FAQs

Installing Game Studio 3.0

The ZMan — Sat, 19 May 2007 22:09:55 GMT

XNA Game Studio requires you to do the following IN ORDER

Install Visual Studio 2008, or C# 2008 Express
Finally you can install XNA Game Studio 3.0

All downloads should come from the official Microsoft site - be very wary of any sites claiming to have mirrors.

Troublehooting:

There are always a few reports of bad installs possibly caused by downloading errors especially on slow connections. Try using a different browser, clearing your internet cache or using a download manager
Try running the MSI installers with the logging option and looking in the log for errors. If you want to post a log to the forums PLEASE use a pastebin as they are huge and your post will likely be deleted.
Package Load Failure
Trouble installing C# Express including speeding up install time - see Scott Guthrie tips and Heath Stewart tips

How to use your real name in the forums

Shawn Hargreaves — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 12:28:47 GMT

For those of you who want your posts to show up using some other name to your gamertag...

Go to your user control panel (by clicking your gamertag in the top right corner of the site)
Fill in your name in the About tab
Under Site Options, select "Enable DisplayName"

Your gamertag will still show up inside your gamercard, but now your real name will be visible above it.

Where can I get support for the various XNA Framework books?

Jim Perry — Fri, 04 May 2007 08:22:32 GMT

[All GS1.x books now have updated 2.0 code available - contact the authors for support]

Whilst we are happy to answer XNA Game Studio Express questions in these forums, if the question is specifically about the code in a book then it should be directed to the authors specific support channels. This ensure updates of the code sample and future editions of the book as well as directing support to the guys who know the code better than anyone.

Essential XNA Game Studio 2.0 Programming (2.0 edition only)
Jim Perry and Allen Sherrod
Support: Contact the authors
Code download: Wordware page
Errata: none currently. The code download page will be used when necessary

XNA 2.0 Game Programming Recipes: A Problem-Solution Approach (2.0 edition only)
Riemer Grootjans
Support: http://www.riemers.net/Forum/index.php?var=1268&var2=0
Code download: http://www.riemers.net/eng/recipes.php
Errata: None

Beginning XNA 2.0 Game Programming: From Novice to Professional (2.0 edition only)
Alexandre Santos Lobao, Bruno Pereira Evangelista, José Antonio Leal de Farias
Support: Use customer discussions on amazon http://www.amazon.com/Beginning-XNA-2-0-Game-Programming/dp/1590599241/
Code download: http://www.apress.com/book/downloadfile/3974
Eratta: http://www.apress.com/book/errata/758

Microsoft® XNA Game Studio 2.0: Learn Programming Now! (2.0 edition only)
Rob Miles
Support: http://verysillygames.com/forum/
Code Download: http://verysillygames.com/
Eratta: None

Professional XNA Game Programming (1.0 and 2.0 Editions availalbe and 2.0 code update)
Benjamin Nitschke
Support: http://p2p.wrox.com/forum.asp?FORUM_ID=322
Code Download: http://www.wrox.com/WileyCDA/WroxTitle/productCd-0470126779,descCd-download_code.html
*** Code updated to 2.0 see http://exdream.no-ip.info/blog/2008/02/11/AllXNAGamesConvertedToXNA20FromRocketCommanderToTheRacingGame.aspx***
Errata: http://www.wrox.com/WileyCDA/WroxTitle/productCd-0470126779,descCd-view_errata.html

Microsoft XNA Game Studio Creator's Guide (1.0 edition only. 2.0 code availalbe)
Stephen Cawood and Pat McGee
Support: http://www.gamedeveloperonline.com/forums/?q=forum
Code download: http://www.mhprofessional.com/downloads/products/007149071X/007149071X_code.zip
Code for GS 2.0 available: http://www.gamedeveloperonline.com/upgrade.php
Errata: http://www.gamedeveloperonline.com/Code.htm

Microsoft XNA Unleashed (1.0 edition only. 2.0 code availalbe)
Chad Carter
Support: Amazon forums for the book
Code download: Not Available - CD only (for safari e-book readers click the examples link on this page when logged in)
Code update for 2.0 available here http://xnaessentials.com/downloads.aspx
There will be no 2.0 version of the book - Chad will produce a 3.0 version
Errata: http://www.xnaessentials.com/Unleashed/Errata.aspx

XNA Game Studio Express: Developing Games for Windows and the Xbox 360 (1.0 edition only. 2.0 code available)
Joseph Hall
Support: http://codetopia.com/cs/forums/10/ShowForum.aspx
Code download: http://codetopia.com/cs/files/default.aspx
***Code Updated for XNA GS 2.0 The announcement is here and the direct link to the XNA 2.0 sources is here.***
Errata: http://codetopia.com/cs/forums/9/ShowForum.aspx

How do I learn to program?

Stephen Styrchak — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 16:15:56 GMT

XNA Game Studio Express (GSE) simplifies game development, making it more approachable to beginners and providing enhanced productivity for the experienced. However, creating a game with XNA GSE requires you to know how to program. So what do you do if you are interested in making games, but you don't know how to program?

Here's a link to Microsoft's Beginner Developer Learning Center. It provides instruction and tutorials for beginners, teaching them how to program and how to use the C# Express Integrated Development Environment (IDE). Beginners interested in XNA GSE will want to follow the Windows development tracks.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/beginner/

Welcome to the world of programming!

