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Dark GDK / DarkGDK.NET

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Steve Sharkey
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Posted: 9th Dec 2006 10:37
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Is there a forum that I haven't seen soecifically for this?

If not - a few questions....

I've been programming for about 25 years now and having found this library as being useable in VB.NET decided to take the plunge (I used to program and sell games for the Sinclair ZX81 back in the 80s before I moved into business programming). However, whilst the capability in the GDK is almost certainly there the help file is absolutely awful. They barely give you syntax of each individual command but do nothing for what the commands actually do, how they fit together or what many of the parameters actually mean. I am totally underwhelmed by it all and wonder if I might have been better off just taking the plunge and learning to program for DirectX without the "middle man".

Also one of the attractions of DarkBASIC was all the tools that are available but it is unclear as to which ones I could make use of using the tool kit as I am rather than using DarkBASIC Pro as the development environment (which I tried but couldn't get on with - it felt like going back to the deepest darkest days of BASIC in the 1980s.

I have many SDK questions - surely I'm not the only one using it?

Steve Sharkey
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move eax 1
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Posted: 9th Dec 2006 10:52
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Your not the only one using it check the dgsdk board an you'll find tons of people including me when I buy it after christmas

-lol-
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Jay Bee
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Location: Ashford, Kent, England
Posted: 9th Dec 2006 13:34
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There is a board for the SDK here: http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_read&i=22

And yes, the help files are abysmal, that's one thing I would love to see improved. The best way to learn is to find tutorials...

http://www.pro-test.org.uk/
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CattleRustler
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Posted: 9th Dec 2006 14:40 Edited at: 9th Dec 2006 14:41
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I'd have to agree, the help files are lame for both flavors of the dgdk. I think they were written with the mindset that the sdk user had already learned DBP. In all fairness, the dgdk.net help files were a port from the c++ kit version, so don't blame Paul, blame the original help files

Paul has included some source examples in the .NET kit, but if you get stuck then I guess thats what this forum is for, to help.



Its 9/11 - but its FAKE 9/11 Ts=SQRT(Df/16)
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Andyhhp
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Posted: 9th Dec 2006 16:08
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I also find the help files usless. My approach it to use the function and if it doesnt crash, it is a good sign. Then see what happens if it works .

It's only open source 'till money is involved
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APEXnow
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Posted: 9th Dec 2006 17:38
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Well, I can only appologise for the lack of comprehensive documentation. My goal at the end of the day, was to start making further and more constructive tutorials once certain issues in the DGDK libraries had been resolved, and there are plans in the making for DGDK.NET and it's future, so I will endevour to answer as many questions as I can until the documentation and more torials have been sorted out.

Again, if you are vague on certain issues of the toolkit, don't hesitate to post your queries and I'll do my best to help.

Paul.

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lwatson
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Location: Lincoln, RI USA
Posted: 9th Dec 2006 21:40
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I also found the CHM file to be not of much help, add to this, the fact that the books and what not available for dark basic are largely aimed at the procedural form in DARKBASIC rather than the object oriented library used with VB.NET or C#.

Little things like finding out how to query the engine to determine if an object is under the mouse when I click on it, or even simple things like simple texturing on an object, were not immeadately apparent, another was the availability of multiple methods with a different suffix letter. Yet the power is there,the forums are helpful as they are patrolled by helpful folks and there are a number of freely available tools to assist. Other folks are endeavoring to encapsulate the library in a wrapper to make things simpler and employ overloads to collapse the multiple methods sharing the same base name into one call and different parameters. One thing I really like is the relative ease of getting the engine to render in a windows forms control ( Like a picture box for example ). This was a prime requirement for me as I still write business apps and folks have to have their wizzy bang eyecandy laden visual along with their dry tired old text boxes and grids.

With DGDK I get both....

Lonnie Allen Watson
rmag.blogspot.com (blog)
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CattleRustler
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Posted: 10th Dec 2006 17:14
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Its 9/11 - but its FAKE 9/11 Ts=SQRT(Df/16)
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Steve Sharkey
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Posted: 11th Dec 2006 10:46
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Okay so my first obstacle is that after authenticating the exe whilst it runs fine if I double click the .exe file using Windows explorer to locate it, when I try to run in debug mode I get the error:

Access is denied

on the line:

oDBP.InitializeGDK(hProcess.ToInt32, strData, strKey)

Steve Sharkey
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lwatson
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Posted: 11th Dec 2006 15:33
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I am not entirely sure but did you remember to disable the Visual Studio Hosting Process step....

Lonnie Allen Watson
rmag.blogspot.com (blog)
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CattleRustler
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Posted: 12th Dec 2006 03:26
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did you add the .dgdk file as an embedded resource?



Its 9/11 - but its FAKE 9/11 Ts=SQRT(Df/16)
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