XNA Course at my local community college

XNA Game Studio Express

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    - Model Exporting From Maya (.fbx) Shawn, I've looked over my draw code a couple of times and if I'm missing something then I must not be understanding something. Here is the code I am using to create my world matrix. effect.World = Matrix.CreateRotationY(Rotation_3D.Y) * Matrix.CreateRotationX(Rotation_3D.X) * Matrix.CreateRotationZ(Rotation_3D.Z) * mesh.ParentBone.Transform * Matrix.CreateTranslation(Position_3D); Let me know what you make of this. Thanks! Tag: XNA Course at my local community college
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    - How can I get XNA to draw stuff faceted? Thanks for the tips. I'm really trying for the tron style effect - want to have assorted models, with different colouring depending on their hostility. I'll play around in my modelling program to see if I can get stuff that looks right - that will probably be the simplest way to do it. Cheers, Dan Tag: XNA Course at my local community college
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    - Creating Plane From A Model? I was thinking more along the lines of plane - sphere intersection ( i actually dont know what culling is...) Tag: XNA Course at my local community college
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    - Help needed with Spacewar Disaster Well, you initialize your model velocity to the Zero vector, and only perform multiplication on the vector. Any number times a zero vector will result in a zero vector. Tag: XNA Course at my local community college
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    - Displaying Videoframes with DirectX One of the samples in DirectShow called Texture3D9 is similar to what you want. This is what readme says: //----------------------------------------------------------------------------- // Name: DirectShow Sample -- Texture3D9 // // Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. //----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Draws video on a Microsoft DirectX 9.0 texture surface. This sample builds on the Direct3D Tutorial05 sample, adding support for rendering video onto a Direct3D9 surface. Note: This sample does not support changing the display properties of the monitor while the sample is running. Tag: XNA Course at my local community college
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    - Hiding the minimize/maximize/close buttons I don't want to go full screen because the game is meant to be played in a very small screen, it's part of the gameplay. But thanks thedo, that works perfectly. Tag: XNA Course at my local community college
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    - Quake XNA update On Windows it's not a problem to using assemblies. On the 360, it might be more difficult as you're restricted to the 360 version of the Compact Framework. Tag: XNA Course at my local community college
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    - Help on some shader issues You said before you were trying get four indexes out of a 32-bit ARGB colour, now you're saying you want to get two indexes out of 16-bit colour. If your texture data is in fact really just 8-bit indexes, one per byte, then Format.L8 is the solution to your problem. You get one 8-bit unsigned value per 8-bit "colour" which you can then look up in a 1D texture in your pixel shader. Also, converting your texture data to an uncompressed format wouldn't be slow using managed code, especially if you use the texture loading methods to do it for you. Tag: XNA Course at my local community college
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    - Getting the Model width and height As an update to this post, the XNA 1.0 refresh was released today. I guess I answered a day early. http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/xna/aa937795.aspx Tag: XNA Course at my local community college
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    - General Audio Disfunction I do call audioengine.update in the update method. Audio works perfectly fine for a while. What coding issue would cause audio problems to occur over a period of time Tag: XNA Course at my local community college
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    - Stuttering in D3D application Full screen or windowed mode I've seen what you described in Windowed mode on many different computers. I've only seen it happen on one computer in full screen mode. My guess for Windowed mode is that it has something to do with GDI (because, the more stuff GDI is doing, the worse it gets and the delay seems to always be in the present function). My guess for full screen mode is that another process is blocking the application about once a second (because the delay seems to happen at random times during execution). I know it's not GC related in either case. -Jeremy Tag: XNA Course at my local community college