--Stephen

What are the recommended books and sites for learning C#?

George Clingerman — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 19:26:37 GMT

XNA Game Studio (XNA GS) has made game development easier, but to develop in XNA GS you still have to be able to develop with C#. While you don't need to be a C# expert to make a game using XNA GSE, you do need to understand the basics of object oriented development and the general syntax of the C# language.

This is great for game developer hopefuls who already have C# experience but for those just getting their feet wet in the C# language (and maybe development in general) there is definitely some initial training needed before they can begin making their game. This list of development resources has been constructed by the community to help get you started in learning what you'll need to know about development and coding in C# to make that awesome game idea come to life in XNA GS.

Please reply to this thread if you have any recommended sites, books, video tutorials, etc that you think would be helpful to add to this list. (I will then add to the list and delete your post to keep this list current)

[Note: Books referring to "Game Programming" do not necessarily use XNA Game Studio, but were most likely recommended because they taught game development concepts that others in the community found useful when they were starting out.]

Books

For Beginners:

Ron Penton - Beginning C# Game Programming

Donis Marshall - Programming Microsoft Visual C# 2005: The Language

John Sharp - Microsoft Visual C# 2005 Step by Step

David Weller - Beginning .NET Game Programming in C#

Head First C#

For the Intermediate (those coming from another language):

Jesse Liberty, Brian MacDonald - Learning C# 2005: Get Started with C# 2.0 and .NET Programming

Jesse Libery - Programming C#

Jay Hilyard, Stephen Teilhet - C# Cookbook

Andrew Troelsen - Pro C# 2005 and the .NET 2.0 Platform

Don Box - Essential .NET Volume 1

Jeffrey Richter - CLR Via C#

Bill Wagner - Effective C#: 50 Specific Ways to Improve Your C#

Wrox - Professional C# 2005

General Game Development

Tom Miller - Managed DirectX 9 Kick Start

Daniel Sanchez-Crespo Dalmau - Core Techniques and Algorithms in Game Programming

Tom Miller - Beginning 3D Game Programming (uses C#)

Fletcher Dunn - 3D Math Primer for Graphics and Game Development

Videos

3DBuzz

Free Resources

E-Book

Programmer's Heaven C# School Book

Tutorials

http://www.csharp-station.com/Tutorials/Lesson01.aspx

Sites

VB.NET to C# language comparisons

Developer Fusion - Converting VB.NET to C#

GameDev Workshop

C# Language Specification

Videos

Microsoft's Visual C# Express Edition Video Series

Joran Omark's C#/XNA Video Tutorials

Free Software for development

Camp ELM — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 17:22:02 GMT

Seeing how this is the FAQ, and free software has got to be a FAQ, I figured this was a good post to have here. It took a bit of research to find all the tools that I need to get started without cost and be happy with them. If someone had taken the time to put them together I would have appreciated it so I figure I'll pass along what I have found. If anyone else knows some good free stuff, feel free to pass it along too.

Please note that this software is freeware or opensource, not "free to try" or a demo so keep in mind that there may be better tools out there, but untill you're ready for a serious monetary commitment this is a good place to start.

2D Paint programs- Let's face it, you're gonna need sprites and backgrounds and MS paint isn't that great.

My solution was Paint.Net: http://www.getpaint.net/index2.html

I'd check out the forums here in the tuts section: http://paintdotnet.12.forumer.com/viewforum.php?f=15&sid=edac08ddbb51472183ba642cb8b56afe for some examples of what's possible to do fairly easily with this program

3D Images and Models- You want to do 3D? You're gonna need 3D models.

Of course you can go here to for some free 3D models http://www.turbosquid.com/xna which you could have found here at creators.XNA under Resources->Partners but just incase.......there ya go

To make originals I'm using Blender at http://www.blender.org/ It's a good opensource 3D program with a lot of tuts and community.

edit: Deleted Milkshake since it's a trial version

Music and sound - probably the most frustrating thing of all for me due to my background (music ed)

I finally settled on Finale Notepad at the website http://www.finalemusic.com/notepad/. I went with it because of the use of Notation as a method of input. The playback option isn't great but it's free. It'll get you some basic music for you games at the very least. Note that the Notepad is free for download and use. Their other, more featured options do cost (quite a bit) though.

For sound fx and editing you might want to try Audacity at http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ . It's good for mixing tracks, sounds etc to tweak them to your needs.

So there you go. 2D, 3D and sound software 100% free. Everything you need to make a full fledged game. Definetly not a be-all-end-all list but it's everything that you need (along with GSE and XNA of course)

Pointing an object towards a given point, and other cool game math!

jwatte — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 15:22:34 GMT

Once a week, we see the question "How do I make one object point to face another position/object?"
Often, the solutions offered are "subtract the position of one from the other," which only tells you the direction you want to go in, not how to actually rotate to face that direction.
Another solution offered usually involves trigonometry, typically based on Math.Atan2(), and makes some assumptions about which direction you want to be "up".

The problem is not as simple as "just subtract one from the other." Also, the problem does not require trig to be solved.

Here is a different statement of the same problem:
"I have an arrow/ship/character that is built to point down the Z axis when in Identity rotation at position P. How do I rotate it so that it points at object O, with up axis U ?"

