Sparrow Forum

1. 

   dprijadi
   Member

   hi friends..

   how do you manage your sparrow ios memory usage correctly ?

   #1st Confusion
   what to do after im done with an allocated container object ? is it ok just to release them ? do i have to manually call removeAllChild inside the container object to remove all displayobjects attached to the containerobject ?

   eg:

   GameController.m
   // MsgBox is container object composed of images, buttons and other stuff..
   MsgBox msgbox = [Msgbox alloc] init);
   [self addchild:m]
   msgbox.release // <-- should i call removeAllChild in the MsgBox.m too ?

   #2nd Confusion

   Which graphic format is prefered in light of the limited memory (RAM) available to the older iOS devices ? (eg. iPad 1 memory RAM is only 256mb). is there really difference in RAM memory usage by using a texture atlas from a .png and from a compresser PVR textures ?

   Which pixel format (RGBA8888,RGBA4444,RGB565, PVRTC4 etc) is considered balanced (from quality and memory usage point of view) ?

   #3rd Confusion

   how many texture atlas do you put in memory at the sametime ? should i separate a big texture atlas in multiple atlas files ? currently im use a small texture atlas (512*256) for user interface elements and a big (2048x2048) atlas for changing game elements. the atlas for UI stays in memory and the game element atlas constantly unloaded based on the game levels. should i use multiple smaller atlas (1024x1024) instead of 1 big atlas (2048x2048) ?

   Anyone can share their experience in memory managements ?

   Regards
   dprijadi

   nb: special thanx to durrza, shilo and daniel

   Posted 10 months ago #
2. 

   enbr
   Moderator

   1. You can just release them.
   2. Someone else will have to answer that question but I thought I would let you know that the iPod touch 4G also has 256 mb of RAM.
   3. I recommend using smaller 1024x1024 if you are planning on supporting older devices.
   http://forum.sparrow-framework.org/topic/texture-atlas-generator#post-960

   I hope that helps. Sorry I can't answer the second one very well.

   Posted 10 months ago #
3. 

   Daniel
   Primary Feather

   Hi!

   2.) yes, there is a difference in graphics memory usage and loading time between PNG files and compressed PVR textures (or uncompressed PVR textures with lower quality). PVR textures can be used in their compressed form directly by the graphics chip.

   The pixel format you should choose depends on the image; images with few colors and no/few gradients will still look fine in formats like RGBA4444, but will look horrible in compressed formats; organic (photo-like) images, on the other hand, won't suffer much from the compression.

   Here are my best practices:

   a) if all fits into memory and is fast enough, stick with PNG -- it's just easiest to use.
   b) When memory and (load) performance becomes an issue, use the format that produces the smallest file while you can still live with the image quality.
   c) on retina displays, PVRTC with non-optimal quality might still look good enough, because the pixels are so small. The same is true for dithered uncompressed PVR textures with lower bitrates.

   Posted 10 months ago #
4. 

   dprijadi
   Member

   enbr and daniel,

   thanks for sharing your knowledge =D

   cheers

   Posted 10 months ago #
5. 

   Daniel
   Primary Feather

   You're welcome! =)

   Posted 10 months ago #

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