5 replies to this topic

[Tset_Tsyung]

Hi all,

I've been trying to teach myself DirectX11 and have been struggling with it. I've gotten stuck on the tutorials (braynzarsoft and rastertek) where it comes to rendering Text.

It seem that DirectX11 has no EASY way of rendering text to the screen. And since I'm just starting off in Games programming this has become a wall for me.

I feel that to understand how to program games I should understand the basics of the API, then put together a demo using others aspects which I must learn (sound, timing, network etc).

I have since read that OpenGL 4.3 has a much easier to use text rendering system. Even though the drivers aren't out for it yet.

Basically I would like to know if there are any books that could be recommended for learning what I need to use OpenGL (with text) or DirectX11 (with text) to a stable yet basic degree?

Also are there any books that cover the basics of networking, timing (is it Finite State Machines?), sound etc.?

I know aobut the Gems books - but for the whole set that's gonna be a lotta dough I'm gonna have to fork out...

Anyway I would appreciate and recommendations.

Many thanks,


Mike

[AMenard]

You could also use a library that gives you some higher level function over directx text rendering like SlimDX. According to the Docs they have example for C++.

[Nikko_Bertoa]

I recommend Frank Luna's books. I read all his books and he has a very comprensive writing, good examples and he includes source code.
You can find hits books at http://www.d3dcoder.net/

[Burnt_Fyr]

+1 for Luna's book. I haven't read it(the x11 version) But having both the x9 and x10 books, and seeing how much better 10 was(even though 9 was awesome) I can only assume that x11 is just as stellar for the current version of the SDK. Another one to look at would be Practical Rendering and Computation, by JZink here at the forums.

As for timing, google "fix your timestep", which is the best article I've ever read regarding timing and loops for games.

Networking is iffy, many people use a 3rd party library such as raknet, but as I like to see the magic behind the curtain, Beej's guide to Network programming, and the 10000 archers on a 14.4k(or was it 28.8k) article were required reading for me.

[EddieV223]

I always tell true beginners to 3d programming to start with dx9 fixed function and work your way into shaders. As far as rendering text, I think the Directx SDK has some classes you can use for drawing not only text but some menus as well.

[Tset_Tsyung]

Thank you all for your replies!

I've ordered Frank D Lunas Directx11 book through my library already (can take two months as they are having to look out of county). Was also looking at the latest "Red Book" for OpenGL - although I've heard that the style of writing is more like a reference that an instructional guide...

Will look into those tools, libraries and guides - thanks everyone.

Keep it coming