The actual math involved, as long as O is not linearly dependent with U, is simple.
1) Create the vector D = (O-P).
2) Create the vector U cross D, and normalize. Call this "Right"
3) Create the vector Right cross U and normalize. Call this "Backwards"
4) Create the vector Backwards cross Right. Call this "Up"
4) Your matrix is now these three vectors written in rows (assuming row vectors on the right):

// O is your object's position
// P is the position of the object to face
// U is the nominal "up" vector (typically Vector3.Y)
// Note: this does not work when O is straight below or straight above P
Matrix RotateToFace(Vector3 O, Vector3 P, Vector3 U)
{
  Vector3 D = (O - P);
  Vector3 Right = Vector3.Cross(U, D);
  Vector3.Normalize(ref Right, out Right);
  Vector3 Backwards = Vector3.Cross(Right, U);
  Vector3.Normalize(ref Backwards, out Backwards);
  Vector3 Up = Vector3.Cross(Backwards, Right);
  Matrix rot = new Matrix(Right.X, Right.Y, Right.Z, 0, Up.X, Up.Y, Up.Z, 0, Backwards.X, Backwards.Y, Backwards.Z, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1);
  return rot;
}

If your object is modeled pointing down some axis other than positive Z, you can pre-multiply the matrix that turns the model around to face Z, and then multiply this matrix, to get the final orientation matrix. However, if you build your object in 3ds Max such that it is looking at you (you see the front), then the object is already facing positive X when you export it.

What this does, geometrically, is:
* Assuming the Z axis will be pointing at the object
* Using the nominal "up" to find where the "right" (X) axis will point. This means that the above/below positions won't work, because "right" could be anything.
* Using the calculated Z and X axes, calculate the actual "up" (Y) axis that's aligned with the initial up, but creates an orthogonal coordinate space.
That in turn gets turned into a matrix, which ends up being the matrix you use to rotate the object.

Math is Cool!

I live in an unsupported country - when/how can I submit games?

The ZMan — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 19:02:07 GMT

Where can I submit games from?
Countries you can submit from http://creators.xna.com/en-US/faq#anchor_1_59
(Currently Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Germany, Japan, United Kingdom, and the United States)

Where can people buy XBox Live Indie Games/What regions can I submit to?
Countries you can submit games to http://creators.xna.com/en-US/faq#anchor_1_58
(Currently U.S., Canada, United Kingdom, France, Italy, Germany, Japan, Sweden, Singapore and Spain)

What languages are supported?
You can localise your games into English, French, Spanish (of Spain), Italian, German and Japanese. It is NOT mandatory to translate when you release to a region though it may help sales. Note that it will also likely slow your review. See Language Review issues

When will {my country} be supported?
There are currently no additional countries announced - please don't keep asking in the forums it doesn't change anything. Watch the XNA blog and news page.
If your country does not support Xbox Live then its not going to happen any time soon. Sorry.

Can I work around the system?
No.
Many folk ask what is needed to work around the system? An address? A bank account? Tax ID?
We don't know for sure and if we did we wouldn't be posting in in here - its unsupported and Pheel says "don't think of doing it because then we might have to ban you"
The only supported 'workarounds' are

Move to one of the supported countries and fulfil the financial and tax requirements for that country.
If you work on a team and one team member lives in valid country then they can submit - its up to you to work out how to share profits and don't forget the person who submits deals with the taxes.

Anything else you do is at your own risk, unsupported by Microsoft and may have consequences for your account and your game...

Why is it not available in {my country}?
We don't know. Microsoft don't say why. It may be due to financial, legal or just simply not enough time. Remember that its a complex process that involves game ratings, international money transfers and taxation and therefore lawyers, accountants and even possibly politicians so you can image the trouble that causes!

How to make sure your graphics card is XNA ready

Jim Perry — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 08:46:00 GMT

XNA Game Studio (Express) 1.0, 1.0 Refresh and 2.0 require a DirectX 9 graphics card capable of Shader Model 1.1. In addition many of the creators club samples and starter kits will require a Shader Model 2.0 capable card.

XNA Wiki has a list of cards that work and do not work.

If your card is not on that list then there are many places to check the capabilities of your card:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_ATI_Graphics_Processing_Units
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_NVIDIA_Graphics_Processing_Units

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixel_shader

Make sure the card supports at least DirectX 9 and shader model 1.1. If your card isn't on the list, chances are you need to get a new one, but a quick Google should be able to verify this.

If you are prepared to run a 3rd party application (Microsoft does NOT recommend or verify the safety of this application) then someone has written an application to check several things including card compatibility. XNA Requirements checker.

When is Free Torque Game Builder/TorqueX availalbe with Creators Club

ScarletDeath31 — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 15:46:26 GMT

Where do we get our Free TorqueGB liscences????

I'm paying for creators club and i wanna use it for free i just don't know where to get our free liscence at...!!!

Are there any Physics Engines for use with XNA GS?

The ZMan — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 18:02:53 GMT

If you require code that will run on Xbox 360 or Zune then you need a 100% managed engine.

Most of these are free, or are free wrappers around commercial products. You should look at each one and determine pricing and licensing.

