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Dark GDK / ATTENTION: Immediate assistance required for DarkGDK.NET completion!!

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APEXnow
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Location: On a park bench
Posted: 1st Sep 2008 15:55
Hi folks,

You're all wondering most likely what has happened to me of late, and what's happening with DarkGDK.NET. Over three weeks ago, I suffered a family loss which hit me quite hard and I was unable to attend everyday matters for a while. Even my work suffered a bit and I had to go away for a while to recover.

I'm now back, and trying to pickup the pieces of where I had left DarkGDK.NET. Now, as it stands, the kit itself is complete, including all VB.NET and C# samples. But I need help!

Each of the Tutorial samples needs to come with a Word document that details the inner workings of the Tutorial programs. I've completed four of the VB.NET Tutorial documents already, but I need help with getting the other VB and C# versions completed as soon as possible.

I'm after one or two volunteers who will be willing to recieve the toolkit as it stands at the moment, and complete the Tutorial documents. I will provide you with the ones I've done already, and the ones that initially came with the C++ toolkit that must be updated to cover the VB and C# Tutorials.

If you're seriously interested in taking onboard this task, please do not hesitate to email me with your contact details.

I wouldn't have asked, but since my return to work, it has become almost impossible to find time to complete these tutorial documents, and I'm frustrated that the toolkit has not been released purely because of this reason.

Again, I appreciate your help guys, and as soon as the Tutorials are done, the toolkit should be 99% ready!!

Many many thanks.

Paul.

Mike J
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Posted: 1st Sep 2008 17:26 Edited at: 1st Sep 2008 17:30
Paul,

Please accept my sympathies on your loss. I regretfully find myself in a similar situation, with personal matters taking me away from many things I would much rather be working on. I would love to help you, but unfortunately I am on my way into the mess rather than coming out of it, and I could not in good faith guarantee that I would be able to get my part done in a timely fashion.

I would like to ask one question, though: what level of DBPro will Dark GDK .NET be equivalent to? I see in the latest newsletter that DBPro is on its way to U7.0, while Dark GDK (C++) remains equivalent to U5.9.

Thank you in advance for your answer, and I hope that you get the help you need, as I am looking forward to being able to use C# for 100% of my development - - when I can finally get back to it.

Best Regards,
Mike J

"The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese."
APEXnow
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Posted: 1st Sep 2008 17:44
Hi Mike,

Many thanks for your reply. I regretfully have to say that the DarkGDK.NET binary version is equavalent to the C++ binaries which is distributed with C++ Express. The updates to DarkGDK.NET are always going to follow on from new releases of the C++ version purely because of this reason. Obviously I would release changes that actually affect the classes and documentation of the new .NET version, but until I receive library updates from TGC, this is unlikely to change.

Again, thanks for your reply, and I truly hope that your misfortune is short lived with a swift return to normality.

Kind regards,

Paul.

APEXnow
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Posted: 2nd Sep 2008 03:30
Aww c'mon, 51 views and no takers?

Seriously, it's a week's work

Paul.

Osiris
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Location: Robbinsdale, MN
Posted: 2nd Sep 2008 05:14
Hey, for some reason my computer is trying to force me to use outlook so I will respond here. I can try at the C# tutorials if you like, i never tried to program with the GDK but I am alright at C# if it requires a very good knowledge of C# I probably wouldn't be very good at it however if you want I can try to give it a go.

RIP Max-Tuesday, November 2 2007
You will be dearly missed.
pirogoth
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Posted: 2nd Sep 2008 05:43
And E-mail sent. I hope to hear from you soon.

-Piro
kBessa
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Location: Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil
Posted: 2nd Sep 2008 05:44
Hey Paul,

Sorry to hear about your loss, I know how hard it is when this kind of thing happens.

I've finished everything I was working one that I said to you. And as a matter of fact, there are 2 holidays this week.

Well, you can count on me to help you out! I miss those tutorial writing days from earlier newsletters and the doc writing for LightEngine

Best regards mate!

Thiago Bessa
Osiris
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Posted: 2nd Sep 2008 05:52
Yay! I started a trend!

I do hope I can help though

RIP Max-Tuesday, November 2 2007
You will be dearly missed.
Niels Henriksen
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Posted: 2nd Sep 2008 15:03
Paul.... Im sorry to hear about your loss... if you need a talk, then im ready. I have lost my parents and a girlfriend, so I know how you feel..

I want to help with the tut so count me in

What is your mail?

