Graphics API's

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DebugBSD
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Location: Madrid, Spain

Graphics API's

Post by DebugBSD »

Hi, good afternoon!

First of all, I'm sorry if this is not the correct place to ask such question like this. Please, point me to the correct place or feel free to move this post to the correct place if needed.

As you probable know or maybe some of you have guessed, this is my first question in the forum. I've been using Irrlicht for some time ago (maybe 6 or 7 years) for amateur projects (nothing serious) and I've been using it for learning purposes.

The point is, I've used other engines (like Unreal Engine, Unity3D, Godot, Ogre3D) and even other API's (SDL2, SFML, RayLIB, OpenGL, DirectX12, ...) even in assembly language but I don't know why I allways go back to Irrlicht. I find too easy to use (compared to the more complex game engines like those mentioned before with so many features and tons of complex examples where you need a good level using them) and I've seen games made with Irrlicht which I really liked (First version of Torchlight) and the good thing about this engine is that it's so easy to use and that's the thing I really like most. Furthermore, the source code it's pretty easy to read, and adapt to other frameworks.

So, I would like to ask if you let me about what are the plans to update the renderers to new versions (from DirectX9 to the new DirectX12) or maybe add a new renderer based on Vulkan. Is there any plan to do such thing in the future?

I want to give a try to Irrlicht in creating a relatively medium size game. Something like a demo of an RPG which I have in mind for some years.

Have a nice day!
Guille
CuteAlien
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Re: Graphics API's

Post by CuteAlien »

Hi Guille. Glad you like it. Unfortunately DX12 or Vulkan won't be supported any time soon. There was some work on DX12 for a while, but the involved developers all got busy with other things in their lifes.

You might take a look at https://github.com/buildaworldnet/IrrlichtBAW
It was started based on Irrlicht, thought it has developed by now in it's own direction. And it supports Vulkan. I can't promise it's quite as easy to start with as Irrlicht. As all modern 3d engines it's based around shaders (but it probably comes already with a few good ones coded for you).
IRC: #irrlicht on irc.libera.chat
Code snippet repository: https://github.com/mzeilfelder/irr-playground-micha
Free racer made with Irrlicht: http://www.irrgheist.com/hcraftsource.htm
DebugBSD
Posts: 12
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Location: Madrid, Spain

Re: Graphics API's

Post by DebugBSD »

CuteAlien wrote:Hi Guille. Glad you like it. Unfortunately DX12 or Vulkan won't be supported any time soon. There was some work on DX12 for a while, but the involved developers all got busy with other things in their lifes.

You might take a look at https://github.com/buildaworldnet/IrrlichtBAW
It was started based on Irrlicht, thought it has developed by now in it's own direction. And it supports Vulkan. I can't promise it's quite as easy to start with as Irrlicht. As all modern 3d engines it's based around shaders (but it probably comes already with a few good ones coded for you).
Thank you so much for the info.

I'll take a look at IrrlichtBAW just to try it a bit but I think I'll go with the current Irrlicht into my projects. ¿Do you know what happened with the repository where DX12 was developed? ¿Did you save it on some branch or something similar?

In the other hand I would like to ask about the current source code of Irrlicht ¿Is the engine based on the Eberly books (3D Game Engine Design & 3D Game Engine Architecture)? I ask this question because I've read his (amazing) books and I find quite similar to the Wild Magick althought I have to admit that it's a little bit different in some aspects from the Irrlicht game engine.

Have a nice day!
Guille
CuteAlien
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Re: Graphics API's

Post by CuteAlien »

The DX12 branch is in branches/shader-pipeline in svn. But it's years since someone touched it.

First Irrlicht release seems to be from before the first Eberly game architecture book, but they are from a similar time (2003, 2004).
IRC: #irrlicht on irc.libera.chat
Code snippet repository: https://github.com/mzeilfelder/irr-playground-micha
Free racer made with Irrlicht: http://www.irrgheist.com/hcraftsource.htm
devsh
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Re: Graphics API's

Post by devsh »

Clarification
You might take a look at https://github.com/buildaworldnet/IrrlichtBAW
It was started based on Irrlicht, thought it has developed by now in it's own direction. And it supports Vulkan.
IrrlichtBAW has now changed its name to Nabla
https://github.com/Devsh-Graphics-Programming/Nabla

Important to know as IRrlichtBAW master branch has 1979 commits and appears to be at least 12 months old.
Whereas Nabla has 4250 commits and is worked on every day.

We unfortunately still dont support Vulkan, but the frontend of the engine looks like it (we've designed to be Vulkan centric).
However we will get OpenGL ES 3.1 support and an Android build hopefully before the end of March.
I can't promise it's quite as easy to start with as Irrlicht. As all modern 3d engines it's based around shaders (but it probably comes already with a few good ones coded for you).
It assumes you are familiar with Vulkan, but you dont want to write it by hand.
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