Farseer - 2d only. Source and Silverlight port available
JigLibX - Source available, port of C++ JigLib, formerly JiggleX
Bullet
- BulletX: By XnaDevRu: Supports Xbox360 as well as windows. Updated recently (dec 21 2007).
- XBAP: By Chris Cavanagh, buildt on BulletX above.
Newton
Oops! 3D Physics Framework
Bepu physics - commercial but free for non commercial use
Jello Physics - soft body physics. Used in JelloCar and other fun Walaber games.
Physics2D.Net - see demo video

If you are only targetting windows then you can use any of the commercial, or open source engines. Some have managed wrappers or you may need to roll your own

PhysX
- MS Robotics Studio has a wrapper but check the license.
- http://code.google.com/p/physxdotnet/
ODE (Open Dyamics Engine)
- XPA (XNA Physics lib): XnaDevRu has a nice wrapper for, but it's majorly outdated and ODE is rumored to be bad/unstable. There's very little information about it, but the API is pretty friendly. Pretty easy to get up and running with simple collisions (even I made it!), but its hard to find what you need when problems occur, and its updated very slowly.
Newton Game Dynamics
- [link appears to have died] Newton physics: Was written in 8-10 hours so I guess its quality reflects that.

Other Lists
XNAWiki Physics Engine list

Ziggyware Physics links

GamerTag, Live account, forum account Q&A

The ZMan — Wed, 02 May 2007 13:35:37 GMT

Where can I edit my forum account settings?
Click your name in the gamer card in the top right hand corner http://forums.xna.com/User/EditProfile.aspx

Where can I edit my gamertag settings?
http://live.xbox.com/en-US/profile/profile.aspx

Where can I edit my Live ID settings including email?
http://account.live.com/

How can I switch my gamertag to a different Live ID?
See http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/945419?sd=xbox

If you are not using an @hotmail.com or @msn.com account, then you may change your "primary email address" associated with the Live ID. Please keep in mind that once a Live ID is associated with an @hotmail.com or @msn.com address, that association is permanent and unchangeable.

How can I change the name that appears in the forums?
http://forums.xna.com/thread/7647.aspx - but your gamer tag stays the same.

Creators club doesn't know I'm a paying member?
Log out of your Xbox Live account on this site, xbox.com and on your xbox. When you log back in it should recognise your status. If you have problems then see this FAQ http://forums.xna.com/thread/33358.aspx

[if you have similar questions, reply to this thread and the answers will be rolled up into this post]

What Game Engines are available for XNA Game Studio?

The ZMan — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 22:14:56 GMT

Commercial

~~Blade3d - v1.0 Released November 2008.~~ Died July 2009
Visual3d.net - always seems to be in beta.
TorqueX - 1.0 was 2d only. 2.0 release adds 3d. TorqueX Game Builder available (for free for Creators club members) to help build 2D games from a drag and drop UI.
SunBurn (Rendering engine). There is a discount for Premium members.

Free/Open Source

Flat Red Ball - 2.5d game engine thats been around since the Managed DirectX days. Very well updated and supported.
Ox - a 3d version of the ButterMilk 2d engine
QuickStart 3D Game Engine - now at v0.2 (http://forums.xna.com/forums/t/38853.aspx)
X-Engine: 3D Graphics and Physics Engine for XNA
BetaCell
Thrust - part engine part framework
The Ship Game and the Robot Game starter kits contain enough code to make a decent 3d engine though they are not documented as such.
EGGEngine

Specialist/Niche/Partial engines

Mercury Particle Engine (Particle rendering only)

Physics Engines
See the Physics Engines FAQ

Other lists:
Ziggyware XNA Game Engines

If you have any more or want to add some details please reply to this thread. No general discussion in the FAQ forum though...

Can I update or patch my game on Community Games?

The ZMan — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 17:32:04 GMT

Technically it is possible. Upload a new binary and go through peer review again and from that point on everyone will download the new version of you game. The exisiting game will stay on the Xbox until the new one is peer reviewed.

However there are some issues:

Microsoft want this process to be used for bug fixes only - see http://forums.xna.com/forums/p/19716/102917.aspx#102917 - its not intended to be used for adding game features, downloadable or episodic content. At GameFest 2008 it was stated that at Approval your game should be "complete" and that if you have a new version you should release it as a new game e.g. Halo and Halo 2
Only new downloads will get the update: *** Game Studio 3.1 - date unannounced - will have update notification included ****
1. There is no auto update implemented with XNA games
2. There is no way for you to contact the users who have purchased your game to tell them to download it*
Your update will take at least 9 days to hit the service. There is a 7 day limit on resubmissions and a 48 hour minimum review time. So this is not a good way to fix zero day type bugs. If someone finds a crash in your game its probably better to pull the game and fix it.
Updates often take longer to pass because reviewers are bored of seeing them. Unless you have a good following, or your game is great fun you might take a long longer than 9 days.
Your game will no longer jump to the top of new releases with an update. You get one shot at that list when the game is originally released.

Right now though there is no defined consequence for ignoring the Microsoft request and its not beign enforced. Several games have added features either with or without bug fixes.

* Its been speculated that games which use networking could communicate their version with each other and that older versions of the game could, if written correctly, notify the user that a new version is available. This is all code for you to write and test though.