Niels Henriksen
www.tales-of-the-realms.com
if Microsoft can sell software with bugs, so can I.
APEXnow
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Posted: 3rd Sep 2008 01:53
Hi peeps,

Many many thanks for your supportive comments, I very much appreciate them. It has gotten easier, but it's always there.

Ok, I've replied to the emails I've had so far and will follow up on them over this week.

Niels, my email should be available by the button on my post, and thanks for the support also.

Again, very mich appreciated guys, and I'll be in touch very soon.

Kind regards,

Paul.

Osiris
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Posted: 7th Sep 2008 07:41
How are the tutorials coming along?

RIP Max-Tuesday, November 2 2007
You will be dearly missed.
kBessa
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Posted: 7th Sep 2008 09:06
@osiris: I couldn't get in touch with Paul (APEXnow) today.

So far, I've finished all C# tutorials and helped him with extending/correcting some classes on the DarkGDK OOP Library.

He already done 3 of the VB.NET tutorials, so it is just a matter of getting the other 3 tutorials from C# and changing the codes/images to VB.NET, the text should not need to be re-done.

I cannot say anything for sure, just waiting to get a response from him, but I think it shouldn't be long now before DarkGDK.NET is released.

But one thing I can say for sure: This new version ROCKS! So many new and good things. About my plugins, LightEngine is dead, but I will release a new version of LightText as soon as DarkGDK.NET is released, along with a totally new plugin

PS: I'm not gonna comment on it now. But no, it's not the promised LightUI yet (didn't have the time to work on it)

Well, that's it for now. Stay tuned as the release date is getting closer.


Best regards and a nice Sunday to everyone!

-Thiago
Niels Henriksen
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Posted: 7th Sep 2008 14:56
kB - just wish that we could see a version now ...have been waiting looooong time for it...

Niels Henriksen
www.tales-of-the-realms.com
if Microsoft can sell software with bugs, so can I.
Osiris
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Posted: 8th Sep 2008 00:35
Wow man, your quick at writing tutorials.

RIP Max-Tuesday, November 2 2007
You will be dearly missed.
Terrorist Zero
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Posted: 8th Sep 2008 00:59
Paul...my deepest sympathies to you and your family, keep fighting and keep up the good work, we all love what you've given us. I know I do.

I'm going to be thrilled getting my hands on this kit and playing around with it! kB's plugin's are pretty damn awesome as well, I wonder what the new plugin's going to be....


AMD X2 6400+ (3.2GHz) // K9A2 Platinum 790FX Mobo // 2GB Corsair RAM 1066MHz // Powercolor HD4870 512MB OC'ed
DarkBasic Pro Guy
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Posted: 13th Sep 2008 21:37
How are the tutorials going? Any other recent news on the progress?

kBessa
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Posted: 14th Sep 2008 07:32
There are some final adjustments to the OOP Library.

As I said before, I've finished all C# tutorials. VB.NET ones will make use of the same text and html structure (to include in a CHM help file), so it is just a matter of changing the lines of codes and some images.

Unfortunately I could not talk with APEX on the last couple of days to know the exact progress, will try again tomorrow, but I think that the next newsletter has 99% of chances to see the rising of DarkGDK.NET
Niels Henriksen
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Posted: 14th Sep 2008 17:51
Yeahiiiiiiiiiiiiiii............



Niels Henriksen
www.tales-of-the-realms.com
if Microsoft can sell software with bugs, so can I.
Shadow Fan 0
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Posted: 15th Sep 2008 22:00 Edited at: 15th Sep 2008 22:06
My sympathies for your loss APEX. The part about DarkGDK.NET is awesome though

One question though: Hopefully DarkGDK.NET will have something like Destroy/Delete Terrain? The lack of such a command is rather limiting in the game I'm working on now... Thanks in advance for the answer!

"...The Protoss do not run from their enemies. Aiur is our homeworld, it is here that we shall make our stand!" -Aldaris
kBessa
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Posted: 16th Sep 2008 02:13
@Shadow Fan:

Unfortunately, there's no Delete terrain method right now, don't know if it will be implemented on DarkGDK in the future.

Actually, any command available in DarkGDK (C++) is also on DGDK.NET, but if the C++ version does not have it, do not expect it to be included in the .net version.
DarkBasic Pro Guy
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Posted: 16th Sep 2008 02:33
Oh wait, how is .NET different? I thought they were both the same :S

Mahoney
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Posted: 16th Sep 2008 02:35
Quote: "Oh wait, how is .NET different? I thought they were both the same :S"


*facepalm*

.NET is for .NET languages (C# and VB).

