Answer Questions

• migz148 Managed DirectX Render Loop

  I'm sure this question has been asked a million times, but what is the current thinking about the best render loop for Managed DirectX I found an article on Rick Hoskinson's blog where he suggests overriding WndProc (http://blogs.msdn.com/rickhos/archive/2005/03/30/403952.aspx) and claims it's more efficient than the commonly used DoEvents and Application.Idle methods but I recently downloaded the April 2006 SDK and notice that the samples still use DoEvents. Also I tried using the WndProc method in a game of mine and noticed that in windowed mode it doesn't 'play nicely' with other windows apps, dragging the window for example is very unresponsive. Is it worth using multi-threading for the game loop to maintain responsiveness in windowed ...Show All

• chronozphere Minimizing and Maximizing

  I have my application set to use the full screen. If I hit alt tab, go into another app, then alt+tab back into my game, it's solid gray, and then locks up. I wrote some simple code to check the keyboard state, and close the app if I hit escape, but that doesn't even work. I just assumed that this would all be handled for me, out of the box... Do I have to write anything myself to fix this Ok...wait a minute. I just want to get something straight in my head, regarding what you just stated. I am very new to programming in general, and C# + XNA in particular. And what you're talking about sounds like a solution to an issue I was attempting to wrap my noodle around. If I reload my game's visual resource ...Show All

• johnny_no1_boy 3D presentation

  Hi guys, I really want to waw my client and write a window display for a real estate shop using C# and managed DirectX 3D. It will be a presentation running accross 4 screens. I have a basic amount of experience working with meshes and textures, etc (I made a 3D space shooter around a year ago). But, I'm lacking ideas really of how to present pictures and info about apartments and houses... Could anybody possibly inspire me Thanks! Have you seen the Google SketchUp http://sketchup.google.com/ Haha, well that was certinately interesteding to read, but perhaps not what I had in mind. Nice idea, that'd probably be useful for if ...Show All

• Torbjorn Numeric performance on 360

  A question for the framework/VM guys... I have ported one of my simpler benchmarks to the 360, and find that the numeric performance is running 5x slower than my 2.8GHz P4 desktop. Now I was expecting a drop in performance on the 360, allowing for the difference in CPU implementation (in order execution / branch prediction etc), but nothing like this magnitude! The benchmark simply transforms a source array of Vector4s to a destination array of Vector4s, using a 4x4 matrix. Have you guys done any benchmarking of pure numeric perf, and if so is this in line with what you get Andy. Is that multi-threaded in any way What's sad is that, traditionally, the PPC ar ...Show All

• carlsonad Managed 3D API for CAD-like software

  Now that XNA is out the door and Managed DirectX is more or less a discontinued product what are you telling people that need a managed 3D API for software that is not gaming related We started to develop a CAD-like software package for house automation and used Managed DirectX. Now it looks like MDX will not see any updates in future (DirectX 10 ). We wouldn't want count on an API that is bound to die (or to become outdated). But XNA Framework on the other hand doesn't seem to be the right API for the job either since it seems to be too much tailored for gaming. What is Microsoft's message here Managed 3D graphics is only reasonable in casual gaming area (XNA) or simple Datavisualization (WPF) For everthing outside that, better stay u ...Show All

• progames25 Custom processor with additinal data - Content pipeline

  I understand one can use the Tag property to add custom data while processing a model. Is that the only way Meaning, do I have to create a whole hierarchy of user defined classes with the Tag property as a root I though of something like deriving ModelContent but that's sealed. What are you trying to do that you need to produce a "whole hierachy of user defined classes" Yeah, that would be the only way if you want to use the standard Model class. Though, due to the many relationships between the classes where one class would have to know the class type on the other end, I think deriving from any kind of standard model hierachy would be a hefty chore anyways. To that end, the only two options I could see for a stan ...Show All

• Gunston Maya plugin

  I would like to use the Maya plugin with Maya 8. Primarily, I would like to be able to assign FX files with the Hypershade and export to X files. Unfortunately, the December DirectX SDK only comes with Maya 6, 6.5, and 7 plugins. I got the plugin to compile by simply changing all the 7.0s into 8.0s in the project properties, but I get the following error when I attempt to load the plugin: DirectX Extensions for Maya - Error loading DXCC: Incompatable DXCC.DLL was loaded: C:\Program Files\Microsoft DirectX SDK (December 2006)\Utilities\Bin\x86\DXCC.DLL Desired DXCC.DLL is in path: C:\Program Files\Microsoft DirectX SDK (December 2006)\x86\DXCC.DLL DXCC.DLL exists at the 1st path that is mentioned, but not at the 2nd "desire ...Show All

