XNA Community Forums

Problem getting a simple vertex shader to run

DarkBob — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 09:49:23 GMT

Hi,

I was trying to set up a simple vertex shader and get in running on two triangles but for some reason it doesn't seem to be applied to the vertices. As you'll be able to see if the shader was successfully run all the vertices would be white but unfortunately for me they are not.

I have the D3D_DEBUG_INFO preprocessor flag set for Direct3D. I get no warnings from Direct3D except if I run in software processing mode where it outputs saying there was a first chance exception. I have an NVidia Quadro FX 3700 graphics card that supports vertex shader 3.0. When I try to debug the vertex shaders using pix it says "An error occurred while attempting to debug shader". If I look at the mesh tab in PIX it says vertes shading disabled. All the Direct3D calls return D3D_OK.

If anyone would like to run the program for me and see if they get the same results, I've added all the includes and libraries by pragma calls so literally all you have to do is create a blank Win32 project and paste the code into your main file and put the SimpleHLSL.fx file in a subfolder called shaders.

I'm really at a loose end on this one, any help would be appreciated.

Thanks =)

SimpleHLSL.fx

    
            //--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
        
            // Global variables  
        
            //--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
        
            float4x4    gr4x4WorldViewProjection;  
        
            struct cOutputVS  
        
            {  
        
                float4  mPositionOut    : POSITION;  
        
                float4  mColourOut      : COLOR0;  
        
            };  
        
            cOutputVS MyVertexShaderVS(   
        
                    float4  lPositionIn     : POSITION,  
        
                    float4  lColourIn       : COLOR0 )  
        
            {  
        
                cOutputVS lOutputVS;  
        
                lOutputVS.mPositionOut = mul( lPositionIn, gr4x4WorldViewProjection );  
        
                lOutputVS.mColourOut = float4( 1.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f); //lColourIn;  
        
                return lOutputVS;  
        
            }  
        
            technique EntryPoint  
        
            {  
        
                pass P0  
        
                {  
        
                    VertexShader = compile vs_3_0 MyVertexShaderVS();  
        
                }  
        
            }

main.cpp

    
            #include "stdafx.h"  
        
            #include <stdio.h> 
        
            #define VC_EXTRALEAN  
        
            #define WIN32_LEAN_AND_MEAN 
        
            #include <Windows.h>  
        
            #include <d3d9.h> 
        
            #include <d3dx9Effect.h>  
        
            #pragma comment ( lib, "d3d9.lib" ) 
        
            #pragma comment ( lib, "d3dx9.lib" )  
        
            #pragma comment ( lib, "d3dcompiler.lib" )  
        
            typedef unsigned int U32; 
        
            #include <d3d9.h>  
        
            #pragma warning( disable : 4996 ) // disable deprecated warning   
        
            #include <strsafe.h> 
        
            #pragma warning( default : 4996 )  
        
            //-----------------------------------------------------------------------------  
        
            // Global variables  
        
            //-----------------------------------------------------------------------------  
        
            IDirect3D9*         gpD3d = NULL; // Used to create the D3DDevice  
        
            IDirect3DDevice9*   gpD3dDevice = NULL; // Our rendering device  
        
            class cVertex  
        
            {  
        
            public:  
        
                float   mrX;  
        
                float   mrY;  
        
                float   mrZ;  
        
                float   mrRHW;  
        
                U32     muColour;  
        
            };  
        
            cVertex gaVertices[ 4 ] =   
        
            {  
        
                { 0.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f, 0xffff0000 },  
        
                { 100.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f, 0xff0000ff },  
        
                { 0.0f, 100.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f, 0xff00ff00 },  
        
                { 100.0f, 100.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f, 0xffffffff }  
        
            };  
        
            IDirect3DVertexBuffer9* gpVertexBuffer = NULL;  
        
            U32 guVertexFormat = D3DFVF_XYZRHW | D3DFVF_DIFFUSE;  
        
            U32 guVertexSoftwareOrHardwareProcessing = D3DCREATE_HARDWARE_VERTEXPROCESSING;  
        
            //U32 guVertexSoftwareOrHardwareProcessing = D3DCREATE_SOFTWARE_VERTEXPROCESSING;  
        
            ID3DXEffect*    gpEffect = NULL;  
        
            //-----------------------------------------------------------------------------  
        
            // Name: InitD3D()  
        
            // Desc: Initializes Direct3D  
        
            //-----------------------------------------------------------------------------  
        
            HRESULT InitD3D( HWND hWnd )  
        
            {  
        
                // Create the D3D object, which is needed to create the D3DDevice.  
        
                if( NULL == ( gpD3d = Direct3DCreate9( D3D_SDK_VERSION ) ) )  
        
                    return E_FAIL;  
        
                // Set up the structure used to create the D3DDevice. Most parameters are  
        
                // zeroed out. We set Windowed to TRUE, since we want to do D3D in a  
        
                // window, and then set the SwapEffect to "discard", which is the most  
        
                // efficient method of presenting the back buffer to the display.  And   
        
                // we request a back buffer format that matches the current desktop display   
        
                // format.  
        
