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Dark GDK / DarkGDK.NET released (v1.0.9.0)

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APEXnow
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Posted: 2nd Apr 2007 22:29 Edited at: 3rd Apr 2007 14:31
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Hi all, hope you’re all well,

DarkGDK.NET v1.0.9.0 has now been released. It should be available from your orders page as per usual.

Now, here are the things that have changed:

1. dgdkGlobals.vb/cs and dgdkPlugins.vb/cs have been deprecated. They are still available in the toolkit but for new projects, you no longer need to use them. The documentation tutorials have been modified to reflect the new method of creating projects from now on. Note, all projects that already exist should not need to be modified, just recompile them with the new toolkit.

2. The new system requires that you only reference the two DLL files located in the ./redist/plugins/ folder. A new class called CDarkGDK is available from the DGDKPlugins.dll file. This is used to initialise the toolkit. I have modified all of the enclosed samples to use this new method of instanciation. The only thing which, with a little work, is different, is that both VB.NET and C#.NET initialising the toolkit in two separate ways. This really boils down to preference in coding style and does require a little patience and knowledge of the differences between deriving from a class in C#, and import(ing) a class into VB.NET. I would suggest that you examine the tutorials though, and especially the samples included in the toolkit.

3. The toolkit now implements all of the functions provided in the DGDK C++ libraries released by Mike about two weeks ago. It’s just taken me longer to get this release out because of the necessity to ensure that the new method doesn’t break existing applications. The documentation still needs a lot of work though guys, but both myself and Mike are working on a cool and top notch solution to get this situation cleared up.

4. Please note that I have not yet updated the toolkit to sort out the problems associated with installing under Vista. I’ll endeavour to get this situation resolved as soon as.

Ok, think that covers just about everything. If you have any problems, please don’t hesitate to let me know. I also suggest waddling on over to the #dgdk-net channel on IRC as well (see details in the sticky at the top of the forum).

[EDIT] Due to a problem I had with the Authenticator, a patch has been made available as a separate download on your Orders page. Once you have downloaded and installed the DarkGDK.NET toolkit, download and install the patch to resolve the problem with the Authenticator.

Cheers for now

Paul.


Abundance = Choice = Freedom - Scarcity = Dependancy = Control, Truth!
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kBessa
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Posted: 2nd Apr 2007 23:01
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Hooray!

Good to know Paul, I'll download it right away so I can begin working on the next release of DarkEngine (Along with an official website that's almost ready, but waiting to make a "double release").

Thanks for the good work!

Best regards,
Thiago
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APEXnow
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Posted: 2nd Apr 2007 23:10
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No Problem kBessa, any probs, just yell.

Paul.


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APEXnow
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Posted: 3rd Apr 2007 00:57 Edited at: 3rd Apr 2007 01:28
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Announcement to people downloading the v1.0.9.0 version of DGDK.NET.

I've discovered a problem with the Authenticator which causes it to bomb when running it, and I sincerely apologise for this oversight. I've notified Mike of the problem, and why, but it was a complete supprise to me since everything appeared to be working fine until I had already generated the new installs. It's a long story but I had updated some libraries (officially announced to be stable) but only to find that one of the libraries has a problem in Release mode.

I will get straight onto this to fix it and have a patch install for the Authenticator as soon as possible.

If you haven't downloaded the latest version, then wait until I have released the patch so that you can continue to use the Authenticator.

Again, my sincere apologies for this inconvenience. I will post progress and patch announcements as soon as possible.

Many thanks for your support and patience people.

[EDIT] Ok, I've sorted the problem, and sent Mike the patch install file. As soon as I know the file is uploaded along side the toolkits, you'll be notified. Again, sorry for the inconvenience.

Paul.


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Niels Henriksen
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Posted: 3rd Apr 2007 00:58
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/me is standing on the sideline and clapping in my small hands....

soon we will have 5 days off in easter and if my wife allow me I will work on my game

Im so impressed of your work guys...

Niels Henriksen
Working on a (MMO)RPG right now in DarkEngine
http://www.tigernet.dk - Send SMS to mobile online (will come in english soon)
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Argon Knight
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Posted: 3rd Apr 2007 07:20
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Oh, I see. Another april Fools joke
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APEXnow
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Posted: 3rd Apr 2007 14:29
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@Argon, Heh, I wish. No not this time

Ok folks, the patch is now available from your orders page. Install the toolkit first, then download and install the patch. This will sort the problem.

Paul.


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James Bondo
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Posted: 3rd Apr 2007 18:19
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Thanks Apex.

And just to clarify so im sure you understood, its not the toolkit that isnt vista compatible, its the redistributable file.

