BlitzMax Change Over

Hi,

I currently use Blitz Basic (2D).

I have some complicated questions to ask about BlitzMax.

Can I continue to programme as I always have done, in BlitzMax, and can I still load my old Blitz programmes into BlitzMax?

Also, when I write and complete a new little game - graphics, sounds and all, can I simply press a button and have three different versions of the same game?

IE - write a little shoot-em-up, and be able to sell it to Linux, Windows and Mac users?

Does this also mean I can load in my old Blitz code and recompite IT into different platforms as well?

Many thanks

The answer is no to all those questions. Sorry.

You need to do some changes to your old code to make it work in blitzmax.


Almost. You cannot compile a Mac or Linux binary in Windows, but you can move the source from windows to linux/mac and just press the compile button. (Some changes may be needed)


If you port the source, then yes. But as I wrote before there is some (big?) changes you must do.

There's a few changes, but it isn't anything you can't learn. I did, and I'm not the best coder around.

Most convertions from old blitz to max is fixed by a replace

You have got to be kidding? Anything pixel related has to be completely rewritten. Also any buffer work has to be changed as you only have access to the back buffer in max. Some of the joystick commands are missing so you'll have to kludge them. Network is done differently so that will need some work. And depending what music you use you'll probably need to change that too. Seriously Wave how much stuff have you tried converting to Max? And I don't just mean code snippets. Having said all that Max is a lot better than Blitz2D. Just don't expect an easy time converting between the two.

You will have to re-write your programs.

But because you've already written them you have the algorithms you used for the Blitz BASIC versions - so it's a case of learning how to do things in BlitzMax.

Before converting your routines I'd recommend printing out a copy of your Blitz BASIC program so you have a reference as you convert them.

You have to compile the game separately on each platform, but you should be able to build the game without making any changes to the source. All the examples and demos that come with BlitzMAX use the same source code across all three platforms.

Clearification @ Myself
With "Most convertions" I do refer to functions, examples and code snippets; that is the biggest part of what I convert are ;)

In other words you need a computer with Windows and Linux and a Macintosh with OSX.

Wave: Thats quite nonsense! Most old Blitz codes have to be rewritten to work efficientely. With old Blitz coding style and not OO it will be quite slower than with old blitz!

There's a command line option to convert B2D code into BMX code. You still need to do a few fix ups yourself, but it's a helpful start

You can convert your bb files to bmx files using the bmk tool if memory serves. While Steve and Dreamora make good points for why you shouldn't, chances are it might work okay for what you need anyway.

I would suggest you actually manually convert at least one of your old B2D projects (a small one to start with), if for no other reason than it will help you learn BMax. You won't have to redesign the project concept or come up with one, so saving yourself one headache already.

[offtopic]
You people are such treekillers, wasting paper like that. Whats the difficulty in using ALT-Tab. You can paste it all in notepad or open another instance of the IDE even, or if you have tabs in the IDE just keep swapping them! I really cant understand (especially older people) who print absolutely everything they can only to throw away the paper 10 seconds later!!!
[/offtopic]

I believe it wouldnt be too hard to retype much of the code and convert other parts manually, but first you must have basic knowledge of max.

It's much easier to follow a text (or in this case, some code), when you have a piece of paper in front of you...
This way you don't have to ALT-TAB out of the program to read a line, then ALT-TAB your way back in,
finding yourself reading several oter lines, just to figure out where you were...

(oh, and I'm not old.. :P)

I need hardcopies for such thing, much easier imho. Treekiller? Not me, I save trees by wiping my ass with owls instead of toilet paper.

LOL

Two words: dual monitor.

When I upgraded to an LCD screen, I kept my old CRT and hooked it up to the secondary monitor output on my Radeon card... Most of the time I work in single-screen mode, but for side-by-side work and things like video editing that require a lot of on-screen stuff, having 2 screens is -really- nice.