SDL and why I don't like it

markr · 2006-02-19T20:11:17

I don't like SDL very much. I think it doesn't do what it does terribly well - it's not very useful either for newbies (who it just confuses), or experienced game programmers (who it just annoys) SDL can be used in the following ways: 1. To create a software rendering engine Well, at least, it could be, if it actually had any software rendering functions. It can't even draw a (diagonal) line on its own, so you'd need SDL_gfx or something. It can't even say "Hello, World" on its own, so you'd need SDL_ttf or something similar. What they've done, is put a wrapper around the functions that they know are hardware-accelerated under DirectDraw - and nothing else. So unlike Allegro, you can't actually make a useful software rendering engine unless You are prepared to write your own line, circle, sprite, text, blending, etc routines OR you are prepared to use a number of third party libraries - which would be fine, except these libraries are not usually bundled with SDL and aren't necessarily trivial to build. I was making a SDL game for a competition. A 48 hour competition. I thought "Great, I'll develop this on Linux, and it will be a cinch to build on win32". I was wrong. SDL itself works fine on win32, but I *HAD* to use a text library - SDL_ttf - which, it turns out, didn't build trivially (although I did get it to build eventually, even though it did involve linking its .c files with my code in my own Makefile (yuk)) 2. As a platform-independent way to get a GL context Well, this is at least slightly more usable. With GL, you don't actually need a line drawing routine etc, because you can use opengl calls to do that sort of thing. Great - EXCEPT, this confuses newbies, who are constantly asking "Why does XXX software rendering function in SDL, not work in GL mode properly" ? Because the core of the library was made for doing software rendering (although not actually providing a wide selection of primitives), those functions are not necessarily going to work entirely correctly (or quickly) in GL mode. Other things What about input and sound, you might ask? Well, I can't fault the input handling really. But the sound handling has the same problem as the graphics - it's implemented at TOO low a level to really be useful - hence why many SDL games use SDL_mixer or something. Alternatives For software rendering, of course, you can bolt on the numerous extra software-rendering libraries (SDL_gfx and its friends) - provided you can get them to work on the range of platforms you intend to develop on. You could also just use Allegro instead - I know the API is somewhat idiosynchratic - I know that *some* of its functions are somewhat obsolete (fixed point maths) - but the software rendering functions are solid, and pretty much WORK. It's all one lump. You don't need anything else. If you just want an OpenGL context, why not use one of the libraries that just does that instead? Like GLFW, which is nearly as portable as SDL, and much more straightforward to use, opengl-wise (it doesn't pretend to do software rendering). Mark

Engines and Middleware Programming

Started by markr July 15, 2005 01:08 PM

25 comments, last by 23yrold3yrold 18 years, 1 month ago

clockwise

167

July 22, 2005 06:27 PM

SDL is a great GFX API, I cant imagine life without it, and it hooks right into GL, doesn't get much better than that, I do admit that I dont like SDL_ttf, or SFont/BFont(do people still use those?), but everything else is great, never used SDL_gfx, or SDL_Input, and what is this about it being slow? I just could never learn directx because I couldn't stay awake past the PRESENTPARAMETERS. The DirectX API is HUGE and Windows Only, SDL is small and portable,
it wins anyday.

Hardguy

244

July 27, 2005 09:15 AM

I just wanted to say that I think SDL is a great base to work from. I don't think it is something for beginners but rather a great starting point when you wanna do a portable game. If you are newbie I think allegro is supperior considering it is a game-library and SDL is not...

Anonymous

August 09, 2005 06:07 AM

Quote:Original post by TravisWells

An "all in one" version of SDL would be at least 5 times the size, and wouldn't help me at all for this kind of game.

Um... No it wouldn't. libSDL_ttf = 50k, libSDL_image = 80k, libSDL_gfx = 70k, libSDL_net = 12k.

Iftah

413

August 10, 2005 04:17 PM

1) Allegro DOES NOT support NETWORK or MULTI-THREADING and it never will as long as it compiles to DOS (well, unless they program a kernel and full ppp+tcpip+modem/ethernet drivers into it).

2) Allegro has some outdated techniques (RLE sprites? palette? Flic?).
If I am not mistaken, Allegro's polygon drawing is software rendered(!!!) so superslow compared to graphic card (hardware) rendering.

3) I dont plan to use lines/splines/circles etc in my game, but if i will then i can use sdl_gfx.

4) I want GUI in my game, but Allegro's built in GUI that is just the most aweful ugly lamest thing.

The *only* thing that Allegro got for it is that it is more noob-friendly (just unzip and you get all the features + tutorials and examples of how to use them). If you are a 14 year old trying to make your first pacman clone then maybe allegro is the place to start (thats where i got my allegro knowledge :) ).

I started my game (noname yet)a week ago and so far im happy with my choice to start from SDL. Without problems I got openGL quads for tiles and sprites and keyboard handling (and im a complete openGL noob).

I havent tried the sound/music/fonts/gui/joystick/network yet, so maybe ill be anti SDL in a few weeks...

Iftah.

[Edited by - Iftah on August 10, 2005 4:17:06 PM]

pinecone

122

February 19, 2006 12:17 AM

Yuck to allegro. but, yes... I do like some GLFW better than SDL.
I guess if I was going to do a sprite game or something like that I could go for SDL, though. I don't agree that it's as bad as the OP described. I know I learned SDL easily and I trust SDL_gfx would be easy enough to learn. I even learned the SDL_net stuff once... before I even knew how to use sockets. heh.
I do think GLFW is underrated though. It is very comfortable to use and the documentation is sexcellent.

babbling

127

February 19, 2006 02:50 AM

Do you think that graphics primitives being left out of SDL was an oversight, or a decision that was thought through?

SDL does what it sets out to do very well. That is, create an abstraction layer so that graphics, sound, and input can be accessed the same way on all platforms.

Graphics primitives should be implemented on top of this, by a separate library.

----The best programming books.

23yrold3yrold

941

February 19, 2006 08:11 PM

Half year old threads are for the lose.

Jesus saves ... the rest of you take 2d4 fire damage.