DX9 & Visual Studio 7???
Author
I just downloaded DirectX9 SDK and installed it. This just opened a new can of worms, and an infinite amount of things I don't know anything about. Apparently DirectDraw is gone?! how will I make 2D games now?
I also have VC 6.0 AND visual studio 7 installed on my computer. Looking at the C# samples in the DX9SDK, the code looks much more clean then the C++ DirectDraw (3?) which I've been using in VC6. I don't know anything about what this stuff does, but I can draw conclusings from most of the sample code.
DirectX 9 and Visual Studio 7 seem to be the wave of the future (or already is), so I'm thinking I better get onboard with it. However, I don't know if there are a ton of resources available (which I've had to rely on quite often for VC6), or even if its a good idea to go in this direction for game development.
I think all of my books are written for earlier releases of DirectX, and were (sp?) written prior to VS7. I'm not against getting new books, if I have too (as long as they aren't visual basic).
I'm working on setting up my initial game engine, so the time to use new technologies and stuff is now, at the seed of project development...
/me overwhelmed with new stuff (Bleh :-/)
Any direction on what the way to go for game dev tools and tech?
Right,
1. Direct Draw is gone but there is a method to render directly to the back buffer. If you wish u can create a 'vertex format' within which i can specify that it is already transformed. This will mean that there will be no matrix transformations performed on the verts and they will be mapped directly to the back buffer.
2. If you're thinking about writing ur own engine i would seriously think before u start. Most of an engine is nothing to do with graphics. Don't be too keen to get in there and display something on the screen. I've just started writing another framework and so far ive written only 1000 lines of support code. Things like smart pointers, memory management and other backbone classes. The more work u do now in terms of foundations the easier your engine will be to program at the later stages. Judging by the level of skill u seem to be at i would say that the transition from VS6 to VS7 wouldn't be that much of a landmark, but i could be wrong.
3. It is not necessary best to think about including the latest technologies, like shaders etc into ur engine. I would suggest that u create a list of things u 'must' have and the things that you would like to haev ur engine do. For example it is must to have things like quads textures etc, but not for shaders.
This way when the engine does what it must do, u can work on expanding it to do bigger and better things.
ace
1. Direct Draw is gone but there is a method to render directly to the back buffer. If you wish u can create a 'vertex format' within which i can specify that it is already transformed. This will mean that there will be no matrix transformations performed on the verts and they will be mapped directly to the back buffer.
2. If you're thinking about writing ur own engine i would seriously think before u start. Most of an engine is nothing to do with graphics. Don't be too keen to get in there and display something on the screen. I've just started writing another framework and so far ive written only 1000 lines of support code. Things like smart pointers, memory management and other backbone classes. The more work u do now in terms of foundations the easier your engine will be to program at the later stages. Judging by the level of skill u seem to be at i would say that the transition from VS6 to VS7 wouldn't be that much of a landmark, but i could be wrong.
3. It is not necessary best to think about including the latest technologies, like shaders etc into ur engine. I would suggest that u create a list of things u 'must' have and the things that you would like to haev ur engine do. For example it is must to have things like quads textures etc, but not for shaders.
This way when the engine does what it must do, u can work on expanding it to do bigger and better things.
ace
Just so it's clear, Visual Studio 7 is an entire IDE, including both C++ and C#. You can "move on" to VS7 without learning anything new.
Managed DirectX can be a fun thing to learn. It really does simplify most of the things which were very tedious to do with unmanaged C++. You can use Managed DirectX with C++ by starting a Managed C++ project in VS7 (google on it for tutorials) or you can use C# with Managed DirectX (the only choice for C#). When I was exploring this option, I found a great tutorial here, although it's geared toward 3D.
As far as DirectDraw disappearing, Direct3D can be used to render 2D graphics. Someone else may be able to give you a better answer because I have had no experience with DirectX prior to DirectX 8. You might want to go to the DirectX forum and ask about 2D graphics using Direct3D. The impression I get is that Direct3D can make use of 3D video card accelleration to improve the performance of 2D graphics.
Managed DirectX can be a fun thing to learn. It really does simplify most of the things which were very tedious to do with unmanaged C++. You can use Managed DirectX with C++ by starting a Managed C++ project in VS7 (google on it for tutorials) or you can use C# with Managed DirectX (the only choice for C#). When I was exploring this option, I found a great tutorial here, although it's geared toward 3D.
As far as DirectDraw disappearing, Direct3D can be used to render 2D graphics. Someone else may be able to give you a better answer because I have had no experience with DirectX prior to DirectX 8. You might want to go to the DirectX forum and ask about 2D graphics using Direct3D. The impression I get is that Direct3D can make use of 3D video card accelleration to improve the performance of 2D graphics.
Author
thanks for the replies. I've been trying to decide if I should move on to newer technologies and scrap my old stuff (current engine doesn't build with vs7, but that can be tweaked).
I'll start with that link you gave and do the tutorials, and start getting my D3D environment setup (taking the plunge). I'll also follow the rough structure of the code samples in the DX9SDK. If anyone is interested, I can write an assessment a week from now on how things are working out.
I'll start with that link you gave and do the tutorials, and start getting my D3D environment setup (taking the plunge). I'll also follow the rough structure of the code samples in the DX9SDK. If anyone is interested, I can write an assessment a week from now on how things are working out.
Author
Yikes. first problem that pops up with C# and VS7:
couldn't find "Microsoft.DirectX"
(only happens with C# solutions, not C++)
so the question is, how do I create the links to the Microsoft.DirectX thingy (whatever its called)?
:P man I'm dumb. such a nooob.
couldn't find "Microsoft.DirectX"
(only happens with C# solutions, not C++)
so the question is, how do I create the links to the Microsoft.DirectX thingy (whatever its called)?
:P man I'm dumb. such a nooob.
Go to Project->Add Reference
On the .NET tab should be all of the DirectX DLLs.
Select the ones you need, and they should be accessible.
On the .NET tab should be all of the DirectX DLLs.
Select the ones you need, and they should be accessible.
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