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Dark GDK / DGSDK / DBP DLL startup procedure, ideally aimed at Mike or Lee

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APEXnow
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Posted: 2nd Mar 2006 22:11
Mike and or Lee, and the general interests of people who are willing to provide information

I've created this thread in the hope that some very cool information can be obtained and used for the greater good of us mere C/C++ and .NET developers. Suffice to say, there is some information that would be extremely useful to know, if either Mike, Lee or anybody familiar with the codebase, can answer.

Now, it's known that the DGSDK is a derived set of static libraries generated from the DBP core DLLs. The libs also have a WinMain entry point which Windows calls to fire up our DGSDK application. Now what I would like to know, is if the WinMain function embedded in the lib files, calls a series of initialisation functions which WE can call ourselves? For example, the WinMain function must call a function to create the single GlobStruct object shared by all the other libs. The WinMain creates a windows class and sets it to the default size etc, but then what functions does it call to initialize the rest of DGSDK? If there is a single function, or maybe two or three, are they available to call if the libs are placed into a DLL which has it's own entry point so that the DGSDK can be initialized this way.

Also, if the init functions are available, would it not be logical to assume that they are called in a similiar fashion by the DBP compiler when it creates the .EXE stub? My thinking is that if DBP DLLs, more specifically DBProCore.dll can be loaded dynamically at runtime from another EXE (say a .NET app using DLLImport) Is there an init function(s) that can be called to fire up the DBP dlls. I assume that there's a SetupDLLs function in DBProCore.dll which scans the working folder, generates a list of DLL files and probes each DLL for the Constructor function? The DBP compiler parses the source code, therefore knowing which DLLs the EXE stub requires based on what commands were used in the code.

If either one of you guys can specify which function or functions is used to initialize the core system, either for DGSDK or DBP dlls. This will prove invaluable for making the dlls accessible from .NET and other platforms.

Now, I will stress that this is not a ploy to try reverse engineer or anything sinister. I've been a loyal member of the forums for a few years now and have contributed to some extent in the development of tools for DBP and the DGSDK, so if you've followed what I've written above, you'll probably see where this is leading. Especially for .NET users.

Many thanks guys.

Paul.


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CattleRustler
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Posted: 3rd Mar 2006 19:27
The silence is deafening...




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Mike Johnson
TGC Developer
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Posted: 3rd Mar 2006 19:49 Edited at: 3rd Mar 2006 19:49
Patience CattleRustler BTW if you want to talk to us about .NET please send me an email and we can see what can be done.

ApexNow, I can send you the info you need over email. Please email me and I'll help you out.
APEXnow
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Posted: 3rd Mar 2006 22:27
Mike, thanks (MSN as well), will email.

Paul.


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CattleRustler
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Posted: 3rd Mar 2006 23:02
roger that Mike, pex and I are in this thing together so he is taking the lead on these issues with you. thanks

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Miguel Melo
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Posted: 4th Mar 2006 01:34
For what it's worth, unlike Nick "Stoat", I too can see a great usefulness and a world of oportunities if dgsdk ever becomes callable from .Net languages (in particular c#).

I'm an old school coder, had my teeth cut out doing demos and gfx apps straight in assembly but as I grown older (and hopefully wiser) I have become less wasteful in my coding. This means that, if I want to make a game, I want to circumvent as much red tape as I can possibly do and just get the work down. This is why, as a C++ coder, I just love C# - it's beatifully constructed, has a great framework to support it in .Net and is fast enough (unlike Java).

Not sure where I'm trying to get at here, but just wanted to say this. Thank you for listening... you can all go home now.
CattleRustler
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Posted: 4th Mar 2006 02:23
yes .NET is the dogz arse - stay tuned. Pex and I are working on a couple of sick things

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APEXnow
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Posted: 4th Mar 2006 04:04 Edited at: 4th Mar 2006 04:35
...and about ****ing time to!

[EdiT] Meaning, I've been sitting on my butt for ages lol


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Posted: 4th Mar 2006 09:17
Quote: "Pex and I are working on a couple of sick things"

Hope they get better or you'll have put them out of their misery...

CattleRustler
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Posted: 4th Mar 2006 15:05
Stoat has been sacked.

Thank you, carry on gentlemen

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OSX Using Happy Dude
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Posted: 4th Mar 2006 16:30 Edited at: 4th Mar 2006 16:33
Reports of my sacking have been greatly exaggerated...

Quote: "yes .NET is the dogz arse"

You have a dog called .Net ? Weird...

APEXnow
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Posted: 4th Mar 2006 21:02
Excuse me gentlemen, this is my thread, leave the MOD slapping in the MOD forum

lol

Paul.


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Lost in Thought
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Posted: 6th Mar 2006 18:02 Edited at: 6th Mar 2006 22:45
I thought .net was the cat's pajamas

I may be making a move over to C++ .net and N3D (and/or DARK SDK) soon as DBP isn't looking so good for my projects. I was waiting for U6, but it isn't going to be no where near what I thought it was. I think being dog slow is a bug, but they think it is an optimization feature yet again for future upgrades. I shall wait to see what the next update for Dark SDK is like.

In any case good luck.

[edit] Just got a bit of possible good news about DBP. Guess we'll have to wait and see.

[edit2] Fixed Keep a look out for a 3DWS entity example in the CSHOP thread when U6 final comes out

APEXnow
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Posted: 7th Mar 2006 13:51
Cheers L.I.T.

@all

Spoken with Mike during the week and progress is being made. Keep eyes peeled.


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Posted: 7th Mar 2006 13:59
For a startup hook ?

APEXnow
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Posted: 7th Mar 2006 14:01
Indeed


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Posted: 7th Mar 2006 14:15
Understood.

CattleRustler
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Posted: 7th Mar 2006 17:41
Quote: "Indeed"


haha



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