How to include stuff in Irrlicht- Just got compiler working

[carroll6]

I just got the Visual Studio working.. must have something wrong.. it complied very file in the source folder!

Well.. now what? I got level edtiors, L3DT.. got the idea of Heightmaps with NeoAxis.

Now what do I do? How do I include the files I make with these programs into a program in Irrlicht? I still do not know why the Visual C++ editor compiled EVERY piece of Irrlicht code.. I am still sort of confused with the Compiler.

I am shakey with it..and just guessed at everything.. I keep trying to start a new project to get it right, but the same old one comes up.. and I want to fix it so it don't include every piece of source code in the Irrlicht src folder!

I am using VC++ 2010, which uses "property sheets" so I can't follow along with the tutorials all the way. So I got it to compile.. now how do I hack the files to do things? How do I make a level, then put things in the level? Tried the Eclipse..but ran into issues where Eclipse couldnt find things. So went back to VC++.

I keep getting discouraged, but keep coming back to Irrlicht. I am going to have to learn to code.. there is no getting around it. Or just give up.

Hmm.. now I am looking at the DOCS.. "How to load a Quake Map". Well .. if anyone would be generous enough to help me get the VC compiler set up.. I would appreciate it. I guess it's a great compiler..but it's so complicated, with so many switches and dials.. It's hard to understand.

"Hello World" doesn't work.. it opens quickly then disappears. I am trying to resetup the compiler now..but I am shaky as to what I am doing.

I will build it.. where does my executable go? It's not in the "Biffy" folder where put it? In Eclipse it came up with a Irrlicht.dll, but I can't find one in VC. I will also hit "compile".. and still no executable. I am confused.

[serengeor]

Have you ever (ever ever) programmed before? No? Grab a book that explains how to programm with c++, Some beginner books also talk about setting up VC++ IDE. Though it should work similar on most IDEs

[Radikalizm]

I keep getting discouraged, but keep coming back to Irrlicht. I am going to have to learn to code.. there is no getting around it. Or just give up.

Well of course you'll need to be able to program to create something with irrlicht, irrlicht is a rendering library, not a game creation program like gamemaker or anything like that
Get familiar with C++, then try again

[carroll6]

Man.. it was the Irrlicht.DLL. In another post intrivix found the solution.. I put the Irrlicht.dll from the Win32-Visual studio into my project folder..just for good measure I put it in windows/system32 also!

WHEW.. I have been hacking at it all night. NOW the examples run! Execpt a couple of them that are missing the proper mesh.

I searched and searched the Google with it .. many, MANY people have these same problems.

[Adler1337]

WHEW.. I have been hacking at it all night. NOW the examples run! Execpt a couple of them that are missing the proper mesh.

I searched and searched the Google with it .. many, MANY people have these same problems.

Come on now, this one's pretty obvious.

[carroll6]

I got to start somewhere. What can I say? It is, what it is. Got the compiler working, now I am getting these.. "PBS errors".. Hello World won't compile. Something like thise.. symbol errors. No wait.. "PDB" errors..so I gotta look that up. It also can't find the mesh.

It's that compiler. I gotta learn to use it. It is like making a house out of toothpicks- with no glue. The thing with the compiler is that there are so MANY choices. But I got it to work, now I am looking at the Code Blocks compiler. Maybe that would be simpler for me.

I am dumb, but I am determined. Even if I could afford UNITY, I will still have to learn code. So I got to learn, and that is that.

[RageD]

I got to start somewhere. What can I say?

Starting with game development is not easy (nor recommended); I do not mean to flame nor discourage, but your efforts may be better spent in easier bits of code understanding how things work.

If you do not have a full understanding of concepts such as pointers, references, classes, OOP and all it entails (IEP - Inheritance, Encapsulation, Polymorphism), and basic memory management, it will be nearly impossible to understand what is going on. All of this on top of some sort of decent math/physics understanding - you're biting off a lot to chew (because even with the math/physics you need to be able to apply it to programming)

I remember when I tried to "learn by game programming" and it simply never worked. In fact, like you, I frequently became discouraged and it hindered my ability to learn C++. In any case, I would never want to stifle anyone's desire to learn, so I (as I'm sure the rest of the users on this forum) will try to help you the best we can; just some things to consider and be weary about. Next time you get discouraged, don't walk away from learning the language; maybe, instead, walk away from Irrlicht for a little bit and work on programming other items.

Anyway, without seeing the exact error you are getting, it's hard to tell what's wrong. If you're getting undefined reference errors (very common among new users), make sure to include this at the beginning of your main file

Code: Select all

#pragma comment(lib, "../PATH/TO/Irrlicht.lib")

Where you obviously replace the path. Good luck

-RageD

[carroll6]

I am going through some walkthroughs now.. about C now.. how C works. I had electronics schools way back in the USN in '75. I also went to a year long computer programming course, also very, VERY dated. We had Commodore PETS.

You are right! Even 3D Gamestudio, even FPSC you have to use code. FPSC is not so bad by the way, the exception is the huge files it generates. 1GB for a one room scene.

