Hello all, I am working in C# and DirectX 9 via SlimDX. I have the following:

            string[] effectPath = EffectPaths;
            for (int i = 0; i < effectPath.Length; i++)
            {
                if (System.IO.File.Exists(effectPath))
                {
                    byte[] effectdata = File.ReadAllBytes(effectPath);
                    string errorList;
                    MyEffects = Effect.FromMemory(D3DDev, effectdata, null, null, null, ShaderFlags.None, MyEffectPool, out errorList);
                    numEffects++;
                }
            }

My effects are .FXO files compiled with fxc.exe under VS and PS 2.0. Effect.FromMemory fails with D3DXERR_INVALIDDATA: Invalid data (-2005529767) ...this has been puzzling me and I haven't been able to find anything on it. Is it obvious what I'm doing wrong? Much obliged, Steve.

Thank you, Michael, for your prompt and polite reply.

I am using a SlimDX DLL you built me. Remember? In Pierce at lunch, sometime in mid/late-April (I think it was the day before our second differential equations test). So I'm newer than March 2009. I feel superior to all other SlimDX users because of this, but my enlarged ego does not help Effect.FromMemory work as I require it to.

As for fxc, here are the lines I use to compile each half of my effect (vertex and pixel shader):

fxc /E vs_main /T vs_2_0 /Fo fixedfunc_vs.fxo fixedfunc.fxfxc /E ps_main /T ps_2_0 /Fo fixedfunc_ps.fxo fixedfunc.fx

Thanks again for any help.

Apologies for the double-post, but I found something from a while ago that might be interesting to us:

http://www.gamedev.net/community/forums/topic.asp?topic_id=519022

While my first error is (I believe) related to Effect.FromMemory, that topic's first post describes another SlimDX issue I am having.

Here's a complete list of errors I'm getting:

1. FromMemory/no effect pool/.FXO compiled shader:
- D3DXERR_INVALIDDATA

2. FromFile/no effect pool/.FXO compiled shader:
- D3DXERR_INVALIDDATA

3. Either of the two cases above, WITH effect pool:
- D3DXERR_INVALIDDATA

4. FromFile/effect pool/.FX text (uncompiled)
- E_FAIL (the problem described in the link above)

5. FromFile/no effect pool/.FX text (uncompiled)
- works. But it's slow (takes ~5 seconds for the effect to compile on my 2.66GHz Core 2 Duo...that's annoying).

So the findings would indicate:

1. There's a problem with my .FXO files, maybe? What should my compile options be if those are no good?

2. There's a problem with the effect pool, possibly a problem in SlimDX, as I'm having the exact problem the first poster is having in the link I gave above. I use

EffectPool myEffectPool = new EffectPool()

before I call the function. There's not really much else I could be doing wrong, I think.

Just a word on my "progress":

I fixed the EffectPool errors I was getting: I was declaring EffectPool like so:

EffectPool myEffectPool = new EffectPool();

when actually you shouldn't do that--i.e., it needs to be left as:

EffectPool myEffectPool;

Of course then you get an annoying warning that it will always have its default value of null, so what I do is

 EffectPool myEffectPool = new EffectPool(); ...myEffectPool.Dispose();myEffectPool = null;myEffect = Effect.FromFile(D3DDev, Path, null, null, null, ShaderFlags.None, myEffectPool);

So it has to be null going into .FromFile() (contrary to what I saw on another thread)--I actually stumbled on fact that by mistake. But I don't like the warning so I mess with it. At least I know it's not a problem with SlimDX.

With respect to the other half of this effects bonanza, I still think I must be .FXO'ing my stuff wrong. I still get D3DXERR_INVALIDDATA when I try to create an effect from a precompiled FXO file.

Since I'm doubting myself all over now, what exactly is the way one compiles a shader offline as an FXO using fxc? More specifically:

-- Can I put the vertex and pixel shaders in one file with a .FXO using fxc.exe? How?
-- What switches am I supposed to be setting in fxc to get a created effect identical to the one that I get from the JIT effect compiler I use when I give .FromFile a .fx file (I'm using vertex and pixel shader 2.0)?

Well, figured it out thanks to help from big Mike.Popoloski.

I should be using fx_2_0 and not compiling the vertex/pixel shaders separately. Hope this helps someone in the future.

-- Steve.