                D3DPRESENT_PARAMETERS d3dpp;  
        
                ZeroMemory( &d3dpp, sizeof( d3dpp ) );  
        
                d3dpp.Windowed = TRUE;  
        
                d3dpp.SwapEffect = D3DSWAPEFFECT_DISCARD;  
        
                d3dpp.BackBufferFormat = D3DFMT_UNKNOWN;  
        
                // Create the Direct3D device. Here we are using the default adapter (most  
        
                // systems only have one, unless they have multiple graphics hardware cards  
        
                // installed) and requesting the HAL (which is saying we want the hardware  
        
                // device rather than a software one). Software vertex processing is   
        
                // specified since we know it will work on all cards. On cards that support   
        
                // hardware vertex processing, though, we would see a big performance gain   
        
                // by specifying hardware vertex processing.  
        
                if( FAILED( gpD3d->CreateDevice( D3DADAPTER_DEFAULT, D3DDEVTYPE_HAL, hWnd,  
        
                                                  guVertexSoftwareOrHardwareProcessing,  
        
                                                  &d3dpp, &gpD3dDevice ) ) )  
        
                {  
        
                    return E_FAIL;  
        
                }  
        
                // Check device capabilities  
        
                // Device state would normally be set here  
        
                gpD3dDevice->SetFVF( guVertexFormat );   
        
                gpD3dDevice->SetRenderState( D3DRS_CULLMODE, D3DCULL_NONE );  
        
                // Set up vertex buffer  
        
                gpD3dDevice->CreateVertexBuffer(   
        
                    sizeof( gaVertices ),  
        
                    guVertexSoftwareOrHardwareProcessing,  
        
                    guVertexFormat,  
        
                    D3DPOOL_DEFAULT,   
        
                    &gpVertexBuffer,  
        
                    NULL );  
        
                void* lpVertexBufferData;  
        
                gpVertexBuffer->Lock( 0, sizeof( gaVertices ), &lpVertexBufferData, 0 );  
        
                memcpy( lpVertexBufferData, gaVertices, sizeof( gaVertices ) );  
        
                gpVertexBuffer->Unlock();  
        
                // Vertex Shader Effect  
        
                ID3DXBuffer*    lpCompilationErrorsBuffer;  
        
                HRESULT lResult = D3DXCreateEffectFromFileA(  
        
                    gpD3dDevice,  
        
                    "Shaders/SimpleHLSL.fx",  
        
                    NULL,  
        
                    NULL, 
        
            #ifndef _DEBUG  
        
                    D3DXSHADER_OPTIMIZATION_LEVEL3, 
        
            #else  
        
                    D3DXSHADER_DEBUG | D3DXSHADER_SKIPOPTIMIZATION, 
        
            #endif  
        
                    NULL,  
        
                    &gpEffect,  
        
                    &lpCompilationErrorsBuffer );  
        
                if ( lResult != S_OK )  
        
                {  
        
                    printf( "%s", lpCompilationErrorsBuffer->GetBufferPointer() );  
        
                    return E_FAIL;  
        
                }  
        
                D3DXMATRIX lWorld;  
        
                D3DXMATRIX lView;  
        
                D3DXMATRIX lProjection;  
        
                D3DXMATRIX lWorldViewProjection;  
        
                gpD3dDevice->GetTransform( D3DTS_WORLD, &lWorld );  
        
                gpD3dDevice->GetTransform( D3DTS_VIEW, &lView );  
        
                gpD3dDevice->GetTransform( D3DTS_PROJECTION, &lProjection );  
        
                D3DXMatrixMultiply( &lWorldViewProjection, &lWorld, &lView );  
        
                D3DXMatrixMultiply( &lWorldViewProjection, &lWorldViewProjection, &lProjection );  
        
                lResult = gpEffect->SetMatrix( "gr4x4WorldViewProjection", &lWorldViewProjection );  
        
                lResult = gpEffect->SetTechnique( "EntryPoint" );  
        
                return S_OK;  
        
            }  
        
            //-----------------------------------------------------------------------------  
        
            // Name: Cleanup()  
        
            // Desc: Releases all previously initialized objects  
        
            //-----------------------------------------------------------------------------  
        
            VOID Cleanup()  
        
            {  
        
                if ( gpEffect != NULL )  
        
                {  
        
                    gpEffect->Release();  
        
                }  
        
                if ( gpVertexBuffer != NULL )  
        
                {  
        
                    gpVertexBuffer->Release();  
        
                }  
        
                if( gpD3dDevice != NULL )  
        
                    gpD3dDevice->Release();  
        
                if( gpD3d != NULL )  
        
                    gpD3d->Release();  
        
            }  
        
            //-----------------------------------------------------------------------------  
        
            // Name: Render()  
        
            // Desc: Draws the scene  
        
            //-----------------------------------------------------------------------------  
        
            VOID Render()  
        
            {  
        
                HRESULT lResult;  
        
                if( NULL == gpD3dDevice )  
        
                    return;  
        
                // Clear the backbuffer to a blue color  
        
                gpD3dDevice->Clear( 0, NULL, D3DCLEAR_TARGET, D3DCOLOR_XRGB( 0, 0, 255 ), 1.0f, 0 );  
        
                // Begin the scene  
        
                if( SUCCEEDED( gpD3dDevice->BeginScene() ) )  
        
                {  
        
                    U32 luNumPasses;  
        
                    lResult = gpEffect->Begin( &luNumPasses, 0 );  
        
                    for( U32 luPass = 0; luPass < luNumPasses; luPass++ )  
        
                    {  
        
                        lResult = gpEffect->BeginPass( luPass );  
        
                        // The effect interface queues up the changes and performs them   
        
                        // with the CommitChanges call. You do not need to call CommitChanges if   
        
                        // you are not setting any parameters between the BeginPass and EndPass.  
        
