D3DX worth the effort?
Author
I am in the somewhat kindof early stages of development of an RTS game. I am using DDraw, which is basically as fast as I need it to be. However, many special effects (translucency, good rotations, REALLY REALLY FAST SPEED, zooming, etc.) are very hard and SLOW to implement in DDraw. I am wondering if I should convert to D3D, using D3DX of course for quick startup (so I hear).
BTW, the only 3D I have used in the past was in QBasic and was limited to wireframe.
~BenDilts(int& Question);
Bean Dog
I''m making a 2D game using Direct3D for the very same reasons that you mentioned. Personally I think you should convert to D3D with the help of D3DX, but those people that still don''t have a 3D accelerator won''t be able to run your game. Think about that.
Rendering 2D graphics with D3D is almost as easy as rendering it with DDraw. You don''t need to worry about transformations and projections, lighting etc if you don''t want to.
- WitchLord
Rendering 2D graphics with D3D is almost as easy as rendering it with DDraw. You don''t need to worry about transformations and projections, lighting etc if you don''t want to.
- WitchLord
Same here. Just look at the Sprite demo app that comes with the sdk under the d3dx folder. It''s pretty easy once you tinker with it. I''ve never done 3D programming before (i don''t even know how to do matrix math!) and I have polys on the screen. And best of all --- it''s fast. D3DX is kickass for getting up in running in a short time... took me about a day...
Hope this helps.
Hope this helps.
I have heard of problems with colorkeying under Direct3D, but I have never experienced any trouble myself. Personally I think that those who have problems with it are either doing it wrong or have faulty drivers. Anyway alpha blending is so much better than colorkeying that I don''t see any reason for using it other than if non-accelerated graphics must be supported.
- WitchLord
- WitchLord
Be aware that the very latest video cards (TNT2 etc) have major problems doing color keys in D3D, In short it dosent work, you will have to use 1 bit alpha instead. My older ATI card dosent have this problem, but you have to assume people out there will.
Its not faulty drivers as such, nVidia implement color key in D3D as alpha, they consider color-keying old hat and have said so publically.
http://www.positech.co.uk
Its not faulty drivers as such, nVidia implement color key in D3D as alpha, they consider color-keying old hat and have said so publically.
http://www.positech.co.uk
D3DX is really for people who want to use Direct3D without having to do the DirectDraw stuff. So if you''ve already got DirectDraw working, with all the enumeration etc, setup Direct3D properly, and just use the D3DX bits you need (such as the maths functions).
This way, its dead easy to use DirectDraw if there''s no 3D card, and Direct3D if there is. In the latter case, you''ll need to change the parameters when you create surfaces, such as making them textures instead, and with an alpha pixel format (as its true, alpha is better than colorkeying if its available).
This way, its dead easy to use DirectDraw if there''s no 3D card, and Direct3D if there is. In the latter case, you''ll need to change the parameters when you create surfaces, such as making them textures instead, and with an alpha pixel format (as its true, alpha is better than colorkeying if its available).
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