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    - Content Pipeline check out this post http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowPost.aspx PostID=1048537&SiteID=1 it might help, you will need something like this if you are going to be using ContentManager and loading dynamic content. Tag: XNA Course at my local community college
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    - Blurry trail on sprite movement iainbyoung wrote: The symtoms you describe to sound typical of the slower lcd displays (although I've no idea what refresh rate your lcd runs at). It doesn't regard the monitor refresh rate. The right property to be investigated is a response time. Due to Google search has been failed and the Philips website does not mention the model specified I can guess it is not a fresh LCD model. If so, it probably has the response time of 40-50 milliseconds or more. The LCD with more than 20-30 ms response time does not fit for a gaming. Modern LCDs typically have less than 8 ms but it depends on manufacturer honesty (btw only 2 ms has mine). I'm shure you can use the TV out of your graphics card to have a comparision test . Tag: XNA Course at my local community college
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    - Cross-platform development question Create two projects, and add the sources to both projects. Make sure that one of the projects adds the source as references, so you don't get two copies of the file that will go out of sync. Then use #if in the source for the parts that are special to Xbox or Windows. Tag: XNA Course at my local community college
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    - Xbox 360 Hardware limits Hi, I've been searching around for the answer to two questions but have had no luck. Firstly how much system memory can an Xbox360 XNA game actually use. I know the executable size is limited to 50Mb just like Arcade games, but with procedural techniques you could still use up lots of physical memory. Secondly how many cores are available on the xbox 360 for use to XNA developers. Are two cores powered down so we in effect only have two hardware threads or can we use all six. Judging by the fact the fan is not on 'noisy';) I assume it is the former. Many thanks! Tag: XNA Course at my local community college
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    - Raytracing with DirectX I agree there is a good possibility that I won't have complete DX10 support until a driver appears, but shouldn't there be some way to scrap one together seeing as how Intel's next Bearlake chipset G35 is being quoted as definately DirectX10 compliant, and its graphics is just a derivative of the X3000, which is in the DG965WH The driver code base would no doubt be close to identical I would think. Don't they give out all their driver code to open source nowadays :) I guess in the DG965WH manual where it says support for DX10 and then below lists support for Shader Model 3.0, that was just put in to denote backwards compatibility with DirectX9. Oh well. Guess I need to buy a new motherboard in 6 months. Tag: XNA Course at my local community college
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    - SFS 360 DEMO Download !!! - I hope to have a More advanced Version Out Soon. Tag: XNA Course at my local community college
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    - HLSL shader(s) using CPU instead of GPU I am using D3DXCreateEffect to create a vertex and pixel shader HLSL effect. The process I use to create and activate the effect is the same every time, I am only changing the pixel shader code, and here's what happens: My program renders about 50 fps generally with CPU usage around 4% and when I do a trivial RGB to BGR color swap with the following shader, this usage remains: PS_OUTPUT RenderScenePS( VS_OUTPUT In ) { PS_OUTPUT Output; // Lookup mesh texture and modulate it with diffuse Output.RGBColor = tex2D(MeshTextureSampler, In.TextureUV) * In.Diffuse; float r = Output.RGBColor.r; Output.RGBColor.r = Output.RGBColor.b; Output.RGBColor.b = r; return Output; } So with this shader the rendering does a dynamic RGB to BGR swap entirely on the GPU I figure, because the CPU usage is still around only 4%. Now I just change the shader, nothing else in any of the code anywhere, to this: PS_OUTPUT RenderScenePS( VS_OUTPUT In ) { PS_OUTPUT Output; // Lookup mesh texture and modulate it with diffuse Output.RGBColor = tex2D(MeshTextureSampler, In.TextureUV) * In.Diffuse; // Demo: 4-bit grayscale float avg = (Output.RGBColor.r + Output.RGBColor.g + Output.RGBColor.b) / 3.0f; avg = round(avg*16.0f) / 16.0f; Output.RGBColor.r = avg; Output.RGBColor.g = avg; Output.RGBColor.b = avg; return Output; } To me this seems simple enough but for reason my CPU usage goes way up when this shader is running (and the system lags like crazy). The rendering shows the grayscale image, so it is working, but the CPU usage is off the charts. I thought shaders were supposed to execute entirely on the GPU so I'm confused how it's possible that my CPU usage is going up unless something needs to be emulated in software. In my D3DXCreateEffect call I have the D3DXSHADER_NO_PRESHADER flag, (along with the not cloneable flag) which seems to be the only CPU-related flag available. My video card should be more than capable of such a shader even though it's not an ultra-powerful card (NVIDIA GeForceFX 5200). What would cause a pixel shader to use the CPU power Tag: XNA Course at my local community college
