How do I increase "Memory"?

[Jenkles]

As a part of a game I'm making, I was required to make sprites of 80,000 pixels which was 'Too Large', I then reduced it to 40,000, then found 20,000 was not 'Too Large'.

However, 20,000 pixels runs out the memory and breaks GameMaker. This is a problem as if this sprite is less then 20,000 pixels, another sprite will be less than 32 pixels.

So, how do I increase the maximum amount of memory (I assume it means RAM) allowed to be used by GameMaker.

Also, if anybody wants to suggest alternatives, I'm creating a game which involves a large, to scale solar system with the 20,000 pixel object being the Sun and the 32 pixel object being Pluto. The game also involves these objects orbiting around each other.

Thank you.

[Blind]

Ya... don't use a 20'000 pixel object. No one does that. Crysis didn't even do that.

Learn to MIP map. Make things in smaller powers of 2 (such as 1024x1024) and then SCALE it

[Thew]

Image memory usage scales exponentially - and you're dealing with things that are waaay larger than is practical. Gamemaker actually scales down images that are larger than the specified texture page size anyway (I think the default is 2048x2048).

Your best bet is to do as BBX suggested and scale the images, or build your objects out of multiple sprites.

[Daynar]

You arn't going to be able to see that many pixels on the screen at any time. What I would do if I wanted to do this is to change the spites of the objects based on the zoom of the camera. If you wanted to have a 20k pixel sun you could still do that as well, you would just need to break each part up into smaller sections and only draw the sections that are within the view at any given time. You could also try getting everything working by just drawing colored circles using no sprites and just the built in draw commands. Although the sun will look like it has strait sides if you have it be that large.

[Jenkles]

Okay. Thank you for all your help!

[BOYCOTT S-T-E-A-M!]

I haven't worked with vector based sprites in any projects yet, but I know they are heavily based on scalability. They might be something to look into to preserve your image details regardless of zoom level.