How to Ask A Question so that it's not Ignored or Deleted

David Weller — Sat, 03 Mar 2007 10:23:52 GMT

Here are a few suggestions that make it sure you get the best answer to your question as quickly as possible:

Search for your question on the forums first -- it's likely someone may have already answered your question, and you won't have to waste time waiting for it to be answered again. In addition, moderators may delete questions that have already been asked in order to keep the "noise" down on the forums.
Post in the correct forum -- since the experts in various subject matters tend to stick to the set of forums that focus on those topics, a question about XACT problems posted in the Game Studio Express forum will likely take a lot longer to be answered than the same question in the Audio/XACT forum.
Make sure your title summarizes the specific problem you have -- since we try to answer the maximum number of questions we can with our time, we often skim through question subjects to quickly find the ones that we know the answers to. A question with a title of "Urgent! Help needed!" is not as likely to get answered as a question with a title of "How do I rotate a mesh?". A more specific, detailed title is far more likely to get a response than a general one.
Give details about your problem -- rather than "When I launch the game I get an exception, please help", provide the exception type, message, and call stack. If possible provide a succinct code snippet that demonstrates the problem. In addition, be sure to tell people what operating system you're using, what graphics hardware you have, and what version of software you are using. This lets us reproduce the problem on our end, and allows us to come up with an answer where just a general question may not have had enough details. Having this information means we can answer your question more quickly, without having to ask you for these details and wait for your response.
Report bugs through the Feedback link, instead of on the forums -- this allows us to assign a bug in our tracking system and and get them assigned to the correct person. However, if you're not sure something is a bug, feel free to discuss it on the forums.
Be friendly. Don't post questions that appear to have a demanding or urgent tone to the words. Remember, your emergency or frustration isn't likely to be shared by others.

Language Review 'issues' (Descriptions vs. Binaries)

The ZMan — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 22:27:46 GMT

[Updated once again because our previous official explanation was slightly wrong!]

Games in review have 2 sets of languages associated with them:

Binary language. This is set by the developer checking that language.
Description language. This is set by entering a description in that language.

When the game is reviewed the languages are checked off as follows:

Binary language is checked off by reviewers choosing the language checkbox at the end of the review
Description language is checked off automatically if you have that language set in your profile

For a game to pass it must have enough languages checked off in both description AND binary reviews. Reviewers do not have to be multi-lingual each reviewers 'votes' count towards the language tally even if they only speak one. There is a minimum number required for each language a game uses to pass.

Because the description language automatically uses the languages in your profile it is VERY important that you do NOT lie here. You must be a native or fluent speaker otherwise you may be implicitly passing games in languages you don't speak. This will be seen as gaming the system which has consequences. So if you added another language to be able to download more games please make sure you change it back before you review.

It is INCORRECT to fail a game because the languages used for the binary and description do not match. Its a valid scenario for a description to be localised and it doesn't imply the game must also be translated. Its also valid, though not recommended, to have more languages in a binary than in the description. The review system does cope with these scenarios.

Valid language fail reasons include:

Bad translations - e.g. using automated processes - in the binary or the description. Warn but be lenient on small spelling, translation or punctuation issues.
Using languages not on the approved list (currently English, French, Spanish, Italian, German and Japanese) - since the review process cannot validate these the game should not be in the system
Not declaring ALL languages used. This is seen as gaming the system as you are avoiding getting the game reviewed by the correct speakers.
(Currently under review for now I suggest not reviewing games with mixed language)Mixing languages in the description or the binary. A reviewer must be able to honestly say they reviewed a language - if the language is mixed then they cannot do that. The only exception would be a foreign word commonly used in that language that ALL of the reviewers in that language would understand. So if you review a game and see a word that you don't understand anywhere then its a fail.

Most reviewers appear to be using the "Inappropriate for Xbox Live" checkbox for these fail reasons. In order for multiple fails to be captured correctly by the review system, it's recommended that everyone that fails for a valid language issue use this checkbox.

Xbox LIVE Community Games FAQ

David Weller — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 14:38:17 GMT

Starting with the beta launch of the Xbox LIVE Community Games service later this spring, subscribers of the XNA Creators Club will be able to submit their own game creations for self-distribution through to Xbox LIVE Marketplace via the http://creators.xna.com website. A community of their subscriber peers will be given a chance to download, play and review the game and its content for appropriateness and conformance to the service’s TOS. Should it pass, the game will then be added to the global games catalog on Xbox LIVE Marketplace and available to gamers worldwide connected to Xbox LIVE.

Q: Do I need an XNA Creators Club subscription to make games now?
A: No, but if you want to make the game available on the Xbox LIVE Community Games area, or peer review submitted games, you must be a subscriber. [*Note that you still need a creators club subscription to deploy games to an xbox 360 just like you always did]

Q: I don’t see the XNA Creators Club subscription service offered on Xbox Marketplace, why?
A: If you don’t see the XNA Creators Club subscription service, it’s probably because you live in a country that doesn’t currently offer that service, even if you have access to Xbox LIVE. The XNA Creators Club subscription service is being rolled out to various countries on different timetables.

Q: I don’t own an Xbox, or live in a country that doesn’t have Xbox LIVE, how can I get an XNA Creators Club subscription?
A: At this time, it is not possible to get an XNA Creators Club subscription without access to an Xbox connected to Xbox LIVE. We understand this is an inconvenience for some of you, and are working to resolve the issue. Please monitor http://creators.xna.com announcements for more details when we post them.

