Direct3D for WIndows Mobile 5

mdsrlz · Post by **mdsrlz** » Wed Aug 23, 2006 11:26 pm

Hi!

As a newbie (

), I'd like to know if it's possible to use Irrlicht Engine (or any port of this) with Microsoft Direct3D for Windows Mobile 5.

Thanks!

master123467 · Post by **master123467** » Thu Aug 24, 2006 1:13 am

i see tht u posted on ogre3d forums to
simple answer "no" theres no port yet for both irrlicht or ogre

heres a list of 3d engines i no theres about 5 mobile engines

http://www.devmaster.net/engines/list.php?

just search through all 25 pages

on page 22 theres this portable mobile engine for brew

http://www.devmaster.net/engines/engine ... php?id=293

magisterrivus · Post by **magisterrivus** » Thu Aug 24, 2006 12:09 pm

Well master, that's wrong.
Someone on the Ogre forums did a port of the engine, as i have that code here on my HD.

http://www.ogre3d.org/phpBB2/viewtopic. ... &highlight

@mdsrlz just PM that guy, and you will get access to his svn version

hybrid · Post by **hybrid** » Thu Aug 24, 2006 12:35 pm

So best thing would be to come up with an OpenGL/ES driver for Irrlicht to support a vast majority of exisiting handhelds and consoles. I don't think that it is that much work to get it running in the first, things will be more complicated when actual target platforms are chosen.
Maybe a good candidate for Irrlicht 1.3? Or is someone out there with enough time to bring it up for Irrlicht 1.2

BTW: You wrote about D3D support on those machines? This would mean API support with the current drivers, so just compile it for that platform and let it run. You could also use the software renderer. Since MSVC can generate code for those machines it might be easy to get some example up and running. (I think I have to get my MSVC fixed very soon

)

mdsrlz · Post by **mdsrlz** » Fri Aug 25, 2006 1:43 am

magisterrivus wrote:Well master, that's wrong.
Someone on the Ogre forums did a port of the engine, as i have that code here on my HD.

http://www.ogre3d.org/phpBB2/viewtopic. ... &highlight

@mdsrlz just PM that guy, and you will get access to his svn version

Hi Magisterrivus.

Thanks for the answer, but I think this port is just for Pocket PCs and does not use Manged Mobile Direct3D

mdsrlz · Post by **mdsrlz** » Fri Aug 25, 2006 1:48 am

hybrid wrote:So best thing would be to come up with an OpenGL/ES driver for Irrlicht to support a vast majority of exisiting handhelds and consoles. I don't think that it is that much work to get it running in the first, things will be more complicated when actual target platforms are chosen.
Maybe a good candidate for Irrlicht 1.3? Or is someone out there with enough time to bring it up for Irrlicht 1.2
BTW: You wrote about D3D support on those machines? This would mean API support with the current drivers, so just compile it for that platform and let it run. You could also use the software renderer. Since MSVC can generate code for those machines it might be easy to get some example up and running. (I think I have to get my MSVC fixed very soon )

Hi hybrid. I was thinking to write a mobile app to Smartphones running .NET 2.0 and Managed Mobile Direct3D. I've alread seen the port of the Irrlicht to .NET... do you think is it possible to do this (run irrlicht on a mobile device running windows mobile 5 + direct3d)?

Ps: I have enough time. I'm finishing my graduation course, and I have six monthes to write the final project

It will be about 3D Mobile App. I'm just looking for a good project to do!

Thanks again!

hybrid · Post by **hybrid** » Fri Aug 25, 2006 11:37 am

I don't know about .net and its support on mobile devices. Furthermore you have to port another thing when using Irrlicht.NET (as it requires Irrlicht) so it would be easier to use plain Irrlicht. Besides that, .net code should run anywhere, so this port might be easiest

I'd say it's a good project for a graduate thesis, however most people want some useful app rather than just the plain render library. So you might also nned some app based on Irrlicht to be part of your project. Maybe start from the Techdemo (the q3 level with models) and sketch some prototype of "Visiting ancient buildings and walk around" based on a simple q3 level. This will be easy to finish and you could concentrate on porting Irrlicht.

