Answer Questions

• Komandur.Kannan What is a good type of game to start with?

  So when XNA Studio Express comes out I and many other budding(a.k.a. newb) programmers will flock to our PCs to make our own games, but my question is what is the best type, or genre to begin with Would it be a good idea to start 2D, or would jumping into 3D be an option I want to start off with somthing that I can ease into and not get overwhelmed by anything too hard. Thanks for any help you more experienced programmers can give me. Usually I use Snake for testing a new library. Then I try to convert a testing platform, but to start is quite difficult. (but only on windows if we're talking networking ) Dammit, Jim, i don't want to fight you. But at this rate, i WILL have to create MrSock vs ...Show All

• leonidas than Cube texture mapping

  Here i would like to ask about the texture coordinate for the cube mapping. I know that cube mapping did not use the normal coordinate that we use for normal texture coordinate. But i'm getting problem in understanding how the cube texture coordinate works. Let me put example here. Below is the vertex and fvf declaration: struct CUSTOMVERTEX {FLOAT X, Y, Z, RHW; DWORD COLOR; FLOAT V, W, U;}; #define CUSTOMFVF (D3DFVF_XYZRHW | D3DFVF_DIFFUSE | D3DFVF_TEX1 | D3DFVF_TEXCOORDSIZE3(0)) And this is my vertex array: CUSTOMVERTEX t_vert[] = { { 120.0f, 50.0f, 0.5f, 1.0f, D3DCOLOR_ARGB(255,255, 255, 255), 0,0, 1, }, { 520.0f, 50.0f, 0.5f, 1.0f, D3DCOLOR_ARGB(255,255, 255, 255), 1,0, 1, }, { 520.0f, 400.0f, 0.5f, 1.0f, D3DCOLOR ...Show All

• !=MaYHeM Why is Game not a singleton?

  I'm a bit puzzled by this  - why is the game class not a singleton, i.e. there is and can be only ever one instance of it. I can't quite see any sensible reason to have more than one of them, but as it doesn't seem to be a singleton, I have to hold a reference to it anywhere I want to access game services from. Otherwise I could have just written Game.Instance.Services when I wanted access to them. Or perhaps I have missed something obvious (I know I can make my class that is derived from Game use this pattern, I'm just curious as to why it wasn't done like this in the framework in case I shouldn't be doing it either). Design patterns are used to solve common problems. What problem wou ...Show All

• xRuntime GameServices

  Hi, could someone please explain simply how to turn a GameComponent that I've written into a GameService that can be accessed by any GameComponent. i.e. What class needs to implement IMyGameService What should it expose How do I go about registering my service with the Game. A link to a thread/article or a new explanation that explains this would be great. I've seen a few half-explanations around, but nothing full. Still, a concise but thorough summary would be the best. Thanks a lot... In my component model, all components are added to the "graph", and then the graph is "Initialize()'d" and begins running. Only after initialization are components allowed to try and get a reference to another component (o ...Show All

• Allan Huang 10 things to do while waiting for XNA Game Studio Express

  1. Read every single blog and forum post trying to find something new about it 2. Refresh your emails every 20 seconds hoping for a new mail from Microsoft 3. Stare at the wall 4. Make Content for your to be games ( lots and lots of content) 5. Design a game that will soon be forgotten about when the download is ready 6. Run to the fridge and stock up on supplies for when you start your game making 7. Make some more content ( there is no such thing as too much) 8. Read a book ( Book ) 9. Think about how awsome this is going to be 10. refresh your email again If all else fails repeat step 3 until step 2 is sucessful 20. Work because you have a day-job. :-( 33. Convinc ...Show All

• Regis Brid Please Post First Impressions Here.

  For the working stiff's like myself, could those of you who have successfully downloaded GSE post you first impressions here. Thanks. thx for the answer.. no i just hope for a good docu.. :) It definatly looks like a great framework! I started working on my game using XNA, and so far I haven't run into any problems! Although the naming convetion in the framework is different from the one I use, it shouldn't cause problems. Once we get some good tutorials out, I'm sure we will be seeing some good games. Also, the documentation rocks! GJ Microsoft. I'm an EE who likes to write software in my spare time (go figure). I have been learning 2D game develo ...Show All

• TTris Console a la Quakes?