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    - XNA sample code problem ? Hi all, i finded xna "XNA Onscreen Keyboard Component" sample in internet( http://www.xnaresources.com/pages.asp pageid=27 ). What does the iFontAsciiStart and iFontAsciiEnd mean in function WriteText () Please somebody help. Below is the function coding. public void WriteText(SpriteBatch spriteBatch, string sTextOut, int x, int y, Color colorTint) { // Very simple text output method. Uses a mono-spaced font to keep things easy int iFontX = 0; int iFontY = 0; int iFontHeight = 30; int iFontWidth = 19; int iFontAsciiStart = 32; int iFontAsciiEnd = 126; int iOutChar; for (int i = 0; i < sTextOut.Length; i++) { iOutChar = (int)sTextOut ; if ((iOutChar >= iFontAsciiStart) & (iOutChar <= iFontAsciiEnd)) { spriteBatch.Draw( t2dFont, new Rectangle( x + (iFontWidth * i), y, iFontWidth-1, iFontHeight), new Rectangle( iFontX + ((iOutChar - iFontAsciiStart) * iFontWidth), iFontY, iFontWidth-1, iFontHeight), colorTint ); } } } Best Regrads, Tag: XNA Course at my local community college
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    - cloud of dust like in battlefield 2 : mc I played BF2 on a ps2 a good number of months ago so I'll admit that my memory is a bit foggy (yes, that was a pun). But if I'm not mistaken, the effect you're talking about is the smoke grenades right When I played it, I seem to remember them just being a particle system with big sprites. With the alpha blending, it did a good job of partially obscuring the other players in the smoke ... a sniper with a straight shot could still pick them off, but it wasn't easy. Is that what you were referring to Tag: XNA Course at my local community college
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    - world coordinates 2d tile map this is the way i calculate the new worldpos... (if the map scrolls i add the new x position) if (_Map.MapWeiterScrollbarRechts) _Map.MapWorldPos.X += Math .Abs((_Spieler.Aktiv.SpeedVor * ( float ) Math .Cos((( MathHelper .Pi / 2) - _Spieler.Aktiv.Drehwinkel)))); Debug .Print(_Map.MapWorldPos.X.ToString()); from the theory it is working.. but the final result differs.. if i go in a 90 degree angle to the RIGHT border i got (after 44 tiles) 1421.1233 if i go in a 179 degree angle i got 1452.94334 where is my problem Tag: XNA Course at my local community college
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    - A Question (Creators Club) If you want the xbox and your PC online at the same time (eventually you will want to), a router is a must. Most of them have multiple ports, so you can plug both PC and Xbox in there. If you need to go wireless, wireless bridge is an option. I have a pair of LinkSys WRT54G acting as my wireless bridge (using DD-WRT firmware). Working really well for me. If your xbox will be far away from the router and you don't want to set up a bridge, I heard some people had success with the Logitech Play Link Wireless Network Extension. It's a discontinued product, so it's cheap now. Easy to set up. Google for it. I know Outpoost.com and SurplusComputers carries it. http://shop1.outpost.com/product/5067725 site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG http://www.surpluscomputers.com/store/Main.aspx p=ItemDetail&item=CES11169 Tag: XNA Course at my local community college
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    - problems with sprites hello I am trying to make a weapon system on my first xna game. I was wondering if anyone could help me with a problem I have. Im using the XNA "How to" examples to try and render a simple texture as a sprite. I managed to use the first "how to render a sprite" example to render a sprite. the problem is, but i want to be able to position my sprite where I want so I used the second "How to" example. so I read through the tutorial and got the code in my game but when I run, I get an error saying my texture is being called as a texture2D instead of an AnimatedTexture(the code is made for an animated texture) so i guesss my texture is not animated.. but I dont want an animated texture! I just want a simple one and I just cant work out how to do it.. I found this other tutorial that seemed good but included this weird camera that can be rotated around the sprite... the camera code was buggy and didnt let my code run.. all I want is to know how to render a sprite at a given location and be able to change the variable to move it around. So Iv been fiddling around aimless, not knowing what Im doing trying to get this sprite to appear. Once I get this sprite rendered I think I might be able to work out a way to get it moving like a rocket or something. anyway this is my code , can somebody please help me, or maybe point me to a good tutorial. at this point in time Im getting an error saying