Screens, windows and a Noob

[John Aadnoey]

I thought it was about time to get started with Powerbasic, as Ive had it for some time, but never got time to start with it. Anyway as a gamer I want to write some kind of rpg games using mainly 2D graphic.

Now, I want the possibility for the game/program to open its own screen as most games do and the possibility to run it in window mode.

My problem here is mostly this, how do I do it, and what is it called in Windows?

Do I need to dive into directx? to do this or does Powerbasic has own commands for this?

I never figured it out in VB6, not that it is even useful for it(too may limitations)..

Is there any examples of what I am after?

[Erich Schulman]

I can't recall a special term, but if you say "full screen" vs. running in a window that is probably clear enough.

See what you can do without using DirectX and OpenGL, but try to support both (like Google Earth does) if it turns out you need them.

If you buy EZGUI, it has sprites and other features you may find helpful.

You might want to look at developer support at places like
http://developer.nvidia.com/page/home.html and http://tirdc.livejournal.com/
Not quite everyone uses nVidia or ATi/AMD, so don't forget support for others like Intel and VIA.

[Cliff Nichols]

John,
Do you mean FullScreen as in no title bar and takes up the whole screen like your desktop? or just fullscreen (leaves a title bar and options for Min/Max/Restore/Exit) ???

[John Aadnoey]

John,
Do you mean FullScreen as in no title bar and takes up the whole screen like your desktop? or just fullscreen (leaves a title bar and options for Min/Max/Restore/Exit) ???

The first.

[John Aadnoey]

I can't recall a special term, but if you say "full screen" vs. running in a window that is probably clear enough.

See what you can do without using DirectX and OpenGL, but try to support both (like Google Earth does) if it turns out you need them.

If you buy EZGUI, it has sprites and other features you may find helpful.

You might want to look at developer support at places like
http://developer.nvidia.com/page/home.html and http://tirdc.livejournal.com/
Not quite everyone uses nVidia or ATi/AMD, so don't forget support for others like Intel and VIA.

Since its 2D, I do not think I'll need neither OpenGL or Direct3D.

DirectX is more than just graphic, its mouse, keyboards, sound etc aswell.