  I'm wanting to add a console like in the quake series, a simple dropdown... but no text/command entering yet! Just simple "debug" output so i can have detailed information on the game while it runs... how would you guys suggested handling the messages a simple buffer or array Anyone have a link to some code that does something similar to this (not specifically xna, just anything c or c++ i could translate over) Any help is appreciated! but... id like it to be in a new window... how do i do that If you're looking for something simple and don't need the console on the 360 so that the user can interact with it (e.g. by entering commands), you might want to consider the System.Diagnostics namespace. The Compact F ...Show All

• Julenka Diffuse HLSL for Skinned Mesh

  has anyone managed to get diffuse working in HLSL for an animated skinned mesh I really hope so because I cant get mine working, it just looks weird. can someone please let me know the secret. FYI - the animation is working great with the vertex shader applying the bone transformations, etc ... its just the lighting I need sorting now :O) Thanks, Dave. The version in the SDK (the one I have) doesnt do any lighting in vs/ps, it appears to be done in the ff pipeline. I have managed to create a pixel shader and vertex shader that animates perfectly, but the example that I used only uses a light direction for the diffuse, I need to use a light at an x,y,z and then calculate the diffuse with that. I ...Show All

• Bart371 Custom Processors and Asset Duplication

  This will probably be quite obvious once the answer is explained to me, but i am using a custom model processor, whenever i use it on .x models that are are added to the project (not just linked to but actually copied into projects directory) i get an error that more than one asset with that name is produced when i try to build, while if i use the custom processor on a model that is only linked from another project, it doesn't complain at all. How can i stop duplicates from occurring when i am using non-linked content (Thanks) Oh, right yeah, sorry, It extends the ModelProcessor class, overriding the Process method only: public override ModelContent Process(NodeContent input, Microsoft.Xna.Fr ...Show All

• ycjj Invisible Skybox

  Hi i have used some of the code from the SkyBoxDemo tutorial to make a skybox in my game. I adapted the code to run with my game but when i debug the game i cannot see the skybox and my model following camera flips round to face the front of the model insted of the back and The Ship model turns weird colors!   you say this happens only when you debug the game does it not happen when in release mode, or are you saying that it only happens if you hit a break point and step through the code in debug mode Wahoo it semi works :) now i am accually inside the sky box and when i turn the star moves but i cant move 360 degrees and my turning system is now messes up when i turn one way it turns for ...Show All

• Bastiaan Molsbeck Tabs instead of Spaces by Default, please

  Visual Studio 2003 and 2005 default to tabs for spacing, yet for some reason XNA (and perhaps Visual C# Express) defaults to 4 spaces. Further, to find the setting to fix this is a little confusing - you need to realize the "Show All" checkbox is lurking at the bottom of the Options, check that, and then restart your hunt for the "Tabs" section. Please set the default to Tabs in future versions, for everyone's sanity, and source control savings. cat * | wc You need something like Cygwin... :) http://cygwin.com/ That's all well and good. Visual C# Express really needs to default to tabs though, instead of starting novice programmers off with spaces. Expert programmers will ...Show All

• TheSilverHammer Detecting a controller button press?

  I'm using the following code to toggle my grid on/off at runtime: if ( GamePad .GetState( PlayerIndex .One).Buttons.Y == ButtonState .Pressed) grid1.ShowGrid = !grid1.ShowGrid; But it's badly flawed, in that the Y button is "Pressed" every time the button is down (eg. if I hold it down for 1 second, it would toggle 60 times). How can I reliably find if a button was pressed (eg. it's initial down state), without having to keep track of Up/Down states for every button myself I have a little InputManager, it only works on the keyboard, but it seems to do what you want. Calls a delegate as soon as the registered key is pressed or released with the new state as an argument. I'll see if I ca ...Show All

• Hamed_1983 When will the next beta of GSE be released?

  When will the next beta of GSE be released Jim Perry wrote: Why would that be helpful How does knowing when the next release is coming out help with testing the current version That is what we're supposed to be doing - testing. It would be helpful so we would know when we can actually begin testing. Right now a lot of us feel that the current XNA is not in any shape of usability since so much is missing. Simply put, there is nothing to really test with the current version other than that the install worked. The content pipeline is where we can really start testing as far as i'm concerned. YMMV, but that is just where I, and a few others stand at this point. ...Show All

• cythe ExternalReference<CompiledShader> - Am I missing something?

  I'm trying to create references to .fx files from my Content Pipeline types (my writer). When I build my level objects, I want the references to textures and effect files to be baked into the object so that you don't have to add .fx and .png files to your project, just add the file that processes into a level. (A .bsp in my case). My problem is that I used this thread to create external references to textures, but the same technique does not work for shaders. Psuedo code in the processor: ExternalReference<EffectContent> source = new ExternalReference<EffectContent>("C:\shader.fx"); ExternalReference<CompiledShader> built = context.BuildAsset<CompiledShader>(source, typeof(EffectProcessor).Name); ...Show All

• JFoushee XNA Pro?

  Hello I have Visual Studio .NET 2005 (not the express version) and I want to develop with XNA. I don't want to download and use the express version of C# or XNA - I just want to use my pro version of .net 2005. I heard mention of XNA Express and XNA Pro versions, but have not been able to find a Pro version of XNA yet. What should I use Thanks. XNA Game Studio Express does not work with VS2005 Pro.  The Pro version of "XNA Game Studio Express" is not announced, and MS won't say anything about when and how much it will cost either.  So, it comes down on what you want to do If you want to dev XNA games for Windows, you can - download XGSE, install it, and add the XNA ref ...Show All