Hey guys,
since I bought my new PC with a Quadcore, I wondered why gamestudio don't use all 4 processors. I googled it and saw, that just some programs support "Multithreading" to use all processors.
In the future, there will be just "Multithreading" programs and games, I think.
So, i coded a little plugin for you to create threads for your games.
UPDATES:
v0.2:
-Added fuctions "CreateAThreadWithVar" and "CreateAThreadWithInt" to overgive parameters to your thread function.
-You can create unlimited Threads.
You can download it
here. Scroll down until you see "Multithreading Plugin" and click on it.
There are 2 examples:
fileexample.c
///////////////////////////////
#include <acknex.h>
#include <default.c>
///////////////////////////////
void CreateAThread(void*func);
void MultithreadingInit();
var fhandle;
void f1()
{
while(1)
{
file_var_write(fhandle,1);
wait(-0.5);
}
}
void f2()
{
while(1)
{
file_var_write(fhandle,2);
wait(-0.5);
}
}
void f3()
{
while(1)
{
file_var_write(fhandle,3);
wait(-0.5);
}
}
void f4()
{
while(1)
{
file_var_write(fhandle,4);
wait(-0.5);
}
}
void main()
{
fhandle=file_open_write("test.txt");
MultithreadingInit();
CreateAThread(f1);
CreateAThread(f2);
CreateAThread(f3);
CreateAThread(f4);
}
This example creates/opens test.txt. With "CreateAThread" you create a thread, that is running a function, so there are 4 Threads. The function you want to use may not have any parameters.
void f1()
{
while(1)
{
file_var_write(fhandle,1);
wait(-0.5);
}
}
void f2()
{
while(1)
{
file_var_write(fhandle,2);
wait(-0.5);
}
}
....
Thread 1 writes "1" in test.txt and waits 0.5 seconds. Thread 2 writes 2 and so on....
Run it about 5 seconds, then take a look at test.txt.
It should look like this:
1 4 3 2 1 4 3 2 1 4 3 2 1 4 3 2 1 4 3 2 1 4 3 2 1 4 3 2 1 4 3 2 1 4 3 2 1 4 3 2 1 4 3 2
Now the next example, crashtest.c.
will crash, because you don't use wait(1).
Open crashtest.c.
///////////////////////////////
#include <acknex.h>
#include <default.c>
///////////////////////////////
void CreateAThread(void*func);
void MultithreadingInit();
var fhandle;
STRING*str="#100";
TEXT*txt=
{
string=str;
pos_x=100;
pos_y=100;
flags=SHOW;
}
void f1()
{
var i=0;
while(1)
{
i++;
i--;
}
}
void f2()
{
var i=0;
while(1)
{
i++;
i--;
}
}
void f3()
{
var i=0;
while(1)
{
i++;
i--;
}
}
void f4()
{
var i=0;
while(1)
{
str_for_num(str,i);
i++;
wait(1);
}
}
void main()
{
MultithreadingInit();
CreateAThread(f1);
CreateAThread(f2);
CreateAThread(f3);
CreateAThread(f4);
}
It looks a bit like fileexample.c.
But you know functions like
void f1()
{
var i=0;
while(1)
{
i++;
i--;
}
}
would crash, because there is no wait(1).
Yes, thread 1, thread 2 and thread 3 are useless. They are just utilizing 100% processing power of their thread.
Thread 4,
STRING*str="#100";
TEXT*txt=
{
string=str;
pos_x=100;
pos_y=100;
flags=SHOW;
}
....
void f4()
{
var i=0;
while(1)
{
str_for_num(str,i);
i++;
wait(1);
}
}
is copying every frame of thread 4 var i into a string, which is shown in a TEXT. Thread 4 is working without problems.
I hope you can use this in you project. Feedbacks, problems and so on are welcome.
Regards,
Henning
EDIT1:Release 4 free!
. Yes, you are right.
