Ok, how far should I be looking into DirectX when programming? I seem to be trying to find out exactly what each function/class is and how it works! THis is leading to great headaches! How is it suppose to be done? It seems the general way people are going about it is to cut and paste, having no idea what the functions in directX are actually doing? Is this true (not a flame, just a question)? How far in depth should I go when trying to program with DirectX? I see alot of tutorials and help pages basically say the following: Direct 3d is great! It allows for 3d objects. This is the code: some really unfamiliar code, some more unfamiliar code. . . blah blah blah With no explanation about how the function works, how they came up with it, where it''s from, and maybe some explanation on what it does? There has to be a good place to find information. I have purchased some books on the subject, but they seem to do the same thing. Any ideas? (flames welcomed from the immature programmers that know it all but don''t have a game out or anything to show)

Yeah, it looks goofy at first. Copy/paste it anyway. Make it work, then tinker with it on your own.

That''s the wierd thing about DX. It''s like you have all the functions ready to be used, but there''s the problem of how to use them.





"All you touch and all you see is all your life will ever be --Pink Floyd
Need help? Well, go FAQ yourself.

Cool! Ok, I''ll just do what you said and work it from there. Thanks.

DigiKid
*Don''t ever let school get in the way of your education*

no thats wrong. you should know what the function does and the different parms coding. if you dont understand what your doing reread. dont copy and paste either by not you will have to think about what your doing each time. tricks of windows game programming guru is good to learn as a start.

I''ve seen that book, but decided not to buy it because I have read many reviews stating that it doesn''t cover, or covers in very little detail 3d applications. Any thoughts?

DigiKid

The DirectX SDK contains some very good tutorials which explain how to use it. Once you''ve learnt these, the rest of the functions, and the structure makes sense and you can just look up what you want.

First of all, thank you all for replying.

Anonypous Moster,
Yes, I have been to the SDK''s tutorials. The little bit I saw was actually pretty descent (sp?). The first part I wondered about was the tutorial on creating the window. What I did was use the "hello world" automatic win32 program supplied from MSV C++ 6.0. I was just planning on adding code from there via DirectX. . . yes?

DigiKid
DidX, rolling good time, oops I mean tried DirectX...

Yes the wizards are a good start (Are there any DirectX Wizards in the SDK - I haven''t looked). The tutorials just start from an hWnd if I remember correctly, so you can just carry on from there. Once you have DX working in your window (Windowed is preferred to full screen for developing as it''s easier to debug with) you can then play with the window creation code from the wizard to create a window in the style and size you want.

The DirectX 8 docs are okay-ish. The D3D samples show you how to do lots of effects that are available, but there is only limited help on managing a d3d app. i.e. what to do when you resize the window, whats the best way to use Vertex Buffers and Index Buffers etc. This is the only frustrating part.

As for just cutting and pasting the code, well, I used to print the code out, put it on my lap in front of me and try to annotate everything that is going on with a pencil right next to the code. (Of course looking at the docs for help). Although its quite tiresome, it soon burns it into your brain.

T