2D Performance: DirectDraw vs. D3D

[Abbacabba]

Has anyone tried to compare or seen a comparison of 2D speed using DirectDraw vs. D3D?

I know D3D gets hardware accel. but it looks like using D3D to draw only 2d tile type games would be cumbersome.

Can anyone offer some insight on why they have or will use D3D for old-school type tile based(or other 2d) games?


BTW: Im currently using Managed DX9 thru C#, and using DirectDraw.

 

[wyrd]

When doing a 2D game it shouldnt really matter, but since DirectDraw has pretty much been dropped by Microsoft (they say use D3D for everything), one can only hope that D3D would be faster.

 

[Menge]

hrm... i believe in D3D, since it uses the GPU and thus freeing the CPU

 

[wyrd]

Doesnt DirectDraw use mostly the video card as well? If it doesnt itd be pretty crappy in comparison.

 

[Menge]

does it use the vid card? i didnt know... i thought it was always on the cpu... but then again.... it has been pretty much dropped since dx7 right? its the same interfaces, right?

 

[wyrd]

Youre thinking of GDI, in terms of CPU usage. And yes, DirectDraw hasnt had any support since DX7.

 

[pjv]

Im pretty sure youll need d3d if you want alpha blending as well.. as I dont think directdraw supports it. I could be wrong though.

Also, even in a 2d game you can benefit from 3d effects. i.e. particle system or whatever.

 

[createdbyx]

go with D3D

personally I would go with D3d because it unfortunatly is the future. But besides that you will as prev posts suggested beable to harness the power of your vid card.

If you want to avoid all of the complecities of d3d use the D3DXSprite class in directx 8 or the Direct3D.Sprite class in directx 9 to draw your images on the screen. that way you can have alphablending and rotations etc for free and still mantain a easy to use way of drawing 2d images on the screen.

 

[Defiant00]

I havent compared speed, however you do have to use Direct3D for any sort of alpha blending.

Im currently working on a game using the Sprite class, and it is an easy alternative to DirectDraw (at least so far). The biggest limitation with Direct3D that I am running into is having to have the texture sizes be powers of 2, and Im not sure if this is the case in DirectDraw.