Windows Vista Home Premium Intel Pentium Dual-Core 1.6 Ghz 1GB DDR2 RAM GeForce 8600GT Twin Turbo
APEXnow
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Posted: 16th Sep 2008 13:38
Folks, nearly finished now. A couple of the VB.NET tuts remain, and I've been working with kBessa to sort out a few of the classes that got a little mangled. kBessa, can you be online Thursday (18th) and I'll discuss further then.

Hang tight folks

Paul.

Niels Henriksen
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Posted: 16th Sep 2008 14:01
It looks like that x-mas will come early this year

Niels Henriksen
www.tales-of-the-realms.com
if Microsoft can sell software with bugs, so can I.
kBessa
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Posted: 16th Sep 2008 16:12
Thursday? Perfect! I won't be at college so you can count on me!
Jimmy 9 Toes
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Posted: 18th Sep 2008 04:47
You mean, the power of the Dark Basic graphics engine paired together with the grace, and ellegance of the C# programming language?

Excuse me, I need to clean the drool off of my keyboard...
Niels Henriksen
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Posted: 18th Sep 2008 13:02
Jimmy - I have already wraped my keyboard in plastic And are now just waiting for Santa to bring my GDK.NET

Niels Henriksen
www.tales-of-the-realms.com
if Microsoft can sell software with bugs, so can I.
Jimmy 9 Toes
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Posted: 18th Sep 2008 22:09
I have one small question...

If DarkGDK.Net is going to be free, does that mean I'll have to install the express edition of C# 2008? I'd really rather not because I have such a nice Enterprize Edition of Studio 2008 that has my color scheme the way I want it, and my handy little macros that I wrote for auto-generating Setters and Getters and neat stuff like that.
kBessa
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Posted: 18th Sep 2008 22:18
@Jimmy:

You can use it with any version you want. I'm using VS 2005 here, without any problems.
Mahoney
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Posted: 18th Sep 2008 23:07
Quote: "If DarkGDK.Net is going to be free, does that mean I'll have to install the express edition of C# 2008?"


No, but I imagine the installer won't support it. At least know your way around Project Settings (trust me, it's not that hard ).

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kBessa
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Posted: 19th Sep 2008 00:34
Quote: "Quote: "If DarkGDK.Net is going to be free, does that mean I'll have to install the express edition of C# 2008?"

No, but I imagine the installer won't support it. At least know your way around Project Settings (trust me, it's not that hard )."


I'm almost sure it will work without a problem.

The thing with C++ is that it would have to set all those directories and project templates. With .NET everything is installed on GAC (Global Assembly Cache) now and the templates are installed on Visual Studio 2008 folder (on My Documents), and AFAIK, this folder is the same, whether you're using the Express or Standard/Professional/etc versions.
Mahoney
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Posted: 19th Sep 2008 01:35
Quote: "The thing with C++ is that it would have to set all those directories and project templates. With .NET everything is installed on GAC (Global Assembly Cache) now and the templates are installed on Visual Studio 2008 folder (on My Documents), and AFAIK, this folder is the same, whether you're using the Express or Standard/Professional/etc versions."


Hmmm.... maybe not them.

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GMS0012
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Posted: 21st Sep 2008 16:18
hm....
I am so curious... Hopefully it will be released soon...
Gasilli
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Posted: 23rd Sep 2008 02:04
When does it plan to be released?
Niels Henriksen
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Posted: 25th Sep 2008 17:22
Still counting......

Niels Henriksen
www.tales-of-the-realms.com
if Microsoft can sell software with bugs, so can I.
kBessa
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Posted: 26th Sep 2008 09:35 Edited at: 26th Sep 2008 09:36
@Gasilli: As soon as possible, not long.

Even I am a little bit anxious about the next release. I have three plugins ready to release as soon as DarkGDK.NET is available (just finishing the docs for them).

They are:
-LightInput: XInput (XBox 360 controllers) support
-LightPackage: A "PAK like" plugin to create big, compressed and self-contained package of media files.
-LightText: For an advanced text, superior to DarkGDK.NET's built-in text methods.

I might be able to release another one, but that will depend on WHEN the GDK will be released, hehehe :-P

Cheers!