NeoAxis has some similarities to FPSC. SOME. It's easy to get started with the world editor.. well, not that easy. The RAW format it uses cannot be output by GIMP. So it's harder to use GIMP for a heightmap editor. There are many, many details to learn, even if there were no programming at all.

There are many details to learn. I am sure, very sure, I am not saying something you already know. Thanks for the reply.

It's like Willy Nelson and that beat up guitar with a hole knocked in it.. a old classic guitar. Keith Richards with one string missing from his guitar.

[RageD]

Just a note, C++ (Irrlicht's primary language) is different than C. They are similar, but there are many different conventions (i.e. C struct vs. C++ class/struct, malloc/free vs. new/delete, etc.); just something to watch for when you're looking into tutorials!

It's rather overwhelming to learn from a book (there really are a lot of things to go through), so just practice a lot and you'll have it in no time. I find that I learn most when diving into a project of appropriate challenge-level - this way you know what to look for (i.e. you could never google multiple inheritance to find help if you are not aware of inheritance) plus you develop a style and a manner of doing things along the way!

-RageD

[carroll6]

I got most of the examples to run by just clicking the "Code Blocks" icon in the Samples folders. VC++ 2010 is still giving me a hard time.. but it's a learning experience, and I got to learn sometime! I put IrrKlang.dll into the System 32 directories. That does not seem to bother CodeBlocks. The Quake3 Explorer is still giving errors in Codeblocks, and VC++ 2010

I also got 3D gamestudio A8. the LiteC seems easier.

What I want to DO.. is write a game that is like a BigFish hidden object game, with improvements. A improvement on puzzle games, that has activity, and not so many silly puzzles. I am writing the story for it now. A spooky, abandoned house, where a bum is staying, then he begins seeing these visions. A murder mystery, that he discovers.

I hate the adventure games where you ALWAYS have to find a key to a door....then go through this silly procedure to find it. By then the spooky graphics and music- the feeling is lost, the sense of adventure and drama.

I am having more luck with CodeBlocks- but this is just luck. Quake3 Explorer comes up with numreous errors .. in "void CQuake3 event handler"... VC++ does not like it either. This of course, does not say ANYTHING about these compilers.. just my lack of understanding.

My personal verdict: Code Blocks is easier for a noob. ALL of the examples run so far, except for Quake3 Explorer. I also looked around and found links for C++, and C. Funny- they say you have to learn C first before you can understand C++. I had Basic, Assembler and Cobol back in the day.

[Reiko]

I guess it does make it easier. Stuff like STL containers and things that mother you like that, aren't in C. In other words, it's better for you to learn to do things the hard way first so that you understand whats going on behind the scenes, then afterward you can do things the easy way and skip it. If you dont really understand how things like pointers and such works, sometimes it can be hard to debug your programs since the behaviour youre seeing wouldn't make sense to you.

That's how I learned anyways, with C first. Well not that I had a choice, it was just how things went at university. I did a class on C++ later out of interest, didn't really care much about it and failed it lol. Then a couple years ago I decided I wanted to get into 3d stuff, cause I had this game idea at the time which so far was 2d, and I thought it would be easier using 3d models and rotating them than having to draw (or get someone to draw) a dozen sprites of one thing in different positions. And so I figured the best thing to do at the time would be to learn C++ so I learned it in my own time. Suffice to say nothing ever came of that game idea but yeah.

But added to that, C code works in C++ (mostly, I think I had issues with void pointers before, can't really remember), so chances are you'll learn C while learning C++ anyway.

All things aside, I've never used Code Blocks but it shouldn't be hard to get the examples to compile in VC++. They should be made to just compile out of the box, so there must just be that one piece missing. Unfortunately we can't really help much unless you paste us the errors you are getting.

[carroll6]

I too had trouble in these classes..so dry and boring. Now I am working with the Quake3map in the examples file. I want to try to load a different map, but can't find out where it is gettnig the map from. Wait..duh.. there it is.. said right where to get it. .the "media" folder.

[serengeor]

What I want to DO.. is write a game that is like a BigFish hidden object game, with improvements. A improvement on puzzle games, that has activity, and not so many silly puzzles. I am writing the story for it now. A spooky, abandoned house, where a bum is staying, then he begins seeing these visions. A murder mystery, that he discovers.

Hold your horses down.. You need to be able to understand the language you are using, before you can write a good application/game.
Try doing some smaller scale games/apps before to see in what stuff you just stepped in

[carroll6]

Right now, I am trying to get a quake3 map to load.. I get errors on the "Quake Shader" Lesson 16. I tried one map that I got, and just renamed the zip to "pk3".. then extracted the bsp.. but Irrlicht game me a grey blank screen. (using source code from Quake3map in the examples folder..lesson 02).

Then I googled and looked some things others were doing with Quake3. (I have never even played Quake 3, just "Doom".). The only games I play are Flash games, Hidden Objects (HOGS), and Blitzkrieg, and the Total War Series.

The HOGS are underestimated. Big Fish games seems to quite well financially. Women and totally clueless computer noobs like these games. The graphics are gorgeous. The plots are spooky, but they turn into well, hidden object games, and the gist of the adventure is lost as you click all sorts of stuff.