this might be the wrong forum to ask this question but to all those who arent ''married'' to one particular API here goes. I need a good book/tutorial on DX8 there I''ve said it . Please help

will dx8 books be out so early?

well if there arent dx8 books what about dx7 books/tutorials i can then learn about new features from the sdk documentation. Please help!

i hardly know anything abt dx but am planning on using at least DirectPlay for networking n OGL for grfx. I got this book Dx7 in 24hrs but i went mad in hr2. Dx8 DirectXGraphics seems to be very different from Dx7 D3d n DirectDraw (as i hear from these forums) so i dont know if a dx7 book might be a good solution.

btw off topic what do ppl think of DirectPlay?

is it possible to mix an match like that? if so i may use ogl for graphics for simplicity and dx for everything else. I might wait a month or so and get a book on dx8.

Apparently microsoft had a huge rewrite of DirectPlay for version 8, and from what I''ve heard, Microsoft has done a good job with it.

if u r new to directx or win32 (like me) i would say use OGL for 3D and ''possibly'' Dx for everything else. Dx8 according to reviews has been simplified a lot but OGL seems so clean n clear .
My current plan is to use OGL+Dsound+Dplay and conquer Dx fully later.

off topic again, can i mix n match Dsound7+Dplay8?

The only way to do some things (not graphics) in windows is to use DirectX but a wrapper has some points: easier, portable...

I do not think it is any problems mixing Dsound7+Dplay8 but why should you?

Mixing OGl and DirectSound, DirectPlay and DirectInput are not a problem. Mixing OGL and DirectDraw or Direct3D is however a posable problem as many implementations of OGL that I''ve seen are "married" to the directx drivers also they both require exclusive access to the video hardware so they can keep a known state!
As for mixing the DX7 and DX8 versions??? I''ve worked with DirectDraw quite a bit and the headders are a little interdependant! I don''t know how well that would work trying to use the different sdk''s. In theory however you can do this by just linking in the DX8 libs into your project and doing everything the DX7 way. This might work because as I understand the COM objects that dx is built on. The interface and drivers must support ALL previous versions of that particular COM object. That''s why MS can change the API and still have older programs work with the newer drivers, the new drivers have to have support for all the older versions! This neadless to say will bloat the driver code by the time it gets to DX20! by my estimags we should be at that version by 2007!
In my opinion the inly good parts of DX are DSound, DInput and DPlay

hope this helps!
Rob
Oh yea, MERRY CHRISTMASS EVERYONE

dx8 is a real biggy, even bigger than ogl for that matter

I hope some good site like nehe''s comes to our rescue.

cyanide.