How reliable is Directx
Author
I'm working on a high level game engine and Ive read alot of books and alot of them say that certain things you shouldnt rely on directx to do for you. For example: matrices, shaders, loading files(models and such), vertex buffers, index buffers, netwroking. Alot of books suggest writing alot of the math in ASM to make it faster but how much fast will that make it over directx.
So what Im trying to find out is it realy nessary or should I allow DirectX to handle alot of that work...
DirectX is one of the best if not "the" best Graphics API. Sure there is openGL but both APIs have their strenghts and weaknesses. You cannot really debate this topic and I wouldn't try.
As for writing things in asm. Moore's law has already taken care of any performance issues if there was any when a higher level of abstraction was made. I wouldn't worry about HLSL not being fast enough cause it works and it works well..
I hope this helps.
Take care.
As for writing things in asm. Moore's law has already taken care of any performance issues if there was any when a higher level of abstraction was made. I wouldn't worry about HLSL not being fast enough cause it works and it works well..
I hope this helps.
Take care.
Personally, working with OpenGL, I miss many of those "extras" that the Direct package includes, like input/audio/matrices, et cetera.
This post is pure FLAMEBAIT. Please do not reply... it should be deleted and the OP banned.
Come on AP, surely we can talk about this? I agree with visage about OpenGL lacking those items but then again, it's 'only' a Graphics Library. There are plenty of audio/input/whatever-libraries available on the internet I would rather use than plain DirectX, but that's just my opinion..
Anyway, back to the OP's original question: I'd say let DirectX do everything for you if possible. You'll save enormous amount of time and you can focus on more important things like the actual _game_ ! (And I'd bet DirectX routines are pretty darn well optimized so there's no need to attempt to remake 'em!)
Anyway, back to the OP's original question: I'd say let DirectX do everything for you if possible. You'll save enormous amount of time and you can focus on more important things like the actual _game_ ! (And I'd bet DirectX routines are pretty darn well optimized so there's no need to attempt to remake 'em!)
Author
Thanks... thats what I was looking for I couldnt beleive that these books tell you to handle all this shit on your own and only let directx handle the rendering. I mean I doubt anything I write can be as good as what the directx team at microsoft right....
Quote:Original post by Anonymous Poster
This post is pure FLAMEBAIT. Please do not reply... it should be deleted and the OP banned.
And this isn't flamebait? You don't even have the balls to post with your account.
In regards to the OP's question, I agree with Mindflayer's post. Just let DirectX handle the unfun stuff (thats why its there) and focus on the actual engine.
Quote:Original post by Anonymous PosterI'll agree, it's got potential to be diverted into flamewar land but so far all's good. If it gets bad then i'll do something about it [wink]
This post is pure FLAMEBAIT. Please do not reply... it should be deleted and the OP banned.
Although, for future reference - using the "Report this Post to a Moderator" link in the bottom-right of the post is the best way of making this sort of statement/complaint/whatever.
Anyway...
LittleFreak, which books have you been reading?
There's plenty of reason to try and "roll your own" and avoid D3D/D3DX's stuff IF you're targetting multiple API's. For example, you might want a custom maths library if you're targetting different consoles - the PS2 doesn't have all the D3DX maths functions.
Although, in general the "Real Programmer™" argument is a bit pointless really. Yes, apparently real programmers write everything themselves, don't trust high level languages or (standard) libraries and also spend every waking minute trying to squeeze every bit, byte and cycle out of their PC's.
Bottom line - go with what suits you. It's true of many other things, but ideally you should read multiple sources of information and then come to your own conclusion.
Cheers,
Jack
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