Q: Why does my game have to be peer-reviewed? Why can’t I just post it?
A: Peer reviewers are there to help creators write better games, and also to protect game players from experiencing highly offensive or malfunctioning games. Peer reviewers will reject your game if:

- You have prohibited content in the game, not allowed on Xbox Live services
- You misrepresent what’s in the game play or in the promotional materials for the game
- The promotional content for your game ( banner, title) is not appropriate for all ages on Xbox Live marketplace
- The game crashes, has too many bugs or is otherwise technically defective

Q: What happens if somebody sneaks something through in a game?
A: Microsoft reserves the right to reactively take down a game without prior notification, and enables anybody to report objectionable content in a game. In addition, creators that willfully submit games with misleading content indicators can have a series of punitive actions taken, including loss of subscriptions and removal from the site. Microsoft will also comply with all legal requests where required by law.

Q: How complex does the game have to be?
A: There are no complexity requirements before the game is submitted, but games can be rated by the community for playability, “fun factor”, etc.

Q: So I can make clones of games already on Xbox LIVE Arcade or somewhere else?
A: Not any more than you can make copies of Halo 3. When you submit a game you agree that you own all the rights to the materials in your game. If you don’t, then don’t submit the game.

Q: Does this mean Xbox LIVE Arcade is going away?
A: No. The design and goal for the Xbox LIVE Community Games is to provide a distribution channel for enthusiasts to share homebrew creations with their peers and friends. Some games may “graduate” to a full Arcade contract as the Dream Build Play game winners have done, but the idea is to offer a different venue for game creativity.

Q: Can I sell my game on Xbox LIVE Community Games? What is the revenue split?
A: We are still finalizing the business models and revenue sharing details of Xbox LIVE Community Games at this time. More information will be available closer to the retail consumer launch this holiday.

Q: Who owns the IP rights to the game I create? Can I distribute my game on non-Microsoft services?
A: You own the IP rights to your game. However, we may provide incentives for exclusive distribution on Microsoft services.

Q: How do I set the ESRB rating for my community game?
A: A: Xbox LIVE Community Games are not rated by the ESRB; however, they are reviewed by XNA Creators Club members and will have a game classification before appearing on Xbox LIVE Marketplace.

Q: Will parental controls affect access to my community game?
A: Yes. All community games are considered unrated which is the highest level of restriction on the Xbox 360 console. For consoles with parental controls activated, community games will be inaccessible.

Q: Will there be a size limit to games submitted to the Xbox LIVE Community service?
A: Yes. According to Stephen Styrchak in this thread, games will have a limit though this limit has not been announced. This will be enforced during submission to the service. Shawn believes it to be 150Mb in the compressed .ccgame format.

What functionality is available in the 360 version of the .NET Compact Framework

Jim Perry — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 14:31:18 GMT

Bookmark this page and enjoy.

Posting code to the forums

The ZMan — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 04:32:09 GMT

Yes there is an insert code button in the editor however you may notice that if you paste in 300 lines of code, or code with long lines that readers will have to scroll the little scrollbars to read it well.

In general we prefer only snippets of code in the forums - the FAQ suggests 20 lines maximum but its really up to you. You will probably find that people can read, and therefore understand and therefore respond to your code better if you use a pastebin for the larger snippets.

Suggested locations:

http://www.rafb.net/paste/
http://pastebin.com/
http://xna.multigan.com/pastebin
http://pastebin.ca
http://xna.pastebin.ca

What are the known XBox Performance Issues

The ZMan — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 20:47:49 GMT

There are a few reasons why your code may run slower on the Xbox. This FAQ covers the background and possible workarounds. You should ALWAYS profile your code before you attempt to determine or even worry about performance issues.

Some blog posts http://blogs.msdn.com/netcfteam/archive/2006/12/22/managed-code-performance-on-xbox-360-for-the-xna-framework-1-0.aspx and http://blogs.msdn.com/netcfteam/archive/2006/12/22/managed-code-performance-on-xbox-360-for-xna-part-2-gc-and-tools.aspx give a good summary

Floating Point is slower

The XNA Framework on Xbox uses the Compact CLR (common language runtime) to run your compiled IL code. The Compact CLR is optimized for devices like PDAs and cell phones, where small size is more important than high performance. As such, the implementation of the Compact CLR on the Xbox does not optimize floating point code at all. It also doesn't do things like inlining small functions (such as Vector3.CrossProduct or even just Vector2.operator+). Even worse, it passes all arguments on the stack, not in registers, which means that even though the PPC has lots of FP registers, you get stack spill for each function you call (if you pass by ref, it's still on the stack, it just doesn't unnecessarily go into registers).

To add insult to injury, the PowerPC cores in the Xbox are rather unsophisticated from a microarchitecture point of view. They are in-order, which means that one instruction cannot retire (or even issue, to some extent) until the previous instruction has retired. This means that the entire pipeline stalls when you miss the cache. This is, by the way, why they made the CPUs hyper-threaded: when one thread is stalled waiting for memory, the other thread gets scheduled and hopefully has gotten whatever memory it was waiting for filled at that point. The CLR JIT (just-in-time) compiler just emits "naive" code that performs the operations of the IL in the managed assemblies, but does pretty much nothing to try to optimize the code stream to re-order data hazards etc, so it's not at all as efficient as highly optimized C++ code would be even under the same restrictions.

Finally, the Xbox has a very nice very wide SIMD floating point unit (think AltiVec or SSE). Unfortunately, the Compact CLR doesn't know anything about how to use that. It may be that some functions (like Vector3.Transform()) are coded by the XNA team to be implemented using all the native niceness, but anything you write on your own won't.

Workarounds:

Garbage Collection is different

The GC on the Xbox is not generational. So when a GC occurs ALL objects on the heap will be scanned to determine if they are live or not.

