Migration from PALib

[brownb2]

Hi,

I want to migrate all code on my project that uses PALib to libnds, specifically because of rumble pack support and better debugging.

Unfortunately there seems to be no replacement for functions like PA_LoadGif which means I cannot do a direct port, I also have a very large number of sprites and backgrounds whose palettes I want to merge/share for which I was using PAGfx but now need to use grit - is there a conversion script or recommended best practice - having used pagfx types like PA_EasyBg to make that decision for me? I don't need the full power of grit or graphics manipulation in libnds.... pretend I'm really dumb and want to use libnds without knowing too much in the way of low level specifications beyond what I've learnt for PA_Lib (besides libnds is meant to be just as easy now... )

The (seeming) lack of anim gif support in the libnds api is the real show stopper... have I missed a function somewhere?

Thanks,

Benjamin

[Sylus101]

I haven't updated it in awhile, but take a look at the page in my signature. I've made the same change, but here's some advise:

1. There are no sprite animation functions. Period. This will be the most difficult thing to adjust to.

2. See #1, but search some of the recent posts here. Tomdev (like us) is making the change also and there are some examples of ways to get animations working.

3. No, it's not going to be just as "easy" as PALib. You'll find, however, that the freedom of working with the DS more closely is better.

I'm not sure how the animated gif support in PALib worked, but the bottom line is that the hardware has no such thing. It would have been a coded function to use the data in the animated gif to populate sprite memory. I don't know if anyone else has written such a function that would work with libnds.

Hang in there, you'll get the hang of the major differences soon. The bottom line, is that there are quite a few things that PALib handled for you that libnds will not, but the addition of new sprite and background functions to libnds should be enough to get you going.