Hi,

As you may have noticed, the new forum software doesn't have a FAQ set up, and given that the Old FAQ is a bit outdated (And perhaps a bit on the wordy side) I figured it's time to re-write it.

So - is there anything that you'd like to see explicitly mentioned in the new FAQ? Anything particular in the old FAQ that you feel is wrong or shouldn't be there? Any links that are out of date or that you'd like to see added?

I'll hopefully be putting the new FAQ up this weekend (Or possibly today), and any drafts I'll chunk in my GDNet journal.

Cheers,
Steve

A big note saying "Post your code if you want better (any) decent help and/or feedback" would be a good start.

If specific DirectX/XNA things can be included then:

• Debug runtimes setup "tutorial", for DirectX/SlimDX/XNA
• PIX setup "tutorial", for DirectX/SlimDX/XNA
• An explanation of the differences between DirectX, SlimDX and XNA

If you want help with getting some SlimDX information into the FAQ, let me know and I'll see what I can do.

Thanks, I'll shoot you a PM when I get started with the FAQ

Also, just recalling some of the most frequently asked questions and answers that we see:

• Make sure you stress the use of the debug runtimes before posting questions. They end up answering a lot of things on their own.
• Stress the use of PIX for profiling / debugging.
• Lay out the differences between D3D 9, 9Ex, 10, 10.1, and 11.
• A lot of people seem to get confused when trying to use D2D / DWrite from D3D11 (it's not immediately obvious how to do so).
• There are a lot of questions on animation / skinning. Some links to resources on that would probably be helpful.
• Locking a texture and running through its pixels is a common question, and one that can be tricky to get right depending on the format of the data.
• Discuss the lack of font and mesh support in the D3D11.
• Recommend using XNAMath over D3DX in D3D11.
• Might want to talk about Effects11, since it's now compiled separately and tends to throw people for a loop.
• If you want a page discussing the differences between the various managed offerings for DirectX development, we have a comparison page set up already.

I'll definitely do some debug runtimes and PIX related stuff. I'm aware of the differences between D3D 9 and 9Ex, but I've still not got round to playing with DX10 / DX11, so all I can really say is what's in the docs. Similarly for the XNAMath and Effects11 points (Inb4 "worst moderator / MVP ever" ).

Locking a texture and reading pixels is already on my list actually (It was going to be another Journal entry when I got around to it).

Thanks for the feedback, keep it coming!