Error 1 'Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Vector3' does not contain a definition for 'ViewMatrix' C:\Documents and Settings\something \My Documents\Visual Studio 2005\Projects\WindowsGame3\WindowsGame3\Game1.cs 133 45 Spaceshooter this is my code (i know its very messy and some parts are completely useless but hey Im new and Im experimenting with anything I can find, also iv commented a lot of stuff out because I experiment but I dont want to loose the original working partts of the code so I comment them out, add the new code and see how it goes). If someone can help me i will be extremely thankful! #region Using Statements using System; using System.Collections.Generic; using Microsoft.Xna.Framework; using Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Audio; using Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Content; using Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Graphics; using Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Input; using Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Storage; #endregion public class Game1 : Microsoft.Xna.Framework. Game { GraphicsDeviceManager graphics; ContentManager content; KeyboardState oldState; Matrix projectionMatrix; SpriteBatch batch; Texture2D explosion; Vector2 explosionPos; public Game1() { graphics = new GraphicsDeviceManager ( this ); content = new ContentManager (Services); oldState = Keyboard .GetState(); } protected override void Initialize() { base .Initialize(); } // Specify the 3D model to draw. Model myModel; // The aspect ratio determines how to scale 3d to 2d projection. float aspectRatio; private Texture2D Explosion; private SpriteBatch ForegroundBatch; private Rectangle TitleSafe; protected override void LoadGraphicsContent( bool loadAllContent) { if (loadAllContent) { myModel = content.Load< Model >( "Content\\Models\\p1_wedge" ); ForegroundBatch = new SpriteBatch (graphics.GraphicsDevice); //////////////// Explosion = content.Load< Texture2D >( "Sprite1" ); ///////////////////// } aspectRatio = graphics.GraphicsDevice.Viewport.Width / graphics.GraphicsDevice.Viewport.Height; graphics.GraphicsDevice.RenderState.DepthBufferEnable = true ; graphics.GraphicsDevice.RenderState.CullMode = CullMode .None; TitleSafe = GetTitleSafeArea(.8f); //////////////////////////////// } protected override void UnloadGraphicsContent( bool unloadAllContent) { if (unloadAllContent == true ) { content.Unload(); } } // Set the velocity of the model, applied each frame to the model's position. Vector3 modelVelocity = Vector3 .Zero; protected override void Update( GameTime gameTime) { if ( GamePad .GetState( PlayerIndex .One).Buttons.Back == ButtonState .Pressed) this .Exit(); // Get some input. UpdateInput(); // Add velocity to the current position. modelPosition += modelVelocity; base .Update(gameTime); // Bleed off velocity over time. modelVelocity *= 0.95f; UpdateInput(); // Create a total bounding sphere for the mesh BoundingSphere totalbounds = new BoundingSphere (); foreach ( ModelMesh mesh in myModel.Meshes) { totalbounds = BoundingSphere .CreateMerged(totalbounds, mesh.BoundingSphere); } Vector2 explosionpos; // Project the center of the 3D object to the screen, and center the // sprite there Vector3 center = modelPosition; explosionpos.X = center.X; explosionpos.Y = center.Y; // Create a bounding box from the bounding sphere, and find the corner // that is farthest away from the center using Project BoundingBox extents = BoundingBox .CreateFromSphere(totalbounds); float maxdistance = 0; float distance; Vector3 screencorner; foreach ( Vector3 corner in extents.GetCorners()) { screencorner = graphics.GraphicsDevice.Viewport.Project(corner, projectionMatrix, cameraPosition.ViewMatrix, Matrix .Identity); distance = Vector3 .Distance(screencorner, center); if (distance > maxdistance) maxdistance = distance; } base .Update(gameTime); } protected Rectangle GetTitleSafeArea( float percent) { Rectangle retval = new Rectangle (graphics.GraphicsDevice.Viewport.X, graphics.GraphicsDevice.Viewport.Y, graphics.GraphicsDevice.Viewport.Width, graphics.GraphicsDevice.Viewport.Height); #if XBOX // Find Title Safe area of Xbox 360. float border = (1 - percent) / 2; retval.X = (int)(border * retval.Width); retval.Y = (int)(border * retval.Height); retval.Width = (int)(percent * retval.Width); retval.Height = (int)(percent * retval.Height); return retval; #else return retval; #endif } protected void UpdateInput() { KeyboardState newState = Keyboard .GetState(); Vector3 modelVelocityAdd = Vector3 .Zero; modelVelocityAdd.X = -( float ) Math .Sin(modelRotation); modelVelocityAdd.Z = -( float ) Math .Cos(modelRotation); if (newState.IsKeyDown( Keys .A)) { modelRotation += 0.1f; //modelRotationZ = 0.1f; modelRotationX = 0.1f; } else { modelRotationX = 0f; } // Otherwise, check to see whether it was down before. // (and therefore just released) if (newState.IsKeyDown( Keys .D)) { modelRotation -= 0.1f; //modelRotationZ = -0.1f; modelRotationZ = 0.1f; } else { modelRotationZ = 0f; } if (newState.IsKeyDown( Keys .W)) { modelVelocity += modelVelocityAdd; } // Otherwise, check