Answer Questions

• Pockey By the numbers - why so big?

  My content, using JPG's, is roughly 14.4 MB. However, the XNB version is roughly 515 MB. About 38 times bigger than the original. Is this normal What steps do I need to take to reduce the size of this I'm just begining with my development but if I can't augment this behavior of the Framework I'll have to serverly strip down my game. Maybe, I'll have to replace Content<T> altogether ( ) Power of 2 is not the problem I guess I could go monochrome And that would eliminate item 3. Since when is an 8kb image large The issue at hand is that the framework is magnifying it 32 times. Microsoft already has the code written to read, write, and modify images in numerous formats. JPG is just one of the many tha ...Show All

• Ramanujam Sampath Do render targets have to be the same size as the back buffer?

  Hi, I have a render target set up as: screenBuffer = new Texture2D(graphics.GraphicsDevice, 1280, 720, 1, ResourceUsage.RenderTarget, SurfaceFormat.Color, ResourcePool.Default); When the back buffer is set to 1280,720 (the same size as the render target) the code below works and the screen displays a blue background as expected. //Set device to render target graphics.GraphicsDevice.SetRenderTarget(0, screenBuffer.GetSurfaceLevel(0)); graphics.GraphicsDevice.Clear(Color.Blue); //Set the render target to the back buffer graphics.GraphicsDevice.SetRenderTarget(0, graphics.GraphicsDevice.GetBackBuffer(0, 0)); graphics.GraphicsDevice.Clear(Color.Gray); //copy the (scaled) screen buff ...Show All

• Jonathan Wong joran's video tutorials dont work plz help

  ok so the videos start out ok but as they progress the speech and video don't match up which makes it very difficult!  plz help and tell me how to fix because i heard these are the best video tutorials out there. (dont tell me to find diff. tutorials ive done learnxna.com and i hate the text tutorials cause they make no sense.) (in case you dont kno wat tutorials im talking about there found here  www.xnatutorial.com   thx) Microsoft doesn't make or support these tutorials, though maybe Joran will see this post and reply. Otherwise make sure you are using the latest version of media player etc. This is either a media player or a video file problem not a XNA problem. i tried ...Show All

• Racing Snake What PC/Graphics Card is recommended?

  Hi all, what specs do you recommend to develop for XNA Studio Also, does it matter if it's DX10 or DX9 ie Is it better to wait for Vista and DX10 to come out to get a new graphics card Thanks a lot Our Graphics API is based on DirectX3D 9. Our minimum shader model is 1.1. See also the other thread . ...Show All

• TkNeo moving direct3d object with mouse

  Hi, Does anyone have any idea of how to move a direct3d object with mouse movement I am using Visual C 6.0 and I have extracted the coordinates of mouse using GET_X_LPARAM and GET_Y_LPARAM in WM_MOUSEMOVE. I provide these coordinates to the D3DXMatrixTranslation function where I translate my object to these coordinate positions by x/480 and y/640 where 640x480 is my screen resolution and x,y are the coordinates received by above procedure. My z remains constant. My object moves in that direction in which I move my mouse but never to that point where my mouse is. I know the procedure I have adopted has some mistakes and I have to manipulate the matrices in some way but I don't know how. Can anyone please help This is very urgent. Thanks in ...Show All

• Abbbbbs Heightmap Collision testing

  This question has been mocking me all day. I know it's doable, I have even used such a function somewhere long ago, and I have even found quotes of people saying "the calculation is easy and quick," however, I cannot find an example of heightmap collision testing. In other words, I want to be able to type MyLandscape.GetHeight(x,z) and it'll return the height (y) at that point. Now, this is not a simple, find the vertex at (x,z), and return the array value. There is distance between each vertex so, (x,z) wouldn't always be a vertex location. If I recall my calculus from ages ago, I think I remember there being a way to do this, but I don't remember. Answers or links would be deeply appreciated. ...Show All

• Struan Where do I start

  Hello fellow gamers, I am the newb next door and I need someone to tell me where to start. Where is the best starting point in the road to a professional game designer Do I start with 2D games Or 3D It also depends on if you know how to program in C#. If you're new to C# look here; http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/visualcsharp/easytolearn/ I found this very helpful. well, most say to start in 2d, and it makes sense, start from the basic and make something more complex, but I on the other hand like to start with where you want to go. My method (be warned this is a highly risky method that will probably not lead to a profesional game or future, but it works for me). You want to ma ...Show All

• NoEgo Managed DirectX Sprites: Is it possible to light them?