Workarounds:

Avoid creating garbage
Keep your heap small and simple so garbage collections will be fast

More detailed info here.

The JIT Compiler does not optimize code as well

Small routines are not inlined.

Workarounds:

Inline yourself IF profiling shows that this is critical path. Inlining prematurly will make your code a maintenance nightmare

Useful XNA Framework tips

Bill Reiss — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 10:53:04 GMT

Not sure if this is what you're looking for, but here's a quick tip:

In the SpriteBatch.Draw calls that take an origin vector, the origin is specified in source resolution, so no matter how the sprite is scaled, the origin will remain the same. This caused me all sorts of trouble but once I got used to it, it actually makes the code much simpler when scaling to multiple resolutions.

Legal Advice in the forums and peer review

The ZMan — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 16:34:41 GMT

Why do Microsoft not allow legal advice in these forums?

They do not want any liability
There are few/no lawyers in here giving out advice
Armchair lawyers are worth exactly what you pay for them
Most of the advice would be wrong or unwise

What about in peer review, I'm expected to look for IP violations?
For peer reviews you are asked to determine IP violations which some have pointed out is a legal opinion. Here's how to deal with it:

Obvious ripped graphics and sound, emulators running copies of games, trademarked game names - simple fail unless they claim permission.
Microsoft have not granted anyone permission to use the Xbox, Xbox Live, XNA, Xbox Live Community games logos or graphics to anyone. If you see that in a game, video or screen shot then its an insta-fail. The same goes for the little orange creatures ("Nogs") on the XNA site. The XNA logo pack does NOT grant you permission to use them in game.
Anything that the developer claims is licensed, used with permission or fair use in their notes, credits or forum posts then ignore. Let the abuse system, the IP owner and the legal system worry about it. If they claim a license/permission or fair use and they don't have one then they will get everything they deserve. Of course there's limits here... if someone claims permission to use Pacman then we expect more people laughing than passing.
Uploading unmodified starter kits or other educational content without significant modification see http://forums.xna.com/forums/t/30338.aspx (what does 'significant' mean? Well if a layman were to look at he games side by side and say 'looks the same to me' then you are probably in iffy territory. We have had games that are art reskins and they have passed so that is one way to be considered significant)
Similar graphics/sound games that sound like or contain trademarked names - recommend a change and/or talk to a lawyer but not a fail unless you are a lawyer
Anything else? Post a question to the game forum - if the developer ignores the question and doesn't clarify a license then fail it until they do.

Other legal notes....
Asking a legal question and then saying "I'm not asking a legal question" just makes you look foolish and doesn't change what you are doing.

The only legal advice you can give in these forums is "talk to a lawyer" ;-)

If you want to help more then link to this post and let the mods lock the thread.

If you want legal advice then go and see a lawyer.
If you can't afford a lawyer then the thing you want to protect can't be worth all that much*
If you want to look up Microsoft trademarks then look here
If you want to look up other US trademarks then look here
Yes we will reject Community Games if we see a trademark we can find on one of those lists
No Microsoft have not given anyone permission to use the XNA logos
Really, go and see a lawyer
"I read it on wikipedia" may not get you much more than a big laugh in a courtroom
This is a blog by a real lawyer http://legalplay.typepad.com/blog/ good advice there
This is another one http://www.gameattorney.com/blog/ he writes for gamasutra too http://gameattorney.com/blog/?p=54
We mean it... save up your money and go and talk to a lawyer.

Can you clarify a EULA for me?
No because that would be legal advice..Here's some advice from some wise men of the forums. Jon and Shawn on 'EULA clarifications':

Personal opinion: contracts and EULAs are written in English, and are usually reasonably easy to understand. At least in my experience, when people have questions about such things, that is usually because they are wanting to stretch some rule or other....These legal questions only come up because they are skating close to the edge. People who choose not to push the boundaries generally don't run into such grey areas where the exact interpretation of a wording can be important. So, you really have three options:

Play it safe and don't push boundaries

If you choose to push boundaries, be aware that you are taking a risk by doing so

If you are uncomfortable with that risk, hire a lawyer to advise you about it

If Microsoft had anything more to say to clarify the EULA, they would put that straight into the EULA, because it (like any US legal document) is intended to be the full and whole agreement. Anything that's not written into it is not part of the agreement. That's just how it works.

* [Some folks didn't like me saying their game isn't worth much - here's what I mean]
Lets assume your game took you 400 hours to make (that's VERY fast!). Lets assume that even though you worked in your spare time that gives you a value of $10 an hour. Lets say you expect to sell 1000 copies at $2.50 and 70% royalty on community games. That's $4000 + $1750 = $5750. Is it worth spending a few hundred dollars on a lawyer to make sure that calling your game "Pacman Vs Pong" is OK? Is is worth the stress when you get the lawyers letter from Atari and Namco? Is it worth thousands of dollars of legal fees? That's what I mean by "Can't be worth all that much". Everything has a value - what would you spend to protect it?

Zune Development Tips, Tricks and FAQ's

Michael Klucher — Wed, 07 May 2008 11:01:52 GMT

Below are some of the common issues that you may run into developing for Zune and the best way to try and fix the issue. This is meant to be a living FAQ so it will grow over time. Please make sure that you have taken a look at the XNA Game Studio 3.0 Readme http://creators.xna.com/XNA3CTP/readme_xna.htm which answers many questions.