mdsrlz · Post by **mdsrlz** » Sat Aug 26, 2006 3:24 am

hybrid wrote:I don't know about .net and its support on mobile devices. Furthermore you have to port another thing when using Irrlicht.NET (as it requires Irrlicht) so it would be easier to use plain Irrlicht. Besides that, .net code should run anywhere, so this port might be easiest
I'd say it's a good project for a graduate thesis, however most people want some useful app rather than just the plain render library. So you might also nned some app based on Irrlicht to be part of your project. Maybe start from the Techdemo (the q3 level with models) and sketch some prototype of "Visiting ancient buildings and walk around" based on a simple q3 level. This will be easy to finish and you could concentrate on porting Irrlicht.

Hybrid, thanks man!

If i've understood, you said that if I port Irrlicht.NET I need to port Irrlicht too, right? Does it mean that Irrlicht.NET just call "native" Irrlicht (using P/Invoke, I think)?

You said that the port of the .NET would be easiest... but I'd need to port Irrlicht too! I didn't understand why should it be easiest if I'd need to port both!

Thanks again :]

I'll write a "thanks for hybrid" in my thesis

hybrid · Post by **hybrid** » Sat Aug 26, 2006 9:16 am

Porting just the .NET part won't be that much work once you have Irrlicht core ported. That's what I meant.
For all the rest just ask here if you encounter problems during the job. There are many people here interested in this port.

mdsrlz · Post by **mdsrlz** » Tue Aug 29, 2006 2:54 am

hybrid wrote:Porting just the .NET part won't be that much work once you have Irrlicht core ported. That's what I meant.
For all the rest just ask here if you encounter problems during the job. There are many people here interested in this port.

Hi hybrid. Thanks again

As my english is poor, just confirm If i'm right.

When you have said "Porting just the .NET part won't be that much work once you have Irrlicht core ported." ... this means that alread has a version of native irrlicht to mobile devices and I will just write a wapper to the .NET framework?

I think i'm wrong...

Sorry

but I didn't understand.

hybrid · Post by **hybrid** » Tue Aug 29, 2006 8:20 am

No, I meant that porting the .net part is probably more easy as .net code should be quite portable and probably run out-of-the-box on PDAs. But porting the C++ code is much more involved and will require a decent knowledge of mobile devices.
However, I just checked Irrlicht's portability recently by compiling it on FreeBSD and Solaris machines which was not really hard to make the compile - a little harder it is now to make them run without problems. So I'd suggest to setup a cross compiler for the target platform and test it with some example applications from the Windows Mobile SDK. Once you got this part you should simply compile Irrlicht and see how many problems you encounter. Depending on the completeness of the underlying Windows subsystem this should be fairly easy, unless you have to provide a completely new device. That way you should at least get the software renderers running on the mobile platform.
The next step would be to get a hardware accelerated device to work, either one of the Irrlicht native ones, or a new one such as OpenGL/ES. But to assess the amount of work for that one you should know how long the other steps took.

mdsrlz · Post by **mdsrlz** » Tue Aug 29, 2006 11:25 pm

hybrid wrote:No, I meant that porting the .net part is probably more easy as .net code should be quite portable and probably run out-of-the-box on PDAs. But porting the C++ code is much more involved and will require a decent knowledge of mobile devices.
However, I just checked Irrlicht's portability recently by compiling it on FreeBSD and Solaris machines which was not really hard to make the compile - a little harder it is now to make them run without problems. So I'd suggest to setup a cross compiler for the target platform and test it with some example applications from the Windows Mobile SDK. Once you got this part you should simply compile Irrlicht and see how many problems you encounter. Depending on the completeness of the underlying Windows subsystem this should be fairly easy, unless you have to provide a completely new device. That way you should at least get the software renderers running on the mobile platform.
The next step would be to get a hardware accelerated device to work, either one of the Irrlicht native ones, or a new one such as OpenGL/ES. But to assess the amount of work for that one you should know how long the other steps took.

Ok hybrid. Thanks for the answers