frame rate counter

Java 2D
#1

Hi. I’ve put a frame rate counter in my game and it is giving me an average around 60 fps. This is great but I think that the counter is being limited by my monitor refresh rate (I know I read somewhere that that happens under certain conditions). Is there a way to measure my frame rate without it being limited by the monitor refresh rate? I know that the number would be useless, as the frame rate can’t actually go faster than the monitor refresh rate, but I would still like to see it. Also, I am using System.currentTimeMillis() to get the elapsed time between frames. Is this the best way to measure my game’s frame rate and manage my games timer?

PS
I have no idea how to accelerate my images. I am using BufferedImages, can they be accelerated? Maybe I am already accelerating them. I have my game working at full screen and am using a BufferStrategy to draw. Although there seem to be many informative articles about accelerated images, I haven’t yet seen one which simply and concisely shows how to create and display them. For example, if I have a BufferedImage which I want to draw to the screen, how do I make sure that it is accelerated before I draw it? I think that perhaps I’m missing some important understanding of accelerated images. Some links or an explanation would be great.

#2

http://www.gamelizard.com/JavaGameProgrammingPresentation.htm

Check out my lil’ info packet there. Scroll down and you’ll see that info and more.

#3

Thanks for that link. You’re saying that the GAGETimer will ignore the monitor refresh rate?

As for accelerating images, lets see if I’ve got this right. If I have a BufferedImage “i” which might or might not be accelerated and I want to make an accelerated version called “accelerated”, the following will work?

GraphicsConfiguration gc = GraphicsEnvironment.getLocalGraphicsEnvironment().getDefaultScreenDevice().getDefaultConfiguration();
BufferedImage accelerated = gc.createCompatibleImage(i.getWidth(), i.getHeight(), Transparency.TRANSLUCENT);
Graphics2D accelG = accelerated.createGraphics();
accelG.drawImage(i, 0, 0, null);

And every time I draw “accelerated”, it is, and remains, an accelerated image? How do I check to see if an image is accelerated?

#4

How do I check to see if an image is accelerated?

getCapabilities -> isAccelerated

#5

Oh and don’t be surprised… the default acceleration threshold is 2. That means the image will get only accelerated if it’s drawn twice before.

System.setProperty(“sun.java2d.accthreshold”, “0”);

This way you can set it to 0 - instant acceleration.

#6

That’s wierd. I’m getting a “cannot resolve symbol” error on the getCapabilities(GraphicsConfiguration gc) method. I checked, like, 25 times to make sure I was spelling it right, but no go.

EDIT
Thanks, I have the threshold set to 0.

#7

Seems like that method is 1.5 only. Well… duh…

1.5 is more fun anyways, because you have nanoTime there :wink:

#8

Stupid me. I thought that I was running 1.5. I’ll let you know how it works out after I update.

EDIT
Ha ha … It seems that I had updated the JRE and not the JDK. I guess that would do it.

#9

Ok, I updated and found out that my images ARE accelerated! Thanks for the help with that. I still haven’t put in the timer you suggested, but are you sure that it will ignore the monitor refresh rate? I don’t see how it could avoid it.

#10

Fullscreen+bufferstrat=vsynced

So… add a switch for windowed mode.