Hi,

I've been trying to port pascal code that loads gif files and displays them, using the svgalib (no problems there). However I cannot sucessfully port any of anyone's code to do this simple task.

Display a gif file.

Does anyone have a working program that'll display a gif image in linux please ?

thank you
James

Does anyone have a working program that'll display a gif image in linux please ?

I have written borland pascal source to display a 256 color BMP image and usually run a batch conversion of the required images to BMP format. GIF contains compression and is thus more complex than BMP. My source should compile on Free Pascal. But if you find source for reading GIF files I would like to get a copy as well.

Klaus

You also have the added problem that the algorythm used by GIF is something like LHZ which is patented and that the GIF format is also on dubious legal ground. You may find that a lot of open source projects will ignore the GIF format, and getting info on the format may be tricky. I know people like Eric Raymond support the 'Burn all gifs' campaign.

Matt

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Well, someone please tell me then. I haven't developed games much in linux, let alone pascal. What's the best way to do graphics (sprites) for game development? I'm starting small, space invaders clone. But I need some help/ideas of what people generally do.

cheers
James

Well, for games, prefer a plain bold BMP images. Why? The trick in games is to do a mix between space (memory/disk), speed, and simplicity. For Images BMP is very simple, very quicky but use a lot of space. For the majority of games BMP images are good and perhaps the best choice you can do. But If your game is graphics intensive in the sense of quantity (Gigs of images) then the best deal could be on the space... All depend of the kind of game you plan to write.

Thierry

Hi,

Of course, everyone uses plain raw or BMP images for Putimage and such routines. But i see no reason why you couldn't use some compressed image format to store pictures on the HDD, and convert to raw chunky or BMP 've a GIF87a-loader source, based on some old SWAG routines modified by myself to fit my own needs, and to work under FPC. I never tried these routines under Linux, but i see no reasons why it shouldn't work, since it uses standard Pascal I/O routines. Anyway, if you're thinking to support only Linux, i think you should use libpng or libgif, or anything like that, to load your files, since that's the most elegant way, IMO.

Anyway, if some of you still need my sources (small example included) please let me know, and then i'll put together my PC again (i'm on Amiga now:) tonight, and upload the stuff to somewhere on the net.

Bye,

----- Original Message -----

If The game could load ALL images at the start (true for a space invader), there is not so much problem. But in the case of a very large 3D environment where textures are loaded as needed, it could be OK if LoadOfCompressedImage
+ TimeToDecompress <= LoadOfUncompressedImage.

If The game could load ALL images at the start (true for a space invader), there is not so much problem. But in the case of a very large 3D environment where textures are loaded as needed, it could be OK if LoadOfCompressedImage + TimeToDecompress <= LoadOfUncompressedImage.

This may be a good time to mention SDL. There is a Jedi port of it to Pascal. I used to work with Domonique Louis the guy who did the Windows side, and iirc he wanted to improve support FPC. That was 6 months ago, so I assume things may have moved on a tad by now. The URL to his site is http://www.savagesoftware.com.au/DelphiGamer/indexf.php There is good genearl gaming stuff there.

And looking at his site, it seems there is an SDL download for FPC at: http://www.grulic.org.ar/~dmoisset/files/SDL4Freepascal-1.2.0.0.tar.gz

Hope than helps you some. SDL is a far better solution.

Matt

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Hi,

And this is our case now, since we're talking about a space invader. :)

But in the case of a very large 3D environment where textures are loaded as needed, it could be OK if LoadOfCompressedImage + TimeToDecompress <= LoadOfUncompressedImage.

Not necessarily with a fast decompression routine. If you load from a slow device (eg. CD or such) loading a lot smaller compressed image might be a lot faster, since there is a plenty of free CPU bandwith, but not that much I/O bandwith...

Anyway, 3D is a complettely different thing, since most modern 3D-capable devices can texture using compressed textures, so in this case you don't need to implement your own compression, of course.

Bye,

Hi,

Ooops... We're talking about the same case... :) My english really needs some refresh. Sorry.

Bye,

SDL, or OpenGL ? I've looked around a bit to see what'd be the best library to use. I've decided with SVGALib for now...

Oh and btw, thanks so much guys for all your input. The only couple of games I've made are in Intel Assembly on an old DOS machine I have lying next to this one :P

cheers
James