                        // V( g_pEffect->CommitChanges() );  
        
                        // Render the mesh with the applied technique  
        
                        gpD3dDevice->SetStreamSource( 0, gpVertexBuffer, 0, sizeof( cVertex ) );   
        
                        gpD3dDevice->DrawPrimitive(   
        
                            D3DPT_TRIANGLESTRIP, // D3DPRIMITIVETYPE PrimitiveType,  
        
                            0, // UINT StartVertex,  
        
                            2 ); // UINT PrimitiveCount  
        
                        lResult = gpEffect->EndPass();  
        
                    }  
        
                    gpEffect->End();  
        
                    // End the scene  
        
                    gpD3dDevice->EndScene();  
        
                }  
        
                // Present the backbuffer contents to the display  
        
                gpD3dDevice->Present( NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL );  
        
            }  
        
            //-----------------------------------------------------------------------------  
        
            // Name: MsgProc()  
        
            // Desc: The window's message handler  
        
            //-----------------------------------------------------------------------------  
        
            LRESULT WINAPI MsgProc( HWND hWnd, UINT msg, WPARAM wParam, LPARAM lParam )  
        
            {  
        
                switch( msg )  
        
                {  
        
                    case WM_DESTROY:  
        
                        Cleanup();  
        
                        PostQuitMessage( 0 );  
        
                        return 0;  
        
                    case WM_PAINT:  
        
                        Render();  
        
                        ValidateRect( hWnd, NULL );  
        
                        return 0;  
        
                }  
        
                return DefWindowProc( hWnd, msg, wParam, lParam );  
        
            }  
        
            //-----------------------------------------------------------------------------  
        
            // Name: wWinMain()  
        
            // Desc: The application's entry point  
        
            //-----------------------------------------------------------------------------  
        
            INT WINAPI wWinMain( HINSTANCE hInst, HINSTANCE, LPWSTR, INT )  
        
            {  
        
                // Register the window class  
        
                WNDCLASSEX wc =  
        
                {  
        
                    sizeof( WNDCLASSEX ), CS_CLASSDC, MsgProc, 0L, 0L,  
        
                    GetModuleHandle( NULL ), NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL,  
        
                    L"D3D Vertex Shader Test", NULL  
        
                };  
        
                RegisterClassEx( &wc );  
        
                // Create the application's window  
        
                HWND hWnd = CreateWindow( L"D3D Vertex Shader Test", L"D3D Vertex Shader Test",  
        
                                          WS_OVERLAPPEDWINDOW, 100, 100, 300, 300,  
        
                                          NULL, NULL, wc.hInstance, NULL );  
        
                // Initialize Direct3D  
        
                if( SUCCEEDED( InitD3D( hWnd ) ) )  
        
                {  
        
                    // Show the window  
        
                    ShowWindow( hWnd, SW_SHOWDEFAULT );  
        
                    UpdateWindow( hWnd );  
        
                    // Enter the message loop  
        
                    MSG msg;  
        
                    while( GetMessage( &msg, NULL, 0, 0 ) )  
        
                    {  
        
                        TranslateMessage( &msg );  
        
                        DispatchMessage( &msg );  
        
                    }  
        
                }  
        
                UnregisterClass( L"D3D Vertex Shader Test", wc.hInstance );  
        
                return 0;  
        
            }

Trouble seeing a 3d model

Darwin — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 07:22:16 GMT

I'm just starting to poke around with 3D Graphics, and I'm trying to get a model to show up. I'm wondering if I'm drawing it in the wrong location (or not at all...?).

Anyway, here's the drawing code for the Game1 class:

    
            protected override void Draw(GameTime gameTime) 
        
                    { 
        
                        GraphicsDevice.Clear(Color.CornflowerBlue); 
        
                        world = Matrix.CreateTranslation(new Vector3(0, 0, -4000)); 
        
                        DrawModel(ref model, ref world, null); 
        
                        base.Draw(gameTime); 
        
                    } 
        
                    private void DrawModel(ref Model m, ref Matrix world, Texture2D texture) 
        
                    { 
        
                        Matrix[] transforms = new Matrix[m.Bones.Count]; 
        
                        m.CopyAbsoluteBoneTransformsTo(transforms); 
        
                        foreach (ModelMesh mesh in m.Meshes) 
        
                        { 
        
                            foreach (BasicEffect be in mesh.Effects) 
        
                            { 
        
                                be.EnableDefaultLighting(); 
        
                                if (texture != null) 
        
                                    be.Texture = texture; 
        
                                be.Projection = camera.Projection; 
        
                                be.View = camera.View; 
        
                                be.World = world * mesh.ParentBone.Transform; 
        
                            } 
        
                            mesh.Draw(); 
        
                        } 
        
                    } 
        
                }

The camera class is the following:

    
            public class Camera : GameComponent 
        
                { 
        
                    private GraphicsDeviceManager graphics; 
        
                    protected IInputHandler input; 
        
                    private Matrix projection; 
        
                    private Matrix view; 
        
                    private Matrix world; 
        
                    protected Vector3 movement = Vector3.Zero; 
        
                    private float cameraYaw = 0.0f; 
        
                    private float cameraPitch = 0.0f; 
        
                    private const float spinRate = 120.0f; 
        
                    private const float moveRate = 120.0f; 
        
                    private Vector3 cameraReference = new Vector3(0.0f, 0.0f, -1.0f); 
        
                    public Matrix View 
        
                    { 
        
                        get { return view; } 
        
                    } 
        
                    public Matrix Projection 
        
                    { 
        
                        get { return projection; } 
        
                    } 
        
                    private Vector3 cameraPosition = new Vector3(0.0f, 0.0f, 3.0f); 
        
                    private Vector3 cameraTarget = Vector3.Zero; 
        
                    private Vector3 cameraUpVector = Vector3.Up; 
        
                    public Camera(Game game) 
        