to see whether it was down before. // (and therefore just released) else if (oldState.IsKeyDown( Keys .S)) { modelPosition = Vector3 .Zero; modelVelocity = Vector3 .Zero; modelRotation = 0f; } if (newState.IsKeyDown( Keys .Space)) { } oldState = newState; } // Set the position of the model in world space, and set the rotation. //Vector3 modelPosition = Vector3.Zero; Vector3 modelPosition = Vector3 .Zero; //float modelRotation = 0.0f; float modelRotation = 0.0f; float cameraRotation = 90.0f; ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// float modelRotationX = 0.0f; float modelRotationZ = 0.0f; // Set the position of the Camera in world space, for our view matrix. Vector3 cameraPosition = new Vector3 (0.0f, 0.0f, -18000.0f); protected override void Draw( GameTime gameTime) { graphics.GraphicsDevice.Clear( Color .CornflowerBlue); // Copy any parent transforms. Matrix [] transforms = new Matrix [myModel.Bones.Count]; myModel.CopyAbsoluteBoneTransformsTo(transforms); graphics.GraphicsDevice.Clear( Color .CornflowerBlue); base .Draw(gameTime); // Draw the model. A model can have multiple meshes, so loop. foreach ( ModelMesh mesh in myModel.Meshes) { // This is where the mesh orientation is set, as well as our camera and projection. foreach ( BasicEffect effect in mesh.Effects) { effect.EnableDefaultLighting(); effect.World = transforms[mesh.ParentBone.Index] * Matrix .CreateRotationY(modelRotation) * Matrix .CreateRotationX(modelRotationX) * Matrix .CreateRotationZ(modelRotationZ) * Matrix .CreateTranslation(modelPosition); effect.View = Matrix .CreateLookAt(cameraPosition, Vector3 .Zero, Vector3 .Up); effect.Projection = Matrix .CreatePerspectiveFieldOfView( MathHelper .PiOver4, aspectRatio, 1.0f, 100000.0f); effect.View = cameraPosition.ViewMatrix; effect.Projection = projectionMatrix; effect.View = Matrix .CreateRotationX(cameraRotation) * Matrix .CreateTranslation(cameraPosition); //////////////////////////////////////////////////////// //viewMatrix = viewMatrix = Matrix.CreateLookAt(new Vector3(0, 0, 30), new Vector3(0, 0, 0), new Vector3(0, 1, 0)); //viewMatrix = Matrix.CreateLookAt(new Vector3(0, -2, 5), new Vector3(2, 1, 0), new Vector3(0, 0, 1)); //effect.View = Matrix.CreatePerspectiveFieldOfView(MathHelper.PiOver4, aspectRatio, 1.0f, 10000.0f);//this.Window.ClientBounds.Width / this.Window.ClientBounds.Height, 0.2f, 500.0f); //////////////////////////////////sprite draw method//////////////////////////// //ForegroundBatch.Begin(); //Vector2 pos = new Vector2(TitleSafe.Left, TitleSafe.Top); // ForegroundBatch.Draw(Explosion, pos, Color.White); //ForegroundBatch.End(); // base.Draw(gameTime); } // Draw the mesh, using the effects set above. mesh.Draw(); } batch.Begin( SpriteBlendMode .AlphaBlend, SpriteSortMode .Deferred, SaveStateMode .SaveState); ForegroundBatch.Draw(explosion, explosionPos, Color .White); ForegroundBatch.End(); //explosion.DrawFrame(batch, explosionpos); batch.End(); base .Draw(gameTime); } } public class AnimatedTexture { private int framecount; private Texture2D myTexture; private float TimePerFrame; private int Frame; private float TotalElapsed; private bool Paused; public float Rotation, Scale, Depth; public Vector2 Origin; public AnimatedTexture( Vector2 Origin, float Rotation, float Scale, float Depth) { this .Origin = Origin; this .Rotation = Rotation; this .Scale = Scale; this .Depth = Depth; } public void Load( GraphicsDevice device, ContentManager content, string asset, int FrameCount, int FramesPerSec) { framecount = FrameCount; myTexture = content.Load< Texture2D >(asset); TimePerFrame = ( float )1 / FramesPerSec; Frame = 0; TotalElapsed = 0; Paused = false ; } // class AnimatedTexture public void UpdateFrame( float elapsed) { if (Paused) return ; TotalElapsed += elapsed; if (TotalElapsed > TimePerFrame) { Frame++; // Keep the Frame between 0 and the total frames, minus one. Frame = Frame % framecount; TotalElapsed -= TimePerFrame; } } // class AnimatedTexture public void DrawFrame( SpriteBatch Batch, Vector2 screenpos) { DrawFrame(Batch, Frame, screenpos); } public void DrawFrame( SpriteBatch Batch, int Frame, Vector2 screenpos) { int FrameWidth = myTexture.Width / framecount; Rectangle sourcerect = new Rectangle (FrameWidth * Frame, 0, FrameWidth, myTexture.Height); Batch.Draw(myTexture, screenpos, sourcerect, Color .White, Rotation, Origin, Scale, SpriteEffects .None, Depth); } public bool IsPaused { get { return Paused; } } public void Reset() { Frame = 0; TotalElapsed = 0f; } public void Stop() { Pause(); Reset(); } public void Play() { Paused = false ; } public void Pause() { Paused = true ; } } Tag: XNA Course at my local community college
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    - How to get Angle from Thumbstick? NP, but you forgot to tell us if it works now :) The code certainly looks simpler... :) Tag: XNA Course at my local community college
