Hello Gl Basic users.
Just would like to know if there are any ex Blitz Basic users using GLBasic.
If there are, would you be so kind as to tell me how it compares to Blitz generally.
Is it fast for blitting images, maths commands, networking etc. ;/
I am downloading demo to give it a good try, but that would be some days before I test the language, the reason why I would like someone with months years of experience to shed some light here :good:
I am moving from Blitz definately and want to find out if GLbasic is a good viable path to take for games programming.
Thanks in advance
-Joe
Yes, I used to use BlitzMax, although I used DBPro more :)
Graphics blitting is fast, maths are also fast - although if you want them faster, its quite possible. Networking is also fast and a lot more usable than BliztMax's ones.
Anything either of the aforementioned languages can also done with GLBasic - and on more platforms.
I used BlitzBasic, Blitz3D and BlitzMax quite extensively - creating nurous games and apps in all of those (as well as other languages).
GLBasic fares very favourably against BlitzBasic - you don't get MAVs for a start! In fact, I now develop exclusively in GLB - although to be fair this is due to the cross platform compilation to GP2X and Wiz - something that BlitzBasic can't do, let alone for Mac, iPhone, Linux, PPC etc. etc.
There is pretty much nothing you can do in BlitzBasic or Blitz3D that can't be done in GLBasic. Support from and updates are ongoing and often at user request from the ever willing Gernot. Bugs are generally squashed in days, not months/years as with Blitz.
The jump for me from Blitz was easy and logical.
I am a registered Blitz3D and BlitzMax user.
I really like GLBasic, its fast and very flexible. The 3D is nice and simple but has advanced features, shader support for example. The IDE is very simple yet has some powerful features.
Some things I miss though, are the low level 3D stuff that Blitz provided, UV/Normal manipulation and the Entity based nature (There is a very nice GLB lib that covers this well though).
On the whole, moving to GLB was not something I have regretted once.
The biggest plus is that the developer, listens to his users, joins in conversations and is just one of the guys on the forums... a BIG difference from BRL IMHO.
Thanks for fast replies guys, really like to come back few hours later from my initial post and see some comments.
Well you might be having a new GLBasic user very very soon.
Seems a very good change and can't wait to start on porting my game Fluffy which I have completed in Blitz. Perhaps try it out for IPod Touch, but buying a mac hurts as they are pretty expensive. :'(
Regards
-Joe
I never used blitz, but I've sampled a fare share of languages, engines and creators. So for GLbasic is pretty good at handling graphics in general.
http://www.glbasic.com/forum/index.php?topic=4101.0
^
In this game I am converting from Game Maker 6.1, to Glbasic, I recorded the differences in CPU and Memory Usage. I found a 50% decrease in memory use, which I contributed mostly to a lack of a front runner that GM uses, and huge improvement in overall cpu usage, at times barely using it.
A lot of it depends on how you set things up and display your visuals.
Omadan: Welcome! Several years ago, I would get flamed on the Blitz forums and various Blitz community forums if I made a passing reference to GLBasic when they were complaining about the problems and limitations in B3D and BlitzMax. Now, there is a very large number of Blitz users here on the GLB forums (including some of those who flamed me). I won't stoop to saying "I told you so" to those people, but I will say "I was right and you were wrong". =D
Shortly after I bought GLB, I started referring to it as everything BlitzMax promised but never delivered. Shortly after buying GLB, I gave BlitzMax away for free to a "friend" who was doing a lot to support the community.
Since you mentioned BRL products, my opinions, (and I was with the PC version of Blitz since its beginning):
BlitzBASIC: Great at its time, but now dead and no longer supported. Does not work properly on modern hardware due to the DEP issue and will not work on Windows XP SP2 or above due to the DEP issue. DEP issue aside, it will not work properly on Vista or 7 due to DX7 no longer being supported and having to run under emulation. In its defense, it uses DirectDraw 7 which is better supported under emulation that the Direct3D 7 which Blitz3D uses.
Blitz3D: It was outdated by the time it was released over a year late. It still gets updates, but it is very problematic on Vista and 7 due to its reliance on DX7 which has to run under emulation on modern systems. Mark has stated in the past it would not be updated to modern APIs. There are still a few issues in B3D that have been there since the beginning and will never be fixed.
BlitzPlus: The BB compiler was rewritten for this version and is faster than BB and faster than B3D at most logic processing. It uses DX1 which of course has to run under emulation on Vista and 7. However, it also has an OpenGL driver which works very well on Vista and 7 and a Software driver which works on virtually any system (even Vista and 7). It also allows you to load images to system ram or vram which is great for limited or embedded systems. I still use BP because of its software driver, although it is slow (I have written my own GDI based 2D engine which pushes a couple of thousand sprites around at a very high FPS (i have really dug back into ASM lately)). DEP issues were fixed, several years ago. Even though I am banned from BRL forums, Mark has still been very good about fixing two differnt bugs I have reported to him. The only bad thing I can say about B+ is it took Mark over a year to fix a semi-crucial bug that skidracer put into it when he deleted code he didn't understand.