How do I quit a Zune game?

Holding just the back button for a few seconds anytime while inside a Zune Game will exit the game, and reset the Zune.

I can't connect to the Zune with XNA Game Studio 3.0 CTP.

First, Make sure that you are running the Zune 2.5 Firmware on your device by going to settings | about | zune. If you are running 2.5 try rebooting the Zune by holding up and back at the same time for about two seconds. If this fails to work try rebooting your machine.

FAQ Forum Index

CDarklock — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 21:05:49 GMT

There are a lot of FAQs on the XNA Creators' Club forums, starting with the Main Creators' Club Online FAQ and extending across a number of great tips, tricks, and resources contributed by the community. To make life easier for the new member, I've divided the many FAQs up into a few broad categories.

Using the Forum

Help! I'm new! (George Clingerman)
Improved XNA Creators Club Online website FAQ (David Weller)
How do I post an image in the forum? (The ZMan)
Access Denied Downloading Premium Content (Nick Gravelyn)
Non-English posts and forums (The ZMan)
Posting code to the forums (The ZMan)
FAQ: How to make an FAQ (The ZMan)
GamerTag, Live account, forum account Q&A (The ZMan)
How to use your real name in the forums (Shawn Hargreaves)
HOWTO: Advanced forum use and Q&A (David Weller)
Pastebins that Support C# highlighting! (TJ Hollis)
Did your post get deleted or locked? Here's why (David Weller)
How to Ask A Question so that it's not Ignored or Deleted (David Weller)

General XNA Game Studio Information

How do I submit a bug or feature request for XNA Game Studio Or XNA.com (Kluch)
When will XNA Game Studio Express support {my favourite feature} (The ZMan)
Game Studio (Express) v1/2/3 and Visual Studio 2005/2008 compatibility (The ZMan)
Game Studio 3.0 CTP/Zune Game Development FAQ (David Weller)
XNA Game Studio v3.0 FAQ (The ZMan)
XNA Game Studio v 2.0 FAQ (The ZMan)
What is the status of VS2008/VC#2008 support for Game Studio (Express) (The ZMan)
What is/When can I get 'XNA Professional' (The ZMan)
Installing Game Studio Express (The ZMan)
Can I use Game Studio with VB.Net (or other languages) (The ZMan)
How to make sure your graphics card is XNA ready (Jim Perry)
When is Free Torque Game Builder/TorqueX availalbe with Creators Club (ScarletDeath31)
XNA Framework and networking/LiveArcade/Games For Windows Live ? (The ZMan)

XNA Game Development Support

What GUI systems are there for the XNA framework? (The ZMan)
What Game Engines are available for XNA Game Studio? (The ZMan)
Are there any Physics Engines for use with XNA GS? (The ZMan)
3rd party content importers & processors (Jim W)
Free Software for development (Camp ELM)
Where can I find community tutorials and information for XNA GS (The ZMan)
Where can I get support for the various XNA Framework books? (Jim Perry)
Where can I get free/cheap fonts? (The ZMan)

XNA Errors and Troubleshooting

How can I make an installer to install my XNA Framework game? (The ZMan)
What do I need to make XNA Framework games run on other computers? (The ZMan)
How To Solve "<My Game> has had an error and needed to close. Send an error report." (Nick Gravelyn)
What to do: "original source is necessary" error during XNA Game Studio 2.0 Install (Emily)
Why does my sound cut out before it is finished (The ZMan)
Why does my 3d rendering go wrong when I use SpriteBatch (Jim Perry)

General Game Development

How do I learn to program? (Stephen Styrchak)
Zune Development Tips, Tricks and FAQ's (Kluch)
Pointing an object towards a given point, and other cool game math! (jwatte)
C# FAQ: Value Types vs Reference Types (Nick Gravelyn)
Support for Managed DirectX/Native DirectX/Direct Draw? (The ZMan)
Running XNA framework in a windows form control (The ZMan)
Useful XNA Framework tips (Bill Reiss)
Useful Visual Studio Shortcuts (DM The Boss)
What are the recommended books and sites for learning C#? (George Clingerman)

Creators' Club, Community Games, and Dream-Build-Play

Xbox LIVE Community Games FAQ (David Weller)
Dream Build Play 2.0 Warmup - Silicon Minds FAQ (David Weller)
Creators Club Cost, Purchasing and Trial vs Full/Premium FAQ (The ZMan)
Does the Game Studio 2.0 EULA say I can't make a game with text chat? (David Weller)
What does 'Holiday XX' mean? (The ZMan)
How can I get Premium Content without an Xbox? (The ZMan)
Where can I find or upload XNA games? (SwampThingTom)
How can I get my XNA GS game on Xbox Live Arcade (The ZMan)

What GUI systems are there for the XNA framework?

The ZMan — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 03:18:12 GMT

Unlike Windows Forms there are no built in UI components in the XNA framework. There are several solutions to this:

Most engines have UI elements in them so check those out: What XNA based game engines exist?
If you are looking for windows onlye editor type functionality then consider using XNA in a windows form and using standard windows GUI.
Most games don't really need rich GUI functionality. A few textures, some spritefonts and a bit of code is all you need for menus and scores.

But if you insist on a full GUI package then here are some 3rd party solutions.

Ok fellow XNA enthusiasts... you know what to do now... search out and reply to this thread with all the GUI's you know of and I will update this FAQ with them.