Optimising Particles - Pooling etc.

degac

I'm using a particle engine based on a pre-initiated array. Creating and destroying object is not a good practice.
I'm using a flag (status=1 particle is live, =0 is dead and can be 'reused').

Problems I see with this: If I create 1000 particles which disappear at different times, when I get to say 100 particles left, my list will iterate nice and quickly but with an array I'd still have to loop 1000 times and check each slot to see if the particle is still "active" - that could be slower than the list iteration! I could shuffle up the particles when one was deleted but that would be really slow and impractical I'm sure.

I resolved the problem using a while..wend with variable-limits.
Every time I need to use a new particle the part_counter is increased, and last_part can starts from 0 or from an higher value.
Maybe it is not the best solutions, but it seems to work...

Here a little extract of the 'CreateParticle' Function

If last_part>=max_particle-1 last_part=0
Local part_counter:Int = last_part
Local findit:Int=0

While part_counter < particle.length - 1
	If particle[part_counter].status = 0
		particle[part_counter].status = 1
		last_part = part_counter
		findit=1
		Exit ' a new 'particle' is found
	End If
	part_counter:+ 1
Wend
	If findit=0 
			Return Null
	End If

	If part_counter > max_particle
		max_particle = last_part
        End If 
	If part_counter>max_part max_part=part_counter

	Local p:tparticle = particle[last_part]
...

When the particle is 'dead' I set its status to '0' and last_part=0.
Technically I could check if last_part is > 0, but I'm lazy...