How do I extend Irrlichts scene manager?

Question

If I want to extend the scene manager, and add a function; do I extend my class from CSceneManager or ISceneManager?

I'm trying this in MySceneManager.h:

#include <CSceneManager.h>

class RTSSceneManager : public CSceneManager
{
    virtual ICameraSceneNode* addCameraSceneNodeRTS(ISceneNode* parent = 0,
            const core::vector3df& position = core::vector3df(0,0,0),
            const core::vector3df& lookat = core::vector3df(0,0,100),
            s32 id=-1, bool makeActive=true) = 0;
};

But it's giving me this error:

fatal error C1083: Cannot open include file: 'CSceneManager.h': No such file or directory

It works if I use ISceneManager instead of CSceneManager, but then won't I have to re implement CSceneManager over again?

Answer 1

You don't need to extend the scene manager nor the camera(like you said you need modify the engine itself for that). Just add an animator, extend from ISceneNodeAnimatorCameraFPS.h or ISceneNodeAnimatorCameraMaya.h and implement it's functions, instead of extending from the camera and having to extend the numerous functions it has.

Answer 2

That error is just because either you're not setting the right path for the SceneManager headers (wherever CSceneManager.h is located), or you do but you're using <> instead of "" in the #include line. It has nothing to do with the inheritance, it should fail either you use CSceneManager or ISceneManager, because you're not including the header properly (or at least that's what the error is saying).

For extending the scene manager you must derive from CSceneManager, as ISceneManager is just an pure virtual interface with no function definitions. Note the =0 at the end of the function declarations in the ISceneManager class, that means the function has a null definition which the implementation class must overload to comply with the interface declaration. If you do derive directly from ISceneManager, you must provide an implementation for every pure virtual function it declares.