Game Timing

Could do with some advice please guys.

I've written this little board game in 3d. As you can guess it doesnt need to run at the fastest framerate as possible, and will probably only be played by guys with nothing better to do on a 'steam-driven PC' anyway !.

Whats the best way to bring the framerate down, but adding some extra muscle for 3d effects. ?.

(what I'm getting at is.. At the mo the program is running as fast as possible with no control - but I'd only like to render the entire scene every 2rd or 3rd update, so I can use the extra processing time to go to town on the visuals - without slowing down older processers.. such as realtime shadows, huge amounts of background scenary etc.)

Also, I'd like to include a reflection in the board itself of the surrounding room. Looking through Rob's comments with Marks Cube Demo - I think it would be possible using his advice to render from the board upwards and storing the image into the texture. (as long as the render could take place within the 2 step render process - and wouldnt slow it down).. should this work ?.

Thanks Guys !.

Paul,

I don't know if this is what you really need but may be it'll provide you a starting point, check out the code archives for frame limiting code or maybe look into rendertweening - I have heard it talked about but never used it.

IPete2.

I'm a big fan of render-tweening. I used to use Delta-timing, but the render-tweening is nice and smooth.

The easiest way to add a reflection is to add a mirror object the same size as the board.
If you position it just a fraction higher than the board and give it (the mirror) an alpha level of say .3 then board will show through the mirror object but the mirror will reflect your playing peices, scenery etc.

You could even have a sun off screen that would reflect in the mirror. That would look pwetty.