These notes were extracted from the Lost mansoin forum, located at: www.thelostmasnionofsojourn.com/members/index.php I posted some of these snatches of conversation, but the majority of them was posted by Chris Maroglou. _____________________________________________________________ 1- About Installation of MSVC and the DirectX 9 SDK: ________________________________________________________________ Chris: I thought you knew.... do the same as i did.... eat them But of course install them... caution: if you don't have MS Office 2000 then an "error" will occur during the installation... this can be bypassed with a trick in the comandline...you can find it in the installation process somewhere.... caution 2: installing DXSDK , makes your pc suspicious of everything so there is a possibility that some errors will appear in some Windows' applications which need to be debugged....nothing to worry about ,just ignore them. After installing MSVC ,go search for some tutorials about Windows programming(DXSDK is not needed) and DirectX programming or get a book which includes both of them. If i can write some tutorials for you on Windows programming tell me. DXSDK includes a varierty of DirectX tutorials. I would like to post some info about MSVC .NET and DirectX programming. You see, in MSVC .NET it's pretty easy to create a form, a button and things like that with your mouse provided that your project is an MFC application. But here is the problem. MSVC .NET automatically puts a million lines of code and source files into your project to make it work. And this is something we don't want when we are aiming to create an engine because it becomes much slower. So the solution is to create an empty Win32 application, which means that you have to provide MSVC with your own source files. And at this point Windows programming comes in handy(lucky those who already know sth). So, in a Win32 application, you have to do everything yourself, including the programming for the main form , the buttons etc... and this is a mess. You have to know something about handles and messages and how Windows is using them to communicate with your application. Well this is new to me , so i've been doing some tutorials before i move on to DirectX. And a quote from the book i am currently studying: "...You know, the great thing about Windows is that as soon as you get to the point when you think, "Ahh.Finally that part is over.Now everything will be much easier" , you suddenly fall one ring further into the pit. It just gets deeper and deeper.And deeper.Until finally one glorious day you look up and go, "Ahh.I have finally mastered Windows." And as you're clawing your way out of the pit , gripping onto the edge, ready for that final lunge for the top, DirectX comes up and stomps on your fingers with an evil grin." This was mainly for Newt and Sivrehn who got the MSVC and the are ready for action. If you want to ask anything else please tell me. ____________________________________________________________ 2- About the....uhm.... disencouragement that MSVC causes: _______________________________________________________________ Chris: Well, the choice is yours..... you'll get the MSVC and you'll see for yourself that Microsoft is indeed the 7th ring of Hell, and Bill Gates is Devil himself... oh my..i don't want to open the sample projects again... at least in previous versions of Ms Visual Studio part of the Windows code was hidden... Imagine that MS Visual Basic .NET is Object-Oriented!!! As I see Microsoft tries to turn everything into Object-Oriented .... Patience is our only weapon. I don't know about you, but I can't leave a code to win the war....oh yes... it messed with the wrong guy... I hope your moral is better now ___________________________________________________________________________________________ 3- About Mong (Editor's note: I wonder if Mong actually means something in Greek?): ___________________________________________________________________________________________ Well, I finished the Windows programming tutorials and I think it's time I posted my little game (Mong) which was created using only the Windows' GDI and Photoshop for the images. (Editor's note: I uploaded it to my page) It took me 850 lines of code... Sivrehn are you ok? I also include the source code file in case someone wants to take a look. If you don't have any idea about Windows programming just ignore a couple of functions in the beginning of the code. I'm aware of some bugs and because I'm not a Windows guru I wasted a little processor power to fix them. Enjoy! Get it! PS. I now move on to Direct3D PS2. I didn't upload the game cause i couldn't. James fix it please. i think it has to do with the format of the file. I have changed my game's code a little in order to fix some bugs but i don't think i can use real picks cause i'll be writing code for the next of my life... damn GDI.... If i master Direct3D i will create Mong3D.... mwahahahh Got to pack my things for the next round of vacations.... See ya! ________________________________________________________________________ 4- About Gmax use with DirectX 9 and other engines: ________________________________________________________________________ Well, it's my turn now to start a thread in this forum ... *looks at Sivrehn* For those who don't want to get through the painful experience of creating their own game engine, I provide you with this wonderful link: www.gamedev.net It is a website with links to every game creation tool you need... There are Engines for Pc/Mac and not only for adventures but for RPGs and action games as well... Have Phun. Hey Siv, take a look at GMAX... it really got my attention and i have begun downloading it... Sivrehn: From what I hear, GMAX is only a stripped-down version of 3ds MAX that might export data to engines like Quake's... Nothing so cool. But I'll take a look at that. :) (Editor's note: GMax hasn't render capability as well) Oh, Chris... And how many of these engines are FREE? And Chris, you just spoiled our project. Now no-one will want to join in. */mumbles* -Sivrehn Chris: I don't know if GMAX is as great as I think, it was the tool that basically Syberia was created with. (Editor's note: Okay, you won...) I didn't spoil anything.. As i said it is for those who want to start from something "easy" and don't wish to get down to programming eveything. Sivrehn: GMAX has the same interface as 3ds. I don't know if it is that different... In fact, I had it once. In my old comp. It seems that you need to have the engine of your choice installed to make levels with it. Well, okay then... Let's just hope some more people take up the challenge of programming a bit. __________________________________________________ 5- About AutoUpdater: ____________________________________________________ Chris: *Chris recalls the download speed of Siv's files the day before and hesitates to try again....* I had nightmares after that... downloading at 200 bytes /sec believe me doesn't do good... By the way, did you manage to upload the BORLNDMM.DLL or geocities was stubborn again...? Sivrehn: All files are uploaded, except for bfc42.dll. Ditto what m01ety said once about DLL-Hell. Fortunately you'll be able to run all programs I make with Builder once you get all the DLLs. It's sort of like the VB runtimes... About not being in here earlier... Well, it was stuff... Family stuff... Don't worry, we all want you to sleep and study once in a while... EDIT: Download speed is normal here. Only upload speed is bad. Sivrehn: News Flash!!! All files are uploaded here: www.geocities.com/sivrehn/programming.html Download all ZIP files and extract them into one folder. All DLLs and BPLs are files which will let you run all C++ Builder progs. Thanks for your patience! _________________________________________________________________ End of File! _________________________________________________________________