                        : base(game) 
        
                    { 
        
                        graphics = (GraphicsDeviceManager)Game.Services.GetService(typeof(IGraphicsDeviceManager)); 
        
                        input = (IInputHandler)game.Services.GetService(typeof(IInputHandler)); 
        
                    } 
        
                    public override void Initialize() 
        
                    { 
        
                        base.Initialize(); 
        
                        InitializeCamera(); 
        
                    } 
        
                    private void InitializeCamera() 
        
                    { 
        
                        float aspectRatio = (float)graphics.GraphicsDevice.Viewport.Width / 
        
                            (float)graphics.GraphicsDevice.Viewport.Height; 
        
                        Matrix.CreatePerspectiveFieldOfView(MathHelper.PiOver4, aspectRatio, 
        
                            0.0001f, 1000.0f, out projection); 
        
                        Matrix.CreateLookAt(ref cameraPosition, ref cameraTarget, 
        
                            ref cameraUpVector, out view); 
        
                    } 
        
                    public override void Update(GameTime gameTime) 
        
                    { 
        
                        float timeDelta = (float)gameTime.ElapsedGameTime.TotalSeconds; 
        
                        if (input.CurrentKeyboardState.IsKeyDown(Keys.Left)) 
        
                        { 
        
                            cameraYaw += (spinRate * timeDelta); 
        
                        } 
        
                        if (input.CurrentKeyboardState.IsKeyDown(Keys.Right)) 
        
                        { 
        
                            cameraYaw -= (spinRate * timeDelta); 
        
                        } 
        
                        if (cameraYaw > 360) 
        
                        { 
        
                            cameraYaw -= 360; 
        
                        } 
        
                        else if (cameraYaw < 0) 
        
                        { 
        
                            cameraYaw += 360; 
        
                        } 
        
                        if (input.CurrentKeyboardState.IsKeyDown(Keys.Down) || 
        
                            (input.CurrentGamePads[0].ThumbSticks.Right.Y < 0)) 
        
                        { 
        
                            cameraPitch -= (spinRate * timeDelta); 
        
                        } 
        
                        if (input.CurrentKeyboardState.IsKeyDown(Keys.Up) || 
        
                            (input.CurrentGamePads[0].ThumbSticks.Right.Y > 0)) 
        
                        { 
        
                            cameraPitch += (spinRate * timeDelta); 
        
                        } 
        
            #if !XBOX360 
        
                        if ((input.PreviousMouseState.X > input.MouseState.X) && 
        
                            (input.MouseState.LeftButton == ButtonState.Pressed)) 
        
                        { 
        
                            cameraYaw += (spinRate * timeDelta); 
        
                        } 
        
                        else if ((input.PreviousMouseState.X < input.MouseState.X) && 
        
                            (input.MouseState.LeftButton == ButtonState.Pressed)) 
        
                        { 
        
                            cameraYaw -= (spinRate * timeDelta); 
        
                        } 
        
                        if ((input.PreviousMouseState.Y > input.MouseState.Y) && 
        
                            (input.MouseState.LeftButton == ButtonState.Pressed)) 
        
                        { 
        
                            cameraPitch += (spinRate * timeDelta); 
        
                        } 
        
                        else if ((input.PreviousMouseState.Y < input.MouseState.Y) && 
        
                            (input.MouseState.LeftButton == ButtonState.Pressed)) 
        
                        { 
        
                            cameraPitch -= (spinRate * timeDelta); 
        
                        } 
        
            #endif 
        
                        if (cameraPitch > 89) 
        
                        { 
        
                            cameraPitch = 89; 
        
                        } 
        
                        if (cameraPitch < -89) 
        
                        { 
        
                            cameraPitch = -89; 
        
                        } 
        
                        movement *= (moveRate * timeDelta); 
        
                        Matrix rotationMatrix; 
        
                        Vector3 transformedReference; 
        
                        Matrix.CreateRotationY(MathHelper.ToRadians(cameraYaw), out rotationMatrix); 
        
                        if (movement != Vector3.Zero) 
        
                        { 
        
                            Vector3.Transform(ref movement, ref rotationMatrix, out movement); 
        
                            cameraPosition += movement; 
        
                        } 
        
                        rotationMatrix = Matrix.CreateRotationX(MathHelper.ToRadians(cameraPitch)) * rotationMatrix; 
        
                        Vector3.Transform(ref cameraReference, ref rotationMatrix, 
        
                            out transformedReference); 
        
                        Vector3.Add(ref cameraPosition, ref transformedReference, out cameraTarget); 
        
                        Matrix.CreateLookAt(ref cameraPosition, ref cameraTarget, 
        
                            ref cameraUpVector, out view); 
        
                        base.Update(gameTime); 
        
                    } 
        
                }

Let me know if you need anything else that might help diagnose this problem. Like I said, I may just be looking in the wrong direction, but I can't seem to get it.
Thanks for any help!

How to detect obstacles and walking over it, Help ?

