New to Game Programming, Old Applicatoin Programmer

[czar]

DPI in forms is something different and has nothing to do with print to paper. If you create a VCL application you will need to deal with DPI differences. I have two of my machines at home on 120DPI with 22" 16:10 LCD screens and one other machine is still 96dpi with an older 19" 4:3 LCD so I am starting to get used to working with multiple DPI settings.

[captainproton]

I am very aware of the DPI issues when printing, but Csar is right. When displaying a form on 96DPI things look good, but move to another machine with 120DPI and things go bad unless you handle them.

Mu problem was that some buttons were BltBtn's which would appear wider than the glyph being displayed. I converted them all to Speedbutton's and made them transparent and it fixed the problem. But the buttons still weren't being drawn in the correct location. Where there may have been a gap of 50 pixels at 96DPI that gap grew to about 100 pixels at 120DPI. I know that the actual pixels are the same but the 120DPI stretches things out.

I like JEDI stuff and will take a look at it.

Thanks for all the comments so far, it is fun talking to fellow programmers rather than just talking to myself which is what I do a lot of.

[czar]

Did you try setting Form property "scaled := false;"


?

[captainproton]

Yes, I have set scaling to false previously without any effect. I also have stuff relating to enumdisplaysettings which I shall remove for the duration and try the scaling again in case there is something in there screwing around with it.

[captainproton]

Ok, I previously said that I had set scaling to false! Well, I had but for some reason it didn't fix my problem. But now when I set it to false it works perfectly.

I don't understand why it didn't work in the past unless there was something else mucking up.

Thanks Czar for your help. Now all I got to do is convert the remaining BltBtn's to Speedbuttons and I am set.

My next hurdle is creating nicely animated Reels. Will play with DanjetX for that and other stuff.

I will make some changes and upload the game to my web site so that all those poor saps with Vista can play.

Thanks again.

Craig

[czar]

I use DanjetX on a daily basis for my work. Just be aware that it does require DirectX 9 and some of your people may not be able to run a DirectX 9 application. The DanJetX forum is a great place to get help if you need specific danjetx support.

[WILL]

Personally I think DanJetX looks great, but I don't know it it's really something for beginners to tackle right out of the box as it where.

I'd recommend something more along the lines of DelphiX or JEDI-SDL. I could be wrong though...

[czar]

I agree - that is why I suggested delphix to him - ease of use is similar to danjetx. But his software appeals to people who tend not buy new hardware very often so DelphiX would be more suitable to ensure compatibility. I mean the normal DelphiX that still only requires DirectX 7.

[WILL]

Well sadly with the loss of the Turbo site older DelphiX is hard to get your hands on now.

Fret not... PGD is planning on taking over hosting responsibilities... --well mostly-- of the New DelphiX packages.

Jaro and Dom both seem enthusiastic about the idea. All that is pending is the implementation.

[jdarling]

DelphiX or JEDI-SDL would both be good starting points. Though personally I would recommend Phoenix or S2DL. Why, because they are both wrappers around JEDI-SDL and thus both cross platform. Supporting MAC users and Linux users in a selling product is never a bad thing.

You could re-build the game in either in a matter of hours. Granted to get the real cross-platform support you will have to switch to FPC or Lazarus.

More info:
Phoenix PGD Thread: http://www.pascalgamedevelopment.com...hlight=phoenix
Phoenix Home Page: http://www.phoenixlib.net/
S2DL Home Page: http://thegamedeveloper.co.za/?page_id=61

Also, both authors (Andreaz and Cairns) are normal visitors and posters to PGD so support shouldn't be difficult.

Just my two cents.