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Black screen
Paul Hoey
Member #7,189
May 2006

Alright, I have code posted below which is currently supposed to be drawing an image to a buffer, then drawing the buffer to the screen. My problem is that the buffer only appears as black, any ideas?

EDIT: Okay, it appears that everything drawn to the screen is appearing black, what could be causing this?

1//this is so we can use Allegro
2#include <allegro.h>
3 
4//our main method
5int main(void)
6{
7 //set the colour depth
8 set_color_depth(16);
9 //this initilises Allegro
10 if(allegro_init() != 0)
11 {
12 return 1;
13 }
14
15 //here we set up a new window to use
16 //the first parameter is the driver we're using
17 //the next 2 specify height and width
18 //the last 2 are for memory allocation
19 if (set_gfx_mode(GFX_AUTODETECT, 640, 480, 0, 0) != 0)
20 {
21 //should te above fail, we want to try and set it using SAFE mode
22 if(set_gfx_mode(GFX_SAFE, 640, 480, 0, 0) != 0)
23 {
24 //and if that fails we want to tell the suer why the program will not work
25 set_gfx_mode(GFX_TEXT, 0, 0, 0, 0);
26 allegro_message("Unable to initiate any graphics mode!\n$s\n", allegro_error);
27 return 1;
28 }
29 }
30
31 //sets the colour palette
32 set_palette(default_palette);
33
34 //clear the screen to be entirely white
35 clear_to_color(screen, makecol(255, 255, 255));
36
37 //on windows it is faster if you aquire the screen before drawing to it
38 acquire_screen();
39
40 //this installs the keyboard driver so we can use it
41 install_keyboard();
42
43 //alright, this is where I'm declaring and creating some bitmaps to use
44 BITMAP *ball, *ground, *sky;
45 BITMAP *buffer = NULL;
46
47 ball = create_bitmap(20, 20);
48 ground = create_bitmap(20, 20);
49 sky = create_bitmap(20, 20);
50 buffer = create_bitmap(640, 480);
51
52 ball = load_bmp("ball.bmp", NULL);
53 ground = load_bmp("ground.bmp", NULL);
54 sky = load_bmp("ground.bmp", NULL);
55
56 //these 2 vars are for the ball's X and Y position
57 int ball_x, ball_y;
58 //giving them default values
59 ball_x = 400;
60 ball_y = 100;
61
62 //drawing everything to the buffer
63 //most of the screen will be the sky
64 for(int i = 0; i < SCREEN_H - 100; i = i + 20)
65 {
66 for(int j = 0; j < SCREEN_W - 20; j = j + 20)
67 {
68 draw_sprite(buffer, sky, i, j);
69 blit(buffer, screen, 0, 0, 0, 0, 640, 480);
70 }
71 }
72
73 //you have to release the screen before calling any more functions
74 release_screen();
75
76 //now we wait for a key press
77 readkey();
78 clear_bitmap(buffer);
79 return 0;
80}
81 
82//we have to call this when using Allegro
83END_OF_MAIN()

Mark Oates
Member #1,146
March 2001
avatar

you don't need to set the color palette in 16b mode.

Also, blit to the screen after you have drawn everything to the buffer.

I'm not sure what's actually causing the problem though, you might want to try taking out acquire and release screen functions.

AH! set the color depth AFTER allegro_init(); that would definately keep it from working like you want.

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A J
Member #3,025
December 2002
avatar

load_bitmap does its own 'create' your create_bitmaps are causing memory leaks

are the bitmaps your loading 32bit ? or 8 bit ?

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Paul Hoey
Member #7,189
May 2006

Mark: Noticed the drawing the buffer afterwards just after posting. ;)

I saved the buffer as a BMP after everything has been drawn and it's black too.

The images are all 16-Bit.

EDIT: Removing the aquire and release_screen methods didn't work, nor did changing where the set_color_depth method is called, and removing it entirely.

A J: Didn't know aobut that, the tutorial I read said to do it that way, thanks for letting me know. :)

Jonatan Hedborg
Member #4,886
July 2004
avatar

See if you can draw primitives onto the screen.
Or try saving the loaded images as bmps and see if there is anything in them.

Seems like an odd problem anyway.

Paul Hoey
Member #7,189
May 2006

They're all entirely black.

Primitives appear.

ReyBrujo
Moderator
January 2001
avatar

Are you loading correctly the images? Are they in the right format (8 or 16 bpp)?

--
RB
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Paul Hoey
Member #7,189
May 2006

Yes, they're loading correctly and are all 16-Bit.

ReyBrujo
Moderator
January 2001
avatar

Don't call set_palette, because that is only useful on 8bpp. Also, in the for cycle you have the wrong variable order (i counts until SCREEN_H, thus it is y, and you are using it as x).

