[.net] Content Manager & soft content
Author
I'm rewriting modeling app that was originaly written in mdx. I'm would like to browse out and find some content, out side of the app. I'm using xna 2. All the info that i can find is only on using CM with pre-known content. Is there a way around having to know the content after the fact? Do i need to make some sort of on the fly content to xnb converter? I'm kinda stumped.
Any suggestions
Thanks
Google "XNA Content Builder" and you should find some examples of using the content pipeline in stand-alone C# apps (which could be the game itself, I suppose)
I seem to recall that writing code that uses the design time content pipeline stuff at runtime is against Xna's eula. Why that is, I have no idea.
What this means is that no, you can't legally add and convert new content at runtime through the pipeline (even though it's technically possible). Everything has to be added and converted to xnb at design time.
The good news is that some assets, such as textures, have windows only methods for loading them from file, without using the pipeline. The bad news is that many other asset types such as models and spritefonts don't have these functions yet.
What this means is that no, you can't legally add and convert new content at runtime through the pipeline (even though it's technically possible). Everything has to be added and converted to xnb at design time.
The good news is that some assets, such as textures, have windows only methods for loading them from file, without using the pipeline. The bad news is that many other asset types such as models and spritefonts don't have these functions yet.
Quote:
I'm rewriting modeling app that was originaly written in mdx. I'm would like to browse out and find some content, out side of the app. I'm using xna 2. All the info that i can find is only on using CM with pre-known content. Is there a way around having to know the content after the fact? Do i need to make some sort of on the fly content to xnb converter? I'm kinda stumped.
The content pipeline is not part of the XNA Redistributable (at least as of early 2.0 versions, I have not kept up), which means that users would require the full SDK to run your game (or something equivalent). As far as I know, there hasn't been a clear explanation from Microsoft about the rationale, but it might have to do with thorny issues related to runtime content generation on the 360.
Author
Quote:
What this means is that no, you can't legally add and convert new content at runtime through the pipeline (even though it's technically possible). Everything has to be added and converted to xnb at design time.
Thanks guys, I guess i wont be relying on CM to much other than my basic app.
Author
What would be a decent approach to loading external models, like .x files. Are there any utilities that should look into then?
Thanks again
[Edited by - dan01 on February 22, 2008 4:17:06 AM]
Thanks again
[Edited by - dan01 on February 22, 2008 4:17:06 AM]
This is just an opinion, but the pipeline is "conceptually speaking" a XNA Game Studio feature rather than an XNA Framework feature. If it were part of the framework then anybody could use it to build "Bob's Game Studio". I could be symantically incorrect, but my guess is that's the rational.
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