urgent problem with overlapping bitmaps in DirectX

hi there. apparently the problem is in the external loop run for AI purposes. is there any way to work around this? currently, we have a gameLoop() function set to do something like this: public void gameLoop() { while(target.Created) //this loop tells AI agents what to do, and also modifies their corresponding bitmaps //to show what the agents are doing (i.e. a "punch" command is graphically represented //as a punch via bitmaps for(int nCtr=0; nCtr

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There are two overloads for the Surface.DrawFast method: public Void DrawFast (Int32, Int32, Surface, DrawFastFlags) public Void DrawFast (Int32, Int32, Surface, Rectangle, DrawFastFlags) You are familiar with the first one, because most likely that's what you're using. The second one adds a little extra functionality: instead of blitting the whole thing it blits only what's inside the rectangle onto the target surface. So here's the concept: Say I wanted a resolution of 800x600 on the screen. I had these surfaces that were 200 pixels wide and tall, and since drawing off the edge of the surface causes bad errors, it would just be better if I could clip it. So here's what I do: I create a surface, sort of like a third buffer, of size 1200x1000 (a 200 pixel margin on all sides). When I draw, I draw onto that surface. Once the drawing routine is complete, I use the second DrawFast to blit an 800x600 rectangle out of the middle of that third buffer onto the back buffer then flip. The result: Every pixel outside that 800x600 window is automatically clipped, and you are saved, to some extent, from the problems of trying to blit a pixel to a coordinate that isn't on the screen. Something I recommend is to make a GraphicsHandler, a wrapper for DirectDraw's main functionality. I use one that mainains the device, back buffer, front surface, parent control, and clipper. When I need to draw, I blit it onto the surface provided by the GraphicsHandler.BackBuffer property. When I want to flip, I call the GraphicsHandler.FlipSurfaces property. That way, you are ensured that the flipping is not causing your flickering problems. I would double-check your animation classes. I looked through and found this: public void drawNext() { //...various lines of code graphics.back.DrawFast(xLocation, yLocation, BitmapHolder, frame, DrawFast.DoNotWait); //... various lines of code graphics.front.Flip(graphics.back, FlipFlags.DoNotWait); } Every time you are calling drawNext, you flip the surfaces. That's the reason for your flickering problems. You should only flip the surfaces after all the drawing routines are complete. In other words, it should be: public void drawNext() { //...various lines of code graphics.back.DrawFast(xLocation, yLocation, BitmapHolder, frame, DrawFast.DoNotWait); //... various lines of code } You should let the game loop do the flipping instead of having the drawNext methods flipping surfaces after every successive drawing