I guess other Allegro demo/programs work correctly, right? Can you post the updated code again with all the fixes you have done?

--
RB
光子「あたしただ…奪う側に回ろうと思っただけよ」
Mitsuko's last words, Battle Royale

Paul Hoey
Member #7,189
May 2006

None of that sorted it. Updated code. If anyone wants to download the source along with the images and see if it works for thme, that'd be great.

1//this is so we can use Allegro
2#include <allegro.h>
3 
4//our main method
5int main(void)
6{
7 //this initilises Allegro
8 if(allegro_init() != 0)
9 {
10 return 1;
11 }
12
13 //here we set up a new window to use
14 //the first parameter is the driver we're using
15 //the next 2 specify height and width
16 //the last 2 are for memory allocation
17 if (set_gfx_mode(GFX_AUTODETECT, 640, 480, 0, 0) != 0)
18 {
19 //should te above fail, we want to try and set it using SAFE mode
20 if(set_gfx_mode(GFX_SAFE, 640, 480, 0, 0) != 0)
21 {
22 //and if that fails we want to tell the suer why the program will not work
23 set_gfx_mode(GFX_TEXT, 0, 0, 0, 0);
24 allegro_message("Unable to initiate any graphics mode!\n$s\n", allegro_error);
25 return 1;
26 }
27 }
28
29 //set the colour depth
30 set_color_depth(16);
31
32 //clear the screen to be entirely white
33 clear_to_color(screen, makecol(255, 255, 255));
34
35 //on windows it is faster if you aquire the screen before drawing to it
36 acquire_screen();
37
38 //this installs the keyboard driver so we can use it
39 install_keyboard();
40
41 //alright, this is where I'm declaring and creating some bitmaps to use
42 BITMAP *ball, *ground, *sky;
43 BITMAP *buffer = NULL;
44
45 buffer = create_bitmap(640, 480);
46
47 //load bitmap does it's own create_bitmap, so they aren't needed if I'm loading a bitmap
48 ball = load_bmp("ball.bmp", NULL);
49 ground = load_bmp("ground.bmp", NULL);
50 sky = load_bmp("ground.bmp", NULL);
51
52 //these 2 vars are for the ball's X and Y position
53 int ball_x, ball_y;
54 //giving them default values
55 ball_x = 0;
56 ball_y = 0;
57
58 //drawing everything to the buffer
59 //most of the screen will be the sky
60 //done in this loop
61 for(int i = 0; i < SCREEN_H; i = i + 20)
62 {
63 for(int j = 0; j < SCREEN_W; j = j + 20)
64 {
65 draw_sprite(buffer, sky, j, i);
66 }
67 }
68 draw_sprite(buffer, ball, ball_x, ball_y);
69 blit(buffer, screen, 0, 0, 0, 0, 640, 480);
70 save_bitmap("buffer.bmp", buffer, NULL);
71 save_bitmap("ball2.bmp", ball, NULL);
72 save_bitmap("sky2.bmp", sky, NULL);
73 save_bitmap("ground2.bmp", ground, NULL);
74 save_bitmap("screen.bmp", screen, NULL);
75
76
77
78 //you have to release the screen before calling any more functions
79 release_screen();
80
81 //now we wait for a key press
82 readkey();
83 clear_bitmap(buffer);
84 return 0;
85}
86 
87//we have to call this when using Allegro
88END_OF_MAIN()

Kitty Cat
Member #2,815
October 2002
avatar

Don't do anything in acquire/release_screen pairs except draw to the screen. Never do anything involving timers or non-trivial code, including installing subsystems, as that's a sure fire way to cause a deadlock. While you have the screen acquired, you keep Allegro from processing timers, and thus you won't properly get input updates or anything. Also, you need to set the color depth before you set the video mode (you can't change color depths after you have already set the graphics mode, after all).

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A J
Member #3,025
December 2002
avatar

what is a 16 bit image ?
explain ?

you need to save your BMP files as either 8 or 24, or 32bit.
there is no 16bit BMP format that allegro supports

check the return values of all your load_bitmap calls

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miran
Member #2,407
June 2002

Does setting the colour depth before initializing Allegro even work?

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GullRaDriel
Member #3,861
September 2003
avatar

Set the color depth before set_gfx_mode.

 //on windows it is faster if you aquire the screen before drawing to it
    acquire_screen();

This one isn't needed

 //you have to release the screen before calling any more functions
    release_screen();

This one no more.

Please test that your bitmap are correctly loaded by adding if( !sky ) after the loading.

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Paul Hoey
Member #7,189
May 2006

Thanks for all the feedback, it turns out it was because the iamges were 16-Bit Bitmaps, I converted them to 24-Bit and it's working fine now, thanks for letting me know.
All feedback has been taken onboard, thank you. :D

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