Using Dark GDK.NET
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APEXnow
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Posted: 3rd Apr 2007 18:47
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That actually helps because the toolkit, as you know, has two flavours. DX and no DX. With the redistributable, i.e. DGDKSetup.exe, this will will grow in size significantly if I have to accompany the DX runtime with. I really wanted to avoid this solution, but if more people are going to be using Vista, I may need to start providing two flavours of the runtime as well. This is the only drawback with DGDK.NET in that because of the nature of COM, it's the only safe and reliable way to make it available to end users. The COM component is a native binary and therefore, has to be pre-registered for the interop functionality to resolve the function links.

The only real solution would be to convert the whole DGDK toolkit over to managed code. Doing so would require some serious considerations to security via Obfuscating etc. The dotfuscator that comes with Visual Studio doesn't imo, provide the necessary level of protection that I feel would be required for such a toolkit.

Paul.


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James Bondo
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Posted: 3rd Apr 2007 19:49 Edited at: 3rd Apr 2007 19:49
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The way i got the toolkit working in vista was to install using the "1080 with DX" flavour.

Because DX was already installed, i could just use the "no DX" flavour for the 1090 release.

But im pretty surprised that the DXWebSetup from microsoft doest work for vista.

This also leaves another problem. As i seem unable to uninstall the DX SDK, i cant really test whatever solutions you come up with... unless some of you know how to uninstall DX SDK.
No, it doesnt show up in add/remove programs.

Using Dark GDK.NET
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APEXnow
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Posted: 5th Apr 2007 21:05
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What do people think regarding DGDKSetup.exe being modified so that there are two flavours? DX and None DX respectively. This will ensure that the runtime can still be installed onto a Vista platform with the correct DX DLLs on there?

Any feedback is appreciated.

Paul.


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Gervais
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Posted: 5th Apr 2007 22:31
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Yes this will be perfect so that user can chose what to download base on there system
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gameboy
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Posted: 5th Apr 2007 23:06 Edited at: 5th Apr 2007 23:09
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@APEXnow: Try looking into XenoCode.com for .NET secured applications. It looks like they have some really useful tools. The best deal is the Developer's Suite, which includes 3 of their applications bundled together.
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APEXnow
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Posted: 5th Apr 2007 23:41
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Thanks for the feedback . I'll check out the site gameboy.

Paul.


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James Bondo
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Posted: 1st May 2007 12:27 Edited at: 1st May 2007 12:31
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It seems like microsoft updated the direcx web installer and its now compatible with vista (and therefore the DGDK redistributable).

Gonna test it in a moment. Apparently, TGCs file server is extremely slow atm.

EDIT: Yup, works

Using Dark GDK.NET
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APEXnow
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Posted: 1st May 2007 14:28
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James, that's excellent news. I'll sort out getting the new distribution into the installers for both versions over the next few days.

Thanks for the heads up.

Paul.


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kBessa
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Posted: 7th May 2007 20:48
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Just an information for the users of DarkEngine.

This week I'll finally release version 0.2, there's just some structural changes do the main program class, so it seems like DGDK.NET 1.0.9. Only some missing commands were added. Expect a lot more with the release of v0.3 (the official DarkEngine website, to be released with v0.2, will have some RoadMap of what is expected to be the future releases of DarkEngine, up to v1.0).

I have to thanks Paul for using my suggestion on 1.0.9 (although he doesn't remember), and also for helping me with the new authentication method, or there wouldn't be a 0.2 DarkEngine. Thank you very much!

Oh, and just one more thing! I'd like someone could help me finding out what every "Flag" in DGDK.NET commands really do. The only one I found out was oDBImage.GetImageB flag, that was docummented on DBPro, but there are some others that DO have flags, like oDBBasic3D.OffsetLimbB, oDBFile.WriteFileBlockEx, etc.
What I want to do is, instead of a user having to type a Number, he could just use a Enum, like DarkTextureFlag.<something> or DarkObjectFlag.<something>. It makes the code a lot easier to write and understand (the primary objetive of DarkEngine). Hope anybody can help with this. =)

Best regards,
Thiago
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lwatson
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Posted: 30th Jul 2007 22:06
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I can say with certainty that the 1.0.9.x version of the .Net library works in c# with the Visual Studio 2008 (beta2) IDE. At least in following the directions in the help file for setting up the tutorial example with the console application and the spinning cube.

Bodes well for more elaborate exercises using Dark GDK and .Net 3.0-3.5...

Lonnie Allen Watson
rmag.blogspot.com (blog)
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CattleRustler
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Posted: 30th Jul 2007 22:44 Edited at: 30th Jul 2007 22:44
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yeah, there should be no reason that dgdk.net wouldnt be fine in .net 3 & 3.5. Those newer versions of .net dont really alter any core, more of just expanding new stuff on top of 2.0. But I guess we'll see. I am currently staying with .Net 2.0 for the moment.

My DBP plugins page is now hosted [href]here[/href]
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