  Hi, Does anyone know if it is possible to apply Direct3D lights to sprites constructed using the Sprite helper class in Managed DirectX Since the class creates a quad for the sprite, I would have thought it possible to light the quad or rather the quad's texture. I have tried adding a light to my sprite scene and have tried doing this both before and after drawing the sprites. However, I cannot seem to get the lights to work. I have used the following code: // This is in my initialise section: m_Direct3DDevice.RenderState.Lighting = true; m_Direct3DDevice.RenderState.ZBufferEnable = true; // This is in my render loop: m_Direct3DDevice.Clear(Microsoft.DirectX.Direct3D.ClearFlags.Target, Color.Black, 1.0f, 0); m_Direct3DDevice.BeginScene(); ...Show All

• mcdonaldn texture fetch and shader math execution time in special cases

  Hi, when I do successive texture fetches using the same texture coordinate, without doing any other texture fetches in between (doesn't seem to make sense, yeah, but it does in my context :)), does it mean the value I receive is already in the texture cache And is the tex. fetch thus quicker than a random location texture fetch Another question: when I do some mathematical computations in a pixel shader and one operand is always 0 so that the result is 0 as well, are these computations executed quicker than in the case when the operand is != 0 so that the computations actually have to be executed to receive the result Best Regards Nico Thanks a lot for your help!Might check the beyond3d forums... ...Show All

• MMCompton 360 Deployment Issues

  Hello   I've downloaded the latest version of XNA: GSE, signed up to Creators Club, downloaded the launcher, created a key and entered it into GSE.  The 360 is sitting there waiting for a PC connection but the deployment just times out.   I've checked the subnet and they're both 255,255,255,0. It doesn't work whether it's wireless or wired. I can't ping it from the PC, it just times out. Got another pal to try pinging their 360 from their PC and they get a similar time out.   I've also made sure all the required ports are open, I think.  I'm not sure, we have a Belkin router and I've added the ports the docs say to add but I can't test whether they are actually open or not.   L ...Show All

• CUI WEI I can't registering xna project templates

  Hi, When I installing XNA Framework beta in Windows Vista RC2(x64 edition), in the last of process, error occurs that is "cannot registering project templates"... how do I this problem... I believe it works in the regular Vista, just not the 64 bit version. Check the FAQ. Vista is not currently supported. ...Show All

• erikkl2000 Pong

  Where would I find or How would i go about creating a simple 2D pong game.Are there any tutorials available http://www.threesixbox.com/ I downloaded the file but it comes up with an error - 'Unexpected end of archive' What should I do For anyone still intersted I put a demo of pong on threesixbox.com if you want to see my code.  The pause menu dosen't work right now, but the game still pauses.  I added a ReadMe file that explains how to play the game and you need a xbox 360 controller I didn't add keyboard input yet. I wrote a tutorial a few days after XNA came out, and LearnXNA made a video tutorial out of it. However ...Show All

• dotnetkiwi Playing In Traffic game sample

  Here is a simple game called "Playing In Traffic", based on an episode of an animation series (which you can see here ) . It was our first xna game (with lots of orphaned experiments and general ugliness), but the source is included anyway for anyone who may find it useful. We will be adding more to the entry page as time goes on, as well as updates to an swf to xna converter in progress now. You can download the game and source here . 2007 should be a great year for the Xbox and consequently XNA, very much looking forward to it. Hope it is a good one for you as well! Cheers, Robin Awesome, we totally appreciate that, thanks a ton : ). We will add you in the comments as well as the credits screen - thanks ...Show All

• mustangBE GameComponent.Draw()... why?

  I'm a bit confused about the GameComponent class, and its intended use. It would seem that it would be perfect for inheriting particular subsystems. InputComponent, NetworkComponent, etc... but you wouldn't want to draw any subsystem. So what was the logic behind having a Draw method for GameComponent Did the cart come before the horse, so to speak, with the GraphicsComponent How exactly is GameComponent meant to be used I thought I'd get it straight from the horse's mouth... and I have no idea what's with all the horses in this post. (My suggestions are in third post, if anyone cares). From my perspective every single GameComponent should have an Update method that will help handling any changes in on ...Show All

• Dual Cortex Indoor maps

  I'm making an FPS, but i'm wondering whats the best for the maps. Most stuff is made in 3D studio max and exported to .x files for now. Like for characters and weapos this is no problem, u can check if visible or not and stuff like that. But if u make 1 map in 3D studio and export to .x the entire map will be loaded and rendered ... whats best practice for this Definately look into binary space partitioning if you're concerned about progress - it will reduce your render workload by at least 50% in the worst case. It's a huge subject, though, with tons of ways to go about it. If you're worried instead about having to export a single file for the map or constructing the level from scratch everytime y ...Show All