Jijo George — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 07:04:10 GMT

Hello All

Iam newbie to the xna world.Iam planning to develop a 2D (XNA 3.1,VS 2008) game contains a soldier having diffrent mission in each level.
The problem is that i dont know how to move this object through a hilly terrain,how to detect the hill inclination and walking over that ,
detect obstacles ,moving background while walking , also how many layer of background objects needed to accomplish this project etc..
i have developed shooting game but its object and background is static.
So please help me for developing the project. if there is any sample project please send me the link.

Thanks and Regards
Jijo

2D oldschool shooter project

Phaxan — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:40:01 GMT

Hello,

I'd like to invit you all to view my new blog concerning a 2D oldschool shooter I'm working on alone actually for Xbox Indie Games. It will take me times since I have to create everything but I'll do my best to release it in mid 2010.

http://munesoft.blogspot.com/2009/11/blog-creation-first-video.html

Stay tuned !

Cheers

Phaxan

My Video Game Blog "Star 64"

SmileDog — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 04:49:34 GMT

http://star64blog.blogspot.com/
Suggestions?
My e-mail: wolvendude@gmail.com

Need Help with Merging Input Sequence Sample with Platformer Kit

Lee Vanwallene — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 06:47:08 GMT

I am more of an artist so my limited knowledge in html and java are barely keeping me afloat. I seem to have managed adding parallax scrolling vertically and horizontally and adding my own sprites to the kit thanks to the forums.

I found several threads on how to double jump, but I feel if I am going to be implementing several button sequences that merging the Input Sequence Sample into my Platformer Kit would be a better way to handle several complicated button sequences for power moves and such.

I've successfully merged all the relevant info and classes into my kit without it crashing and all the previous stuff still works. I just need a way to implement it. My searches for merging these two kits came up blank am I just not looking hard enough?

    
                            moves = new Move[] 
        
                            { 
        
                                new Move("Jump",        Buttons.A) { IsSubMove = true }, 
        
                                new Move("Tail Whip",       Buttons.X) { IsSubMove = true }, 
        
                                new Move("Double Jump", Buttons.A, Buttons.A), 
        
                                new Move("Arial Tail Whip",   Buttons.A | Buttons.X),                    
        
                                new Move("Throw Poop",    Direction.Down, Direction.DownRight, 
        
                                                        Direction.Right | Buttons.X), 
        
                                new Move("Fall",        Direction.Down, Direction.Down), 
        
                            };

1. Do I put an IF loop in the Player class that calls on the Move class to check for what moves are being used, I figure this only cause there are gamepadstate IF statements in the Player class. What would this look like?

2. After the above is solved for the simpler items like jumping and attacking, if I want to implement falling through a passable platform for the above Fall feature should I just temporarily turn off the collision detection or move the player down in the Y direction a slight amount.

3. For the Throw Poop or 'Fireball' as it was called, I would have to create a 'hadooken' like animation check for the move as in question 1, and then call for the 'hadooken' animation in the Player class and I am assuming I would also have to create a projectile class.

4. Could this form of implementing a double jump still allow me to implement and perform a delayed double jump?

If I am making this more complicated than it should be please let me know, couldn't find any tutorials on how to drop through the platform. My other option is I just leave it be and take the idea of needing it in my game out and implement around it, as I am just trying to show off my art and passion for games to potential employers and have no desire being hired as a programmer.

Thanks for your time and help,
Lee

A question about XML seralization

Kevin Simpson — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 04:03:24 GMT

Currently, I have a level editor that pumps out a huge XML file (19.mb) consisting of three jagged arrays. Obviously, not the most robust way to do things, but until I gauge a good size for the levels I have, this is fine. Now my problem comes when trying to debugg on the 360.

    
               private static MapSave loadMap() 
        
                    { 
        
                        string filename = Path.Combine("C:\\", "mapdata0.sav"); 
        
                        // Check to see if the save exists 
        
                        if (!File.Exists(filename)) 
        
                        { 
        
                            Console.WriteLine("No map save found, returning empty map"); 
        
                            MapSave NullMap = new MapSave(); 
        
                            NullMap.layer1 = new string[500][]; 
        
                            return NullMap; 
        
                        } 
        
                        // Open the file 
        
                        FileStream stream = File.Open(filename, FileMode.OpenOrCreate, 
        
                            FileAccess.Read); 
        
                        // Read the data from the file 
        
                        XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(MapSave)); 
        
                        MapSave loadedMap = (MapSave)serializer.Deserialize(stream); 
        
                        // Close the file 
        
                        stream.Close(); 
        
                        return loadedMap; 
        
                    }

This works fine for the PC, but I do not know the first thing about getting it to work on 360. I tried to load the XML file from the content pipeline, because it appears to support XML files, but that didn't work out exactly as I planned. Can the 360 read the content from local folders? How does the 360 directory structure even work. Any let shed on the subject is greatly appreciated.

[WANTED] Programmer

sturentzler — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 06:35:06 GMT

I have two projects. The budget for either project is small ($750). Both are quick production tools. 

If you have experience using XNA and feel comfortable with the description below contact me to talk 
more about this project. (The other project has a bit bigger budget but is also deeper to explain).

Room Designer
1. Allows for the import of various FBX files (File Dialog Box)
2. Allows for the arrangement of the objects in the room (rotation, position, scale).
3. Cell shading implementation (Toggle Styles).
4. Export of XML to keep track of room states (and reload room (File Dialog, open project)). 
5. Screen capture of XNA screen.
6. Save XNA screen capture to file

I've been programming for 15+ years and create 3D modeling art, etc. I've been using XNA for the past 
3 years off-and-on and have completed most of the tutorials and I'm looking for someone more advance 
than me for the production tool so I can focus my attentions elsewhere.

