I'm going to go on record and state my guess that any real world use of vertex arrays/buffers for dynamic scenery (particles, sprites, animated tiles, etc) isn't going to show any real speed increase in DX7 or OpenGL. (And if you're looking to render your background faster, just use larger textures. 1kx1k textures is not that big of a deal now days.)
It's not like it's going to take your existing 30fps game and all of a sudden make it render at a solid 60fps. If there is any increase in real world fps it will be marginal at best.
What IS needed for BlitzMax is a batched sprite render system that could be used for particles, sprites, tiles, etc. DX9 using the "Sprite Object" has new support for batching and it speeds things up dramatically.
It's not like it's going to take your existing 30fps game and all of a sudden make it render at a solid 60fps. If there is any increase in real world fps it will be marginal at best.
What IS needed for BlitzMax is a batched sprite render system that could be used for particles, sprites, tiles, etc. DX9 using the "Sprite Object" has new support for batching and it speeds things up dramatically.