• cmfairbank Weapons

  Hey everyone, I've got a problem with my weapon in my game. I have them shooting a ray relative to the player and if the other actor is in front of the player they'll get hit and die. No problem. But now I want to implement a better aiming system. I have my camera class working the way I want, but now I want to know if anyone can explain and help me shoot a ray from the camera position through a 2D pixel on the screen (where the aiming reticle is on). Here's a screenshot. http://ravenousgames.com/public/msdn/streetdreams_problem_aim.jpg Not yet ;) Watch for "picking". As far as i learned today it's something that you are looking for. Now I am going to sleep so ...Show All

• JohnYG mesh in xna

  hello, i'm making a 3d game, i have made a mesh with 3d studio max 9 and i have used the biped tool for the mesh animation, now i need to put the mesh in my game, i'm using de xna framework, i have tried to export the .3ds file to .x file format, but the .x file format result in a big square and nothing else this only happend with the animated mesh because i have exported to .x file format the static meshes and these are perfect, somebody can tell me what kind of format's models are supported in the xna framework or how to export the animation of .3ds to .x file thank you in advance. p.s: i have exported the .3ds file using calgari gamespace 1.5 and 3d object converter, the two of those show the same thing. ...Show All

• Brian_W XNA Express - Windows XP Home Support?

  I've been looking around and trying to determine what version of Windows is needed to be able to install and run XNA Game Studio Express. My main question is whether or not it will work with Windows XP SP2 Home Edition. The FAQ just states Windows XP SP2 (as I've pasted below). I have in the past tried to install programs that say they work with Windows XP SP2 only to find that they really mean Windows XP SP2 Professional edition. They wouldn't work with Home edition. I'm assuming that it will work since it's an Express edition, just like all the other .NET language Express editions, but I just wanted to make sure. I don't want to have to upgrade my machine if I don't have to. (And please, no arguments about why I should upgrade to Pro. I ...Show All

• Tiago Nóbrega Screen layout for 360 games

  Dave made a blog entry yesterday pointing to another blog entry that should be a must-read for all of us considering doing 360 development. I know I had no idea about what he talks about. This article (free signup required) goes into far more detail than you probably ever wanted to know about the problems involved with displaying computer images on televisions. The situation today is nowhere near as bad as he describes, as the Xbox has a high quality video encoder that will use smart filtering to minimize the effects of fine horizontal detail on an interlaced display. Plus not so many people today are still using composite cables, and a lot have HDTV where most of these problems go away. Still good stuff to be aware o ...Show All

• Hilton Goldstein Vectors

  Hello, I'm new to vectors and I need to find a way to have the Vector X/Y postions more like a pixel X/Y. Would anyone be able to help me or point me in the right direction What I'm mean is when you well a SpriteBatch to draw at 20, 20 it will draw the texture 20 pixels down and to the right from the top left corner of the game window. I'm hoping to be able to do the same using Vectors. 1) "like a Pixel" float X,Y; float SpeedX,SpeedY; manipulating example : X += SpeedX; Y += SpeedY; 2) the same code with a vector Vector2 Position, Speed; After this declaration you may manipulate with two vector components , X and Y, by one or simultaneously. The ...Show All

• susanasusana Skinning in BasicEffect

  The ModelMesh is loaded with verts of the correct format, so if our file uses blend weights then it has the blend indices and weights. How are these blend weights being used in the BasicEffect Is the shader using a Matrix Palette or is it ignoring the skin info Changing the transforms on the models bones seems to do nothing, which leads me to believe it is doing the latter. Also, if we are using our own matrix palette shader and want our ModelMeshParts to be grouped by the number of blend weights per face, how can we use your Model class   The ModelMeshPart collection is immutable :( Thanks for the feedback. It's great to hear you got this working! Ok, I finished.  Thanks for your ...Show All

• ricky1980 XNA Studio Help

  This is my first post here and it is probably not exactley the correct place to ask this question but I have no clue wher I should do it otherwise. Is there a problem with installing Visual Studio C++ Express after I have installed C# and the XNA stuff The various Express versions of the IDE will install and work correctly side by side with each other so you shouldn't encounter any issues installing Visual Studio C++ Express on your PC after C# Express and the XNA framework. I'm currently running a similar setup at home and at work with both the Visual Studio Pro and several Express versions all installed. Thanks, then I will give it a try ...Show All

• I Andrew Incorrect BoundingSphere Info On Mesh

  Can I just ask anyone out there who has used the .x import and then rendered the mesh to check the boundingsphere information for me please. I have looked at the information for my mesh and it just doesnt look right. I have a quad that is 100x1x100 and the information for the bounding sphere says - d.Center {X:-16.51774 Y:0 Z:8.666386} d.Radius 88.6924744 Can someone confirm if their mesh has the correct boundingsphere info. Thanks guys, Dave. Surely most people calc bounding boxes/spheres up front, it should be 100% accurate, shouldnt it The center coords should be 50,0.5,50, why would that be incorrect To get a more accurate bounding sphere, do I need to write my own importer for t ...Show All