DirectX8

[Muk108]

what do i need to prgram engines in it?

[Gaming_World]

DirectX 8, and VB...

Goto www.directx4vb.com for toturials.

[/\/\isanThr0p]

well if you need info on starting out I woul propose you take a close look at
www.directx4vb.com

[VirtuallyVB]

I would like to be able to create such games as those that already run on my system. There is no typo when I write that I am using a 100MHz Pentium (i.e. Pentium I) and the original ATI All-In-Wonder (i.e. not the Pro) under Windows 98.

Some of these games are U.S. Navy Fighters Gold, Descent (i.e. Descent I), Mech Warrior 2: 31st Century Combat, Doom II and Hexen.

I just installed the DirectX 8.1 SDK and was dissappointed to find out that DirectX 8 interfaces do not function, yet the same DxDiag reported that DirectX 7 interfaces worked fine. I think I need to downgrade back to DirectX 7 and I would like to get that SDK. Does anyone have the exact url to get it from MS (or anywhere else)? I haven't found it yet. Or under 8.1, are there clear flags to let me know that I am not wasting my time coding for an 8.1 functionality that my system cannot support?

As far as engines, the reason I installed 8.1 was to compile "3D Game Engine Design" by David H. Eberly. ISBN: 155860593-2 http://magic-software.com/

***I found the DirectX 7 SDK***
http://download.microsoft.com/downlo...7sdk-700.1.exe

But would it be best to use 8.1 and somehow only target 7.0 usage in my case? If so, how do I know what is for 7.x ?

[Fox]

I noticed some of my projects don't work in DX 8.1 but in DX 8.0 everything's just fine ...

[Zaei]

Once DX8.1 is on your system, you cant get it off (easily). The good thing is that all DX versions are backwards compatible, so you can use the DX7 interfaces anyway.

By the way, none of the games that you mentioned use DirectX (with perhaps the exception of US Navy Fighters Gold, never heard of that), or any form of hardware acceleration.

Z.

[VirtuallyVB]

Can anyone recommend a set of tools [i.e. a "Kit to Develop Software" ] that would enable me to create such games as I mentioned above (for my low-end system)?

MechWarrior2, DoomII and Hexen actually came with my ATI card. MechWarrior2 says "ATI 3D RAGE Edition" with minimum system requirements as an ATI 3D RAGE Accelerator enhanced computer system. So, even if DirectX isn't involved, I'd assume that 3D acceleration is involved. But I'm not as concerned with the name as I am with the fact that pretty cool 3D animation and graphics is running on my low-end system. I just want to be able to create such games myself.

If I want to just use DirectX 7 interfaces, is there an easy way to make sure of that? For instance, I see docs on New Features in DirectX 8.1 and New Features in DirectX 8.0, but "The global illumination equations and the Mathematics of Lighting section have been rewritten and examples included." So basically, how do I know that I'm using compatible code at design time rather than finding out at compile or run time?

Hey, and like I started to say in this post, maybe I might even stay away from DirectX. Zaei, I think once you mentioned Blender to me. I haven't learned how to use it for games, although that appears to be an option. On my first review, it seemed to be for non-real-time productions.

[Zaei]

True the mechwarrior 2 series had accelerated editions =), but I dont think that they used directx (they were still DOS games, correct?). If you have DX8.0, you have all of the DirectX versions all the way back to the first version, no exceptions.

It wasnt me who mentioned Blender (I dont like it much =), but it can be used for games. Unfortunately, they wont be very good games, as is the case with almost any "kit" you might find for creating games. They will always be the same game with minor variations, and that is about it. If you want to make games you need to do it th right way, and not with some game creation kit =).

Z.

[VirtuallyVB]

MechWarrior2 says "Designed for MS Win95" and minimum requirements, a 100% Windows 95-compatible computer system. No mention of DirectX until they talk about NetMech (the networked version) -- they mention DirectPlay.

What is "the right way" to create games?

Is there a Game FAQ on the subject here (with the right way)? I'll have to check for that.