Irrlicht Engine

ok guys, this is not a question as a newbie but a resource for us noobs. I just got Relo to compile Irrlicht projects using Microsoft Visual C++ Toolkit 2003. The interesting part? Both are free downloads!!! So now you have the chance to compile stuff using MS latest compiling tecnology... for free!

I wrote a tutorial that you may get here:
http://www.theshower.nl/cgi-bin/genesis ... piling.zip

as usual, comments are most welcome!

hope you find it useful and please help me spread the word out. I think it's a great alternative as a compiler.

cheers!

maybe niko will put this on the tutorials page with the rest of the integration tutorials

that'd be great!

what are the pros and con to use this free visual c++ toolkit in contrast with the other free compiler for windows: MinGW ?

I know you can't use microsoft's one for commercial projects...

beside that, (if I don't plan to use it commercially) what are the reasons to switch to visual c++ toolkit?

MinGW (gcc in fact) can do compilation optimisations... I know they are not as good and efficient as VC7 pro but it still do some good optimisations.
I read before (and tested) that the standard version of VC++ and it don't do optimisations and have a weaker compiler... I tested it and MinGW compile to smaller executable size...
IMHO I suppose that they "give" the standard compiler with the free version and not the pro one (maybe I'm wrong, but I try to be logic)... so surely there is not any optimisations of code with the free one.

so why should someone use this visualc++ toolkit and not GCC (MinGW) ???

thanks for any answers!
anyway I will try it when I will have time...

I didn't tested it but I suppose the pros are:

-to be able to use Irrlicht visual studio dll (it is very smaller than the mingw one... But I don't know if you re-compile it)
-to be able to use directx (in mingw you can only use opengl) if you want to download 250mb of scrap (almost only example and data files for the examples... there should be a "lite" version of the sdk )
-to be able to give your soul to Bill Gates (if you don't know, in the middle of the license that nobody never read when they click on ok, it said "the user of this software agree to give his soul to the owner of this product by clicking ok.")
-to be able to use .net (but for this you can also use mono)

spongebob wrote:I know you can't use microsoft's one for commercial projects...

As far as i know you can use MSVC++ Toolkit 2003 for commercial things. Check the licence. It is also (still AFAIR ) a version with full optimization.

Yep, you can use it commercially and redistribute your stuff.
Pros, like you guys said, you can use the VisualStudio lib and Irrlicht's dll.
Cons, well, relo has got no dll compilation with MSVC++ and things must be compiled as console apps.

Now, according to Microsoft, this is what you get:

The Microsoft Visual C++ Toolkit 2003 includes the core tools developers need to compile and link C++-based applications for Windows and the .NET Common Language Runtime:

* Microsoft C/C++ Optimizing Compiler and Linker. These are the same compiler and linker that ship with Visual Studio .NET 2003 Professional!
* C Runtime Library and the C++ Standard Library, including the Standard Template Library. These are the same static-link libraries included with Visual Studio.
* Microsoft .NET Framework Common Language Runtime. Visual C++ can optionally build applications that target the Common Language Runtime (CLR).
* Sample code. The toolkit includes four samples designed to showcase the powerful new features of the 2003 version, including new optimization capabilities, features to improve code-security and robustness, enhanced ISO C++ standards support, and the ability to use the .NET Framework library and target the CLR.

So they say you get the standard version of the tools, but for free.

Another advantage? Well, I think Relo is a nice IDE to work with, and MS toolkit is very powerful and easy to use. I wrote Relo's creator about extending its support for VC7 so we could get a special .ini file for it, and also get dll compiling to work. Also what you guys mentioned, DX support and not only OpenGl.

So far the tutorial is only focused in creating exes. It would be great if you guys tried it out and help improving its capabilities. I'm sure you'll get tons of ideas on how to improve the thing better than I do.

cheers!

thanks! I think I will use it!

I wrote Relo's creator about extending its support for VC7 so we could get a special .ini file for it, and also get dll compiling to work

I found this on relo forum (on sourceforge), maybe it works.
http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php? ... _id=188631

I will test relo + visualc++ later (maybe next week) and I will give you more feedback.
it's very interesting.

Thanx for the link Sponge, and yes, please try the thing out to see if it works ok and if you come up with ideas. So far I've tried it on 3 different machines with different specs and it worked ok. Also try it on a machine that doesn't have any VisualStudio installation on it to ensure Relo is looking for the toolkit as a compiler and not the default ones set in your system's variables.

gonna check your link now

cheers!

It should work fine but with VS .net. Unfortunately, it is not set for the Microsoft Visual C++ Toolkit 2003.

But it's a start point.

thnx!

Nope, it doesn't work out with vs7.net either. Just stick with the tutorial stuff. For some reason even the .ini file is set to work with VC6, setting the compiler in Relo as VC6 and setting its paths to the toolkit tricks it into creating a nice and beautiful exe.


he he he eheh e

relo has got no dll compilation with MSVC++ and things must be compiled as console apps.

I think it's normal that you get errors when you want to compile a windows application (so you must compile as console apps).
To do this with the toolkit, you need to use the windows platform sdk that is not inluded with the free compiler...
http://www.microsoft.com/msdownload/pla ... sdkupdate/
I think you only need the core sdk (175MB!)

anyway you won't be able to use MFC though.

I didn't test it, but I will try it later...

thnx for the comment Nitroman. I already downloaded the microsoft sdk cd. Please let me know if you have any success with additional stuff that has to do with Relo.

cheers!

I keep meaning to try visual c++ toolkit 2003 but never get around to it
Is there any way one can use a seperate debugger with visual c++ toolkit since it doesn't look like it comes with one of it's own?

I'm not sure but I think the Microsoft Plattform SDK might have one. The problem is that it's a 300 and something MB download.

http://www.microsoft.com/msdownload/pla ... sdkupdate/