B3D IDE limits

I made this little program today which read a
bitmap and convert it into Data statements source-wise.
But when i tried to include the created sourcefile in
my project I ran into three limitations.

1. The IDE uses A-G-E-S to accept the file
2. The IDE seems to have a limit around 10000 lines of code (1024 kB),
my created sourcefile are snipped off by the IDE before the end of it!
3. Data-statements are only accepted in main code (include file will not do!)

Has anyone overcome these limitations ?
..or should I just drop the idea and use the normal
way and store my bitmap data in a regular file ?

Tried a different IDE?

But yeah, you should store it in a regular file.

On a related note - I use the default IDE and find that the same set of code with about 5000 lines (including empty lines and comments) opens on my Win98 500 Mhz machine instantaneously while there is a couple of seconds delay on my WinXP AMD 64 3x00+ Laptop (x = I can't remember what the number is but I know it is definitely faster than my Win98 machine).

Back on topic:

You could always store the bitmap in your own data file format and generate it dynamically using writepixelfast.

you can include data statements in an external include as long as you use restore (that works for me in Elite Multiplayer). I have a label at the begining of the data and restore that before reading. I have never come across this limitation when coding, and WarZone is massive code wise but still compiled and loaded perfectly.

Yes the bigger the file the longer Blitz takes to check and tokenise all the commands in the file, this is while breaking up the file into includes is a good idea.

I recall reading that the loading thing on WinXP/2k had to do with a crappy RichEdit.dll or something, have you tried finding a more up-to-date version?

Yeah, I noticed the super-slow loading times with the IDE in 1.96, and reported it here. Loading/parsing loads of data statements has always been slow, though. I'm using win98SE, BTW.

Try the Protean IDE - it's an excellent IDE which is unmeasurably superior to Blitz3D's default one. You can download it free here:
http://proteanide.co.uk/index.php?pid=downloads

Actually I paid for Protean about a year ago
but I never used it for other purposes than BlitzMax.

I might try that but if someone had a workaround I would
not have to.....

FD: Do you have any recommendations ?

Not really no. Protean is as good as anything else, and better than most.

I'd try that suggestion EdzUp had. Seems like it might work.

Protean's great - but I couldn't recommend it on the grounds of "faster loading" - it's loads files even slower that the "official" IDE. My Eridani project (which has around 35 files, and a total of about 17,000 lines) takes 1-2 minutes to load on a 3GHz machine with 1GB ram.

Mind you, once it's up an running you have a *much* nicer IDE with proper project management, and an editor with things like code completion, and function and block collapsing. I wouldn't use anything else for Blitz3D now :-)

Just out of interest HappyCat, how is Eridani progressing? I`ve been looking forward to it being released for ages now and still play the demo on a regular basis.

Jason.

It's getting there. Been adding features and content over the last few months, but lately it's been going quite slowly. I'll get there though :-)

Protean may be good, but since I successfully shipped around NET and other microsoft hypes, I don't feel a real need for it. You may call me a 20th century coder, I like it :)

I thought Windows XP comes with .NET platform preinstalled - at least it did on my PC.

Nah - .Net comes pre-installed with Windows Server 2003, but not XP.

But I don't get people that "won't" download it though - it's just a runtime environment - you know, just like the latest 15Mb Java update that the .Net nay-sayers are often happy to download at the drop of a hat ;-)

But hey, I'm biased - having been writing all my non-game stuff in .Net now for the past four years :-)