DirectX is a set of multimedia APIs from Microsoft aimed primarily at game developers. Popular APIs within the DirectX collection include Direct3D, XInput, and XAudio.
11
votes
5answers
2k views
Should I learn Direct3D 9, 10 or 11?
I'm just starting to get into 3D programming with Direct3D. What version of D3D should I pick up?
11 looks pretty neat, but 9 and 10 still seems to be pretty present. Given the current state of the ...
29
votes
9answers
3k views
Should I continue studying OpenGL or just switch to DirectX to give me a better chance of landing a job in the game industry?
I've been learning graphics programming for some time now using OpenGL and Linux. I'm pretty familiar with most of the concepts, but I would really like to further my knowledge and eventually pursue a ...
2
votes
4answers
10k views
Starting programming in 3D with C++
EDIT: There aren't sufficient enough tutorials for what I'm trying to do in Python, so I'm going to take my time and slowly build up my skills in C++. It's hard to trip and not land in a book of C++ ...
22
votes
4answers
1k views
game story event programming
I have developed a game engine in c/c++ and DirectX.
I have a tile engine for the maps, animated player/npc sprites, talking to the npc, menus, and level changing but there is no game, it just feels ...
7
votes
1answer
462 views
Information about rendering, batches, the graphical card, performance etc. + XNA?
I know the title is a bit vague but it's hard to describe what I'm really looking for, but here goes.
When it comes to CPU rendering, performance is mostly easy to estimate and straightforward, but ...
20
votes
7answers
2k views
How to get PS3/Xbox 360 experience without having access to Dev kits?
I am a budding game programmer trying to get into the industry programming for PS3, Xbox 360. The main problem I see is the need to demonstrate my skills to a potential employer, but without access ...
13
votes
6answers
2k views
Modern Shader Book?
I'm interested in learning about Shaders: What are they, when/for what would I use them, and how to use them. (Specifically I'm interested in Water and Bloom effects, but I know close to 0 about ...
14
votes
1answer
2k views
The practical cost of swapping effects
I use XNA for my projects and on those forums I sometimes see references to the fact that swapping an effect for a mesh has a relatively high cost, which surprises me as I thought to swap an effect ...
4
votes
3answers
3k views
Should I use Game Engines to learn to make 3D games?
HI i am a software engineering student in his second-last year.
I am proficient with C,C++,C# and java programming languages, and being a student of engineering I have studied calculus, vectors etc ...
5
votes
2answers
1k views
Point Light Soft Shadows
How to implement soft shadows for omni directional (point) light. We use typical shadow mapping technique. Depth is rendered to texture cube and addresing is pretty simple then. Just using vector from ...
0
votes
0answers
130 views
Setting a Direct3D world matrix by an array
Outside of the DirectX class I have objects that hold their own transform matrix (this is calculated every frame by the physics system) held in a linear array of floats
//rotation Mat|Position
[m0, ...
18
votes
3answers
4k views
For voxel rendering, what is more efficient: pre-made VBO or a geometry shader?
Given a fairly static voxel array, what is more efficient: using the CPU to pre-generate a VBO to render the voxel faces (ignoring more advanced forms of rendering like marching cubes for now) or ...
5
votes
3answers
1k views
Draw contour around object in Opengl
I need to draw contour around 2d objects in 3d space. I tried drawing lines around object(+points to fill the gap), but due to line width, some part of it(~50%) was covering object. I tried to use ...
3
votes
1answer
770 views
How do I create a decal system?
I'm currently given the task to design & create a simple decal-system in C++/DirectX.
Does anybody know a great tutorial, article or paper to start with? (Especially the part about 2D-texture to ...
12
votes
8answers
13k views
Getting Started with 2d Game Dev (C++): DirectX or OpenGL?
So, i'm a student looking to get my foot in the door of game development and im looking to do something 2D, maybe a tetris/space invaders/something-with-a-little-mouse-interaction clone.
I pointed ...
7
votes
5answers
2k views
Best pathfinding algorithm for a tower-defense game? [duplicate]
What do you suggest would be the best algorithm for a tower-defense game? It's a 2D based tile game, where there is walls and towers blocking the way, between spawnpoints and their destination points.
...
9
votes
3answers
849 views
Fastest way to render lines with AA, varying thickness in DirectX
So I'm doing some DirectX development, using SharpDX under .NET to be exact (but DirectX/C++ API solutions are applicable). I'm looking for the fastest way to render lines in an orthogonal projection ...
8
votes
3answers
887 views
Display a Message Box over a Full Screen DirectX application
In our custom assertion handler, I'd like to display a message box asking to see whether or not this failure can be ignored. However, when our DirectX game is full screen, I can't get the MessageBox ...
6
votes
4answers
2k views
What are the current books for DirectX (w/ focus on 3D)?
For OpenGL, the OpenGL SuperBible 5th edition was just released only a few months ago, and is considered a fantastic, highly rated book for not only learning OpenGL 3 (Part 1 of the book), but it also ...
3
votes
7answers
5k views
GUI for DirectX
I'm looking for a GUI library built on top of DirectX- preferably 9, but I can also do 11. I've looked at stuff like DXUT, but it's way too much for me- I'm only needing some UI controls which I would ...