-Thiago

[center][center]
Jimmy 9 Toes
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Posted: 26th Sep 2008 12:17
WHEN?!? Oh Whenny when when???
Niels Henriksen
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Posted: 26th Sep 2008 15:39
give me an W
give me an H
give me an E
give me an N

.... nevermind....

just give me GDK.NET

Niels Henriksen
www.tales-of-the-realms.com
if Microsoft can sell software with bugs, so can I.
Gasilli
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Posted: 26th Sep 2008 15:59
Give me all of them? Haha, I am so anxious for these releases!
Mahoney
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Posted: 26th Sep 2008 19:26
Quote: "ven I am a little bit anxious about the next release. I have three plugins ready to release as soon as DarkGDK.NET is available (just finishing the docs for them).

They are:
-LightInput: XInput (XBox 360 controllers) support
-LightPackage: A "PAK like" plugin to create big, compressed and self-contained package of media files.
-LightText: For an advanced text, superior to DarkGDK.NET's built-in text methods."


You just might be the reason I learn C# for this.

Windows Vista Home Premium Intel Pentium Dual-Core 1.6 Ghz 1GB DDR2 RAM GeForce 8600GT Twin Turbo
Gasilli
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Posted: 27th Sep 2008 01:27
Im interested in LightPackage, ive been looking for something like that for a little bit now.
kBessa
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Posted: 29th Sep 2008 18:24 Edited at: 29th Sep 2008 18:41
Ok, I couldn't get in touch with Apex the last days so I really don't know how close the release really is.


This is what I'll be doing for now:

-Add sound support into XInput, so you can use it with your headset (gotta learn more about DirectSound).

-LightUtils: A collection of classes for some things I think are handy, like changing the mouse cursor (to .cur and .ani, not sprites), and other things I don't remember now (sorry).

-Give another try to LightGoBis, which is an OggVorbis playback plugin (mp3 licensing fees HURT) I was working on, which is 100% working (AFAIR), but it uses OpenAL for now, gotta make it work with DirectSound.

-LightPackage only packs/unpacks a full pack. Maybe I could implement some code to allow it to add/extract single files, but I can't promise that for sure, because it is no simple task (it has to repack everything). Not only that, the actual UnPackager only extracts, I think it should have a "file browser". I'll see what I can do =)

Best regards,
Thiago Bessa


[edit: some nonsense paragraph]

[center][center]
Niels Henriksen
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Posted: 29th Sep 2008 20:48
kB - I like LightPackage..... I have made something like that for at project for some companies here in europe.... but that was in VB6...

Im just sitting on needle for getting GDK.NET now

Niels Henriksen
www.tales-of-the-realms.com
if Microsoft can sell software with bugs, so can I.
Jimmy 9 Toes
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Posted: 13th Oct 2008 00:54
AAHHHHH!!!!

Grabs another fistfull of hair from his head and goes back to using Blitz3D SDK...
Niels Henriksen
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Posted: 13th Oct 2008 01:49
Time is running fast.... and we are still here just waiting... and waiting.... and waiting...

Niels Henriksen
www.tales-of-the-realms.com
if Microsoft can sell software with bugs, so can I.
Shadow Fan 0
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Posted: 13th Oct 2008 10:34
Quote: "Time is running fast.... and we are still here just waiting... and waiting.... and waiting..."


I couldn't agree more. What do you think the chances are of it being released before Halloween?

"...The Protoss do not run from their enemies. Aiur is our homeworld, it is here that we shall make our stand!" -Aldaris
Niels Henriksen
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Posted: 13th Oct 2008 13:56
Halloween what year?

Niels Henriksen
www.tales-of-the-realms.com
if Microsoft can sell software with bugs, so can I.
Jimmy 9 Toes
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Posted: 13th Oct 2008 14:58
Well, I'd rather they take the time to do thing the right way. Instead of releasing something as early as possible and forcing their users to download software updates and patches everytime they turn on their computers. (glances over in Micro$ofts direction)...
Niels Henriksen
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Posted: 13th Oct 2008 20:01
As I heard then it is finished... they are just making tuts... but I dont need tuts.. I just want the framework so I can continue my work

Niels Henriksen
www.tales-of-the-realms.com
if Microsoft can sell software with bugs, so can I.
Jimmy 9 Toes
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Posted: 14th Oct 2008 00:41 Edited at: 14th Oct 2008 00:42
VB tuts at that!

I feel physical pain whenever I have to program in VB.net.
It's almost like talking down to the computer.

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