Stuart (stu_rentzler@clayrain.com)

Viewport.Project() issue

Fippy Darkpaw — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 00:07:12 GMT

I'm rendering both 3D geometry and sprite batches (for text and particles) in several viewports that are smaller than the fullscreen viewport.

Problem: The 3D geometry is rendering in the smaller viewports as expected, but Viewport.Project() is giving incorrect values. Thus text and sprite particles appear in the wrong places.

Here is the relevant code where I actually Viewport.Project() a position from 3D space to 2D screen space. Anyone see any problems? I'm absolutely sure sure my camera and matrices are correct, because 3D geometry renders in viewports correctly. Just not sure why the ViewPort.Project() is getting problems.

                            // these are initialized elsewhere         
            // assume they are correctly setup         
            GraphicsDeviceManager graphicsDevMgr;         
            Viewport smallViewPort;         
                     
                     
                     
            // a simple camera looking at 0,0,0         
            Vector3 camPosition = new Vector3(10000f, 0f, 0.0f);         
            Vector3 camLookAt = Vector3.Zero;         
            Vector3 up = new Vector3(0.0f, 1.0f, 0.0f);         
            float nearClip =  1000.0f;         
            float farClip = 100000.0f;         
            float viewAngle = MathHelper.ToRadians(90f);         
            float aspectRatio = (float)smallViewPort.Width / (float)smallViewPort.Height;         
                     
                     
                     
            // save the fullscreen viewport         
            // change to the small viewport         
            Viewport oldViewPort = graphicsDevMgr.GraphicsDevice.Viewport;         
            graphicsDevMgr.GraphicsDevice.Viewport = smallViewPort;         
                     
                     
                     
            // set up camera matrices for the small viewport         
            // we are looking at something at 0,0,0         
            Matrix world = Matrix.CreateTranslation(Vector3.Zero);         
            Matrix view = Matrix.CreateLookAt(camPosition, camLookAt, up);         
            Matrix projection = Matrix.CreatePerspectiveFieldOfView(viewAngle, aspectRatio, nearClip, farClip);         
                     
                     
                     
            // project a position from 3D space to 2D screen coords         
            // these values are wrong!!!         
            Vector3 projectedPosition = graphicsDevMgr.GraphicsDevice.Viewport.Project(position, projection, view, world);         

I have a feeling I need to do something else to the GraphicsDeviceManager or SpriteBatch?

Windows Forms custom build TargetDirectory content folder

Gungnir — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 05:33:57 GMT

Hi,

I have used the code written by Microsoft in the WinFormsContentLoading example. I tweaked it to fit my needs, I actually want to convert my content on the fly but then let the .xnb files reside in their own folder for further use. I have made a folder that has all the raw files, .png, .fbx whatever and a folder where the .xnb should go. Then when i run my project and build the content the content actually goes in my XNB folder but it then has created a subfolder called content (lowercase) i which the newly created .xnb file now resides. It has also created a file called "cachefile--targetpath.txt" which resides ../XNB/content. I want that extra content folder gone. I have searched and searched but am positive it is not generated by my code, directly or indirectly. What i have found though is that this piece of code:

            msBuildProject.AddNewImport("$(MSBuildExtensionsPath)\\Microsoft\\XNA " +
                                        "Game Studio\\v3.1\\Microsoft.Xna.GameStudio" +
                                        ".ContentPipeline.targets", null);

refers to this file: ContentPipeline.targets which might hold the key to my problem. This file though is pretty large and i have no clue where to look. I tried looking for "content" with the search but that returned nothing useful.

Can someone help me or point me in the right directen to omit that folder?

Thanks in advance,

Gungnir.

Peer review rejection... A couple of questions

DualOpAmp29 — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 15:25:08 GMT

I've lookes around a little, and I can't seem to find an answer. So, when does the 7 day rejection period start? Is it when you submit the game? Or when you're game is rejected? Also can I submit the game to playtest, while in the rejection period?

msbuild dependency compile path

fearlessdolphin — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:18:09 GMT

The msbuild xnb compiler I have setup recursively goes through an asset folder and compiles xnbs in their respective folders, it even creates subfolders when necessary but when compiling dependencies it creates the xnb in the output path instead of placing them inside the model subfolder. In the end I get a bunch of files in the output root instead being in their respective folders. I have managed to get the content type of an xnb using the contentmanager which works quite nicely so I can store model and the depedency files in the same folder so determining the content type isn't an issue.

What would be even better if I could tell msbuild to create one xnb for all the dependency files. I did some digging in the ContentPipeline.xml which shows and output attribute for every asset but msbuild won't let me modify the output path for builditems.

I have downloaded shawn's talk about Building Worlds in content pipline, just hadn't had the time to go through it, its very late here and its hard to keep my eyes open! I just hope I dont have to write a new content processor just to create one xnb or modify the dependency path!

How to make Network Game like Warcraft III?

Vecthor — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 16:44:51 GMT

I need make the follow game. The steps be discribed below:

1. Exists a Lobby Room that i can see all games created on my network.
2. In this screen i put my nickname and i can create game or join a created game. (I only create or join if i put, only, my nickname)
3. If i create game, the Game Room ll be opened and i can wait for other playes.
4. If i join game, the Game Room ll appear with the players that are on this room.
5. And with the steps above, i can start the game and play.

Restrictions: Max of 4 player for game, not need connect live to play, its only put the nickname, and with this, the game identify the players.

Anyway, Thanks!

