Hmm... there's multiple ways to do this you mentioned.
Sending the file in a string... how do I read a file in binary into an ascii string?... does that even work?

I don't know much about file types, help?

I wanted to use the pixel_for_bmap method, but the manual is against that somehow... they say not to overuse the function, and that it can crash your program easily...


thx,
Micha

If you want to use pixel_to_bmap then you should use pixel_for_bitmap on the other side of your client/server to read the information of the pixels into 3 or 4 arrays.

something like this...
Code:

---

var v_alpha[512];
var v_red[512];
var v_green[512];
var v_blue[512];

function read_bmap(b_bmap)
{
	var v_x = 0;
	var v_y = 0;
	var v_index = 0;
	var v_pixel;
	var v_format;
	
	v_format = bmap_lock(b_bmap, 0);
	if (v_format != 0) // valid bmap?
	{
		while (v_y < bmap_height(b_bmap))
		{
			while (v_x < bmap_width(b_bmap))
			{
				v_index = (v_y*bmap_width(b_bmap))+v_x;
				v_pixel = pixel_for_bmap(b_bmap, v_x, v_y);
				pixel_to_vec(temp, v_alpha[v_index], v_format, v_pixel);
				v_red[v_index]		= temp.red;
				v_green[v_index]	= temp.green;
				v_blue[v_index]	= temp.blue;
				v_x += 1;
			}
			v_y += 1;
		}
	}
	bmap_unlock(b_bmap);
}

function write_bmap(b_bmap)
{
	var v_x = 0;
	var v_y = 0;
	var v_index = 0;
	var v_pixel;
	var v_format;
	
	v_format = bmap_lock(b_bmap, 0);
	if (v_format != 0) // valid bmap?
	{
		while (v_y < bmap_height(b_bmap))
		{
			while (v_x < bmap_width(b_bmap))
			{
				v_index = (v_y*bmap_width(b_bmap))+v_x;
				temp.red = v_red[v_index];
				temp.green = v_green[v_index];
				temp.blue = v_blue[v_index];
				v_pixel = pixel_for_vec(temp, v_alpha[v_index], v_format);
				pixel_to_bmap(b_bmap, v_x, v_y, v_pixel);
				v_x += 1;
			}
			v_y += 1;
		}
	}
	bmap_unlock(b_bmap);	
}

---

I don't tested this functions but it should work.
Now you need a function that sends the 4 arrays (v_red, v_green, v_blue and y_alpha) to server or clients.

I think they means with overuse something like using it every frame?!? But I don't know.

Thanks a lot!
the manual said:
"For speed reasons this function is not safeguarded. Exceeding the bmap size (for instance by redefining d3d_texlimit) will lead to an engine crash."
that's what I meant, sorry.
But I don't think that'll be a problem for me, because I'll know the pixel size.
and your code goes around that problem with the pic size as well, cause you check the bmap's size...:)

I'll try this method and let you know what I come up with!