no-reply@allegro.cc (William Labbett) — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 18:00:18 +0000

Thanks for the help on the other topic. At the moment my background scrolls smoothly and at a good pace when the program first runs but after it's been running for a few seconds the scrolling slows right down and jerks.

case ALLEGRO_EVENT_TIMER:
        
              if(Top_BD.Waiting() == 0)
        {   
            Top_BD.Update_Position();
              }
      
        redraw = true;
        break;

I wanted to make sure the position of the backdrop gets updated once per clock tick so Update_Position sets a variable 'waiting' and doesn't update the position again until

Top_BD.Draw draws the bitmap and set 'waiting' back to 0.

Like I say, suddenly the scrolling slows right down and don't what's causing it.

Perhaps someone could see why ? Thanks.

#SelectExpand
   1void *make_bitmap(ALLEGRO_THREAD *t, void *data);
   2
   3
   4void Backdrop::Draw(void)
   5{
 ALLEGRO_BITMAP *bb, *tb;
 if(current_bottom_backdrop == 0)
 {
    
    bb = b1;
  tb = b2;
 }
 else 
 {
    
    bb = b2;
  tb = b1;
 }
 
 al_draw_bitmap_region( bb, 0, 0, BACKDROP_WIDTH_IN_PIXELS, BACKDROP_HEIGHT_IN_PIXELS - draw_from, 40, draw_from - BACKDROP_HEIGHT_IN_PIXELS + 480, 0);
 
 
 if(draw_from > BACKDROP_HEIGHT_IN_PIXELS - SCREEN_HEIGHT)
 {
    al_draw_bitmap_region( tb, 0, BACKDROP_HEIGHT_IN_PIXELS - (draw_from - (BACKDROP_HEIGHT_IN_PIXELS - SCREEN_HEIGHT)), 
                             BACKDROP_WIDTH_IN_PIXELS, 
               (draw_from - (BACKDROP_HEIGHT_IN_PIXELS - SCREEN_HEIGHT)), 40, 0, 0);
  28
 }
 
 waiting_to_be_drawn = 0;
  32}
  33
  34
  35
  36void Backdrop::Update_Position(void)
  37{
 draw_from += 2;
 
 waiting_to_be_drawn = 1;
 
 if(remake_a_bitmap == 1)
 {
    if(t) {
     printf("joining.\n");
     //al_join_thread(t, NULL);
       al_destroy_thread(t);
    }
    
  printf("creating thread.\n");
  
    t = al_create_thread(make_bitmap, this);
  al_start_thread(t);
    
    /* Set this back to 0 so that another thread doesn't get started until necessary */ 
  
  remake_a_bitmap = 0;
 }
 

 
 if(draw_from > BACKDROP_HEIGHT_IN_PIXELS)
 {
    /* Can't draw anymore of the current bottom backdrop so reset draw_from to 0 and start drawing the other bitmap. */
 
    draw_from = 0;
  
  
  
  
  printf("switching bitmaps.\n");
  
    ++current_bottom_backdrop;
    if(current_bottom_backdrop > 1) 
  {
     current_bottom_backdrop = 0;    
  }
  
  
  
  /* Set this to 0 to indicate to that the bitmap that's has scolled off the screen needs to be remade. */
  
  remake_a_bitmap = 1;
 }
  85}
  86
  87
  88
  89void Backdrop::Make_New_Blot()
  90{
  printf("making new blot.\n");
  switch(current_bottom_backdrop)
{
     case 1:
      al_destroy_bitmap(b1);
      b1 = dinkle_get_connecting_blot(BACKDROP_WIDTH_IN_TILES, BACKDROP_HEIGHT_IN_TILES, &ratios, b2_tiles, b1_tiles, bg_colors[0], bg_colors[1]);
          break;
   case 0:
      al_destroy_bitmap(b2);
        b2 = dinkle_get_connecting_blot(BACKDROP_WIDTH_IN_TILES, BACKDROP_HEIGHT_IN_TILES, &ratios, b1_tiles, b2_tiles, bg_colors[0], bg_colors[1]);
    break;
  }
 103}
 104
 105
 106
 107
 108
 109void *make_bitmap(ALLEGRO_THREAD *t, void *data)
 110{
 Backdrop *obj = (Backdrop *) data;
 112
 obj->Make_New_Blot();
 114
 return NULL;
 116}

no-reply@allegro.cc (Dizzy Egg) — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 18:46:50 +0000

You're creating new bitmaps every time you call the Draw function...?

no-reply@allegro.cc (William Labbett) — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 21:14:31 +0000

No, they're just pointers to ALLEGRO_BITMAPS.

That would have explained it.

EDIT : at the point when it slows right down, the memory usage goes from 4% to 40+%

- from which I conclude that the CPU gets busy which is why it's slowing.

EDIT 2

% cumulative self self total
time seconds seconds calls Ts/call Ts/call name
25.00 0.03 0.03 dinkle_pixels_from_tiles
25.00 0.06 0.03 next_to_two_array_code
16.67 0.08 0.02 dinkle_make_monochrome_pattern
8.33 0.09 0.01 arrays_are_the_same
8.33 0.10 0.01 make_another_line
8.33 0.11 0.01 next_to_array_code
8.33 0.12 0.01 reflect_tile