Is it possible to stop a windows form panel background image from refreshing?

Question

Hello guys I hope you are all well! I am creating a game in Visual Studio using picture box's but I cannot for the life of me figure out how I can have a nice picture in the background as when I do put one in there it is constantly redrawn everytime the game refreshes and this make it impossible to play as it slows almost to a halt. My question for you pro's is can I set the background image of the panel to never refresh? With the amount of different things Visual Studio can do I am sure there must be a way to achieve this simple task? I have tried everything but I cannot figure it out if anyone can help me I would be greatly appreciative! Many thanks to you all!! Cheers!!!!!!

Ray · Answer

Hi Frogleg thanks for your compliments I am happy you can see how much time I have spent on my project. Of course I can wait I am more than happy to wait I am just appreciative of your help with this and any advice you can give me on improving my code! Thanks again Frogleg!

Frogleg · Answer

I'm going to be busy for next few days but if you can wait I check it out Points to you for the effort you put into your project

Ray · Answer

Frogleg wow thanks that must mean you are really enjoying my game! Thanks! I know my code is really rough and I didnt really know much about file IO until attempting this but it's great having all these tips from you I can't wait to see what the difference is with your alterations! I have looked into XNA I was seriously considering downloading and installiing it and teaching myself the code so I could make simple game it sounds like it could be great fun and I am alwasy getting loads of ideas! Frogleg one thing I was meant to ask you was as I am using enumeration on the socring in the Enemy class how can I get the mothership and destroyer to increment in value every time they are killed so if one is worth 100 points then everytime it is killed it is worth 110 120 130 etc... And I was wondering how I could alwasy save the highscore to the highscore box? Are these things that are too difficult to do? Frogleg I owe you for all your help and assistance! Thank you!

Frogleg · Answer

I have been too busy playing your game to do much to it. I did cut out a bit of excess code - remove all GamePanel.Refresh();: When you save a game in Mydocuments you should create a folder with game name. When I saved and loaded a game there was heaps of txt files (of my own) to sort through - and maybe give the files a .sav extension rather than .txt Considering the amount of pictueboxes moving around it is(the game) running reasonably well Also have a look at XNA which is a free purpose built for games sofware that integrates with C#- You can use 2d or 3d models

Ray · Answer

Hi Frogleg I really appreciate you looking at my code I am excited to see how you cna make it different with a timer! I know its was wrong to have everything in the gamepanel but it was too late then but a lesson has been learned!! Thanks again for your time with this!!!!! Ray

Frogleg · Answer

You don't use GamePanel_Paint to run your game engine - use a timer I added a timer to the project and set interval to 10 private void timer1_Tick( object sender EventArgs e)//paste this above GamePanel_Paint and comment out as below { //private void GamePanel_Paint(object sender PaintEventArgs e)//this is the game loop it controls what happens when the game is running this is where objects update and refreshes You will have to comment out //this.GamePanel.Paint += new System.Windows.Forms.PaintEventHandler(this.GamePanel_Paint); in MainScreenDesigner.cs Also check Mercurianbullet.jpg as the one I d/loaded was corrupt I'll take a look at the code again tomorrow

Ray · Answer

Hi Frogleg I will upload my whole project in a zipped folder right now. I tried for a while to attempt your idea again early this morning but I just can't get it to work. I really do apprecaite your help with this it would be great if I could get this to work! Thanks again if you like you can email the result to me at deucalion0@gmail.com if that is any easier for you? Just a thought. Anyway many thanks again!!!! Cheers!

Frogleg · Answer

Yes upload yor whole project. That will make it easier for me

Ray · Answer

Hi Frogleg I spent some time about an hour trying your idea but I could not get it to work I had problems swapping from the Panel to the doubleBuffered panel I thought I managed to swap everthing over after building there were no errors but when trying to run it I had problems with the picture boxes if I upload my whole project would you be so kind as to try this for me I have spent all day with this and I feel I am wasting time but I am just so determined. Frogleg I appreciate your help with this thanks for the code!!! I just think I am not experienced enough to do things like this just yet. Thanks a lot!! Ray

Frogleg · Answer

First - for gaming in C# I suggest you look at XNA You have quite a few pictureboxes floating around which will slow your code Without the whole project I could not test my proposal 1. Create a double buffer panel to stop flickering using System; using System.Collections.Generic; using System.Linq; using System.Text; using System.Windows.Forms; using System.Drawing; namespace SpaceInvaders { class DoubleBufferPanel : Panel { public DoubleBufferPanel() { this .DoubleBuffered = true ; this .SetStyle( ControlStyles .DoubleBuffer | ControlStyles .UserPaint | ControlStyles .AllPaintingInWmPaint true ); this .UpdateStyles(); } } } Add a new class to your project hit build - then in your toolbox there will be a doubleBufferedPanel. swap this with your gamepanel Add your background image to your resources and also create using mspaint a red image same size as panel - add this to your resources to implement doubleBufferPanel1.BackgroundImage = SpaceInvaders.Properties. Resources .OrigImage;//your original image doubleBufferPanel1.BackgroundImage = SpaceInvaders.Properties. Resources .Redjpg;//the new image You are now swapping images instead of painting panel background Hopefully you will not need panel refresh

Ray · Answer

Hi there of course I should have included my code initially sorry about that. Here is the code that is in the mainscreen which creates and runs the game sorry it is not the neatest as I am still editing it a lot at the moment. I have attached my code I hope I have done it correctly! Many many thanks!!! Ray

Frogleg · Answer

Could you upload your code for us to analize