Is my solution to fixed timestep with delta time and interpolation wrong? - c++

Question

I am trying to write simple loop with fixed delta time used for physics and interpolation before rendering the state. I am using Gaffer on games tutorial on fixed timesteps and I tried to understand it and make it work.
float timeStep = 0.01;
float alpha = 1.0;
while (isOpen()) {
processInput();
deltaTime = clock.restart(); // get elapsed time
if (deltaTime > 0.25) { deltaTime = 0.25; } // drop frame guard
accumulator += deltaTime;
while (accumulator >= timeStep) {
// spritePosBefore = sprite.getPosition();
accumulator -= timeStep;
// sprite.move(velocity * timeStep, 0);
// spritePosAfter = sprite.getPosition();
}
if (accumulator > timeStep) { alpha = accumulator / timeStep; } else { alpha = 1.0; }
// sprite.setPosition(Vector2f(spritePosBefore * (1 - alpha) + spritePosAfter * alpha));
clear();
draw(sprite);
display();
}
Now, everything looks good. I have fixed timestep for physics, draw whenever I can after physics are updated and interpolate between two positions. It should work flawless but I can still see sprite stuttering or even going back by one pixel once in a while. Why does it happen? Is there any problem with my code? I spent last two days trying to understand game loop which would ensure me flawless motions but it seems like it doesn't work as I thought it will. Any idea what could be improved?

Answer 1

You should remove the if statement and always calculate alpha; the if statement will never be executed as the condition is always false after the while loop is exited!
After the loop the accumulator will be between 0 and timeStep so you just end up drawing the latest position instead of interpolating.

Answer 2

I don't think the way you do it is necessarily wrong but it looks a bit overcomplicated. I don't understand exactly what you're trying to do so I'm just going to share the way I implement a "fixed time step" in my SFML applications.
The following is the simplest way and will be "good enough" for most applications. It's not the most precise though (the can be a little error between the measured time and the real time) :
sf::Clock clock;
sf::Event event;
while (window_.isOpen()) {
while (window_.pollEvent(event)) {}
if (clock.getElapsedTime().asSeconds() > FLT_FIXED_TIME_STEP) {
clock.restart();
update(FLT_FIXED_TIME_STEP);
}
render();
}
And if you really need precision, you can add a float variable that will act as a "buffer" :
sf::Clock clock;
sf::Event event;
float timeBeforeNextStep = 0.f; // "buffer"
float timeDilation = 1.f; // Useful if you want to slow or speed up time ( <1 for slowmo, >1 for speedup)
while (window_.isOpen()) {
while (window_.pollEvent(event)) {}
timeBeforeNextStep -= clock.restart().asSeconds() * timeDilation;
if (timeBeforeNextStep < FLT_FIXED_TIME_STEP) {
timeBeforeNextStep += FLT_FIXED_TIME_STEP; // '+=', not '=' to make sure we don't lose any time.
update(FLT_FIXED_TIME_STEP);
// Rendering every time you update is not always the best solution, especially if you have a very small time step.
render();
}
}
You might want to use another buffer for rendering (if you want to run at exactly 60 FPS for example).