As the first forays into the world of C++ can be daunting, we have prepared a helpful guide to the steps you need to take in order to set up the GDK on a new computer. This guide assumes you own the GDK, and you have an internet connection and CD writer to download and store the various softwares you will need.
GET THE FILES
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1. Buy and download GDK - 33mb - freeware edition - www.thegamecreators.com
2. DirectX SDK - 440mb - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=1FD20DF1-DEC6-47D0-8BEF-10E266DFDAB8&displaylang=en
3. Free Download Visual Studio C++ Express Edition - 463mb - http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/support/install/#manual
4. Free Download Platform SDK - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=E15438AC-60BE-41BD-AA14-7F1E0F19CA0D&displaylang=en
5. Free Download IMG to CD borning software - http://www.freewarebox.com/free_6058_imgburn-download.html
INSTALL THE FILES
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1. Use the IMG to CD writer to make CDs from IMG files download
2. Install Visual Studio C++ Express (IMG to CD)
3. Install Platform SDK (IMG to CD)
4. Install DirectX SDK (June 2006)
5. Install DarkGDK
CONFIGURE YOUR DEVELOPMENT SUITE
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1. Configure for WIN32 development - http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/visualc/usingpsdk/
2. Configure for DirectX 9.0 SDK development - assign the INCLUDE and LIB folders to Directx SDK
3. Configure for GDK development - DarkGDK documentation 'getting started'
4. Open one of the GDK samples, press F5 to compile and run your program
ADDITIONAL CONFIGURATION IN VERSION 1.6.2
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1. Open the script.rc file of the project in notepad, and delete the AFXRES.H code
2. Open the project properties, go to Library, add 'ATLS.LIB; D3DX8.LIB' to 'Ignore Specific Libraries'
NOTES
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** Make sure that the DirectX SDK LIB folder points to the x86 directory (for 32-bit compiling)
** Make sure that the GDK LIB folder points to the VS8 directory (for Visual Studio 8 compiling)
Please let me kow if this was helpful, and if anything is missed out. A version of this documentation will appear in the next release of the GDK.
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