Apparently AGK is very slow for 2d drawing :/

[Xaron]

Hey there,

just tried to draw some pixels on my good ol' Macbook Air but hell, AGK is SLOW!

Filling a 512*512 texture with random pixels (so roughly 260k pixels) takes about 200-400ms on my older MacBook Air (2011, core i7) using AppGameKit, where Monkey 2 takes 40ms and Monkey 1 aka Cerberus even takes only 10ms.

I've tested 3 possibilities:

1) Using DrawBox:
On my system it takes 320ms for drawing

2) Using SetMemblockByte 4 times:
On my system it takes 440ms for drawing

3) Using SetMemblockInt:
On my system it takes 280ms for drawing

Code Select Expand



// Project: test
// Created: 2017-08-20

// show all errors
SetErrorMode(2)

// set window properties
SetWindowTitle( "test" )
SetWindowSize( 1024, 768, 0 )
SetWindowAllowResize( 1 ) // allow the user to resize the window

// set display properties
SetVirtualResolution( 1024, 768 ) // doesn't have to match the window
SetOrientationAllowed( 1, 1, 1, 1 ) // allow both portrait and landscape on mobile devices
SetSyncRate( 30, 0 ) // 30fps instead of 60 to save battery
SetScissor( 0,0,0,0 ) // use the maximum available screen space, no black borders
UseNewDefaultFonts( 1 ) // since version 2.0.22 we can use nicer default fonts

XCreateMemblockForImageRGBA( 1, 512, 512 )
CreateImageFromMemblock( 1, 1 )
CreateSprite( 1, 1 )

do
  Local y, x As Integer
  Local t1, t2, t3 As Integer
  t1 = GetMilliseconds()
  Local col As Integer
  col = MakeColor(255,0,0)
  For y = 0 To 511
    For x = 0 To 511
      //DrawBox( x, y, x+1, y+1, col, col, col, col, 1 )       
      XDrawPixel( 1, x, y, 512, 255, 0, 0, 255 )
      //XDrawPixel2( 1, x, y, 512, 4278190335 )
    Next x
  Next y
  t2 = GetMilliseconds()
  CreateImageFromMemblock( 1, 1 )
  SetSpriteImage( 1, 1 )
  t3 = GetMilliseconds()
  Print( "FPS: " + Str( ScreenFPS() ) )
  Print( "Draw Pixel Time: " + Str( t2 - t1 ) + "ms" )
  Print( "Create Image Time: " + Str( t3 - t2 ) + "ms" )
  Sync()
loop

Function XCreateMemblockForImageRGBA( memId As Integer, width As Integer, height As Integer )
  // memblock 'size' is summary of image width (integer, 4 bytes),
  // image height (integer, 4 bytes), image depth (integer, 4 bytes)
  // that is 12 bytes - and raw image data (the number of pixels multiplied by 4 bytes)
  Local size As Integer
  size = 12 + width * height * 4
  CreateMemblock( memId, size )

  SetMemblockInt( memId, 0, width )  // writing starts with offset 0
  SetMemblockInt( memId, 4, height ) // variable 'width' occupies 4 bytes, so now offset 0 + 4 = 4
  SetMemblockInt( memId, 8, 32 )     // variable 'height' occupies 4 bytes, so now offset 4 + 4 = 8

  Local i As Integer
  For i = 12 To size-1 Step 4
    SetMemblockByte( memId, i, Random( 0, 255 ) )
    SetMemblockByte( memId, i+1, Random( 0, 255 ) )
    SetMemblockByte( memId, i+2, Random( 0, 255 ) )
    SetMemblockByte( memId, i+3, Random( 0, 1 ) )
  Next i
EndFunction

Function XDrawPixel( memId As Integer, x As Integer, y As Integer, w As Integer, r As Integer, g As Integer, b As Integer, a As Integer )
  Local dst As Integer
  dst = 12+4*(y*w+x)
  SetMemblockByte( memId, dst, r )
  SetMemblockByte( memId, dst+1, g )
  SetMemblockByte( memId, dst+2, b )
  SetMemblockByte( memId, dst+3, a )
EndFunction

Function XDrawPixel2( memId As Integer, x As Integer, y As Integer, w As Integer, rgba As Integer )
  Local dst As Integer
  dst = 12+4*(y*w+x)
  SetMemblockInt( memId, dst, rgba )
EndFunction


[Xaron]

Did another test with C++ and wow, it only takes 20ms now! So that Basic stuff seems to be good until you do some heavy stuff.

[Steve Elliott]

So you mean you tested the AGK Tier 2 (C++) and it was much faster for heavy lifting?

[MikeHart]

Yes. That is what he ment.

[Steve Elliott]

Awesome.   

[Rick Nasher]

Luv the code anyhow Xaron. This example might come in handy sometime for non-time-critical functions, so thanks for sharing.

[Steve Elliott]

Yes thanks for sharing.

I'm learning AGK too and will be starting a small game soon now I know the basics, and got it working nicely in C++.

[Xaron]

Haha thanks,

never thought that this piece of crap would be interesting for anyone. 

Anyway, now that I know there is a fast way of doing this by just using C++ this might be indeed useful. I think I might make a game with AGK. It's a nice toolset, I just love C++ (doing this by profession for ages now) and love Visual Studio as IDE anyway, especially together with Visual Assist.

[Steve Elliott]

I agree, started my game today using the C++/AGK Combination.  Look forward to see what you produce 

[MikeHart]

When MX was dead i was preaching AgK to Xaron constantly. "Look into this. It is awesome". Typical complain from him: "It can't do OOP". 

[Steve Elliott]

lol, talking of games, how's your AGK Game coming Mike?

[MikeHart]

No real progress atm. I spending my time on CX related stuff and preparing myself for quite some artwork for a game Xaron and I want to create.

[Steve Elliott]

A shame, but at least you're working on a game.

[MikeHart]

A shame, but at least you're working on a game.

I am not worried. That game will be finished.

[Steve Elliott]

Cool.