8
votes
1answer
563 views
How can I implement a renderer that can draw many kinds of primitives?
This is somewhat linked to a question I previously asked concerning the drawing of indexed primitives.
My problem was that I was only drawing one cube when I wanted to draw many. I was told that the ...
5
votes
3answers
1k views
The pros and cons - DX9 moving to DX11 render?
We are a "nano" game dev company working on REFUSION.
DX9 renderer is almost done and question is: Should we move it to DX11 or not?
Anyone have experience with this?
Here are some videos from dev ...
4
votes
3answers
933 views
How to capture the screen in DirectX 9 to a raw bitmap in memory without using D3DXSaveSurfaceToFile
I know that in OpenGL I can do something like this
glReadBuffer( GL_FRONT );
glReadPixels( 0, 0, _width, _height, GL_RGB, GL_UNSIGNED_BYTE, _buffer );
And its pretty fast, I get the raw bitmap in ...
3
votes
2answers
1k views
How does one write to another process's OpenGL/DirectX context?
I want to write a short of chat client that display the messages in-game (OpenGL/DirectX), but I really don't know how to handle this.
It is easy to write my client in my graphic context... but what ...
3
votes
4answers
810 views
How do I convert DirectX's .X from binary encoding to text encoding and back
As far as I know, .X format can be text encoded and binary-encoded.
I basically want to look into the model I'm playing with, get a better understanding of .X, possibly make some changes in it and ...
2
votes
3answers
756 views
simplest way of making a sphere roll in a realistic way
rather than just moving a sphere across a plane, I want to make it roll like a ball. What is the simplest way of doing this? I assume it will have something to do with the circumference of the ball ...
5
votes
2answers
280 views
D3D/DXGI handle fullscreen transition
I have a D3D11 application, and I want to add proper fullscreen suport.
Now I can let DXGI switch my window to fullscreen for me, and I'm under the impression that DXGI will take care of everything ...
5
votes
1answer
2k views
XNA or SlimDX (DirectX 10) for multitouch rhythm game simulator
I'm looking to develop a multitouch rhythm game in C#. It is aimed to be a simulator for an existing arcade game, similar to this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAiNNpA3wwg So far, I've decided on ...
4
votes
1answer
331 views
Is the June 2010 DX SDK really the latest?
I have not been involved in game development, using the DirectX SDK, since around 2008. From the looks of it, the June 2010 release, of the DirectX SDK, is still the latest release. This release is ...
4
votes
2answers
3k views
Does Unity for PC use Direct3D or OpenGL?
I am a mac developer using Unity and I hardly use a PC. When you build a Unity game for Windows, does it use Direct3D or OpenGL?
P.S. I'm not sure if it's called Direct3D or DirectX
3
votes
2answers
1k views
What is the “DirectX for Managed Code Update”?
I came upon this site while looking for information about working with DX in managed code and saw that MS released something containing a 'DirectX for Managed Code Update'.
This sounds promising but ...
3
votes
3answers
2k views
Non blocking Vsync in direct3d
I have direct3d application with a direct3d PRESENTATION_INTERVAL_ONE implementation. Pitty, its blocking and eating my CPU waiting for a Present. I ended up searching for Raster scan solutions, ...
2
votes
0answers
374 views
2D Line drawing with Pixel Shaders
Recently I asked a question, what is the fastest way to render 2D lines using DirectX, and one of the answers mentioned this paper on Fast Prefiltered Lines which uses Pixel Shaders to accomplish ...
2
votes
2answers
955 views
How do I convert matrices intended for OpenGL to be compatible for DirectX?
I have finished working through the book "Game Physics Engine Development 2nd Ed" by Millington, and have got it working, but I want to adapt it to work with DirectX.
I understand that D3D9+ has the ...
2
votes
1answer
3k views
Loading a Texture2D Array in DirectX11
How does one create a Texture2D Array in DirectX11? The texture I am trying to create is not multisampled, and I want only one mip level. I can't find a working example of a Texture2D Array. I have a ...
1
vote
1answer
373 views
what is the absolute simplest way to add physics to a simple 3D game
This physics does not have to be very complex at all.
There are a number of rectangles and one ball, all of which have the appropriate bounding volumes constrained to them, it would be great if the ...
1
vote
1answer
835 views
How can I draw many objects on screen instead of just one?
Like many beginner graphics programmers I followed a tutorial which showed me how to set up buffer descriptions and fill out the vertex buffer etc... - the steps involved in drawing a simple indexed ...
0
votes
2answers
208 views
How can I capture every frame in DirectX 9 using a shader
This is actually a follow up to this question
How to capture the screen in DirectX 9 to a raw bitmap in memory without using D3DXSaveSurfaceToFile
The proponent of the best solution suggested that I ...
-1
votes
5answers
2k views
OpenGL vs DirectX? [closed]
I saw the articles that were going on about OpenGL being better than DirectX and that Microsoft are really just trying to get everyone to use DirectX even though it's inferior so that gaming is almost ...