BlitzMax: Originally was Mac only. It took a while for Windows & Linux to appear. It did not support DX in the beginning and Mark made the mistake of giving in to user demand and gavem them DX support (which has never worked properly compared to the OpenGL driver which is virtually flawless). MaxGUI was written by skidracer so it never worked properly. I understand that somebody else who knows what they are doing took over MaxGUI and now it not only works, but it has been expanded. The original sound driver (freeaudio) for BM was written by Skidracer, it has never worked properly and still doesn't (there are several alternatives now). BM does not support true cross-compiling like GLB does. The GC in BM is a bottleneck and can be a hindrance to speed in many cases. BM's speed is very good, and the modular approach is a dream to work with. EXEs are larger than they need to be, but still reasonably sized compared to other products.
I should note, at one time I left Blitz for a while and gave away BB, B3D and B+ to a friend who couldn't afford them. But several months later, I did get an "urge" and I bought B+ and B3D again. I regret buying B3D again, but I do not regret buying B+ again.
DarkBasic: I was with it from its inception. I loved DB Classic, so much so that when it was first made free for schools, I used it for the programming class I teach. DB Pro was a mess in the beginning (still is in mahy aspects), but it has developed into a usable product. DBPro EXEs are huge though. Now that DB Pro is free, I will be dropping EmergenceBASIC and using DB Pro for the programming class I teach starting this summer. Unfortunately the DB Pro folks have diversified themselves too much with the various game creators (talk about competing against yourself) and developing apps for iPhone and Facebook. I am curious as to how long DB will be around, with so many of the products now being free.
GLBasic: I was very lewry of it at first because I could never get the previous product DINGs to work on my system, it would always crash. I was very impressed with GLB when I tried it, although compiling time was slow. Here (http://www.blitzbasic.com/Community/posts.php?topic=62645#700319) is somebody quoting my compiling results from three years ago. That kept me away for a while, although I did use GLB for prototyping.
GLB has only become better over the years. Gernot has added support for many platforms, and continued to improve GLB in many aspects. I am moving to Linux only and "hoping" to use GLB for all work from now on, although some of the runtimes required are a tad outdated. But Gernot seems very willing to work on this aspect.
Unlike most products out there, GLB is actually cared about by its developer. Sometimes this is all it takes to make a product superior.
I come from the blitz world as well. GLBASIC is definitely going to be one of the best choices for game development in the future. :good:
...my two cents.
I have only been using GL Basic for a few days but have given it quite a spin with trying out some of the features. I find it very robust and reliable. Does anybody remember the Amiga? I have used Blitz Basic on that many years ago but alas my A1200 hasnt seen the light of day for some time. I have tried quite a few other basic compilers but GLB with it's stability and cross platform application features put it way ahead of all the others, and it don't break the bank!. It's a very nice programming IDE, and I can see it going from strength to strength. 8)
Well said! :D
I'm still a user of Blitz3D. Blitz3D has less support for advanced 3D commands than GLBasic (e.g. No inbuilt functions to load shaders), and cannot compile to multiple platforms like GLBasic. It doesn't support inline code. However, I've found the commands to be more intuitive and I like the entity-based system for 3D. Overall, GLBasic has more features, but I find it easier to quickly create a program using Blitz.
O_O
There is an entity system for GLBasic. Browse the forums.
yes, browse the forum since the search function doesn't work...
http://www.glbasic.com/forum/index.php?topic=2021.0
I type "entity" in the search box, and it displays these trheads at position 1 and 4 for me. Is it broken for you!?
Does seem to be a problem - type in entity and you just get 4 entries. Do it again and you get three pages of stuff...
Or even two :
(http://i475.photobucket.com/albums/rr115/MrTAToad/search.png)
I don't use the Search at the top right as the lower, left hand search gives better results for me... go figure? O_O
I stand corrected. I'm still new to GLBasic, and a quick search (which does work for me :)) yields a lot of entity related results. Sorry for my ignorance :S
Don't worry. We had great problems with the search function lately. That's why I asked.
First click HOME in tne mainmenu then search!
QuoteFirst click HOME in tne mainmenu then search!
Yes, that's the only way I've been able to do it cleanly.
Perhaps the search only searches your current search results, or sub-forum you are currently in?
Right, you only search in the current subforum!
AHHHHHH!!!! Finally I learned something good.
I too have used all the Blitz products..
I started a game in Blitz2d (which still works BTW on win7 x86 .. both the language and the game written witrh it)
I've just ported it over to GLBasic and i'm continuing to develope it in GLBasic
(it took me less than a day to convert it)
its still a work in progress and has been posted in the beta area here
OH and BTW for those who are interested .. the size of the compiled EXE from GWBasic is smaller than it was compiled in Blitz2d
the link to the demo of the program i'm working on is here http://www.glbasic.com/forum/index.php?topic=4800.msg36482#msg36482