Well, like I've been saying all along, I really do appreciate all the help. But, I do have to admit that I figured something out when I was trying to give you what you asked for (a runnable 58 block snake with just the necessary code). There was a problem with my implementation. The slow down didn't start at 58 blocks, it started at 580 blocks. Technically, it's when there are about 600 sprites being updated per frame. Also, I've been using Blitz Plus for this, but this afternoon, I made a Blitz 3D copy and ran it on another machine that was also only 400Mhz/64Mb RAM and the B3D copy ran fine--even with 600 sprites/fame. I guess I figured at least in terms of speed, Blitz Plus and B3D would be the same. I would just use B3D, but it seems kind of silly to me that I'd make a 2D game that would require a 3D video card.
Anyway, I corrected the implementation in the Blitz Plus version and now in its corrected state it only ever gets to about 70 sprites per frame and it runs just fine like that. I still don't know why I'm able to do that array stuff I mentioned two posts ago in Blitz Plus, but I guess I won't worry about it for now.
Well, thank you again everyone for all your help, and thank you robleong for all the suggestions and asking me to do the thing that led to me finding my error.
I'm really very happy that I decided to get into Blitz. So far I love it, and the Blitz community has been great.
-Dave
Anyway, I corrected the implementation in the Blitz Plus version and now in its corrected state it only ever gets to about 70 sprites per frame and it runs just fine like that. I still don't know why I'm able to do that array stuff I mentioned two posts ago in Blitz Plus, but I guess I won't worry about it for now.
Well, thank you again everyone for all your help, and thank you robleong for all the suggestions and asking me to do the thing that led to me finding my error.
I'm really very happy that I decided to get into Blitz. So far I love it, and the Blitz community has been great.
-Dave