Hello, I am having a tough time to decide if I should use DirectX9 with VisualBasic.NET or C++. My concern is I have NO experience in GUI/Windows with C++, so I cant create forms, labels, buttons, etc... I know C++ will give me the speed I would like, but VisualBasic.NET gives me the forms I would need for my server and login screens. I can do the same thing coding wise in both languages, except for the window problem in C++, I have thought of doing a console server in C++ with another thread handling the input to put information like kicking players, etc... Does anyone have any suggestions? Do you think for a online game with around 50 players there would be a huge diffence between both languages? PS. I will be using DirectPlay for networking.

I''d recommend you don''t have any GUI for your server. Instead, have a "special" client which connects to the server to do the player kicks and stuff. You can then write the server in any language you like, and write your GUI in C# or VB.NET or something that provides a nice GUI library. It also means you''ll be able to run your "admin client" remotely...

If I had my way, I''d have all of you shot!

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codeka.com - Just click it.

So do a DirectPlay server in a console and have a special admin account that is a frontend VB.NET app that can kick playsers and such?

What kind of speed diffences would you expect if I used DirectPlay in C++ or VisualBasic.NET?

None, really, they use the same underlying library. I just recommended a separate GUI because it''ll be a lot more convenient in the future (since you won''t have to log in to your server box to do any admin stuff).

If I had my way, I''d have all of you shot!

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codeka.com - Just click it.

I''ve implemented my server as a twin Win32 service: one service does the actual server, and the other is an HTTP server. Inter-service communication is thread-safe and provided through thread-protected memory locations and events.

You connect to it using an internet browser with "http://xx.xx.xx.xx:3945", login and there you go. No GUI on the server machine and maintenance is available from anywhere on the local net.

-cb