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    - Publishing Make sure the end users are updating their comptuers with the latest DirectX libraries (december 2006). Chances are, they aren't, so run the file below to double check and install. Unless you have a sub-par graphics card, this should solve the problem. http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx displaylang=en&FamilyID=2da43d38-db71-4c1b-bc6a-9b6652cd92a3 Tag: XNA Course at my local community college
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    - New XNA Game: Warriors of the Shining Star. Yeah spelling not my strong point. The text also has the issue that not all the characters I use are in my font yet, it defaults to the letter a. I forgot to add finishing the font to my asset list. The enemies look like the main character because for the moment that is the only character mesh I have, everyone look like a blue sphere. Thanks for the feedback. -tom Tag: XNA Course at my local community college
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    - loading textures on array Are you sure it's the texture that XNA is argueing about It doesnt look like you are setting any of the balls' XY coordinates when you create it. Just from looking at it, it looks like the textures are fine... maybe I'm not seeing something here. Tag: XNA Course at my local community college
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    - XNA's use of Collections for the List<T>, I'd reconsider using a plain jane for(;;) loop ... delegates are much slower to call than just accessing each individual item by the indexer. And it's not like you're getting anything syntactically with the anon delegate ... in fact, it might confuse newcomers even more :-) Tag: XNA Course at my local community college
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    - The future of 3D grahics programming with managed code (Microsoft technology) Thanks, I see why you thought that. Managed DirectX 2.0 was cancelled in favour of XNA and Managed DirectX 1.1 is certainly frozen. However we've not seen any official statement that there will never be another version - there were hints of something for DX10 but nothing has happened yet. Bottom line we are in wait and see mode, but given the publicity and exposere of XNA I don't think managed code and directX is to be considered dead. Most folk appear to be assumign XNA is the future and moving to that, it has advantages tht it runs on the 360 but its API set is not as complete as managed directx so some folk at staying on MDX. Everyone has to make their own call while we wait. If you work for a big company you might be able to get your Microsoft account manager to find an official statement. Post it here if you do. Tag: XNA Course at my local community college
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    - Anyone to test an Octtree based space game? I have a good (I think) version of an Octtree based scene management system. It needs more testing. I have built an Outerspace Game for testing......it needs other things built into it. Right now, there's a space station and 150 ateroid fields and a 3D starfield that you can fly around in. It needs spacecraft, other interesting stuff, like a mother ship. I would like to give the "Loose" Octtree and better test. Here's how it works: The entire space (within the game) is a cube (big sector) that is then divided up into 8 cubes (nodes, sectors) that is the divided into 8 cubes....and so on until a manageable size. Models and Game components can be added to the octree. It finds what node (according to position) that the object goes into. This is the scene management part. It seems to work really well. It culls out the nodes(sectors,cubes) that fail the visibility test. NOW, the "LOOSE" part is that if an object's bounding sphere extends beyond the boundry of the node (cube) that it is assigned to based on it's position, then the clipping Bounding Box that determines visibility (based on the viewing frustum) is expanded to encompass the object (and all other objects in the node based on position). The original bounding box used to test which nodes (sector,etc..) it fits in is not modified. If an object is removed, or it's position changes such that it no longer belongs in the node it is in, then the Frustm cull bounding box for that node can shrink if it is one of the offenders that caused it to grow..... So......A Huge spaceship (MOTHER SHIP) while traveling should cause the view bounding box to grow, but the actual bounding volume does not. Once the Huge ship's position is outside the bounding volume of the node, it will land in another node and it will grow while the old node shrinks back. Long, story, but..............................I'll put the files for download on FileFront, no codeplex project yet :(, if someone wants to test it out.....maybe even make a cool game using it. Tag: XNA Course at my local community college
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    - MDX 9.0 under Vista Thanks for the reply Julian Tag: XNA Course at my local community college
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    - .xnb files are huge Hi Jim! Could you please explain more on how to do that (or link to a guide) Tag: XNA Course at my local community college