???

initialization issue with Avatars

SECNDprsonSHOTR — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 02:15:13 GMT

When I use an example build from this site the program works. But when I make my own, a Xbox 360 game (3.1) I keep getting this error when it is deployed

An unhandled exception of type 'System.InvalidOperationException' occurred in Microsoft.Xna.Framework.dll

Additional information: The Gamer Services functionality must be initialized before you call this method. The easiest way to do that is to add a GamerServicesComponent to the Game.Components collection in the constructor of your Game class.

I have this line in the constructor

Components.Add(new GamerServicesComponent(this));

but still no joy.

Is there something I am missing, I assume its obvious but can not divine it.

Stencil masking

brainziziz — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 11:32:03 GMT

While reading about Tabula Rasa deffered shading in GPU Gems 3 (found here: http://http.developer.nvidia.com/GPUGems3/gpugems3_ch19.html ), I found the term stencil masking. I vaguely know what it means and what can it be used for but I don't know how to use it in XNA. So if anyone can give a brief explanation of stencil masking, and a small xna pseudocode on how to use it to filter out the sky from lighting calculations in a deffered shader like in the marked situation below (taken from the above article)

19.7.2 Stencil Masking

Using the stencil to mask off pixels is another common technique to speed up lighting in a deferred renderer. The basic technique is to use the stencil buffer to mark pixels that a light cannot affect. When rendering the light's volume geometry, one simply sets the stencil test to reject the marked pixels.

We tried several variations of this technique. We found that on average, the performance gains from this method were not great enough to compensate for any additional draw call overhead the technique may generate. We tried performing "cheap" passes prior to the lighting pass to mark the stencil for pixels facing away from the light or out of range of the light. This variation did increase the number of pixels later discarded by the final lighting pass. However, the draw call overhead of DirectX 9.0 along with the execution of the cheap pass seemed to cancel out or even cost more than any performance savings achieved during the final lighting pass (on average).

We do utilize the stencil technique as we render the opaque geometry in the scene to mark pixels that deferred shading will be used to light later. This approach excludes pixels belonging to the sky box or any pixel that we know up front will not or should not have lighting calculations performed on it. This does not require any additional draw calls, so it is essentially free. The lighting pass then discards these marked pixels using stencil testing. This technique can generate significant savings when the sky is predominant across the screen, and just as important, it has no adverse effects on performance, even in the worst case.

The draw call overhead is reduced with DirectX 10. For those readers targeting that platform, it may be worthwhile to explore using cheap passes to discard more pixels. However, using dynamic branches instead of additional passes is probably the better option if targeting Shader Model 3.0 or later.

Memory leak in EffectPass loop?

BeefMonky — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 03:33:51 GMT

Hello there again! I'm still working on my terrain project and I've noticed something disturbing... I was looking in the windows task manager at my program's memory usage, and each time task manager refreshed, the memory was 8kb higher than last time. I know task manager isn't a very precise tool for monitoring my program's memory usage, but it still has me concerned. I traced it down to this code:
l

    
            foreach (EffectPass pass in myeffect.CurrentTechnique.Passes) 
        
            { 
        
                 pass.Begin(); 
        
                 deviceref.DrawIndexedPrimitives(PrimitiveType.TriangleList, 0, 0, nVertices, 0, nIndices / 3); 
        
                 pass.End(); 
        
            } 
        
            myeffect.End();

If I comment out all of that, and run my program, my memory usage stays at a certain amount. If I JUST comment out my drawindexedprimives call, it still chews away at my memory... Which leads me to believe that there lies a problem with my effect pass loop. Am I looping correctly? Thanks guys!

Setting Window position?

David Owens — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 13:32:13 GMT

Is there really no way to set the position of the game window? I've tried the obvious, <gameInstance>.Window.ClientBounds but this is readonly and trying to set the X and Y values only ends up with compiler errors (Cannot modify the return value of 'Microsoft.Xna.Framework.GameWindow.ClientBounds' because it is not a variable c:\Users\dowens\projects\blockos\src\Blockos\BlockosGame.cs).

Of course, there is a VERY hacky solution but it requires me to take two dependencies: System.Drawing and System.Windows.Forms. Then the following code in Initialize():

System.Windows.Forms.Control f = System.Windows.Forms.FormFromHandle(this.Window.Handle);
f.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(10, 10);

Is this really the only way!?

Trouble in detecting Key Unpressed.

test84 — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 20:08:48 GMT

Hi,

In order to add friction to my movement when character stops running, I need to detect when a key is unpressed, so I natively wrote keyboardState.IsKeyUp(Keys.Right) in such code:

                if (keyboardState.IsKeyDown(Keys.Right))
                {
                   ...
                }

                if (keyboardState.IsKeyUp(Keys.Right))
                {
                   ...
                }

but it never goes into the IsKeyUp section, why is that?

AI is hard!

Craig Martin — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 02:06:27 GMT

So far I have this:

NPC:

A* path finding.
Waypoint patrolling
Free patrolling
Vision (frustrum based)
Hearing (sphere)
Awareness

Sound:
When a sound is heard while patrolling, change to Investigate mode, and move towards the origin of the sound (looking out for anything en route). When there, look around for anything. If nothing found, resume patrolling, either back to the prescribed waypoints, or free patrolling from the current position.

Vision:
If an entity is seen (through their view frustum, and is not occluded), go into Attack mode and move towards the target, attacking if possible. If the entity can no longer be seen, resume patrolling as above.

Awareness
If shot, attack the attacker.
If another NPC in view is shot, change to Investigate mode and move towards the NPC.

