always come from the right top corner), actually there are 3 types of ships but in the little demo you cannot get the 3. one

so, to speak(or write) of something different than my great game =)

i really like the idea to create my own image format yet, guess what's to come, i don't know how.
oh, i surly could write some code which puts files together and changes the binary code that much that nobody except big me could read them...but i wonder what's the gain

surly i should compress the data then and i _really_ don't know how!

after reading the replies i'm also held by the idea to use PNGs(or MNGs, for that matter) but i'd need some examples to get it working ;-)

and i haven't begun to program in d3d so far so i won't use anything from there.

last word: why should i protect MY artwork :-D

*me hopes my english isn't that bad so nobody will talk with me anymore*

AngelForce

--
If you find any mistakes, you're allowed to keep 'em!

'When I look back I am lost.'

[edited by - AngelForce on August 16, 2002 3:08:09 PM]

AngelForce--"When I look back I am lost." - Daenerys Targaryen

Dreddnafious Maelstrom

586

August 16, 2002 02:27 PM

Does no one use the TIFF format? the image quality is really
good(imho) not sure about the compression ratio though, although i imagine that the better the compression the lower the return quality

"Let Us Now Try Liberty"-- Frederick Bastiat

a person

118

August 16, 2002 02:47 PM

first off you misunderstood. i never said to create your own image format. i suggested creating our own pak file format with which to store multiple files in. see the virtual file system example on this very site *ie see articles and resources) though i may have seen the example at flipcode.com which you may wish to check.

as to protecting artwork. you cant. no matter what you do its quite easy for someone to get the data. whether its to figure it how its stored or just take screen grabs and seperate things. sure you could make it difficult, but as you said this is your FIRST game thus you cant expect to do everything. you dont seem to be able to read docs and need actual code to understand. this is not bad since libpng comes with plenty of example code rught within the library.

again, your code that you show for loading images is EASILY used by anyone to read your images. you are not protecting anything that way. art is copyrighted thus cant be arbitraly copied by ppl. i assume you never downloaded illeagal music (ie popular bands, or basically anything not at a site like mp3.com) over the net. if you have then you are just as bad as ppl who would steal your artwork.

you do yourself a disservice by not wanting to hear bad comments. those are the most impoartant since they allow you to know what needs to be fixed. while out right flames which dont describe what is bad or even methods to help fix it are in poor taste. you require bad comments otherwsie you cant fix anything that may be broken. as such i wont download the demo since i feel it would a bad idea. especially since you mention so many things that you say you need to fix it probably would be better to what till you have something more solid.

tiff has terrible compression compared to png. while both are lossless, tiff uses Run Length Encoding like bmps can. png actually uses methods similar to a zip file. jpg is lossy thus quality can be an issue but the compression ratios like mp3 are outstanding compared to other formats. the new jpeg2000/deja vu compresses even better then jpeg with less loss in quality. however the new formats are sligtly restricted in ways and you may not want to use them.

also just an fyi. when you release a game you release the roadmap on how to read your files and access your data. simply put some one with a disaasembler could figure out whta you did by looking at the asm code. while it requires a great deal of knowledge and most can to that, it is possible to release a tool anyone can use. of course some ppl can just figure out the file format without resorting to looking at the disassembly. almost every game in existence that was popular has had its file format hacked and tools created to replace and change things. even nes games. dont waste time on protecting things until you understand what you are doing. as you said you are no expert thus you should not try to do things that are too advanced.

Pipo DeClown

804

August 16, 2002 02:54 PM

can someone post a code that loads a PNG file? can you load a PNG file without using a lib?

[edited by - pipo declown on August 16, 2002 3:56:43 PM]

AngelForce

122

Author

August 16, 2002 03:44 PM

a person i''m happy you''re talking with me

quote:Original post by a person
first off you misunderstood. i never said to create your own image format. i suggested creating our own pak file format with which to store multiple files in. see the virtual file system example on this very site *ie see articles and resources) though i may have seen the example at flipcode.com which you may wish to check.

thnx, i''ll remeber that for later, but i don''t think it''s important for me at the moment(i''ll come back to it later)

quote:
as to protecting artwork. you cant. no matter what you do its quite easy for someone to get the data. whether its to figure it how its stored or just take screen grabs and seperate things. sure you could make it difficult, but as you said this is your FIRST game thus you cant expect to do everything. you dont seem to be able to read docs and need actual code to understand. this is not bad since libpng comes with plenty of example code rught within the library.

again, your code that you show for loading images is EASILY used by anyone to read your images. you are not protecting anything that way. art is copyrighted thus cant be arbitraly copied by ppl. i assume you never downloaded illeagal music (ie popular bands, or basically anything not at a site like mp3.com) over the net. if you have then you are just as bad as ppl who would steal your artwork.

i never said i want to protect my images, and i really don''t care at the moment if somebody uses my artwork
this would maybe become of importance if i got images from another person who would want to ''potect'' it
oh and i am able to learn from docs - yet, IMHO, learning from code(along with a description) is a lot faster and easier

quote:
you do yourself a disservice by not wanting to hear bad comments. those are the most impoartant since they allow you to know what needs to be fixed. while out right flames which dont describe what is bad or even methods to help fix it are in poor taste. you require bad comments otherwsie you cant fix anything that may be broken. as such i wont download the demo since i feel it would a bad idea. especially since you mention so many things that you say you need to fix it probably would be better to what till you have something more solid.

i think you didn''t get my point(ok, i hadn''t made it really clear

)
i just fired the demo out to show what kind of graphics i''m using and it isn''t any kind of public release. when i get to version 1.0 i''d be happy to send you a copy and i''d also be very happy to hear about all the things i did wrong. but at the moment i am well aware that it''s only a alpha-version(if you can call it that) which only shows some effects and the general system of the game.

quote:
tiff has terrible compression compared to png. while both are lossless, tiff uses Run Length Encoding like bmps can. png actually uses methods similar to a zip file. jpg is lossy thus quality can be an issue but the compression ratios like mp3 are outstanding compared to other formats. the new jpeg2000/deja vu compresses even better then jpeg with less loss in quality. however the new formats are sligtly restricted in ways and you may not want to use them.

i''m happy to learn something new

quote:
also just an fyi. when you release a game you release the roadmap on how to read your files and access your data. simply put some one with a disaasembler could figure out whta you did by looking at the asm code. while it requires a great deal of knowledge and most can to that, it is possible to release a tool anyone can use. of course some ppl can just figure out the file format without resorting to looking at the disassembly. almost every game in existence that was popular has had its file format hacked and tools created to replace and change things. even nes games. dont waste time on protecting things until you understand what you are doing. as you said you are no expert thus you should not try to do things that are too advanced.

i think i answered this already

handling the ''i''ll come back to it later'':
i really don''t care about it and i bet you didn''t either when creating your first game.
anyway, i''m always happy to get informations because i can easily store them for later

kepp talking to me

AngelForce

--
If you find any mistakes, you''re allowed to keep ''em!

''When I look back I am lost.''

AngelForce--"When I look back I am lost." - Daenerys Targaryen

better format than .jpg in DD?

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