flypp3r

I just got a flyer in the mail about a non-credit course my local college (Miami Dade College) is offering. Its bout 4 saturdays, 3 hours each. $339.

Game Development: XNA Game Studio Express - $339.00
Pre Req - N/A
XNA is targeted at students and hobbyists for game development. XNA Game Studio lets developers target both Windows and Xbox 360. You will learn:Visual Studio C# Programming Basics, Network Play basics, input control basics, and Sound Basics;2D Sprites versus 3D game creation, using 3rd Party gaming engines; The XNA Framework, a set of managed code development libraries that make it possible for game developers to be more productive when creating games for Windows and the Xbox 360;The XNA Framework Content Pipeline, which is a set of tools that allow developers to more easily incorporate 3D content into their games.

i think i know the professor that would be teaching it, and hes really good at gamedev. id probably take the course, but the army has me way too busy this Spring semester to do this. hopefully its offered over the summer. looks interesting/fun!

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Re: XNA Course at my local community college

George Clingerman

That's great! Very exciting to see courses like that coming to various places across the company. Thanks for sharing.

Also remember, when posting a comment in the forums to mark it as a comment instead of a question. Helps make the forum admins jobs a little easier and we all know how hard they've been working lately!

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Re: XNA Course at my local community college

flypp3r

oops! thanks for the reminder :)

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