I ran FXC.EXE with valid code, and it gives me nothing in return. I thought it was supposed to output an ASM version of the code for use in the SDK. If it doesn't then what is the purpose of FXC.EXE? How can I use the code in my program that isn't in ASM?

Let's say I do this in my lines of code.

if (FAILED (hr = D3DXCompileShaderFromFile (g_strVHLFile, NULL, NULL, "main", "vs_1_1", NULL, &pCode, NULL, &m_VS_ConstantTable)))
{
return hr;
}

if (FAILED (hr = m_pd3dDevice->CreateVertexShader ((DWORD*)pCode->GetBufferPointer(), &m_HLSLVertexShader)))
{
return hr;
}

If I already compiled the file prior (using FCX.EXE), then I could use that object file for the CreateVertexShader function after using D3DXAssembleShaderFromFile?

When I type:
fxc -nologo -T ps_2_0 -Fc -Vd NPRMetallic.txt

I get:


I didn't forget to put anything there. It just shows up blank with no assembly file. Like it didn't do anything at all.

The /Fc switch to fxc takes a parameter. The name of the file you want to output the resulting assembly to. You're just passing another switch immediately after it. If you want the shader to go to stdout, don't pass /Fc. If you want the shader to go to a file, say "fxc /Fc<output.txt> input.fx".