Game Loop Falling Behind on Slower Machines

[BurntPizza]

It’s supported well by the big 3: http://libgdx.badlogicgames.com/documentation.html

[Tekkerue]

Thanks BurntPizza! If there is no significant difference for compatibility with LibGDX, then from searching for IDE comparisons in general (not related to LibGDX) I’ve seen that Eclipse is more widely used, so I will probably go with that one then.

[lcass]

@Tekkerue

Hi SHC, thank you for your response.

The method I’m using now was worked out in another thread I had started here…which is rather long. lol
http://www.java-gaming.org/topics/double-buffering-with-a-jpanel/33983/view.html

I wasn’t aware that swing was going to be such a problem performance wise, that’s a real bummer!

I don’t know that I can use any 3rd party libraries because I’m going to be using Codename One for developing my program on mobile devices, which uses their own Java API that is translated to native code for various mobile devices (Android, iOS, Windows Phone, Blackberry, etc). Everything I’ve been working on in my Java prototype I’ve been checking against the Codename One API to make sure the classes I use are also supported in Codename One.

I searched the Codename One API for “BufferStrategy” and it does not appear that this is supported in Codename One. Here is the Codename One API:
https://codenameone.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/CodenameOne/javadoc/index.html

Essentially what I need in my metronome are setting controls, such as text fields to enter numerical values, buttons (start/stop, tap tempo, etc), sliders (for tempo, volume, etc). Then I will have the visual display which will involve the beat counters (which is also changing color currently) and sprite animations. That’s about it!

It seems I need a mix of swing components and graphics (for animation) and not many tutorials seem to cover how to do all of this, which I think is why I’m getting so stuck on this. I’m usually pretty good at finding information, but this has been difficult finding anything close to what I need. Your article is about the only tutorial I’ve seen that goes into this kind of thing. However, you (and the article you posted) don’t actually recommend using swing at all for games…so that also complicates things.

If I was just sticking with Java then using 3rd party libraries wouldn’t be so much an issue. But I don’t think I’d be able to get them to work with Codename One when I move to mobile unfortunately.

So given all of these things, what seems like the best path forward? I’ve re-written my graphics code several times starting from complete scratch and it seems each time I try something different I still end up running into some kind of road block. I was really hoping this latest one would be more easily fixed with some tweaks to my game loop, but if this is still not the best route to go, then I’d rather do it a better way.

Is there another route I can go implementing a double buffer on my own? I read your article and it sounds like BufferStrategy essentially chooses the best method between double buffering or page flipping…so couldn’t I implement a double buffer myself using other Java components (which would be supported by Codename One) instead of relying on BufferStrategy? This is essentially what I started out trying to do originally in my other thread I posted above, but my method was not successful at all.

Thanks again!

I had the same issue with my games , I originally only used pure java with swing. There is currently no pure java alternative because of the fact it does not use the gpu hence if you use a low power computer it will have a lower power CPU meaning it will be slower. Honestly building a very basic efficient opengl renderer is easy if you have had some experience. its all the other things such as merging layers and shaders that are more difficult.