erasing text

I don't know why this is so hard for you to understand: if you make a post and you have a question, then you need to actually ask the question. If you have an error you can't figure out, post the error. If you have a problem, describe the problem. Just posting code and saying that you are having troubles doesn't cut it.

ok well my problem is that I can write to the screen using text but I want the text to only be there for 5 seconds and then I want to erase the text I want the player to read the instructions on how to interact with the mouse and then vanish so the player can play unimpeded. I have also decided to have the left paddle to be controlled by the computer. That is my next problem.

Every time I see, from the list of topics, a topic started by phil67rpg, I put my hand to my forehead and look down, not dissimilar to this:



I already know what is inside before I click it:

1. A code dump.
   
   
   
   1. Without [CODE] tags.
      
2. 1 or 2 sentences explaining what he wants to happen.
   
   
   
   1. But not what actually happens.
      
3. No actual question.
   

So this time I bet my friend that the contents of this topic would be as per my expectations.
I just won $1 (approximately).


I tend to just stay away from these topics because just reading them frustrates me.

phil67rpg, you can read any other topic anywhere else on the forum to see how a proper question looks, what it contains, the fact that code is inside [CODE] tags, etc.
You have been here long enough to have actually seen other topics before, so there is no excuse for the way you ask questions.


Even after you were asked to actually ask a question, you didn’t!
You just explained what you want, not what actually happens, and there was no question. Twice!
How hard is it to ask a question? Check any other post. You have literally 10’s of thousands of examples.

There are even places you could check online that are meant to specifically help you learn how to ask questions.
http://www.google.co... Ask a Question


Thank you for the $1, but I couldn’t help you even if I tried. No one can.
You don’t know how to ask for help. You give no information at all that someone could use to help you. Every. Single. Time.

Others are obviously just as frustrated by it.
Until you learn how to ask questions…


L. Spiro

well thanks I like the thumbnail picture, and yes star trek rocks.

My problem is that I can use dx9 to print text to the screen. I created a font and used the drawtext function to print text to the screen. What I want to do is that after the text is sent to the screen that the text would be cleared from the screen. Basically all I want to do is give instructions to the player on how to interact with the GUI and then to be able to play the game without text on the screen. This is something like a splash screen. I have tried printing text to the screen in red color and then printing the same text to the screen in black but it does not erase the text that is already printed there. I hope you can understand my problem and hopefully help me to solve. Let me know if need more information or code.

aren't you clearing the screen each frame anyway ? , if so couldn't you just stop drawing the text when you no longer want it to show up ?

I've never used ID_TIMER, is it called every frame? Anyway just create a bool and stick an if check around your draw text function? The bool becomes false when you don't want the text, I.e. new screen. Also why would you think drawing black text over red would erase it? Did you not think that it would draw black text? If that timer message is called all the time then you might want to re locate that create font code

If ( bSplashScreen )
// draw text

What I want to do is that after the text is sent to the screen that the text would be cleared from the screen

I have tried printing text to the screen in red color and then printing the same text to the screen in black but it does not erase the text that is already printed there.[/quote]

You cannot erase what is already drawn to the screen. If you had an integer x, would you be able to see what values it previously held? No, keeping track of such data for every variable and every pixel is infeasible. It is faster and easier to redraw everything, excluding the stuff you don't want visible.

Phil, I strongly recommend researching game loops and structuring your game accordingly. In your case, it probably look something like this:


load_fonts
load_resources

while ( not user_quit ) {
while ( events_to_be_processed )
process_window_event()

clear_screen()
draw_game()
if ( should_draw_instructions )
draw_instructions()
}

release_resources
release_fonts


My God. It learns.

As was mentioned, standard practice is to clear the screen every frame within a game loop, such as the one provided by fastcall22.

Each frame you draw only what you want to be on the screen. This way you don’t have to keep track of what you had drawn in the past.
Imagine any 3D game that had to keep track of what it had drawn last frame and carefully erase that before putting a new image up.
Therefor you redraw the entire screen every frame after clearing it to black at the start of the frame. Draw only what you want to appear each frame and don’t draw what you don’t want to appear. No fuss with timers.


L. Spiro

thanks spiro, I will work on your solution. I will study up on game loops.I am trying to write better questions.

OMG Spiro. Laughing so hard.

?, ?????, ???????????

I have done a great deal of research about game loops, message pumps, windows messages, windows threads and timer functions. I also read about splash screens and finite state machines. I still want to erase text on the screen. After much research I am still stuck on how to solve this problem. Google is my friend. Go easy on me I am attempting to ask better questions. Basically I am confused about how to use game loops.My question is when in the game loop do you print text to the screen and then print black text to the screen. Fastcall22 gave me some code and a explanation on how to use game loops I would like just little more information on how to use game loops.

Such as?

OK, fundamental misunderstanding here.

When you're drawing stuff you don't just set down a baseline and then only change stuff that needs to be changed.

Instead, for each frame, you first clear the screen - everything goes away - then you draw everything all over again. The "draw everything all over again" part is where you can remove stuff that you don't want to draw and add new stuff that you do want.

This flies in the face of all logic if you come from an "everything is software" mode of thinking, but this is actually the way GPUs like to be used. So don't try anything tricksy to circumvent it; instead use your GPU the way it wants to be used and it will be good to you in return.

If by now you're recoiling in horror and thinking "surely that's going to give awful performance" - remember - Quake did this in 1996. It wasn't a problem then and it's not a problem now.

hey kathar thanks for the reputation boost, and to mhagain can you post some code.

Ok, I don't think you are actually learning DirectX, you are just using precoded functions right?
I would suggest you to learn about it first, you are missing the basic of it while you are trying to create a game.
If you don't want to get stuck in every single thing you want to do you should learn how DirectX works.
http://directxtutorial.com this is a good site to get started.

ok I am going to study this tutorial, then later go back to my game

I give up on dx9.I am going to study up on win 32.

I assume you already familiar with c++, right?