Patrolling/Investigating:
Randomly swivel head from side to side, rather than always dead ahead. This covers more area.
When approaching an intersection, look side to side to see if anything is around the corner.

This all works flawlessly - but with each function, more issues come up with the finer details of NPC positioning/view angle etc. Animation plays a part in this too, making it that much harder.

Next thing to tackle is moving through the waypoints in a more natural way, and avoiding other NPCs.
Then taking cover.
Then working together... this will be tricky :D

It is fun though.

XNA 3.0 won't install

Atrixen — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 01:32:27 GMT

After having 2 major PC upgrades I have lost track of what happened to the file location. So uninstalling it won't work and an attempt to reinstall it (both within the same install window) fail every time. I've turned off my antivirus protection and made sure the temporary folder is not hidden archived or anything. What next?

Storage Container problems for guest user

Jesse Demarco — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 00:07:44 GMT

Hello. I am getting ever so close to finally releasing my game. I have followed all the guides I can find for submitting a game successfully, but there is one issue I can't seem to find any info on. If I use a player who is not signed in, such as the guest user, and select a storage container I get the following exception

An unhandled exception of type 'Microsoft.Xna.Framework.GamerServices.GamerPrivilegeException' occurred in Microsoft.Xna.Framework.dll
Additional information: A signed in gamer profile is required to perform this operation. A Live profile may also be required. There are no profiles currently signed in, or the profile is not signed in to Live.

I assume that this is because a signed in live account must be used to start the XNA Game studio or indie arcade game. If the user chooses not to save, or closes the guide, there are no further problems with the game itself. Should I test to make sure that a user has privilege or would it make more sense to just always use the user who is signed in to Live.

What I think I will do is just create a method to grab the first user that is signed in to Live by index, and then use that index when opening the storage container.

Something like:

    
                    public static void SetSignedInUserIndex() 
        
                    { 
        
                        for (PlayerIndex index = PlayerIndex.One; index <= PlayerIndex.Four; index++) 
        
                        { 
        
                            //Detect if the controller is connected 
        
                            if (GamePad.GetState(index).IsConnected) 
        
                            { 
        
                                //Get the first user who is signed in to LIVE 
        
                                if (Gamer.SignedInGamers[index].IsSignedInToLive) 
        
                                { 
        
                                    GameProperties.SignedInPlayerIndex = index; 
        
                                    break; 
        
                                } 
        
                            } 
        
                        } 
        
                    }

And then when opening the storage container:

    
            result = Guide.BeginShowStorageDeviceSelector(GameProperties.SignedInPlayerIndex, null, null); 
        
            ... 
        
            ...

GameProperties is just a bunch of static references or course.

Does this seem like a good way to tackle this issue?

Thanks in advance

Texture2D - Upscaling without Anti Aliasing

Upana — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 01:44:04 GMT

Hi there,

Very basic questions, but been doing all sorts of searches (apparently the wrong ones) and not really getting anywhere. Figured I'd try my luck here :-)

My problem is very simple. I have a Texture2D sprite, let's say it's 128x128 pixels. Now, in some instances, I want to display this sprite in double it's size (256x256) and here's the catch: I don't want Anti Aliasing to kick in.

Going down the various overloads of SpriteBatch.Draw() either setting a DestinationRectangle at x,y,256,256 or using the float scale overload at 2f both give me the desired result but WITH Anti Aliasing.

No properties or constructor initialisers on the SpriteBatch() seems to do the trick either, so I am thinking I probably need to dig way deeper into someplace arcane....

Any ideas? :-)

My game just don't work!

fireapache — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 00:57:09 GMT

Hey guys! I have Windows Seven here and the compiled game just don't work on Windows XP!

Any suggestions??

Components List Problem

Gizoku — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:33:02 GMT

Hi all,

I'm using XNA to make an asteroids clone (asteroids meets Geometry Wars, original I know...) and I'm having trouble initiating new waves of asteroids. When an asteroid is destroyed it is removed from the game components list. I basically need something like this:

if(Components.ASTEROIDS.Count == 0)
{

wave += 1

}

I'm just not sure of the syntax...

Any help anyone can offer would be greatly appreciated :D

Thanks!

Are there any special resources to stay on top of future XNA versions?

Replay — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 14:29:41 GMT

Hiya, I've posted here before about games, but I've actually switched to programming a video app that will be commercially released for Windows - it is UNBELIEVABLE how much power XNA gives me to control video streams now that I've written low-level routines for handling texture to bitmap converstions and started using the excellent AForge video library for Windows. So my question is - what is the plan for the future of XNA? I know that Indie Games has been underperforming relative to expectations - is there any chance either the technology or the section will be dropped, and if so, what does that portend for this technology? Are there pages to stay abreast of to learn about future developments, other than the main one? I love XNA. I worked with DirectX intermittently before but found it to be a bit much for my taste, but XNA is nearly flawless in its combination with C# for a rapid application development (RAD) philosophy towards Windows multimedia programming and games. I sincerely hope Microsoft will continue to support this valuable technology - I've had a few jobs in the videogame industry, including two doing programming, and both I and a former network programming manager for a major studio that I know have more or less pledged ourselves to this technology for personal projects and our commercial hopes for the same. To put it honestly, even if the indie games are underperforming, I have reason to believe Microsoft is building up a tremendous deal of good karma with independent developers in general, many of whom as we all know see this technology set as the future. :) Anyway, just making an inquiry. Hope for the best for everyone reading this.