DX Utility Library documentation

Started by
3 comments, last by GameDev.net 24 years, 3 months ago
I'm mucking around with D3DX also, and I'm no expert at it, but here is my take on it:

There is only one "flag" you can specify (besides 0): D3DX_UPDATE_NOVSYNC. The UpdateFrame function does either flipping or blitting AUTOMAGICALLY FOR YOU. (i.e. you don't tell it what method to use, it figures it out automatically based on the primary surface/back buffer features).

In the past, we had to worry about whether or not there were backbuffer(s), if we had backbuffers, then we had to flip, if not, then blit, etc. etc. The UpdateFrame supposedly takes care of this logic internally. Just call UpdateFrame - and it decides whether you need flipping/blitting/whatever...

Feel free to correct me if I am wrong (again, I am not new to DX, but I am new to D3DX)..

Chaster

Advertisement
Is it neccessary to set the cooperative mode?
No, D3DX handles it all automatically for you.

Creating a D3DX context does the following:

Create DDraw object.
Set cooperative level.
Set display mode (if full screen)
Create primary surface and back buffer
Create D3D object
Create D3D device
Create and attach Z-Buffer.

FYI: I'm a Newbie.

Has anyone else tried to use the DX Utility Library and been blown away with the lousy documentation. What is the use of making a library that is supposed to make things easier and then making the users figure everything out through expermintation?

In particular:
Does anyone know what flag to set in the ID3DXContext::UpdateFame funtion to enduce flipping?

The help file says you can do it by setting the right flag, and then when you look at the reference to find the flag it leads down a dead end.

Maybe I'm missing something. Or maybe the documentation just sucks.

It seems like there may be some useful little shortcuts in the library. But the effort to get up and running with it far out-weighs the benefits.

Well, there's my rant. It would probably make me feel better to hear that other people have had trouble as well.

Thanks

Thanks.

Happy Coding!

:-)

& Have a nice Holiday.
I hope there's a GeForce under the tree for you.

This topic is closed to new replies.

Advertisement